Movie Reviews: quick!

i watched a bunch of movies on my vacation...

Monster In-Law: i watched this on the flight to calgary, without the aid of pointless things like sound... it was pretty easy to follow and mildly enjoyable like all soundless romantic comedies. jlo, sans ben, has got to be worth something. 2/5

Kung Fu Hustle: having seen this one before, but having not reviewed it, i am doing so now. yay! stephen chow is always good for a laugh. interesting how he's now trying to get into the business of serious movie making (he stars, produces and directs) while still cracking out the toilet gags. kung fu hustle is stephen chow's homage to several influential genres from his childhood. from the traditional chinese kung fu mold, to the Matrix, to looney tunes. those unfamiliar with the way stephen chow casts will probably be surprised to see very familiar faces from shaolin soccer. many of the actors he works with reappear in at least 4 other movies of his. the lack of cecilia cheung is rather disappointing. she would have made a better mute lollipop girl, though it was obvious that he cast a look-a-like. sub-par stephen chow movie overall. not as good as shaolin soccer. and shaolin soccer was merely average. 2.5/5

Hide and Seek: i didn't watch the first 20 minutes because i thought i'd freak out from watching a scary movie. then i remembered that the last time i watched a scary movie was in '97. riveting and terribly twisted. dakota fanning is my new child actor superheroine. 3.5/5

Sin City: missed the first ten minutes on account of helping melissa with the dishes. caught on quite quickly. visually stunning in that slick artsy way (alexis bledel's eyes highlighted = good idea!). yay, jessica alba, naturally. dark humour was quite refreshing ("you forgot to flush"). quentin tarentino really likes the girls with swords; miho was hott - i could actually recognize his nerd styles: girls w/ swords, girls with guns, hallucinations of talking dead people, white blood, shadow scenes... 4.8/5 misses perfection because of the predictability of the characters... frank miller follows a pattern in his characterizations and it shows.

Kicking and Screaming: i watched this one on the flight back to toronto. don't you love noticing cheesy artistic elements either the director or the writers tried to incorporate into their family movies? the recurring number 13 for example. the plot was patently predictable; the ending was very sweet (very mushy sweet, and only partially cool sweet). i love italians, but meat comes first. will ferrellisms peeked through once in awhile, but not as over the top as anchorman; they still ellicited laughter. loved the lesbian asian orphan adoption and the superfluous coffee antics. 2.3/5