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2000 Winter Video Roundup

12/25/00

"Keeping the Faith"

Ben Stiller, Ed Norton and Jenna Elfman (Dharma from "Dharma and Greg") star in this romantic comedy about a priest, a rabbi, and the girl that gets between them in New York City.  I loved this movie and thought Stiller and Norton were pretty funny together.  I loved the idea for the plot, that Stiller and Norton's characters were friends since childhood and still hung out together while making for good role models within their respective religious communities.  I even loved the romance that develops when childhood friend Elfman comes back into the boys' lives and falls for Stiller's rabbi.  In fact, I loved everything UNTIL Norton finds out about the romance, and then I thought the movie got sloppy and took way too long to resolve the problem into a happy-ending.  Poor.  But, it does deliver on the romance part of things and to stereotype, girls will probably love this movie.

Rating:  $9.50 Show

"The Power of One"

Somehow or another, I missed this film back in the early 90s when it came out and through the powers of persuasion, Binita "Real Great" Barai got me to rent this film and check it out.  Wow.  Wow, wow, wow.  One of the rare inspirational films that doesn't sugarcoat its issues or make it easy on the audience to accept its message, "The Power of One" follows the story of a boy that overcomes ridiculously awful odds to eventually help groups of Africans overcome problems of apartheid.  And, that is only HALF of the film.  If you haven't seen this movie, rent this one as soon as possible.

Rating:  Opening Weekend

"Love and Basketball"

So, Robyn Johnson and I recently traded e-mails on some black films that came out over the last three or four years, and she kept coming back to this one and wondering why I didn't check it out.  As I told her and many of you about this movie, I have nothing against romance movies but this one had a piece in the trailer ("one game, one-on-one...", "for what?", "...your heart" brought laughter every time it was played in the theater) that made me stay away for the longest time.  Well, I finally watched it this weekend with Binita "Mm-hmm" Barai and I must admit, it was not too bad.  Although I thought that many of its basketball scenes were a bunch of BS, the scenes off the court are handled very well and I thought that Sanaa Lathan was real good...and, of course, real hot, but that should be a given.  I think what I liked most about her character was how shy she seemed at first around Omar Epps' bad-ass shooting guard/lover...and, how she slowly built into a woman over the course of the film's timeline.  Acting aside, though, there is a bit too much sap for me and I don't think I could watch it again without having to tape the eyelids open.

Rating:  Matinee

"Mean Guns"

Okay, so this was on Cinemax the other night, but because I had never seen it before and because I need to trash one film in each of the WVRs, this is the call.  Let me set the table for you:  Ice-T, Christopher Lambert, and a plot so bad I need to stop laughing before I can type this review!!  Phew...okay, here is the story:  Ice-T is playing this crime lord and FOR FUN, he puts about 50 hard-edged criminal types in a prison that he has closed off.  In the main  holding area, he dumps enough guns and ammo for all of the combatants to take and tells them that whoever is left standing will win three million dollars.  The rest of the movie, people are just shooting at each other until there is no one left alive.  Ice-T's career is so bad right now that this probably was the highlight of his year.  And Lambert...now that "Highlander" is history for him, what will he do now?  More of these straight-to-video action movies?  Please, God, NO!!!!

Rating:  Hard Vice

 

Comments?  Drop me a line at justin@bellviewmovies.com.

 

Bellview Rating System:

"Opening Weekend":  This is the highest rating a movie can receive.  Reserved for movies that exhibit the highest level of acting, plot, character development, setting...or Salma Hayek.  Not necessarily in that order. 

"$X.XX Show":  This price changes each year due to the inflation of movie prices; currently, it is the $9.50 Show.  While not technically perfect, this is a movie that will still entertain you at a very high level.  "Undercover Brother" falls into this category; it's no "Casablanca", but you'll have a great time watching.  The $9.50 Show won't win any Oscars, but you'll be quoting lines from the thing for ages (see "Office Space"). 

"Matinee":  An average movie that merits no more than a $6.50 viewing at your local theater.  Seeing it for less than $9.50 will make you feel a lot better about yourself.  A movie like "Blue Crush" fits this category; you leave the theater saying "That wasn't too bad...man, did you see that Lakers game last night?" 

"Rental":  This rating indicates a movie that you see in the previews and say to your friend, "I'll be sure to miss that one."  Mostly forgettable, you couldn't lose too much by going to Hollywood Video and paying $3 to watch it with your sig other, but you would only do that if the video store was out of copies of "Ronin."  If you can, see this movie for free.  This is what your TV Guide would give "one and a half stars." 

"Hard Vice":  This rating is the bottom of the barrel.  A movie that only six other human beings have witnessed, this is the worst movie I have ever seen.  A Shannon Tweed "thriller," it is so bad as to be funny during almost every one of its 84 minutes, and includes the worst ending ever put into a movie.  Marginally worse than "Cabin Boy", "The Avengers" or "Leonard, Part 6", this rating means that you should avoid this movie at all costs, or no costs, EVEN IF YOU CAN SEE IT FOR FREE!  (Warning:  strong profanity will be used in all reviews of "Hard Vice"-rated movies.)