Heya Gang.

Been busy with life stuff the last couple weeks, but I have a couple of Holiday reviews for you today. The good news is that they are both good movies, the bad news is you have probably already seen them and they aren't exactly the unusual fare I like to write about. Still, I figured I'd write about what I watched, so here are two movies that kept me in the holiday mood all thanksgiving week ...

Elf - imdb - d. Jon Favreau - Although Will Ferrel cracks me up, I missed Elf in the theater. I guess I just had my doubts, even though it was directed by the talented Jon Favreau, a man who has turn dinner into an artform. But there was no reason for me to fear, Elf turned out to be a cute and entertaining film that just might be one of the best holiday films out there. Of course, that's not saying much, there really aren't that many great Christmas films. Outside of the classics like It's A Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, and Miracle on 34th Street, there aren't that many holiday films worth checking out. But Elf bucks the trend and rises above the holiday crap to be a highly enjoyable Christmas film. It's the story of a human raised by elves, but unaware that he doesn't quite fit in (think: Steve Martin's the Jerk at the North Pole). Once he figures it out, he decides to set out on a journey that takes him to New York City to meet up with his dad (James Caan). Things don't go smoothly, and he gets mistaken as a worker at the local toy store, where he meets the girl of his dreams (in other words, the first pretty lass he saw). Obviously this is a fish out of water story, but it also manages to hit a few high notes while lambasting some of the best-loved animated Christmas movies. This could have been a really horrible movie, but thankfully the writing is usually pretty good and the story moves along at a brisk pace. The cast itself, which not only includes Ferrel, but also Ed Asner, Bob Newhart, and Favreau himself, play it to the nines, and their performances are much more inspired than you'd expect. It's easy to make a bad holiday movie (see: the recent live action version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas), but Elf is actually pretty funny, and not just in a conventional sense. Cute and well worth checking out. B+

Edward Scissorhands - imdb - d. Tim Burton - Everybody has their favorite Tim Burton movie, and Edward Scissorhands is my favorite. Although not a Christmas movie, it seems to embrace the holiday better than any traditional Christmas movie I've ever seen. It's romantic, it's sweet, and best of all, it's unlike anything you've ever seen before. In case you missed it, Edward Scissorhands the name of the boy who lives at the top of the hill in the giant, scary house. He was invented years ago, but was never finished and has scissors for hands. One day he is found by the local Avon lady who takes him home and effectively adopts the stranger. His mix with the outside world (a suburban community where everybody's house looks the same and everybody seems to have same 1950s values) is mixed at best, and teaches him an important lesson about human nature. This movie is a fairy tale in it's truest sense, it's also one of the most beautiful movies of all time. I find myself crying just at the opening theme, with it's lovely exteriors and emotional Danny Elfman score, it truly is one of the greatest movie experiences of my life. The movie has held up amazingly well, and it's good to see that Johnny Depp has not lost his eye for intersting and daring roles. I'm not sure if there are people out there that have not seen Edward Scissorhands, but if you haven't, you should make sure and check it out this holiday season ... it's my favorite Christmas film. A

Trisetta Lilly Barnes

Heya Gang.

That's right. I didn't watch anything ... instead I played Halo 2 online. Well, I tried to. You see, like a lot of people out there, I went to my local game store and bought my copy of Halo 2 at midnight the other day, I was excited to get home and spend the rest of the playing online. I had it all planned out, I even beat San Andreas a few days before Halo 2 just so I wouldn't have anything to worry about.

I should have known my plan was too perfect, I should never have let myself think that Halo 2 would be the best online experience out there. Now understand, I am not a Halo fangirl. I enjoyed the first game, but didn't connect with it in the same way a lot of the people I know did. I can accept it as a fun game with a solid multiplayer mode, but I don't really have a lot of friend to play Halo with at home, and when I do have the people over, we're usually doing and playing other things. But I truly anticipated Halo 2, especially because I would be able to play it online against all the people that couldn't make it to my house.

My confusion over the online component started almost immediately. I'm not new to online gaming, I have been a huge fan of SOCOM (I and II) for years now, I love Dead or Alive Ultimate, I play a ton of online games, and used to play Chu Chu Rocket on my Dreamcast online. I know how this all works ... I'm a seasoned pro. But for the first time in years I was baffled. Simply dumbfounded. The online mode made (and still makes) no sense to me. And I feel I should comment on a few of them ... since I have a hunch, these will be the reasons I end up not taking the game online after this week.

1.) You are unable to continue playing in the same room when the game is over. It simply spits you back out to the main lobby. The game's FAQ explains that the Optimatch is done to ensure fair fights. So the room that is picked out is, in theory at least, a fair room. So why again are we leaving the room when it's over?? If these are the people that are my equals, then wouldn't I want to stick with these people?? I cannot think of a single reason (let alone advantage) to having to go to the lobby after every game, it simply makes no sense to me.

2.) It takes me three minutes to access a room and then start playing. I actually started timing this and averaged the time together, and it was exactly 3:04 averaged over a couple hours. That's every single game. We established that the game spits you out of every room you go into, so in effect you are forced to wait three minutes EVERY SINGLE TIME you enter a room. The games I was playing were averaging about 5 minutes in length, so if you do the math, there is three minutes for every five minutes of game play. That's a whole lot of just waiting and doing nothing. This is really boring stuff, I might add. Television commercials are more intersting!! Watching the grass grow is more intersting. I'm telling you, if this were offline and I had to wait THREE MINUTES every time the game loaded, it wouldn't take me long to stop playing.

3.) You know, sometimes all I want to do is play Capture the Flag. I'm serious, sometimes that's all I want to do for an hour. The problem is, with this set up you aren't able to choose what kind of game you want to play. They justify this on their website by explaining that they know what modes are fun and the kinds of games we want to play. Well, they haven't been right yet. So far every time I've gone in and tried to play a game I like (such as Capture the Flag), I come out playing three rounds of Oddball and a couple Slayer matches. When you only have so much time to devote to a game these little things start to make you angry.

4.) Technically you CAN play in a room without it booting you ... however, you have to either be invited to one or make one and invite enough people to play (be it 8 or 16). So if you're somebody who doesn't have a lot of friends on their friends list, you really won't have much to do. You could attempt to add people you don't know, but since you only get one game (five minutes) with them, it's hard to figure out who you want to wave down. Furthermore, this notion really undermines the whole idea of the "friends" list. The people I have on my list are REAL friends, they aren't people I just kind of know (or not at all), they are people I want to game with all the time. But Halo 2 rewards you for being a slut and being with people you don't even know. The same can be said about trying to invite people to a party, being that a lot of people will turn you down, I've found it annoying that the game seems to condone spam. That's all we're doing here, it's spamming the other people simply to have a worthwhile couple hours. I simply don't understand why people will put up with spam if it's under the guise of Halo 2.

5.) Even if I had a lot of friends, I play at really strange hours, and it doesn't seem like the game is set up to allow fun to be had by people like me. If it's three in the morning and I am playing (which is common for me, say what you will) most of my friends are asleep, and I'm stuck in the same boat searching for people to play a dedicated game with. This point is short, but no less valid.

6.) If you have not yet played the online function of Halo 2 you are no doubt asking yourself, why doesn't she just go and select a game from the list of servers? Ah, but there's the catch. This game does not have a list of servers, in fact, it doesn't have anything even close to that. You have absolutely no control over where you go, it's basically a quickmatch on a much grander scale. This game does not have any filtering modes, and is completely different from just about every other online game. Mind you, even the worst Xbox Live (or even PlayStation 2) interface is better than this. I'm not asking them to do anything radical here, I just want the same things you get in other online games. If the Halo 2 were a DVD movie, it wouldn't even have a chapter select!!

I know it's Halo 2 and I should be happy just to have it online, but I don't think it gets a pass just because it's Halo. I'm sorry, but online mode is perhaps the most broken thing I have seen this generation. This is Mortal Kombat Advance broken. It's that broken!! I can tell you there is nothing I want more than to stop writing and get on and play some Halo 2 online ... but in the state it's in it's just not fun. If any other game took three minutes to load for every five minutes of play, you too would think hard about playing it. Yet for some odd reason Halo 2 is the one that is above all that?

I'm all for creative online modes, and I don't want them to do away with their matchmaker service. But there should be a balance, we should have both. If I only want to play Capture the Flag, then I should as heck should not have to wait 45 minutes before seeing it. It gives me a headache simply thinking about it. Maye this is a good time to stop. I promise, the next time I write, it will be a review (of a movie or DVD or something, not Halo).

Trisetta Lilly Barnes

Heya Gang.

This has been a really trying week! Let's just say that I've been weathering a lot of bad news lately, and I haven't had much time to dig myself out of the five stages of grief. Having said that, I have done my best to watch a few movies and get out of the funk I find myself in. These two movies are really different, but they show you where my head was all week. Sigh.

Secret Honor - imdb - d. Robert Altman - I had never heard of Secret Honor until Criterion released their special edition last month. Secret Honor is a one-man movie about Richard Nixon drunk and seriously considering suicide. For 90 minutes we listen to Nixon rattle on about everything from JFK to growing up to marriage. Here is a seriously broken man with problems that cannot be repaired in a lifetime. He can barely finish a thought, and as the night goes on, he becomes increasingly angry. But this isn't some 90 minute borefest, this is actually one of the most captivating movies I have ever seen. Philip Baker Hall hammers home one of the most moving performances of the last 50 years, he makes you feel for Nixon but also hate him. The movie is completely fiction, but it's pulled from material he talked about, making for one heck of an interesting experiment. But the fact that it's about Nixon is not the point, half way through you realize that this could be about anybody and the emotions would still be the same. This is a powerful piece of work, and something I could watch multiple times without getting bored. There's an energy here you don't see in most movies, and a performance that is Oscar caliber. A

Shrek 2 - imdb - d. Andrew Adamson - It's probably unfair to go from Secret Honor to Shrek 2, but that's just how this week has been. Believe it or not, I missed this on the big screen, but was still interested in watching it. I enjoyed the first movie, though, I can't say I've watched it since the first time I bought it on DVD. Nonetheless, I was looking forward to seeing this if for no other reason than it would be cute and enjoyable. And sure enough, it was cute AND enjoyable. Being that it made so much at the box office, there's probably no reason to explain what the movie is about, but needless to say it had be entertained for the full 90 minutes. I enjoyed the adult humor, though some of it seemed a little more blatant this time around. The Mission: Impossible riff at the end may be old, but it's the best parody of that movie I've seen ... which is saying something. Still, Shrek 2 isn't something I'll probably go back and watch over and over. It's no Toy Story 2 ... but at least it's not Shark Tale. B

Trisetta Lilly Barnes

Heya Gang.

I was going to do a whole Ghost theme, where I did reviews of all Ghost movies. I'd review Ghost Ship and then Ghost World and maybe Ghost Dog. But I ended up scrapping that idea because I didn't have enough time to watch all three movies again. Instead I wanted to focus on two movies with ex-TV stars. Neither of these choices are wise ones, but one is a whole lot better than the other. Let's just get this over wath ...

Ghost Ship - imdb - d. Steve Beck - After close to a decade on ER, Julianna Margulies was hoping for a popular big screen career. If Ghost Ship is any indication of where her career is going, then Julianna better save some of that NBC money. Ghost Ship tells the story of a salvage crew who stumbles upon a mysterious ocean liner. Of course, just like every other "haunted house", Ghost Ship seems to go through every horror film cliche they can think of. Here we have groups of people split up, and the ghosts showing their true nature in character specific ways; we have loud music popping in at just the right time to scare us; we have fearless characters who barely seem smart enough to get themselves into the bad situation let along out of one. And to make matters worse, towards the end the movie goes into overdrive and delivers an extremely graphic, over-the-top flashback sequence that could have been a deleted scene from Natural Born Killers, but is done here not for laughs or satire, but for gruesome effect. These scenes didn't do much for me, and neither did the sequences of the ghosts calling out for "help". The film just felt too clusmy, too generic to recommend. There are a few effective scares, and I really enjoyed Julianna's strong roll here, but there's just not enough here to keep you entertained for the full two hours. And the ending may just be the cheesiest finale I have seen in years, just pathetic. C-

From Justin to Kelly - imdb - d. Robert Iscove - Laugh all you want, but I actually sat through this musical. Before anybody hits a high note, let's get a few things out of the way: I have never actively watched American Idol, I don't care much for musicals, and nothing about From Justin to Kelly made me want to watch it. But it was on HBO, and I decided to record it anyway. For me to spend time talking about the plot seems kind of against the point, since the whole movie is about a boy wanting to hook up with a girl at Spring Break. The story is just there to get us from one song to the next, hopefully without boring too many people along the way. A musical lives and dies on the music, and frankly, most of the tracks here are unlistenable. Neither Kelly or Justin have particularly good voices, and they seem to be belting out the most generic pop ballads they could think of, which most of the time seems to have little to nothing to do with the script. It's almost more entertaining trying to figure out when the song and dance numbers are going to show up, since they happen almost at random. I'm sure there are worse musicals out there, but this has to be one of the most pointless. If this is what Spring Break has devolved into, then I'd rather be alone. F

Trisetta Lilly Barnes

Heya Gang.

A lot of people ask me why I only look at good movies. Well, usually it's because they are movies I have bought, and I generally only buy movies I want ... not the crap that would get a C, D, or F. But there's something to be said about always looking at good movies, especially when so many of them get an A-. So maybe I should talk about a couple of movies I watched this week on HBO, a couple of complete duds. As always, feel free to send me your thoughts, but I warn you, I hated these movies!

Cabin Fever - imdb - d. Eil Roth - I hate Cabin Fever ... I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate it! Here is a movie that just can't figure out whether it wants to be a scary horror films or a parody of all those scary horror films. It starts out promising enough ... no, wait, it doesn't ... it starts out just as cliche as any horror film, with a bunch of 20-somethings all getting a cabin so they could party. At first you think this is going to be a parody of all those movies that start out exactly the same way ... but it's not. Soon a diseased man showes up at the door demanding medical aid, only to have the kids shoot him and set him on fire. Of course, little do these kids know that they will soon meet the same fate, since the disease is in the drinking water. As the weekend goes on they each start coming down with the disease. What does the disease do exactly? Well, it makes you look all gross and then kills you. That's it. Once you realize that everybody is going to die, there is very little reason for you to continue to watch the movie ... especially since they never actually resolve anything, and the ending only acts as a way to make a culturally racist joke. There are supporting characters, such as a young cop who seems even more out of place than the kids, but they aren't fleshed out, and the movie seems to use them as punch lines more than a few times. As a gross out movie, Cabin Fever fails miserably, since it's not even remotely disturbing or original. This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. F

National Security - imdb - d. Dennis Dugan - National Security is exactly what it looks like, a buddy "cop" film with all the cliches and trappings. It's a humorless exercise in generic film making, and is a complete waste of time. But it's not the cliches that annoy me, it's the forced racial disharmony between the two stars. After Steve Zahn, a fairly straigh laced, conservative cop, is caught on tape "beating" on a black man (Martin Lawrence), he is sent to jail, loses his job, and splits up with his girlfriend. Months later (and 40 minutes into this snorefest) Zahn returns to his real life and tries getting things back to normal. Before long Zahn and Lawrence find each other, and reluctantly team up to solve a big old mystery that involves crooked cops, and other rip offs from far superior buddy cop films. The problem I have with this movie is that it's just not funny. Not a single joke worked on me, and at some points, I almost wish they would stop going for the joke and just take it all seriously. Furthermore, it didn't take long to grow bitter with all the forced racial anger between the two stars. Over the last 20 years we've seen more than enough movies with a black guy and a white guy who just can't get along because of their race, but here it just doesn't seem natural. By the end of the movie I was split between wanting no racial tension or funnier racial tension ... either way, this movie only went through the motions. D

Trisetta Lilly Barnes

Heya Gang.

Sorry for the delay, but it's been a busy, busy week. Too many games, too much news, and too much real life stuff going on all at once, but I'm back with some good movies that I'm sure will net me a few angry responses. Anyway, maybe it's time to just get down to the nitty gritty, down to some talk about movies.

Fahrenheit 9/11 - imdb - d. Michael Moore - Did you know that Fahrenheit 9/11 is an extremely controversial movie? So, no matter what I say in this review, I'm going to ruffle the feathers of more than a few people. The only way I can go about reviewing this is to first and foremost explain that I am biased towards Michael Moore's cause. I really want Bush fired this November, and if Fahrenheit 9/11 can help, I'm all for it. But that doesn't really talk about the movie, and I can't review something based entirely on my political leanings.

Fahrenheit 9/11 is a great piece of propaganda. It doesn't pretend to take a balanced look at what Bush has done in the four years of his administration, nor does it try to sugar coat everything. It is what it is, a partisan look at why a good deal of people hate this President. It starts with a brief recap of the election in 2000, and then quickly moves on to the 9/11 attacks. Though we never see the attacks, this movie does entertain the notion that this tragedy has been used for personal gain. Here's a President that took us to war with Iraq under the pretext that they had something to do with 9/11, even though there was almost no evidence to back that up. Here's a President who has been able to take away civil liberties, all in the name of fighting terrorism. Granted, you might not agree with the points Moore makes throughout the film, but he does an excellent job of using pictures and video to do the talking rather than narration. The movie is never quite as creative or fun as Moore's first film, Roger & Me, but Fahrenheit 9/11 is extremely moving and effective. Even if you're not a fan of Moore or documentaries in general, there are a lot of moments in F9/11 that have to be seen to be believed. A-

(If you intend to use the talk back and criticize my review, I suggest you first visit Michael Moore's Warroom, which answers a good number of the complaints leveled against the movie. I am politically active, so if you do come at me, please have your material ready and researched. Having said all that, feel free to post away.)

God Said, "Ha!" - imdb - d. Julia Sweeney - As a teenager I would always stay up later than my parents wanted me to and watch the late night shows. One of my favorites was Saturday Night Live, which in the early 1990s was just starting to get good again. One of my favorite skits as a little girl was the It's Pat character, lovingly played by Julia Sweeney. I always liked Julia, and wanted her to have more work, but It's Pat always seemed to be the only thing she ever did. I always wondered what happened to her; I'd see her in direct to video movies occasionally and see her on a TV show every now and a again, but it was never regular work. And then I recorded God Said, "Ha!" off of IFC and all my questions were answered. This is a 90 minute spoken word written and performed by Julia herself. I was expecting it to be a comedy, and while it's humorous at times, it's really a story about a family and them dealing with cancer. After Julia's brother Mike is diagnosed with cancer, he (and the parents) decide to move into Julia's new one-person house. Problem is, as the months went on, thing started to get weird with them all living there. Tragedy strikes again when Julia is diagnosed with cancer. There are some laughs in the film, but it's mostly a heartbreaking look at one woman's struggles with things out of her control. Unlike a lot of ex-Saturday Night Live cast members, Julia has a way of actually telling an interesting, coherent story that makes you laugh and makes you cry (I'd love to see Adam Sandler try doing that). It wasn't what I expected, but it was still an amazing movie. B+

Trisetta Lilly Barnes

Heya Gang.

Here we are going into the week and I am still doing my happy dance. If you're having a hard time picturing the happy dance, just think of all those old Peanuts cartoons and you'll know what I'm talking about. Things seem to be good, nothing going to break my stride. I can't wait for tuesday, and there's yet another debate on Friday ... looking forward to that one, too. This is going to be a good week for wonks like myself.

BAADASSSSS! - imdb - d. Mario Van Peebles - First and foremost, how can you resist a movie called BAADASSSSS!??? And who would have known it's one of the best movies of the year, not to mention one of the best films about making a movie. This is a biopic of Melvin Van Peebles, the writer/director/actor of the influential 1970s film Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song. This film watches Melvin attempt to get funding, attempt to make a film, and attempt to get it into theaters. Unlike most biopics, BAADASSSSS! is woven together by son Mario Van Peebles, who was 13 when the film was being made and on hand for most of the key moments of his dads life. With the help of the real people that made Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song, Mario has turned what could have been nothing more than a sappy love letter into one of the best movies I've ever seen. It's worth mentioning that it has just about every actor you can think of in it, too. There must be a cast of thousands here, and a lot of familiar faces from the 1970s (even Adam West). Even if you've never heard of Sweet Sweetback and don't know how to sing his song, BAADASSSSS! is worth checking out. It's hard to imagine a movie that better portrays the struggle of the era, the racism, and the triumph. A

Yup, that's it. I'm only looking at one today ... but it's a real good one, so it's worth just looking at by itself. I have a few more films to get through tonight, but I might get sidetracked with the shows I still have on my ReplayTV. You'll see me soon, that's one thing you can bank on.

Trisetta Lilly Barnes

Heya Gang.

What a great week it's been! The news has been good, the debates went well, the weather has been fantastic, and I don't have anything to do. Maybe it's time for me to write more about what I watched last night and this morning, explain the visuals that flashed in front of my eyes. But before I do that, I know a lot of people read these posts (more than I ever thought would). I get he occasional comment in my mail box, and sometimes somebody responds directly. I just want it to be known, that not only do I look forward to hearing your thoughts, but I enjoy them as well. I am the kind of girl that will defend her opinions, and maybe, just maybe, we can find some common ground. So, having said all that, perhaps it's time you read the review, watch the movie, and then respond to the post. It would be super great. Thanks. Now, on with the show ...

Waking Life - imdb - d. Richard Linklater - Remember those things I wrote about Slacker a few days ago? Well, all of that applies to Waking Life, the animated film by writer/director Richard Linklater. If you absolutely need a plot, Waking Life is about a young boy who drifts through a dream-like state finding different people to chat with. Like Slacker, Waking Life is nothing more than an excuse to bring up a lot of different topics. If you don't care for what they're talking about, or find yourself uninterested in the topics, you probably won't care for the movie in general. However, I found it fun to watch all the way through. It features a number of cameos from other Linklater films, including a scene with the cast of Before Sunrise (and its sequel, Before Sunset). The animation is very unique, sometimes looking photo realistic, while other times looking more like the traditional comic books we've grown up on. But if you're not interested in what is being discussed, chances are you won't care much for the animation, no matter how odd it eventually becomes. I enjoyed it, and feel better having seen it. A-

Dancer in the Dark - imdb - d. Lars Von Trier - Going into this review I didn't really know where to start. Should I mention that I generally hate musicals? Or that I am in love with Bjork? How about that I've been a fan of almost all of Lar Von Trier since his very early work? As you can tell, I couldn't decide, so I opted to just mention it all up front. This is a musical, but not a traditional musical. It features Bjork, an imigrant to Washington State in the 1960s. She's raising a child and working two jobs to keep everything afloat. Her secret is that she's quickly going blind, and in the next few years she will be completely without sight. As she drifts into darkness, she finds the sounds of real life (machines clanging at work, sounds of kids at play outside, etc.) help her go into a surreal musical number. Since the film is headed by Bjork, none of the songs are traditional Broadway, but rather far more experimental and intersting. The film uses Lars Van Trier's pantented Dogme style of filmmaking, which involves hand held digital cameras, lots of edits/cuts, and no incidental music. The musical segments seem to throw that theory out the window, but they're also quite effective, with a lot of good music. It's also fun to look at how much Germany (where they shot) looks like Washington State (where it's set). Not everybody is going to like it, but it's well worth your time and effort. A-

Trisetta Lilly Barnes

Heya Gang.

Well, well, well ... what a difference a day makes. I was all worried about how things were going to turn out yesterday, and all this time, I had absolutely nothing to worry about! The news has been pretty good all day, and things are starting to look up. Maybe I should talk about some uplifting films, films that put a smile on your face. Nah ... I'm going to talk about two films that are really polar opposites. They are both good, but if you don't like one, you might like the other ... or maybe not. Either way, this is what I watched ...

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - imdb - d. Michel Gondry - Eternal Sunshine is the kind of movie that is easy for me to gush over. It's interesting, full of surprises, and unique all the way through. In fact, the only thing you can compare this movie to are the music videos Gondry has directed -- for artists like Bjork, Chemical Brothers, and Massive Attack -- and the other films that Charles Kaufman wrote (like Adaptation and Being John Malkovich). It's about a guy (Jim Carrey) who meets a quirky girl (Kate Winslet). They have a torrid love affair, but soon things go sour, and the girl decides to have all memory of the boy erased. No really, that's what she does! Jim Carrey hunts down this doctor, and decides that he needs to get even, which involves going through the process and having her erased. After that things get weird. The movie works on a couple different tracks, one with the doctors and assistants (played by Mary Jane, a hobbit, and some other guy) and another with Carrey actually trying to "save" his memories from being erased. The movie would be weird even without the Michal Gondry touches, but his style has an almost intoxicating feel to it. Nothing is quite as it seems and you'll likely need to watch it a few times to fully appreciate all the detail that went into the world they "populate". Without a doubt, this is one of the best movies of the year. A-

Welcome to the Dollhouse - imdb - d. Todd Solondz - Welcome to the Dollhouse is an unflinching look at a young, unattractive girl who grows up in a rough environment. At school she is picked on and threatened, at home she is constantly second banana to her younger, MUCH more attractive sister, and now even her "me" time is being invaded. But this isn't a tragedy, it's actually pretty funny. Like all of Solondz other films, Dollhouse isn't about characters getting revenge or finding their place in life, he's just interested in the messed up things that people occasionally have to deal with. We feel for the girl, but in the next breath find it hard to justify any of her actions. She's as frustrating as youth is, yet embodies a lot of things all of us dealt with growing up. Rarely do we rave about performances by young women, but Heather Matarazzo's performance here was worthy of an Oscar nod. Don't be misled by the kiddie exterior, what lies inside is very much adult, and something that will stick with you for a long time to come. A

Heya Gang.

It's debate day ... but we're not going to talk about that right now. Oh sure, I'll be watching it, but this isn't the place to talk about it. Now, if things look bad tomorrow, maybe this will be a place to talk about it, but for now, this isn't the time.

Slacker - imdb - d. Richard Linklater - On my first attempt to buy Slacker: Criterion Collection the useless Best Buy guy couldn't find it anywhere. He looked all around the store, but concluded that they didn't have it ... which is odd, because it's one of his favorite movies. He said he'd take my number and give me a call when it came in, and sure enough, no more than three days later he let me know my copy of Slacker was available. When I arrived I found the guy all happy to see me, proud that he had remembered to save the movie for me. He then preceeded to explain that there are two different versions, a cheap version and the Criterion Collection version. He then handed me the VERY non-Criterion Collection version of the 2002 movie Slackers! I was actually a little offended that he would think I was looking for such a piece of crap movie, one with absolutely no redeeming qualities. I thanked him, and then decided to buy it online. Thankfully I found it at Fred Meyer, and for much cheaper than what Best Buy was going to order it for.

If you haven't seen Slacker, it's less a story and more an exploration of a bunch of people and their interesting exchanges. It starts with a guy who, quite literally, should have stayed on the bus, and from there moves from person to person. These people aren't connected, they merely find themselves walking by, standing around, or driving next to people that we were following. It has a dreamlike feel to it, and most of the characters do nothing more than talk. Yet, it's one of the most interesting movies of the 1990s, and offers a lot of really interesting topics you can bring up at your next party. The Criterion Collection DVD is amazing, too, filled with two discs of cool extras, we well as a couple never-before-released-on-DVD movies ... which I'm sure I'll get to in the next couple of days. A-

Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back - imdb - d. Irvin Kershner - Since getting the Star Wars set, I've done what I can to watch one of those movies a day. After a so-so reaction to A New Hope, I'm happy to report that I had a MUCH better time with the Empire Strikes Back. Oh sure, it's still a little silly, but it's a much more complex film with a far better story. The writing is a little better, too, something I contribute to non-George Lucas type people who wrote the film. It's nice to see the muppet Yoda again, just one of the many things I didn't like about the new Star Wars movies. The truth is, you've all seen the movie and you know what you think of it, so there's no real reason to even discuss it. I'll just go back to waiting for the debates, only another hour to go ... A-

Quick Note: I actually will have more to talk about tomorrow, as I plan on watching a bunch of the films I bought this last week. It's nice, I can usually start a movie at midnight, and then by the time it gets over I'll be able to watch the Al Franken Show. Anyway ... I'm going to be looking at the new Mario van Peebles movie, which has a name I might not be able to say here on GameSpot. I'll have to look into it.