Thursday's Three Line Reviews

Thursday's Three Line Reviews are back!! I've been so busy with the end of school, summer, and putting in a swimming pool. Enjoying the pool. Hating the pool when we had a weekload of problems. Fixing the pool. Then enjoying it again.

So, basically...I had very little time for watching movies. Plus I'm trying to finish a book I am reading...and I have turned into my mother when it comes to reading. I used to be able to polish off a whole novel over night. Now...I read two pages and I nod off.

But, I am starting to catch up with my movie watching. I am also trying to watch movies on my "Movies every Movie Junkie should see" list. This is a list of movies that are classics or people rave about or had been nominated and I had never seen them. I can now cross off Shawshank Redemption, Training Day, and Rudy from that list.

Okay...enough Rambling. Here they are. This week's Thursday's Three Line Reviews:

PUBLIC ENEMIES-
Every watch a movie and just think "eh"? This is one of them. You would think a movie about John Dillinger and gangsters, starring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale and directed by Michael Mann would be exciting, but it wasn't.

DEAR JOHN-
This movie starts off slow, but has so much promise. Then it fails, big time. I love Amanda Seyfried, but I got more joy over the fact that Henry Thomas was in it.

TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE-
Special effects and Kristin Stewart's acting improved in this movie. With all the millions the TWILIGHT franchise is making, you would think they would hire better make-up and wig people because the wigs were beyond obvious, the pale vampire faces looked like pancake makeup from 1932, and Edward needs some serious grooming around the eyebrow and sideburn areas. Bryce Dallas Howard shined as the recasted Victoria and I wish there was more of her in the movie.

SHUTTER ISLAND-
Perhaps my biggest disappointment in the movies I've seen in the last week or so. Long, gray, and dreary, which wouldn't be so bad if I hadn't figured it all out within the first ten minutes of the movie. Leonardo DiCaprio is brilliant, but I can never get past his baby face to believe he is a man of maturity and the best thing about this movie was the small performance from Jackie Earl Haley.

SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION-
The best movie I've seen this week. Everything about it was brilliant from the acting to the directing to the story itself. Stephen King rules as a non-horror storyteller and Morgan Freeman just rocks.

TRAINING DAY-
I really wanted to like this movie and kept waiting for a big twist that never came. It wasn't a bad movie and was enjoyable, but Ethan Hawke always irks me for some reason and it's hard to get past that. Thought Denzel Washington was great, but out of all his roles over the years, I am not sure this is the role he should have taken the Oscar home for.

TAKING WOODSTOCK-
A semi-fictional account of how Woodstock came to be, this movie has it's moments. Some parts were witty, Liev Schreiber makes one ugly woman, and Imelda Staunton shined in this movie. A bit slow at times and I would have liked to see some of the concert itself or interacting with some of the stars of the concert.

COLLEGE-
It was late and I couldn't sleep, so that is my only excuse for watching this garbage. I'm all for funny, sophomoric, drinking movies, but this one crosses the line from sophomoric to moronic. This movie also gets my vote for the most annoying movie character EVER: Carter Scott, played by Andrew Caldwell (who might just get my vote for most annoying actor ever).

RUDY-
Rudy's dedication to Notre Dame boderlined obsessive, psychotic, stalkerish behavior and I kept thinking some one really needed to get that boy some help. However, by the end of the movie I was crying. Sean Astin is always sweet in most of his roles, but Charles Dutton steals this movie.

LUCAS-
A sweet classic from the 80's where the nerd and football captain fall for the pretty girl. I'm pretty sure this movie is the movie that started the trend of the "slow clap" in movies (Rudy included). Most likely Corey Haim's best role, he was adorable as the nerdy, misfit, title character and Charlie Sheen was great as the jock with a heart.