Battle Royale II (2003)

Number Rolled: 80

Movie Name/Year: Battle Royale II (2003)

Genre: Action

Length: 133 minutes

Rating: NR

Production Companies: Fukasaku-gumi, GAGA, Nippon Shuppan Hanbai (Nippan) K.K., Sega Corporation, TV Asahi, Toei Company, Tokyo FM Broadcasting Co., WoWow

Producers: Kenta Fukasaku, Kimio Kataoka, Hikaru Kawase, Masumi Okada

Director: Kenta Fukasaku, Kinji Fukasaku

Writer: Kenta Fukasaku, Norio Kida, Koushun Takami

Actors: Tatsuya Fujiwara, Ai Maeda, Shugo Oshinari, Ayana Sakai, Haruka Suenaga, Yuma Ishigaki, Miyuki Kanbe, Masaya Kikawada, Yoko Maki, Yuki Ito, Natsuki Kato, Aki Maeda, Riki Takeuchi, Takeshi Kitano, Masahiko Tsugawa

Shuya Nanahara may have escaped the games, but it certainly wasn’t unscathed. As a result, his anger has led him to start a war between the children and the adults. He’s a known terrorist now, responsible for explosive crimes. Meanwhile, Shiori Kitano believes she knows who Shuya really is. Her anger leads her to step in to the second Battle Royale in order to take him down.

Battle Royale II is a little older than the majority of the movies I work with, but I had to add it to the list anyway. The first movie in the series amazed me and that led me to voluntarily break my “rules.” Unfortunately, it wasn’t really worth it.

The plot seemed like it had a lot of potential, in theory. In practice, I was pretty surprised.

Although the movie started out basically the same and had a similar amount of gore, that was really all it had to do with the first movie.

The plot was jumpy, difficult to see as a cohesive story. On top of that, the main character kept changing between Shuya, Shiori and Takuma, not fluidly either. That made it extremely difficult to muster up any emotion for any of the characters at all. In fact, since all the characters reacted the exact same way to every stimulus, they were all kind of interchangeable.

Add to that the ridiculous acting of the main villain and it’s almost difficult to watch. The only reason the score wasn’t lower is because there were a few scenes that spoke to me.

Battle Royale II needed to be about an hour shorter with a lot more substance.

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 30%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 29%

Netflix’s Prediction for Me – 3.8/5

Trust-the-Dice Score – 1.5/5

The Random Rating: R

Movie Trailer:

Love Actually (2003)

Number Rolled: 45

Movie Name/Year: Love Actually (2003)

Genre: Romance

Length: 134 minutes

Rating: R

Director: Richard Curtis

Writer: Richard Curtis

Actors: Bill Nighy, Gregor Fisher, Colin Firth, Liam Neeson, Emma Thompson, Kris Marshall, Heike Makatsch, Martin Freeman, Joanna Page, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Andrew Lincoln, Keira Knightley, Hugh Grant, Nina Sosanya, Martine McCutcheon, Laura Linney, Abdul Salis, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Alan Rickman, Rodrigo Santoro, Lucia Moniz, Billy Bob Thornton, Rowan Atkinson, Elisha Cuthbert, January Jones, Olivia Olson, Claudia Schiffer, Shannon Elizabeth, Denise Richards

Normally I start a blog with a basic synopsis of how the movie begins. “Love Actually” doesn’t have a single clear beginning. In fact, the film has ten different beginnings. Although it isn’t technically an anthology, “Love Actually” takes ten different stories and ties them together in the end. Not unlike some movies that followed it like: “New York, I Love You” or “He’s Just Not That Into You.”

Since this movie came out I’ve heard nothing but good things. Critics and audience members both seemed to love it, but I resisted. I don’t mind the occasional romance story, but I tend to like it more with the added plotline involving magic, explosions, assassins, horror, or just generally dragons of some sort – literal or figurative. The way this film was portrayed to me had me believing it was serious and heavily on the realistic side. In other words, I completely got the wrong idea. It’s actually more of a romantic comedy and, though it does have some basis in reality, it’s not stuck on a serious note. Evidence of it has been removed from the film for the most part, but one of the characters is even supposed to be an angel; an actual heaven-born angel. That piece of trivia makes all the difference to me.

When I was a young child, I was really sick and not able to do too much. My mother would bring home videos from a store where they sold the tapes 10 for $10. I fell in love with the stories that helped me escape reality. It’s probably why I don’t tend to go for heavy dramas or serious romances.

I digress. “Love Actually” was a lot more simple and relatable than I was led to believe. However, there was a lot of fluff and a lot of characters. If you just glance over the credits I listed above, you’ll see a LOT of BIG, familiar names. That’s because there were a lot of main characters. In fact, I’m still having trouble remembering what name goes to what character. I can’t tell you whether or not that’ll be a problem for you, but I can tell you I couldn’t put a name to a face but I still enjoyed the stories and the way they twisted together.

Richard Curtis pulled off a huge success for his first step into directing and, I hate the term, he raised the bar for himself. I haven’t seen his other two directions, but my expectations will be very high when I do.

Netflix’s Prediction for Me – 3.8/5

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 63%

Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 73%

Trust-the-Dice Score – 4/5

P.S. Netflix gave me the following movies in the “more like this” section of screen for “Love Actually”: “New York, I Love You,” “I Don’t Know How She Does It,” “Mona Lisa Smile,” “Bachelorette,” “The Rebound,” “What to Expect When You’re Expecting,” “She’s All That,” “The Kids Are All Right.” Personally, I think their database is a little screwed because I’ve seen 6/8 of those movies and the only one that actually belongs in that “more like this” category is “New York, I Love You.”

Movie Trailer: 

A Guy Thing (2003)

Number Rolled: 41

Movie Name/Year: A Guy Thing (2003)

Genre: Comedy

Length: 101 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Director: Chris Koch

Writer: Greg Glienna, Pete Schwaba, Matt Tarses, Bill Wrubel

Actors: Jason Lee, Julia Stiles, Selma Blair, James Brolin, Shawn Hatosy, Lochlyn Munro, Diana Scarwid, David Koechner, Julie Hagerty, Thomas Lennon, Jackie Burroughs, Jay Brazeau, Matthew Walker, Fred Ewanuick, Lisa Calder, Dan Joffre, Michael Teigen

Paul is getting married to Karen in a week and his bachelor party is going well. Liquor and girls are flowing, and he’s simply doing his best to behave. Of course, it’s all shot straight to hell when he wakes up the following day with a woman who is not his wife-to-be.

My first thought when I was starting to gather the information for this movie was: “They really needed four writers to put together this crap?” I can’t tell you how much of a stretched out cliché this movie was. Everything you think is going to happen will, in fact, it will likely happen exactly how you picture it. So, watch the first fifteen minutes of this movie, then close your eyes and let your imagination roam. I’m going to go ahead and believe whatever you come up with will be better than this nauseating display of bad comedy and worse romance.

I like Jason Lee, but this is definitely a black mark in his career.

Netflix’s Prediction for Me – 3.8/5

Overall Opinion – 1/5

Movie Trailer: 

Holes (2003)

Number Rolled: 74

Movie Name/Year: Holes (2003)

Genre: Comedy

Length: 117 minutes

Rating: PG

Director: Andrew Davis

Writer: Louis Sachar

Actors: Sigourney Weaver, Jon Voight, Tim Blake Nelson, Shia LaBeouf, Dule Hill, Jake M. Smith, Byron Cotton, Khleo Thomas, Brenden Jefferson, Miguel Castro, Max Kasch, Noah Poletiek, Zane Holtz, Steven Kozlowski, Siobhan Fallon, Henry Winkler, Nathan Davis, Rick Fox, Nicole Pulliam, Michael Cavanaugh, Eartha Kitt, Damien Luvara, Patricia Arquette, Scott Plank, Allan Kolman, Louis Sachar, Eric Pierpoint, Allison Smith

Stanley Yelnats IV was not a criminal. Of course, once the courts convicted him for stealing Sweet Feet’s shoes from a homeless shelter charity drive, he was never able to convince anyone of that fact. As punishment, he was sent to a juvenile work camp where he was sentenced to spend his time digging holes.

I have not read the book, but I think I’ve seen the movie about a hundred times. I was beyond happy to see it come onto Netflix. One of the things that impresses me about “Holes” is that the screenplay was solely credited to the same person who wrote the book. I have to imagine that means that it either deviates very little from the novel or that the author was able to allow deviation that did not take away from what he envisioned when writing it. From my experience, it’s rare for there to be no other names on the screenplay credits.

It was a few years back, maybe 2005, when I first saw this movie. It’s one of those films I, personally, could watch over and over again without ever getting bored of it. I think the actors did wonderfully, the script was imaginative and I even liked the way the soundtrack fits.

Though it’s labeled as a children & family movie, don’t let that dissuade you from watching it if you don’t happen to have kids. Personally, I think the story is something that targets many people of many different ages without actually being specifically geared toward a certain age group. I’m also not fond of the comedy genre it’s labeled with. I’d most likely go with drama if anyone asked me. However, I do have trouble accepting the “poisonous lizard” idea that was utilized in “Holes”. Watching people run away from painted bearded dragons does point to comedy a bit, at least for me.

It was a great Disney movie. I believe it stands up to a lot of their live-action classics.

Netflix’s Prediction for Me – 4.3/5

Overall Opinion – 4.5/5

P.S. Based on a book of the same name by Louis Sachar

P.P.S. There was a short scene after the English credits followed by some Spanish credits.

Movie Trailer: 

American Wedding (2003)

Number Rolled: 27

Movie Name/Year: American Wedding (2003)

Genre: Comedy

Length: 96 minutes

Rating: UR

Director: Jesse Dylan

Writer: Adam Herz

Actors: Jason Biggs, Seann William Scott, Alyson Hannigan, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Thomas Ian Nicholas, January Jones, Eugene Levy, Molly Cheek, Deborah Rush, Fred Willard, Angela Paton, Eric Allan Kramer, Amanda Swisten, Nikki Ziering, Jennifer Coolidge

Jim has been with Michelle for roughly three years. Having been to hell and back with her (“American Pie” and “American Pie 2”), he’s ready to pop the question. After a rather typical screw up of his, involving his dad, she says yes and they get to planning the big day. When his anti-friend from high school, Stifler, is stiffed on the invitation, they find out how badly he wants to be there.

Although this is the third installment of the “American Pie” series, it does have the capability to stand on its own as an immature romantic comedy. It may never stand up to the best comedies in the world, or even hold a candle to them, but it’s not bad. When you’re looking for nothing but a cheap and easy laugh – maybe at the end of a horrible day – this is the kind of movie you might want to look for. It doesn’t make you think. It doesn’t teach you a lesson; it just grosses you out and makes you giggle however it possibly can. That’s the whole point of this film, and it’s relatively brilliant at its raunchy slapstick format.

The actors are good for this kind of movie. Of course, most of them wouldn’t have been able to pull off more serious movies with this level of acting, Jason Biggs being the exception. Throughout the first three films of the series, he’s the only actor that consistently reached me. The problem was, even though the trailer made it look like he was the main character, he wasn’t. Stifler was the main character and I’m not the biggest fan of Seann William Scott. In fact, the mere sound of his voice makes me twitch.

If you liked the first two “American Pie’s,” than you’ll most likely enjoy this one. I don’t much see the point in the ones that follow, nor do I have any interest in seeing them. I think American Wedding is a good closer for the series.

Overall Opinion – 3.5/5

The Random Rating: R (for implied sex scenes and prolonged nudity)

Movie Trailer: 

S.W.A.T. (2003)

Number Rolled: 6

Movie Name/Year: S.W.A.T. (2003)

Genre: Action & Adventure

Length: 117 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Director: Clark Johnson

Writer: Robert Hamner, Ron Mita, Jim McClain, David Ayer, David McKenna

Actors: Samuel L Jackson, Colin Farrell, Michelle Rodriguez, LL Cool J, Josh Charles, Jeremy Renner, Brian Van Holt, Olivier Martinez, Reg E. Cathey, Larry Poindexter, Page Kennedy, Domenick Lombardozzi, James DuMont, Denis Arndt, Lindsey Ginter, Lucinda Jenney, E. Roger Mitchell

Jim Street’s partner, Brian Gamble, is a little impulsive. During a S.W.A.T. mission, he goes against orders and accidentally shoots a hostage in the attempt to shoot her captive. The heat falls and both Jim and his partner are taken out of S.W.A.T. altogether. Jim opts to take a much less glamorous job in the gun cage, while Brian gets rid of his shield completely and leaves the force. We follow Jim as he’s picked up by a returning Sergeant and brought back onto the force. After being tested and going through a few low-key missions, his unit is called to escort a highly dangerous international criminal to a federal prison.

I found this movie very fun to watch. It’s everything you expect out of an action/adventure; big explosions, lots of guns, etc. To be honest, I enjoyed it at a higher level than I scored it. There was just a single glaring issue I couldn’t ignore when the credits rolled.

To be frank, the storyline was stupid. I didn’t realize until I did my research after the movie that it was based off an old TV show (of the same name). That fact explained so much. For as entertaining as the movie was, the story felt patch-worked. If it had been broken up into around three episodes of a TV series, it would have made so much more sense. Instead, they tried to fit too much into it and nothing really flowed as well as it could have.

I have no problem, however, with the actors. Even if I ignore the fact that I’m a huge fan of a couple of them, everyone else was spectacular, too. With big names like Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner and Colin Farrell, though, the only surprise would have been if they’d dropped the ball. Personally, I think the sun shines out of Michelle Rodriguez’s ass, so I’ll refrain from commenting on her at all.

In the end, it’s more enjoyable than it should be.

Overall Opinion – 3.5/5

Carolina (2003)

Number Rolled: 1

Movie Name/Year: Carolina (2003)

Genre: Romance

Length: 97 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Director: Marleen Gorris

Writer: Katherine Fugate

Actors: Julia Stiles, Shirley MacLaine, Alessandro Nivola, Randy Quaid, Edward Atterton, Azura Skye, Mika Boorem, Jennifer Coolidge, Alan Thicke

Carolina is the eldest of two sisters raised by her grandmother. Dreaming of getting out of her ‘white trash’ life with the family, Carolina gets a job in television and attempts to throw herself into a world different from what she grew up with. With her best friend, Albert, by her side, she faces a difficult dating record, job woes and the ever-present embarrassment from her family.

Pretty much every single step of this movie is predictable. At least, the main plot points are. As soon as the movie begins, the viewer knows exactly what direction the romance aspect of the film will take and, after meeting the family of the main character, the drama becomes paint-by-number as well. What made me enjoy the film were the parts between the major aspects. Between the script, the character development, and the acting, I not only found the movie watchable, I found it highly enjoyable. Not every movie is going to break new ground and Carolina doesn’t even try. However, it traveled its well used road in an interesting and enthralling way.

Julia Stiles sold me her slightly messed up, doormat of a character really well and Shirley MacLaine is – simply put – a pro. MacLaine could pretty much rock any role thrown her way, even this eccentric, meddling, lower class, loving, grandmother.

Carolina does its best to be honest, and it succeeds for most of the movie. I’m having some trouble getting past the ending, though. It felt rushed. It was as though the director knew she was running out of time and just forgot to film a few scenes.

With the flaws and merits both taken into account, I still really liked this movie. Funny, sweet, kind of embarrassing and down-to-earth, I’ll likely watch Carolina again in the future.

Overall Opinion – 3.5/5

Mona Lisa Smile (2003)

Number Rolled: 61

Movie Name/Year: Mona Lisa Smile (2003)

Genre: Drama

Length: 119 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Director: Mike Newell

Writer: Lawrence Konner, Mark Rosenthal

Actors: Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Stiles, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ginnifer Goodwin, Dominic West, Juliet Stevenson, Marcia Gay Harden, John Slattery, Marian Seldes, Jennie Eisenhower, Laura Allen, Topher Grace, Jordan Bridges

Katherine Watson arrives at Wellesley, an all girl college, to teach art history and believing she is going to change the world. Set between the years of 1953 and 1954, there’s still a lot of change set to occur in the future for women; in that era, however, it’s marriage that the women are almost solely after. Katherine gets close to a few of her students and attempts to make a difference in their lives. In some cases the result is favorable, others not so much.

I have to be honest here, this movie just kind of was. I don’t think I’m the target audience. I got it. I liked the message but the story didn’t do anything for me. It was a really long 119 minutes from my perspective. That being said, there’s not much I can comment on.

I thought the actors were great. They likely did exactly what they were instructed to do and then some. I’m a huge fan of the quirky goddess herself, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and thought she was brilliant. Julia Roberts was also amazing. However, I had some issues with Julia Stiles strange accent. I also thought Ginnifer Goodwin just played an old fashioned version of her character from “He’s Just Not That Into You,” of course, “Mona Lisa Smile” came first so it might just be an issue of type-casting. Something about Kirsten Dunst bugged me, but I can’t put my finger on it, which is strange, because I usually think she’s alright. If I figure it out I’ll put it in a P.S. on the post at a later date.

All in all, this movie wasn’t for me. I understand why people would like, or even love, it. I’m not one of them. I didn’t hate it either. It was just kind of there.

Overall Opinion – 2.5/5

How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)

Number Rolled: 75

Movie Name/Year: How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003)

Genre: Comedy

Length: 115 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Director: Donald Petrie

Writer: Michele Alexander, Jeannie Long, Kristen Buckley, Brian Regan, Burr Steers

Actors: Kate Hudson, Matthew McConaughey, Kathryn Hahn, Annie Parisse, Adam Goldberg, Thomas Lennon, Michael Michele, Shalom Harlow, Robert Klein, Bebe Neuwirth

I hate when this happens. On Wednesday I watched and blogged on “She’s All That.” And, look, I’ve randomly rolled for it again! Ok, so “How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days” is pretty much the same movie, without the ugly duckling part, for a slightly older audience and with different actors.

This movie stars Kate Hudson as Andie Anderson, a writer who wants more than the ‘How To’ column she’s writing, for a fashion magazine. After witnessing a friend go through a very predictable break-up, she pitches the idea to write a story on how to lose a guy in ten days. Meanwhile, Matthew McConaughey, playing Ben Barry, is trying to land a huge diamond deal at his advertising agency and he’ll get the deal if he can make a girl fall in love with him by the day of his company’s party.

If you don’t already know the ending to this movie from the above blurb, then you’ve never watched a chick flick in your life.

It’s got nearly the EXACT recipe of “She’s All That,” but I feel like they accomplished the goal a touch better. Seemed a little less forced, or maybe it was because it was aimed at my demographic and I ate it up, whichever.

I am a fan of Kate Hudson and I don’t outright hate Matthew McConaughey. However, I do have the same problem with McConaughey that I have with Katherine Heigl. As well as he does it, most of the time, he has only one character. He’ll play in a hundred different movies, but it’s really the same character over and over and over again. I’m not saying he’s a terrible actor, but he’s definitely a specialist and it keeps me from being over impressed with any of his work.

Overall Opinion – 3/5

Anger Management (2003)

Number Rolled: 47

Movie Name/Year: Anger Management (2003)

Genre: Comedy

Length: 106 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Director: Peter Segal

Writer: David Dorfman

Actors: Adam Sandler, Jack Nicholson, Marisa Tomei, Luis Guzman, Allen Covert, Lynne Thigpen, Kurt Fuller, Jonathan Loughran, Krista Allen, January Jones, Woody Harrelson, John Turturro, Kevin Nealon

We all know that some of Adam Sandlers movies can be… well… childish. There’s no denying that. And in watching this movie it is easy to see some of that floating around. But, opposite Jack Nicholson, a bit of growth is given to his comedy and it finds a happy medium.

I had the benefit of having watched the last half of the movie a while back before today, when I watched it from the beginning. Normally that would hinder ones outlook on the movie – but not this one. I watched today with my boyfriend and my best friend. My best friend and I knew the ending, but my boyfriend had never seen it before. About a half hour in he was staring at the screen with a weird look on his face. When I asked him what was wrong he said something along the lines of “I thought this was supposed to be a realistic type movie… I’m not sure what’s going on.”

Now, my boyfriend is a bright man so I tried to see it from his point of view. That’s when the epiphany hit. If I had watched this from beginning to end I would have hated it. I would have thought it was a dumb and dumber rip off only worse. Yet if they had made the movie any differently it would have sucked. Interesting, right?

So here’s my advice to you. Go find the movie. Rent it, watch it on TV, buy it, whatever. Then before you watch the whole movie, watch just the ending. Then you’ll figure out what I mean.

Overall Opinion – 3/5