Review – You’ve Got Mail

The Shop Around the Corner gets Nora-Ephron-ized in this goofy romantic comedy starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. She’s the owner of a small bookstore fighting for its life against a huge corporate operation moving in nearby. He’s the heir to the corporate fortune. They establish a love/hate relationship with the love part conducted anonymously via AOL. I found the death-of-the-independent-bookstore stuff extremely depressing, so much so that it actually interfered with my ability to enjoy the rest of the movie. Also, try as I might, I have trouble imagining anyone falling in love with Tom Hanks (even on the Internet where she doesn’t know who he really is). That notwithstanding, as a romantic comedy it fulfills the usual genre requirements. Mildly amusing

Review – Quartet

This picture is based on a foursome of short stories by W. Somerset Maugham, who actually appears at the beginning to introduce the set. From there “The Facts of Life,” “The Alien Corn,” “The Kite” and “The Colonel’s Lady” spin out. By the time we’re done we’ve gone through just about all the standard British actors of the age and then some (including a small role for Ian Fleming). In keeping with the spirit of the author’s work, the plots are clever if perhaps a bit too English (though then again, the twisting and turning around proper British social customs is of course a big part of the point). Mildly amusing

Review – X-Men Origins: Wolverine

When I was a kid I used to love the “secret origins” superhero books. For some reason finding out how these folks got their jobs was a source of endless fascination. And I admit I did kinda like that element of this picture. The rest of it, on the other hand, was standard action picture dull. Flashy, expensive but not long in the coherent plot department. Mildly amusing

Review – Jesus of Nazareth

This Franco Zeffirelli production is one of the better film versions of the Gospels I’ve seen, thanks in no small part to a script co-written by Anthony Burgess. To be sure, it has some faults. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed kid who plays the title character as a youth looks more like Jesus of Stockholm. And sadly the adult Jesus, played by Robert Powell, is the same I-don’t-need-drugs-I’m-high-on-Me ethereal being portrayed by Jeffrey Hunter and Max von Sydow. But for a refreshing change, the rest of the characters in the picture have normal human reactions to Christ and his teachings. And though it doesn’t include every single moment from the Gospels, it is a bit more comprehensive than most other productions. Of course when you’ve got six hours to work with, it’s easier to pack in the kind of rich detail that transforms the story from bare-bones doctrine or exploitative Hollywood tripe into a tale rich with the sort of detail that makes for compelling viewing. Worth seeing

Review – Night Train to Munich

Carol Reed’s presence in the director’s chair helps put this a cut above the average World War Two propaganda picture. A young woman (Margaret Lockwood) is rescued from a concentration camp and reunited with her scientist father in England only to discover that she’s been used by an evil Gestapo agent (Paul Henreid) as bait in a trap to kidnap the good doctor and cart him off to Germany. Fortunately a British agent (played by a disturbingly young Rex Harrison) comes to their rescue, steering through a number of clever twists and cliffhanging turns while trying to save the day. Though this is a far cry from The Third Man, it’s still one of the better spy pictures of its day. Worth seeing

Review – Sea Beast

For a SyFy movie, this one isn’t too bad. A small fishing community is menaced by a horde of sea monsters that look a bit like Deep Ones from “The Shadow over Innsmouth.” Or perhaps “brood” would be more accurate than “horde,” as the creatures appear to be juveniles led by a single, large mother monster. They’re a little more interesting than the average CGI menace, which helps elevate this a notch above the usual parade of slasher-monster-menacing-a-small-town clichés. Mildly amusing

Review – Star Trek: Insurrection

This film represents the final triumph of the “Next Generation”-ization of the whole Star Trek thing, even though it’s the third one to feature the cast from the newer series; the first one with the new people was a joint venture that also included the original cast, and the second one still employed enough of the old tricks of the trade to keep it interesting. But by this point the charm of the original series has completely petered out, almost entirely replaced by the smarmy new-age nonsense that infected much of the new programs. The plot meanders through a touchy-feely story about an Eden-esque planet threatened by evil bad-skin people led by F. Murray Abraham. The occasional spaceship battles and other effects-intensive bits aren’t too bad, but the rest of it appears to be heavily driven by Scientology and director Jonathan Frakes’ ego. See if desperate