VH Corner

The last Star Wars installment that ties together how Anakin turns to the dark side of the Force to become Darth Vader.

**Some spoiler stuff so don’t read if you don’t want to know.**

R2D2 is awesome and he has bypassed Yoda as my favorite character. I love Yoda in Empire Strikes Back, but he just isn’t as cool in any of the more recent movies as he was in that one. You know why? Because he isn’t interacting with R2D2 in the recent movies, like he was in Empire Strikes Back! Beating him with a stick is the best.

Okay, anyway R2D2 kicks ass. The first scene in this movie made up for The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. It was awesome! I was so very happy when I saw it. I remember not being thrilled with the opening scenes of the first two movies, so this was a much better way to start a movie.

Anakin is just a tad whiny for me, but I did like Palpatine going all tricky evil by slowly convincing Anakin that the Jedi were about to get him. Then Palpatine turning full on evil when he became super duper old. I loved it when he started cackling.

I finally saw some chemistry between Padme and Anakin, which I really didn’t see in the last movie. It didn’t seem like so much time passed in the movie, but did it? Or did she have a 2-3 week pregnancy? Why did no one care that they were married? I thought it was supposed to be a secret but Obi Wan seemed to know what was going on. Did he just choose to ignore it?

Jer told me who General Grievous was after the movie since he saw the Clone War cartoons that were on Cartoon Network and bridged the two movies together. I just figured he was random bad guy. I wanted to know why a droid was coughing until I finally saw the close-up of him at the end. Then I understood.

I liked the weird animal that Obi Wan rode around on Grievous’ hideout place. It was funny. Ewan McGregor was finally able to put some humor into his character in this movie. Well, it seems like he tried in Attack of the Clones but wasn’t too successful. It was more believable in this movie.

The fight at the lava planet was too long for my taste. I just couldn’t wait for him to fall in. Anakin going into Darth Vader was pretty cool. It would have been nice to see a bit more of him as Vader, but oh well. I was just waiting for James Earl Jones’ voice when the helmet went on.

Seeing Chewbacca was cool, but I thought the entire Wookie planet scene was unnecessary.

Overall, I enjoy this movie tremendously compared to the first two recent ones. I think this one stacked up to the older ones. I could watch this one over and over again. I only want to watch a scene or two from The Phantom Menace or Attack of the Clones. I’d actually watch this entire movie again.

Random thoughts:

• How could Padme sleep in that one outfit with the beads on her shoulders and arms? That would just be super uncomfortable.
• How did various bad guys’ capes flap in space when Anakin and Obi Wan were saving Palpatine?

Rating: B+

Haley Joel Osment is a quiet kid that is sent to spend the summer with his eccentric uncles, Michael Caine and Robert Duvall.

This was a nice little movie. It was overly cute in parts, but it didn’t go over the top because of Michael Caine and Robert Duvall. It could have been way too sweet, but they gave it a nice edge.

Haley Joel Osment is going through that weird awkward stage that some kid actors go through. He just doesn’t look right. I kept wishing that someone else was in the movie because I found it distracting.

I did like the ending though. It was funny and when we saw crazy low flying planes on our recent road trip, it reminded us of those two crazy uncles.

Rating: B-

Adam Sandler falls for Drew Barrymore except she has no short-term memory. He meets her all over again each day.

I started watching this on cable about 15-20 min. into the movie, but I don’t think I missed anything crucial. I really would have liked if the penguin and walrus were in the movie more, but alas they were not major plot points in the story.
I agree that Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler have great chemistry together. I was sad a bit towards the end so I liked the super goofy happy ending that is just not near reality.

I really disliked all the bad cover songs in the movie. Either have the original or do a cover that actually does something different with the song. Playing it the same way, but crappier is just pointless and one step up from karaoke.

Rating: B-

A serial killer makes his victims kill themselves while he watches.

I thought this movie was going to be super duper gross so we decided to watch it while eating dinner. Yum! It was pretty gross, but what’s in my head is a whole lot sicker so no getting sick while eating food.

Other than that though, this movie was pretty boring. It liked to show the elaborately set up scenes where the killer guy gives people a puzzle to figure out so they can live or else they will die. I thought they would have been more interesting since it’s a pretty cool concept, but they weren’t all that interesting.

I really wanted the people to die faster so the movie would be over. I just couldn’t wait for it to end. I think that was mostly due to the overacting done by almost everyone. Cary Elwes and Danny Glover, who I have seen actually act in previous movies, were acting like this was their first big break after acting class and they were emoting all over the place. They were ACTING! It was very, very bad. I think that’s what mainly led to me wanting everyone dead as soon as possible.

The only good part of the movie is the last few minutes. There was a twist that I didn’t see coming and it was cool. It made me laugh. I was also happy that the movie was finally over.

Grade: C-

John Grisham movie starring John Cusack as a juror and Rachel Weisz who isn’t on the jury and they are both trying to manipulate a court trial being run by Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman.

It was better in parts than I expected because I did like the twist and I figured it out right before it happened. I didn’t like the heavy-handedness of the themes though, which is what I worried I wouldn’t like before I watched this movie. If John Cusack wasn’t in the movie, it could have been incredibly stupid. He made it much better.

Rating: C+