Cast: Angelina Jolie (Evelyn Salt), Liev Schreiber (Ted Winter), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Peabody)
For complete info, see IMDb's Salt page.
If you like action movies, Salt is a good choice. It was interesting and had some great special effects. There were some good plot twists and the story was entertaining. Is it plausible? Not really, but it's a movie. Since movies are designed to help us escape from every day life for a bit, I see no reason to expect them to play by the rules of what could/should really be able to happen. Salt was enjoyable to watch. I recommend seeing it on the big screen, since the special effects are well done.
Grade: B+
Labels: 2010, action, Angelina Jolie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Liev Schreiber, movie, New York, Spy, thriller
Reviewed by Kat at the 6:35 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Naomi Watts (Kitty Fane), Edward Norton (Walter Fane), Liev Schreiber (Charlie Townsend), Toby Jones (Waddington)
For complete info, see IMDb's The Painted Veil page.
I'm not really sure what I expected from The Painted Veil. Perhaps I expected your typical film about adultery. There's really nothing typical about The Painted Veil. I didn't see the original, so I can't comment on how it measures up, but I was impressed with the movie.
There are definitely some parts of The Painted Veil which are very slow, but most of that is setting up things that happen later in the movie, so it's worth the time taken in the beginning. I was very surprised with the way the movie worked out. I can't really go into detail of what I expected, since it would give parts of the movie away for those of you who are also not familiar with the original. However, I was very happy with the way every story was tied together by the end of the movie.
The Painted Veil was much more romantic than I expected on some levels, though it's definitely not a normal romance. I recommend renting this one if you missed it in theatres. The cast is amazing, the scenery is beautiful, and the story is timeless.
Grade: B
Labels: drama, Edward Norton, Liev Schreiber, Naomi Watts, romance
Reviewed by Kat at the 7:15 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Ben Affleck (Jack Ryan), Morgan Freeman (DCI William Cabot), James Cromwell (President Robert 'Bob' Fowler), Liev Schreiber (John Clark)
For complete cast, see IMDb's The Sum of All Fears page.
I really enjoyed this movie. I haven't read any of the books, but I always enjoy Jack Ryan on film. The only real issue I had with this movie was my own, not anything to do with the film. That problem is that it all seemed a bit too real. The special effects were very well done and the situations were very plausible. With 9/11 happening only 9 months before I saw The Sum of All Fears, it just got me thinking of all the people who died in that tragedy. This is actually a good statement about the movie, though. It was so well done that it looked very real.
The cast, special effects, and story are wonderful and I definitely recommend the latest in the Jack Ryan movies.
Grade: B
Labels: 2002, action, Ben Affleck, drama, Liev Schreiber, Morgan Freeman, movie, thriller
Reviewed by Kat at the 2:30 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Meg Ryan (Kate McKay), Hugh Jackman (Leopold), Liev Schreiber (Stuart Besser)
This looked like a cute story, though if I hadn't been going to see it on a date, I doubt I would have seen it in a movie theater - it had rental written all over it for me. As usual, my instincts were right on this one.
Not only did Kate & Leopold star Meg Ryan, but the story and execution weren't nearly good enough for the cast. The time travel could have been a good plot device, but it wasn't used well and the story had too many holes.
The most amusing part of this movie was that Meg Ryan's roots changed from half-way down her head to almost imperceptible and then back again throughout the movie. As someone who notices small errors in movies all the time (and who probably would have made a great scipt supervisor), this was VERY distracting. I'm sure the script supervisor had too many other things to worry about and never thought about the hair, but I'm not sure how they managed to miss such a drastic change over the course of filming. When you add that to shooting out of order (as almost every movie ever made does), I know it's compounded, but boy was it horrible!
Grade: C
Labels: 2001, comedy, fantasy, Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Meg Ryan, movie, romance, sci-fi
Reviewed by Kat at the 7:50 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: David Arquette (Dwight 'Dewey' Riley), Neve Campbell (Sidney Prescott), Courteney Cox Arquette (Gale Weathers), Patrick Dempsey (Det. Mark Kincaid)), Liev Schreiber (Cotton Weary)
For complete cast, see IMDb's Scream 3 page.
Definitely not as good as Scream & Scream 2, but still well worth seeing. I'm glad I saw it in theatres. Wes Craven rarely disappoints me and although this movie wasn't quite as interesting as the first two, it was still very well done!
In the first movie, they talked about what not to do in scary movies, the second movie they talked about sequel no-no's and Scream 3 addresses the things you should never do in a trilogy. All of this makes you laugh. I think that the main difference in the final chapter of the trilogy is that Scream 3 didn't make me scream as much as the first two did.
Still very entertaining, though, and worth seeing.
Grade: B
Labels: 2000, comedy, horror, Liev Schreiber, movie, mystery, Patrick Dempsey, thriller
Reviewed by Kat at the 7:05 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: David Arquette (Dwight 'Dewey' Riley), Neve Campbell (Sidney Prescott), Courtney Cox (Gale Weathers), Sarah Michelle Gellar (Casey 'Cici' Cooper), Jamie Kennedy (Randy Meeks)), Liev Schreiber (Cotton Weary)
For complete info, see IMDb's Scream 2 page.
Clearly, there was no way that Scream 2 could live up to Scream. I still enjoyed it - especially since I didn't get to see the original in a movie theatre. I liked that in the first movie they concentrated on the rules of horror films and in Scream 2 they concentrate on the rules of sequels. Wes Craven really does a great job with the comedy/horror genre!
Grade: B
Labels: 1997, comedy, horror, Liev Schreiber, movie, mystery, Sarah Michelle Gellar, thriller
Reviewed by Kat at the 7:20 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: David Arquette (Deputy Dwight 'Dewey' Riley), Neve Campbell (Sidney Prescott), Courtney Cox (Gale Weathers), Jamie Kennedy (Randy Meeks), Skeet Ulrich (Billy Loomis), Rose McGowan (Tatum Riley), Matthew Lillard (Stuart Macher), Liev Schreiber (Cotton Weary)
For complete info, see IMDb's Scream page.
Having finally seen Scream, I really wish I had seen it on the big screen. I thought it would be a bit too much for me that way, but this amazing parody of slasher films was hilarious. The body count was still high, but Scream is such a funny movie that you can forget that at times. The fact that this movie makess fun of a whole genre while still being a part of that genre is wonderful! And who would have ever guessed Drew Barrymore would play that part? I won't say more in case you've missed this gem, but I was really surprised. Such a great move on her part! If you somehow managed to miss this great movie (as I did), you must go see it! Rent it, turn out all the lights, and enjoy!
Grade: A-
Labels: 1996, comedy, Drew Barrymore, horror, Liev Schreiber, movie, mystery, thriller
Reviewed by Kat at the 7:30 PM show | 0 screams
Cast: Mel Gibson (Tom Mullen), Rene Russo (Kate Mullen), Brawley Nolte (Sean Mullen), Gary Sinise (Det. Jimmy Shaker), Liev Schreiber (Clark Barnes)
For complete info, see IMDb's Ransom page.
It might be time to give up on watching previews for a while. I go through phases where I just read brief info about movies, see who's in them, and decide whether or not to see them based on that. I get sick of seeing too much in the previews. Ransom is a perfect example of a movie where the previews tell you everything. I picked this movie for my birthday and none of us were pleased by it. We all pretty much agreed that we'd seen all the interesting plot points in the previews, since we see a lot of movies. It's a shame, since the cast is really good and we believe the movie had potential. Perhaps if I'd seen no previews I would have found Ransom more interesting, but it's hard to say, since I did see the previews.
Grade: C+
Labels: 1996, action, crime, drama, Liev Schreiber, Mel Gibson, movie, thriller
Reviewed by Kat at the 5:50 PM show | 0 screams