Movie Reviews
Titles starting with B
Bottle Rocket
Since I really liked Wes Anderson after seeing Moonrise Kingdom and fell in love with him after The Grand Budapest Hotel, I’ve been going back and taking either another look or a first look at his other stuff. Loved The Royal Tenenbaums, thought The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou ... Read more »
Boulevard
I guess there’s going to be several “last” films from Robin Williams. There is The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, reviewed badly, A Merry Friggin’ Christmas, reviewed even worse, the third installment of the Night at the Museum franchise, which wore out its welcome at number two, and a voice bit in Read more »
Bound
Whoa! How did I miss this one when it was new? It’s the first film written and directed by the Wachowski Brothers (they disowned Assassins) back when Lana was still Laurence. This is the team who gave us the startlingly original The Matrix (and the sadly derivative follow-ups), V For Vendetta, and the—in my ... Read more »
The Bourne Identity
Above average spy thriller. The fights and car chases are believable, it’s exciting, and I didn’t see a lot of plot holes. You can hardly ask for more than that these days.
The Bourne Legacy
First question: Is it as good as the original trilogy, which in my mind were damn near perfect action/thrillers? Answer: No. Second question: Does it suck? Answer: No. It’s pretty good. Lee and I both enjoyed it. It’s a bit convoluted at first, I had trouble understanding just what the drugs these super-operatives were taking were supposed to do. There was a gobbledygook “scientific” ... Read more »
The Bourne Supremacy
A real rarity, a sequel that lives up to the first one. What a pleasure to see smart people in a thriller. Jason Bourne reacts with lighting speed to absolutely anything the hostile world throws at him. A little too fast to be strictly believable of course, but that’s what you go to a movie like this. As long as it doesn’t insult my intelligence, I’m willing to go along with stuff. The ... Read more »
The Bourne Ultimatum
This is without question the smartest, snappiest, most satisfying series of movies now in production. The audience has built over the years, and this one opened very, very big and had excellent reviews, so even though there are only three Robert Ludlum books about Jason Bourne and this one really seems to wrap up the story … when a series keeps raking in the dough like that you can never ... Read more »
Bowfinger
Shortly after seeing the perfectly awful Norbit, I was browsing through Eddie Murphy’s credits for the titles of some of the almost equally awful movies he’s made recently, and I came across this. How I missed it when it was new I don’t know. I mean, Eddie Murphy back when he was often funny, Steve Martin back when Read more »
Bowling for Columbine
I can hardly express how much I hated this movie. I should first say where I’m coming from. I do not like firearms. I’ve never owned a gun. I’ve fired a shotgun once, and a .22 rifle once. I believe the Second Amendment provides for “a well-regulated militia,” not the right of every 9-year-old or psychotic yahoo to own artillery pieces. I am in favor of gun control; I believe ... Read more »
The Box
In the beginning was the short story, and the short story was called “Button, Button,” and it was by Richard Matheson, and it appeared in Playboy in 1970. And in those days I read Playboy (for the stories and interviews, naturally), and I read the story, and it was okay. It went like this: Guy gives a couple a box with a button on it. ... Read more »