July 14, 2005 Blockbuster is a company that I used to curse relentlessly for their constant late fees on videos that I never even rented.  I have since forgiven the aforementioned company due to their ingenious promotion called the Movie Pass.  This allows a renter to pay a flat fee every month to rent as many movies as they please.  To top that off, there is no limit on how long they can keep it.  I check out 3 movies at a time and just return them and get 3 more without paying a dime at the register.  Since I’m a firm believer of getting my money’s worth, I take the “fat man at a buffet” approach and rent as many movies within the month as time allows.  In this column, I will review some of the movies I’ve seen over the past 2 months, including movies I’ve seen in the theatre. Be Cool -  I was a huge fan of Get Shorty and was very excited that they were making a sequel.  The sequel just didn’t do it for me though.  They tried to make a movie that was making fun of all of the stereotypes of sequels while making fun of itself, being that it is a sequel (WOW I’ve typed the word sequel a lot).  The original had me with tears in my eyes because I was laughing so hard.  I can’t recall one time I even chuckled during Be Cool.  A friend and I discussed another factor:  was anyone really just aching for another John Travolta/Uma Thurman dance scene?  I think Travolta is a great dancer, but this scene was painful.  I understand what the movie was trying to do, but I don’t believe that it paid off.  There were too many uncomfortable scenes (like Travolta, Cedric the Entertainer, or Steven Tyler just bobbing their head to music) and they brought in too many characters trying to get in some marketable face time.  If you haven’t seen this one, pass on it. True Romance -  This is a movie written by Quentin Tarantino that was recommended to me by several people.  I thought it was average because I'm not a huge Christian Slater or Patricia Arquette fan.  But there is one scene in the movie that makes it all worth it.  That scene includes Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken.  It’s one of those moments when you know you are watching something spectacular.  The scene in Heat with Pacino and DeNiro doesn’t hold a candle to the Hopper/Walken scene.  This moment had fire and you know that this is probably the only time you will see two greats going at it in their best form.  Rent it and watch it until that scene at least.  It’s not a waste of time, but it’s not the greatest flick either. In Good Company -  This is that movie with Topher Grace and Dennis Quaid where Grace plays boss to Quaid, yet he’s half his age.  I heard the critics go on and on about how great this movie is and how Grace is the next Tom Hanks.  Based on this movie, I don’t see it.  He’s not even Hanks in the early part of his career in Big or Bachelor Party.  I’m not saying he doesn’t have the potential to be huge.  What I am saying is that this movie does not show anything to make such an outrageous claim.  This movie is enjoyable with a rather craptastic ending. Batman Begins -  What a relief that the Batman saga has finally returned to what it should be.  I think Tim Burton did a good job with the first Batman and an okay job on Batman Returns.  They were missing something though, and the series really turned into a messy pile of poo after that.   But Batman Begins starts it all over as if those never happened.  The best thing about this movie is that it tells a story.  Yes, we all know that Bruce Wayne becomes Batman because his parents are murdered when he was young.  But HOW does he become Batman and why bats?  Why does the Batsuit and Batmobile look the way they do?  This movie tells us a story and gives reasonable answers for all of these questions.  And if you are looking for action, this movie provides that, too.  Christian Bale was a great choice to lead this film because like Michael Keaton, he is a great Batman and a great Bruce Wayne.  Kilmer sucked at being Bruce Wayne and Clooney sucked at being Batman.  I’m really looking forward to the next installment. War of the Worlds -  Bash this movie all you want; I’ll have no part of it.  I went in with low expectations, a rarity for a Spielberg film.  With all of the Tom Cruise hoopla, I almost didn’t want to see this one.  But I had to put that aside and realize that Cruise is a good actor and it might be worth the watch.  I have heard reviews that this movie is 110 minutes of intensity, and 10 minutes of sucktitude.  I disagree with the latter half of that statement.   Spielberg stayed true to the original movie’s ending, with a slight variation.   He didn’t try to come up with some unreal shot in the dark plot; like in Independence Day, or something that would disprove anything that was shown earlier in the film.  I’m being vague here, I realize, but I’m trying not to spoil it.  I have a feeling that you should watch this movie in the theatres.  It would lose a lot of effect sitting at home.  Go see it and if you don’t like it, give me hell about it. Sideways -  “I am not drinking f---ing Merlot!”  I loved this movie.  It’s got a total independent feel to it, but it works.  Two friends take a trip to California's wine country.  Paul Giamatti is somewhat of a wine expert who isn’t very successful in publishing his book.  He’s trying to show his friend, played by Thomas Haden Church, a good time.  Church plays a former, not- so-famous actor who is soon to be married.  He doesn’t know anything about wine except that it gets you drunk.  Sounds like a boring concept, but this movie had me rolling on the floor.  Giamatti has been great in small roles before, but this proved that he can cut it as a leading man. Team America: World Police -  Don’t start on me, just yet.  If you don’t like South Park or Baseketball, don’t watch this and don’t read this paragraph.  The theme song alone got me, and it’s kinda catchy “America, F--- Yeah!”  It’s pretty much what you’d expect from Matt Stone and Trey Parker.  They insult everyone under the sun, take no prisoners, and make no apologies.  I like how they use puppets to make fun of actors.  Of course, making fun of Michael Moore is always a good thing, too. Employee of the Month -  This one has Matt Dillon in it.  I have no idea what it’s about because it bored the crap out of me and I fell asleep.  In midday.  Kitty said it got better and that I should get it again.  Based on what I did see, I’ll leave it on the shelf. Spanglish - My God, this movie sucked!  I can’t believe I wanted to see this one.  Sandler fans beware, he is only one of two high points in the movie and he’s not typical Sandler.  It’s nice to see him play something different, though.  The other highpoint was his mother-in-law.  She plays an old drunk who’s starting to see things at face value.  Sandler’s wife, played by Tea Leoni, is absolutely horrible.  Her character made my skin crawl every time she made a noise.  The other characters didn’t bring much to the table and that’s what ultimately brings this movie to my suggestion of…spare yourself and don’t even rent anything on the same shelf as this movie. Exorcist:  The Beginning - I won’t drone on too much about this one.  If you liked The Exorcist but were disappointed in the sequels, this comes closer to the original.  I realize they just came out with the exact same movie done by a different director, but I watched this one.  It marks the history of Father Merrin’s first encounter with the demon that he would later face in the original.  Stellan Skarsgård plays the role very well and I recommend this one to any fan of the original.  It can’t get worse than the second one, can it? Cursed - Sucked.  I’m with Rusty on this genre.  It’s getting worse.  This one had potential but it turned into a suck sandwich really quickly.  I’ll keep this short: don’t waste your time. Underworld - This was an interesting concept featuring the battle between werewolves and vampires.  To be honest, this movie worked for me.  Kate Beckinsale in tight black leather is never a bad thing, but that’s not what did it.  A great story with a few twists and some solid action turned this one into a very nice surprise for me.  My suggestion:  Rent it, watch it, enjoy it. I’ve watched more, but want to keep it down to this for now.  If you have any suggestions on movies for me to watch, by all means, forward them on.   Comments…questions… you know what to do with them. Until next time, throw up a ‘T” for… T-BONE! I would like to clarify something on the article I wrote earlier about wrestlers. Tonebone pointed out to me that I mentioned that Ultimate Warrior has his own website where he expresses some radical ideals on certain issues.   Usually when one deems another as radical, they are on the opposite side of the political spectrum.  This is not the case as Warrior and I are both Conservatives.  He just tends to take topics as far as they can go to the point of upsetting a large group of people.  I do take up for him in his last bit of notoriety, however.  A group of College Republicans from UConn invited Warrior to speak at a meeting.  A group of people with opposite views of Warrior showed up prepared to debate him and would not let Warrior give the speech he had prepared.  The place turned into a potentially dangerous area and the speech was cancelled shortly thereafter.  The College Republicans submitted an apology, not to the Warrior, but to everyone else.   Did they not know what kind of ideals the Warrior would talk about?  Shame on them for not doing their research.  Warrior was asked to speak, so it was his forum to talk about whatever he’d like to talk about.