Oct. 26~Arlington Road, Never Been Kissed, Muppets From Space...

Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack, Hope Davis

Are the neighbors really like the Cleavers or are they more like the Mansons? Is Jeff Bridges a delusional paranoid man or someone who sees what others ignore? You will wonder yourself. I recently read a review on this movie that was posted on the Internet Movie Database (http://www.imdb.com) and it made me quite puzzled. It seems this person thought the movie was great except for the ending. All this time I've been telling people that this movie was slow, except the ending was SO GREAT that it made it worth watching the rest of the movie. Perspective is a strange and wonderful thing. Opinions vary, but we do all have them. I had no expectations of this movie. I know it was previewed in the theater for about 6 months before it came out and then it ran through the theater in a short time. This usually is bad news. It was previewed on video for quite some time, also. I did enjoy this movie a great deal. I thought the ending was a surprise and very appropriate. I guess it's not a warm fuzzy happy ending that you might want or expect, however, it was a shocker that made an impact. I did not suspect the outcome at all and didn't realize what was going to happen until the character knew what was going to happen. I remember the ones that surprise me because it happens so seldom. I see so many movies that I have narrowed them down to 4 categories that most fit into. It is so refreshing to be surprised. Also, the surprise brings other reality based news stories into a perspective that will change your thinking forever. There are some offside references to the Oklahoma bombing and the events at Ruby Ridge, though they are given different names. I found it all to be breathtaking and perfect. The performances in this movie were as they should be. It was a bit slow now and then and seemed predictable, but it would only take you down one path to surprise you with another sharp twist. I recommend it completely, but at the same time, you can't please all of the people all of the time.

Never Been Kissed http://www.foxmovies.com/neverbeenkissed/

Drew Barrymore, David Arquette

Drew Barrymore plays Josie, a reporter for a Chicago newspaper. David Arquette is her not-so-successful brother. Josie is given an assignment to go back to high school and get the scoop about teens today. This is her first under cover assignment and she is very excited to take it on. I remember seeing the previews for this movie during the summer and thinking: "another teenager mindless movie". I am a HUGE Drew fan, so I watch them all. Some have dissappointed (Home Fries) and some have delighted endlessly over and over (Ever After). Never Been Kissed falls into the delighted category. I was surprised how much I really enjoyed this movie. I graduated in 1985 and there are a lot of 80s things tucked in there that pleased me quite a bit, too. Drew's performance is amazing, in the fact that she plays herself as 25, herself as 25 pretending to be 17, and herself when she was 17 the "first time". This movie is worth your time, so don't just walk by and see some lame teenage vision, this is not what this movie is about. This movie's target audience is really somewhere between 25-33, not 13-20. There are some lessons in here about treating people kindly and some nice "flashing back" memories for all of us. What would a Drew movie be without a love interest? Yes, a love story is tucked nicely on the side of this movie as well. This gives us a nice warm fuzzy happy Hollywood ending.

Go To Page: 1 2