In Her Shoes - ACE Train Movie Review

Free-wheeling and irresponsible Maggie Feller gets through her life thanks to her remarkable looks and her straight-laced, plain-Jane successful lawyer sister Rose, whom she relies on for financial support. The two sisters have been very close to each other in part because their troubled mother died when they were girls. However, Maggie does something to betray Rose's trust and sets off for Florida to find her estranged grandmother. A failed workplace romance forces Rose to rethink her career, a career that has been the center of her life. As Rose tentatively begins a new relationship and Maggie gets to know her grandmother, the two learn a dark family secret that helps smooth the path toward reconciliation.

Another chick flick... This film was slow to start, lethargic in the middle and crawled to the end. The characters seemed to be interesting enough to result in an engaging and amusing plot. However, the intriguing characters were wasted in a meandering plot that touched on potentially explosive scenes, but never fully followed through. The result was a blah movie that won't last long in my memory. For a film that was more than two hours, I felt unsatisfied at the end and thought that I had just wasted 2+ hours on a movie that should have been 45 minutes shorter.

Rating: 2 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette, Shirley Maclaine

I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.

Just Like Heaven - ACE Train Movie Review

When David rents his new apartment, the last thing he wants is company. Then Elizabeth shows up, insisting the apartment is hers. He's convinced she's a ghost, she's convinced she's still alive. As they search for the truth of Elizabeth's past, their relationship changes from resentment to romance.

This is a great movie for a 13 year old girl. It's a super sweet love story that is completely predictable from beginning to end. Reese Witherspoon is as wholesome as ever and Mark Ruffalo does a good job playing a guy who is in love with a ghost (and not seeming too crazy). The relationship and chemistry between the two create some very funny scenes, but it gets a little old and I just wished they would get to the ending I could see coming from a mile away. Unless you're a prepubescent girl, don't waste your time - although Shawnna liked it and thought it was cute, hence my average rating.

Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Mark Ruffalo

I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.

After the Sunset - Movie Review

Max Burdett is a master jewel thief who, with the help of his accomplice and lover Lola Cirillo, has stolen two of the three Napoleon diamonds, among the most valuable gems on Earth. Stanley Lloyd is an FBI agent who has been on Burdett's trail for years and is especially eager to bring him to justice after a humiliating incident in which Max swiped one of the Napoleons out from under Stanley's nose. But word has it that Max and Lola have abandoned their lives of crime, and they've taken up residence on an idyllic island in the Bahamas. Lloyd is not convinced they're out of the game for good, and when he learns that the third Napoleon diamond will be on display aboard a cruise ship headed in Max's direction, Lloyd vows to catch Max and Lola red handed.

This film is not what I expected it to be which probably affected my rating. I expected to see a lot of action, explosions and intense dramatic standoffs. What I got was a comedy that was more silly than clever and very little intensity since you could predict the plot "twists" well before they happened. It wasn't all bad as there were some very funny scenes between Pierce Brosnan and Woody Harrelson. The fact that Salma Hayek spent most of the film in very little clothing also contributed to my enjoyment of the movie. Overall, it's worth watching once if you have nothing better to watch, but don't expect a great flick, just a good one.

Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Salma Hayek, Woody Harrelson, Don Cheadle

I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.

Waiting - Movie Review

Dean and Monty are two longtime friends who work as waiters as Shenanigan's, a "fun" chain restaurant. Both have been working at the restaurant since they graduated from high school; it's only recently occurred to Dean that he has nothing to show for the last four years of his life but a community college diploma and his name tag from work, and he's developed a sudden urgency to make something of himself. Monty, on the other hand, is more interested in making time with the women on the wait staff at work than accomplishing anything. Over the course of an evening at Shenanigan's, Dean and Monty confront obnoxious customers and train a timid new employee while dealing with the wildly eccentric chef , control-freak manager and a kitchen full of crazed cooks, prep workers and dish washers.

After working as a waiter throughout college, I was very interested in watching this comedy about life in a restaurant. My excitement was quickly diminished within the first 5 minutes as this film started off dumb and only got mildly funnier as it went on. I laughed at, and could relate to, a few of the scenarios which is the reason I gave it 2 stars instead of 1. Mostly, this is a complete waste of time to watch, even if you have worked in restaurants. The type of comedy in this movie is only funny if you're drunk, stoned and tired.

Rating: 2 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Justin Long, Luis Guzman

I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.

Angels & Demons - Book Review

This is Dan Brown's first novel centering around his fictional character and Harvard symbiologist, Robert Langdon, the central character in "The Da Vinci Code." In this book, he tries to stop the Illuminati, a legendary secret society, from destroying the Vatican City with the newly-discovered power of antimatter.

CERN researcher, Leonardo Vetra, is found murdered in his secured, private quarters at the research facility. On his chest is branded a symbol — the word "Illuminati", formed as an ambigram. After researching the Internet, Director Max Kohler contacts Professor Langdon, an expert on the Illuminati who has written a book on the subject, and requests his assistance in uncovering the murderer.

What Langdon discovers at the murder scene frightens him: the symbol appears to be authentic, and the legendary secret society, long thought to be defunct, seems to have resurfaced. The Illuminati has also stolen CERN's supply of antimatter, the ultimate weapon, and has its sights on fulfilling a centuries-old dream: to destroy Vatican City. Time runs short as Langdon races around Rome to stop not only the Vatican's destruction, but to save the lives of four cardinals who have been kidnapped by a deadly assassin.

Similar to "The Da Vinci Code", this novel contains a kernel of truth as the basis of the story. One of the first pages states, "References to all works of art, tombs, tunnels, and architecture in Rome are entirely factual (as are their exact locations). They can still be seen today. The brotherhood of the Illuminati is also factual." Another similarity is that there are several puzzles that must be solved by Robert Langdon throughout the book that are amazingly well thought out.

This is a relatively technical book that attempts to bridge the gap between science and religion. Talk of antimatter, particle accelerators and magnetic fields are mixed in between talk of God, the holy conclave and theinner workingss of the Vatican. As crazy as the plot sounds, Dan Brown does an unbelievable job of writing in such a way that everything flows and seems to make sense. There are a myriad of plot twists and turns that will keep you guessing the outcome. The reward for diving into this novel is a well written, thought provoking mystery that is tough to put down and will throw you for an unexpected loop at the end.


Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Would I read it again: Yes

Angels & Demons
by Dan Brown
Hardcover: 572 pages
May, 2000

Half Light - Movie Review

A successful mystery writer's five-year-old son has drowned, and as a result her life appears to be falling apart at the seams. When a sympathetic friend rents her a secluded cottage in hopes that a little peace and quiet will help the grieving mother recover from her loss, the quiet retreat is violently shattered by a series of bizarre and unexplained murders. Now with a community in fear and her sanity slowly slipping, she must use her instincts to unmask the killer before it's too late and she too falls prey to the murderous rage that threatens to consume the once tranquil town.

I don't remember this film being in the theaters - strange for a Demi Moore movie. The beginning started off well and provided the right amount of background information. The seeds of a good mystery and suspense film were planted early. The setting of a remote cottage by the ocean was perfect for a thriller. Demi Moore did a fantastic job creating an air of mystery and intrigue. Basically, the stage was set for a great movie. However, it certainly didn't live of to it's potential. The ending is what makes a great mystery movie and that was the big disappointment. I won't ruin it for you in case you decide to watch it, but now I see why there wasn't any buzz for this movie when it was in the theaters.

Rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Demi Moore, Kate Isitt, Hans Matheson

I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.

Elizabethtown - ACE Train Movie Review

Drew Baylor is considered the big success story in his family, having moved away from the small Kentucky town where he was born to California, where he works as a designer for Mercury, the nation's biggest athletic shoe company. But success has begun to elude Drew - his most recent design was a resounding flop that has cost him his job and his girlfriend. Drew is contemplating suicide when he gets word that his father has died, and that he's needed back home in Elizabethtown, KY, to help organize the funeral. As Drew reconnects with his family, he gets a new lease on life and is reminded about what's really important to him. Helping him learn these valuable lessons is a pretty and optimistic flight attendant Drew meets on his flight home who has her own philosophies about positive thinking and the curative powers of travel.

This was a meandering, emotionally suppressed movie that seemed to drag on too long. It's tough to make a movie about a depressed guy and make it interesting to watch - and this movie was proof of that. There were some parts that were funny, but it was mostly just blah. The relationship between Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst was a bit awkward as was Susan Sarandon's tap dancing. There was just something that was a little off about this movie, but I can't seem to put my finger on it. If you're having trouble sleeping, I recommend this film...

Rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin

I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.

Hustle & Flow - ACE Train Movie Review

Djay is a low-level pimp and drug dealer who scraped together a living in the ghettos of Memphis, TN. Djay has always had a gift for spinning stories, and after picking up a cheap keyboard, he begins picking out beats to go along with his rhymes. After bumping into an old high-school buddy who works in gospel music, Key, Djay decided to take the plunge and remake himself as a rapper. With the technical know-how of Key, Djay begins turning his way with words and his first-hand knowledge of the street life into music. When local boy-turned-nationwide hip-hop star Skinny Black comes to town, he sees an opportunity to put his demo in the hands of someone who can bring his music to the masses, though it turns out to be far more difficult than he expected.

I wasn't very interested in the plot of this film. It didn't say that it was based on a true story, but I'm sure there are many true stories similar to this one - it would have been more interesting as a documentary. In the beginning, I found it hard to understand the characters as they mumbled their lines, but I must have gotten used to it as the movie went on. It also got old listening to everyone say nigga this and nigga that, but I suppose that was necessary to keep it real :-) I will say that Terrence Howard's performance was amazing - especially knowing how he talks and acts normally. He truly became a ghetto living, rappin' pimp which seems to be the farthest thing from his reality - great acting. I only wanted to watch it because Terrence Howard was nominated for an Oscar for his performance - now I know why.

Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Terrence Howard, Anthony Anderson, Isaac Hayes, Ludacris

I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.

The Da Vinci Code - Book Review

This book follows the attempts of Robert Langdon, Professor of "Religious Symbology" at Harvard University, to solve the murder of Jacques Sauniere, the curator of the Louvre Museum in Paris. The interpretation of hidden messages inside Leonardo Da Vinci's famous works, including the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, hold clues to solving the murder (hence the title). The main conflict in the novel revolves around the solution to two mysteries:

1) What secret was Sauniere protecting that led to his murder?
2) Who is the mastermind behind his murder?

The unraveling of the mystery requires the solution to a series of brain-teasers, including anagrams and number puzzles. The solution itself is found to be intimately connected with the possible location of the Holy Grail and to a mysterious society called the Priory of Sion (a secret society charged with protecting the Holy Grail), as well as to the Knights Templar (the group who originally found the Holy Grail). The Catholic organization Opus Dei also figures prominently in the plot. There are several concurrent storylines that follow different characters and eventually, all the storylines are brought together and resolved at the end of the book.

I don't know how much of this novel is fact or fiction, but one of the first pages in the book states, "All descriptions of artwork, architecture, documents, and secret rituals in this novel are accurate." In any case, the amount of research that must have gone into writing the novel is impressive as is the creativity that clearly went into the creation of the various brain-teasers in the book. There are so many plots and characters that are intertwined, it's tough to summarize it in a couple of paragraphs, but while I was reading it, I was never confused. The author does a great job of setting a complex scene with understandable language.

I'm not a religious guy, but all of the descriptions of religion and religious symbols didn't bother me and really added to the plot and mystery in the novel. I'm pretty sure that some of the allegations (suggestions) that are made in the book could create quite a stir for religious folks. The author presents some bold theories that contradict the very fabric of Christianity. Beyond that, this is a great novel that will take you for an wild, exhilarating ride through a jungle of mystery and is extremely hard to put down.


Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Would I read it again: Yes

The Da Vinci Code
by Dan Brown
Hardcover: 454 pages
March, 2003

Cellular - ACE Train Movie Review

A female biology teacher is kidnapped by a vicious criminal who has threatened to murder her husband and son if he doesn't get what he wants. The criminal destroys the only working telephone in the cabin where she's held, but she manages to put enough of the pieces together to send out a call that's picked up by a stranger, on his cellular phone. She manages to convince the stranger of the gravity of her situation, but she has no idea where she's being held, leaving his cell phone as the only link to her whereabouts - and his batteries are starting to wear out.

Talk about action packed... The action starts within the first 5 minutes of the film and doesn't let up until it ends, 90 minutes later. In between, there are car chases, shootings, robberies, beatings, foot chases, blackmail, corruption, explosions, kidnapping and more. The plot is a good one and is actually based on a kernel of truth. One of the DVD bonus features is a 30 minute documentary about the true life activities that became the kernel of truth - very interesting and unsettling. While some of the action in this film is a little over the top and unbelievable, it never gets dull and the 90 minutes just races by.

Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Kim Basinger, Chris Evans, William H. Macy

I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room - ACE Train Movie Review

The film, based on the book with the same name, travels back in time, describing Enron chairman Kenneth Lay's humble beginnings as the son of a preacher, his ascent in the corporate world as an "apostle of deregulation," his fortuitous friendship with the Bush family, and the development of his business strategies in natural gas futures. The film points out that the culture of financial crookedness at Enron was evident as far back as 1987, when Lay apparently encouraged the outrageous risk taking and profit skimming of two oil traders in Enron's Valhalla office because they were bringing a lot of money into the company. But it wasn't until eventual CEO Jeff Skilling arrived at Enron that the company's "aggressive accounting" philosophy truly took hold. The film explores the lengths to which the company went in order to appear incredibly profitable. Their win-at-all-costs strategy included swooning financial analysts with huge contracts for their firms, hiding debts by essentially having the company loan money to itself, and using California's deregulation of the electricity market to manipulate the state's energy supply. The film reveals how Lay, Skilling, and other execs managed to keep their riches, while thousands of lower-level employees saw their loyalty repaid with the loss of their jobs and their retirement funds.

This was a very interesting documentary and I learned a lot by watching it. A couple of years ago, when Enron was in the news every day, I didn't pay very close attention because I felt bombarded since it was everywhere. This documentary did a great job of summarizing how Enron went from a hugely successful company to the biggest collapse in corporate history to that point. I didn't realize how far the collapse of Enron reached to negatively effect so many things - the rolling blackouts in California, the recall of Gray Davis, the creation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and most tragic, the complete loss of retirement and pension funds for thousands of innocent Enron employees. A lot of work was done to pull together film footage and audio tapes that tell the story using the words of the actual players in this complex scheme. A great cautionary tale...

Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: Yes
Starring: The real Enron Execs: Kenneth Lay, Jeff Skilling, Andrew Fastow

I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.

Corpse Bride - Movie Review

Victor lives in a small European village in the 19th century, where he is pledged to marry Victoria, a partnership arranged by their parents. The two only meet the day before their scheduled nuptials, and Victor performs disastrously in the wedding rehearsal. Later that evening, while he is walking through the woods and hopelessly practicing his vows, he puts Victoria's wedding band on what looks like a branch resembling a hand. Victor quickly discovers this was a big mistake; as he has put the ring on the skeletal finger of the enchanted Corpse Bride, who then whisks him off to a dark and mysterious netherworld where they are now married. Victor realizes that he has fallen in love with his true fiance Victoria, so he searches for a way back to his own world.

As expected, since this is a Tim Burton film, it's dark, odd and creepy. The stop-motion animation is amazing and very fluid. While I really liked his film "The Nightmare Before Christmas," this movie didn't do it for me. The plot wasn't compelling and was a bit dull. As an animated feature, a lot more could have been done to make it interesting, but the creativity wasn't up to par. It wasn't a complete flop, but I expected more from Tim Burton. If it wins the Oscar for best animated feature, it's because there wasn't any competition.

Rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Voices of Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Watson, Tracey Ullman

I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.

Four Brothers - ACE Train Movie Review

Four guys who don't appear to have much in common, in terms of either race or temperament, have one very important bond - all four were adopted and raised by the same woman, and they all love her as a son, and respect one another as brothers. When their mother is killed during a robbery at a grocery store, the four brothers come together for the funeral, but when they don't get straight answers about what happened to her, they begin looking into the crime themselves. The deeper they dig into the case, the more the brothers begin to suspect that the shooting wasn't an accident, and that powerful and unexpected forces were involved.

This film is action packed from start to finish. If you like guns, violence and blood, this movie is for you. Mark Wahlberg plays the role he was made for - a gun toting, pumped up thug who's not afraid to kick some a$$. The other characters fill the supporting roles nicely and provide some balance. The plot is good and touches on many disparate topics such as adoption, loyalty, gangs, family, murder and revenge. I thought Andre Benjamin (Andre 3000 from OutKast) did a nice job and could definitely have a career as an actor if he wants. Overall, the film wasn't exceptionally unique (hence 3 stars), but I liked it and thought it was worth watching once.

Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, Andre Benjamin, Garrett Hedlund, Terrence Howard

I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.

Flightplan - Movie Review

Kyle Pratt is a successful aircraft designer who has recently been dealing with the traumatic death of her husband. After traveling to Berlin on business with her six-year-old daughter, Julia, Kyle falls asleep on their flight back to New York, only to discover that her daughter has gone missing. While not knowing where Julia has gone is troubling enough, even more disturbing is the insistence by the pilot and Air Marshall that no records indicate that the child ever boarded the jet. As Kyle becomes increasingly desperate to find her daughter, she must prove to the men in charge that her daughter did in fact board the plane with her, and that this turn of events is not a product of her imagination.

This was a good suspense movie. The plot was full of twists and turns so that you think you have it figured out, but the next scene throws a wrench in your assumptions. The fact that it took place almost entirely in an airplane made it a little less believable since none of the passengers seemed to witness anything that went on even though they were in such a small area. However, the acting was good and I believed most of what was happening which is important for a suspense movie to be credible. The ending was a bit rushed, but that seems to be a pattern for the movies I have seen recently. Oh well, still worth watching once.

Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Jodie Foster, Peter Sarsgaard

I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.

Dark Water - ACE Train Movie Review

A single mother whose messy divorce and subsequent battle for the custody of her five-year-old daughter is taking a heavy toll on her emotional well-being. Ultimately, the mother and daughter are able to relocate to an apartment, which, despite its excessively dilapidated interior, seems to be an adequate location for beginning a new life. Before long, however, what appears to be the spirit of a young girl begins to haunt them. No stranger to mental illness, the wary young woman brushes the visions aside as part of the inherent stress of making the transition from housewife to working, single mom. As time goes by and the apparent haunting does not subside, the apartment's new residents are forced to examine the history of its former tenants.

When I picked this DVD up in the video store, I was drawn to the cover and synopsis on the back thinking it was going to be a scary movie. However, it was a very slow moving movie that was more creepy than scary. The acting was pretty good, but the plot was not well thought out and the ending (which explains why all of the strange things had been happening) was not satisfying and didn't answer all of my questions. For some movies, that's OK, but in this film, it just seemed sloppy and amateurish.

Rating: 2 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Jennifer Connelly, John C. Reilly, Tim Roth

I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.

Lord of War - ACE Train Movie Review

After the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, huge caches of Soviet weapons became available at bargain prices. As billions of dollars worth of Soviet military technology disappeared, it began finding its way into the hands of weapons dealers eager to sell it to the highest bidder. Dealers found plenty of buyers for guns and military gear in unstable Third World nations, who paid cash and didn't appreciate too many questions. Yuri Orlov (Nicolas Cage) was one of those dealers whose exploits in the arms business quickly made him a very rich man, but also led to some unwanted attention from an Interpol agent who was convinced Orlov wasn't playing by the rules.

The subject matter of this film is shocking, disturbing and unbelievably based on reality. In that sense, this story is important to tell and fascinating to watch. However, the execution of the movie could have definitely been better. Overall, it's pretty dull and drags on without drawing you in. With the subject matter, it could have been much more interesting and engrossing. So, I would give it great marks for bringing a horrifying reality to the big screen, but terrible marks for writing and acting.

Rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Jared Leto, Ethan Hawke

I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.

The Cave - ACE Train Movie Review

While on a dig in a Romanian forest, a group of scientists made a startling find - a huge church, dating back to the 13th Century, which was built over the entrance to a massive network of subterranean caves. Eager to learn what lurks within the caves, the scientists discover to their peril that a large part of the cave system is under water. Undeterred, the remaining scientists hire a team of American spelunkers who are trained in exploring underwater caves. Armed with new high-tech SCUBA gear that allows them to stay under water for a full 24 hours, the crew dives in to investigate the caves, but a mishap traps them in a cavern beneath the surface, and they soon discover they are not alone as strange and bloodthirsty creatures makes their presence known.

Bad acting + terrible writing + lame plot + chintzy special effects = skip this movie. I rolled my eyes and said, "Oh jeez..." more times than I can count. This is easily one of the worst movies I have seen in a long time.

Rating: 1 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Cole Hauser, Morris Chestnut, Eddie Cibrian

I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.

Two For The Money - ACE Train Movie Review

A former college quarterback whose life plans changed when he suffered a career ending injury turns out to have remarkable skill at picking winning football bets. Eventually, he comes to the attention of a very successful business tycoon who runs a giant gambling operation. The tycoon brings the former quarterback to New York and introduces him to a glitzy, fast-paced, money-drenched lifestyle that he eagerly soaks up. When his magic touch begins to falter, the tycoon starts to turn on is protege. Soon, the two men are attempting to outwit each other in a high stakes game of chicken.

Matthew McConaughey and Al Pacino did a great job of bringing the chaos of a sports gambling operation to life on the screen. The writing was also very good and I was drawn into the film enough to be rooting for favorable outcomes that would help the operation succeed. While the characters were larger than life, they were humanized enough to seem real (it was based on true events, by the way). Rene Russo added to the film by being the voice of reason as the wife of Pacino's character. My only complaint would be that the ending was anticlimactic, but it could have been worse. I really liked the fact that the bonus features on the DVD included an interview with the guy that this film was based on.

Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Al Pacino, Rene Russo, Jeremy Piven

I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.

The Constant Gardener - ACE Train Movie Review

Justin Quale is a British diplomat who has been given a new assignment in Kenya. Justin's wife, Tessa, is an activist with a keen interest in issues of poverty and social justice; Justin urges her to avoid getting too deeply involved in the people living in Kenya, who are constantly dogged by poverty, but she shows little interest in obeying these instructions. This isn't the only area where Tessa has disregarded her husband, as she's been unfaithful in the past, and begins spending time with a handsome doctor once they've settled in Kenya. One day, Tessa disappears, and is soon found dead; officials believe that she was murdered by the doctor after some sort of argument. However, before long Justin becomes convinced that there was a larger scheme that led to Tessa's death, and he begins digging into areas where he's not especially welcome, given his reputation as a man willing to let the wealthy and powerful do as they will.

This is a very powerful political thriller that will make you think about the pharmaceutical industry and drug testing in particular. I don't know if this movie was based on any sort of true event, but it was certainly believable and I wouldn't be surprised if it actually took place in one form or another. At the beginning of the film, you're kept in the dark about any wrongdoing that might be going on, but you are given tidbits of information as the movie progresses until the end when you finally understand the full extent of the atrocity. This is a heavy film that demands your attention, so don't watch it if you're in the mood for a relaxing, straightforward movie. The reward for watching is a thought provoking, well written film that will leave you wondering if this sort of thing could (or does) actually happen in the real world.

Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz

I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.

Batman Begins - Movie Review

In the wake of his parents' murder, disillusioned industrial heir Bruce Wayne travels the world seeking the means to fight injustice and turn fear against those who prey on the fearful. With the help of his trusted butler Alfred, detective Jim Gordon and his ally Lucius Fox, Wayne returns to Gotham City and unleashes his alter-ego: Batman, a masked crusader who uses his strength, intellect and an array of high tech deceptions to fight the sinister forces that threaten the city.

Not knowing the story of how Bruce Wayne became Batman, this was an interesting film. I liked the fact that Batman was just a regular guy who had extensive ninja training and access to the family fortune to be able to fight crime. Although a stretch from reality, it's much more believable than other super heroes who became super by some supernatural cause or exposure to chemicals. It was a very dark movie, both literally and figuratively. Christian Bale did a great job playing the emotionally injured Bruce Wayne who became Batman with a chip on his shoulder. It was good to see a "comic book" movie that was deep in plot and emotion. Oh, and I've got to get one of those Batmobiles - sweet ride!

Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Christian Bale, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson

I typically watch movies on Monday, Wednesday and Friday while riding the ACE Train from Tracy to Santa Clara. The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.