As Good as It Gets

Actors:  Jack Nicholson, Helen Hunt, Greg Kinnear, Cuba Gooding Jr, Skeet Ulrich

Rating:  9 out of 10, superbly acted, well written with great story and heart.  Nicholson at his smarmy best but also vulnerable and inconsolably in love with Hunt.  Great lines are thrown out almost at will – with some awesome cameos.  Movie makes you feel better by watching.

Great Line:   “The best thing you have going for you is your willingness to humiliate yourself”

MVP:  Jack is great but Helen Hunt is totally into her role and makes you love her

Assassins

Actors: Sylvester Stallone, Antonio Banderas, Julianne Moore

Rating: 6 out of 10, solid action, tainted by Banderas overacting.  What happened to Banderas – maybe reacting to Stallone’s lack of acting by trying to fill the void.  Moore is great in an understated part – can almost see her laughing behind her back at the two lead idiots.

MVP:  Julianne Moore - the consummate professional

Babel

Actors:  Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchette. Gael Garcia

Rating: 6 out of 10, jumbled overlong and very sad.  I get the point of the message but this is one of the movies that feels it has to beat you over the head with it.  I think they were aiming for Crash territory but missed, badly.  Great cast but directing makes most of them more scenery than people you should care about.

MVP:  Blanchette as wounded tourist, as always, very good

Babylon AD

Actors:  Vin Diesel, Michelle Yeoh, Lambert Wilson, Mark Strong,Mélanie Thierry

Rating: 6 out of 10, good action when it happens but too slow and somehow trying to teach a lesson.  Wrong format to try that – Diesel is an action star in an action vehicle – should have gone with that instead of muddling things up with some sort of vague political comment.

MVP:  Diesel as Turap the tough mercenary

Bachelor Party

Actors:  Tom Hanks, Tawney Kitaen, Adrian Zmed, Michael Dudikoff

Rating: 5 out of 10, Typical 1980s fluff with a couple of funny moments.  Embarrassed to say I loved this movie when it first came out but it has aged horribly.  Kept waiting for the laugh out loud moments but spent most of movie cringing – guess I grew up a little somewhere along the way.

MVP:  Tom Hanks as Rick, how far he has come

Back to the Future

Actors:  Michael J Fox, Lea Thompson, Christopher Lloyd, Crispin Glover

Rating: 7 out of 10, very enjoyable, likable characters with a simple yet powerful message of being careful what you wish for.  Fox does an admirable job of carrying the movie – real talent.

MVP:  Christopher Lloyd as the wacky Doc Brown, perfect part for him

Back to the Future II

Actors:  Michael J Fox, Lea Thompson, Christopher Lloyd, Crispin Glover, Elizabeth Shue

Rating: 8 out of 10, better than original with interesting guesses as to future.  The only drawback is the guy who plays Biff who was good in the original but is given too big a part in this one.  Still, the movie stands on its own and moves right along.

MVP:  Fox as Marty McFly, Fox steps up and carries movie