I’ve always wondered how a superhero would actually function in the “real world.” Hancock gives me a pretty accurate answer, especially with the early scenes in the film. The protagonist, John Hancock (Will Smith) is a man with supernatural abilities. He can fly, he has super strength, and he has one really unpleasant demeanor. Our first shots of him are on a city park bench with several bottles of wine lying around him. He has no regard for anyone or anything around him. Saving people and stopping criminals seems like nothing more than a cheap thrill to him; a way to pass the time. His reckless actions end up causing millions of dollars in damages and multiple lawsuits from what seems like every person in Los Angeles.

Then, one day, he saves a struggling advertising man (Jason Bateman), who is so grateful for his help he offers to help clean up his image. His wife, Mary (Charlize Theron), doesn’t approve, and we get constant—and annoying—hints that Mary knows something about Hancock. We get these hints so often that it’s like having a bright neon...

After George Lazenby left the series, the filmmakers were left to try and find a new actor. They initially went with American John Gavin (best known for “Psycho”), but then United Artists execs managed to get Sean Connery to return for an enormous sum of money. Having Connery back for one last romp (if you don’t count the unofficial turn twelve years later) assured the fans of certain things in a 007 film. We’d have Connery’s charm, wit, and commanding screen presence. While these are invaluable assets, they can’t save Diamonds from a really weak, shoddy script.

The book dealt with Bond shutting off a diamond smuggling pipeline going from Africa to England to the U.S., ending in Las Vegas. Vegas is used quite prominently and the smuggling bit is the plot for the first half of the movie. It seems that reclusive billionaire Willard Whyte (Jimmy Dean—yes, that Jimmy Dean) is stockpiling diamonds, but no one knows why. When Bond digs deeper, he learns his old nemesis Blofeld (Charles Gray) has kidnapped Whyte and is using his empire as cover to...

It was quite a weekend for Wall-E and Wanted at the box office. Wall-E, as expected, finished first with $63 million. Respectable and very good, especially for an animated flick that defied a lot of conventional wisdom with less dialogue than most films, which is an echo to Kubrick’s 2001. I, personally, thought it would make more money in its opening weekend. Its take is nothing to sneeze at, but I thought it would be closer to $80 million. I guess it didn’t resonate as well with younger audiences. Of course, they have attention spans of a gnat and aren’t able to judge quality the way older audiences can. (Case in point: kids in front of me were excited to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua, which just based on its title sounds awful. Wait ‘til you see the preview.)

The big success story, however, was Wanted, which made a very strong showing of $51 million. That’s very good for an R-rated movie, especially one going against the Pixar machine, which has run virtually unopposed for the...

Pixar is about the closest thing you can get to a guarantee in the movie business these days. Ever since their debut with Toy Story in 1995, they have been on an unstoppable winning streak. All eight of their full-length features have been successes, both critically and commercially. The reason for this is their ability to create strong, engaging storylines that have both heart and intelligence. Their ability to capture older audiences as well as kids is also a key factor. I am sure adults liked The Incredibles just as much as kids. Maybe even more.

Hot on the heels of the recent Ratatouille, longtime veteran Andrew Stanton brings us Wall-E, a science-fiction movie that is quite unlike anything we’ve seen before. For one thing, a large chunk of the running time is without dialogue. The main characters, Wall-E and EVE, can only say their names when they speak. They are spoken at different tones and frequencies, but we don’t get any meaningful conversations. Wall-E also takes on the themes of humanity and the importance of friendship in a way...

Wanted is different from a lot of action movies these days. I, for one, couldn’t be happier. Many action flicks—especially those in the comic-book department—are tame and somewhat conventional. They go through the motions and never get too brutal or too violent because they want to please the younger audiences. You used to see action movies get R ratings left and right. Now, everything gets PG-13.

Wanted , thanks in large part to director Timur Bekmambetov (try saying that three times fast) throws a stiff middle finger to the conventions and to the “rules” for today’s action flicks. Wanted has no qualms showing us plenty of carnage and sensationalist violence. We also get characters which have some real foul mouths. Even respected actor Morgan Freeman gets in on the act (one particular bit near the end brought the house down). To be sure, this is an incredibly stupid movie, but it is also incredibly engaging.

James McAvoy, last seen in Atonement, does a 180-turn as a young, sarcastic account manager named Wesley who lives a very insignificant, very depressing...

After Sean Connery departed following You Only Live Twice, the filmmakers were left with a near impossible task: Replacing the iconic actor who had taken the franchise to meteoric heights. Some doubted they could make a successful film without him. And yet, producers Albert “Cubby” Broccoli and Harry Saltzman plugged on.

They had a few aspects working in their favor going in, at least. They had decided to film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the 11^th book in the series, which had been published in 1963. Many Bond fans regarded it as one of the best—if not the best—book in the canon. Longtime editor and second unit director Peter Hunt had been promoted to the director’s chair. Many of the other essential players on the production staff were also present. The new film, even without Connery, would remain a well-oiled machine from a technical standpoint.

In selecting the new 007, they decided to go for an unknown—which was what Sean Connery had been. Their eventual choice, George Lazenby, came straight out of deep left field. He was a...

Reviewing movies isn’t an exact science. Everything is based on personal prejudices, interests, and a number of other internal factors. It varies from reviewer to reviewer. Same goes for scoring. Some are very conservative and will not hand out high scores very often, whereas others are a little easier. Many use the four-star system probably because it is the one that has been used most often. Some use the A-F scale, or a 1-10 scale, but I’d say a fair amount of critics use the four-star system, and it is the one I will be using. And in regards to how tough I rate movies, I think my early reviews give you an idea of where I stand. None of the movies that I have seen in the theater since May 2, 2008 have scored higher than 3 stars. Thus far, in 2008, I think only two movies would get a score of 3.5 stars. They are Funny Games and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I’m sure more will be coming along and I know I’ve missed a few, but those are the two I’ve liked the most out of the forty or so films I’ve...