Alone in the Dark -review-

Having played all 4 inductions of this game (hating the last one cause the controls sucked) I have to say I was looking forward to this movie.

IGNORE the fact that Tit-Tara Reid was going to be in it, and Christian Slater, whom I have loved since Gleaming the Cube, please ignore the pairing of these two.

Also, please ignore that they were trying to pass off Reid as an archeologist. Because, people, that was really reaching there...she could barely pronounce half her lines. It was actually quite funny.

Either way, I was really hoping to find some semblance of something good and I will say the beginning of the movie rawked, but then, after those 5 minutes were over, I tell you, I got flat bored.

Premise? Monster gets set loose, evil doctor wants to rule the world, kids are missing, Slater is going to save world with his gun-toting "hot" smart girlfriend.

Whatever.

This movie so didn't need to be made and that's really all I have to say about that.

Spanglish -review-

You know those movies that you go in thinking is about one thing but it turns out to be something totally different due to the marketing hype?

Well, Spanglish, is one of these films, and believe it or not, I enjoyed it a lot more because of it.

I thought that this movie was an Adam Sadler (John Clasky) vehicle but in reality, it is all about Paz Vega, who plays the Mexican housekeeper who enters the Clasky's lives with her daughter in tow.

I am not going to get into too many details only because I haven't had much time to think, much less watch a movie and then write reviews lately, but if you want to see a witty, fun and charming flick, this might be it for you.

A few things threw me off, like a love relationship that blossoms between Vega and Sadler towards the end of the movie, but then it never is resolved, that irritated me for some reason only because Sadler's character is miserable in his life with his wife, and his children who adore him seem to be well-rounded kids outside of him even existing. So it would make sense to me if he just got up and left with this hot mexican mamma and just call it a day, but I guess there are too many morals there...shhhrrriiiiight.

Anyway, few things to mention, Sadler is a chef so when they made food in this movie, I was salivating. Also, the story is told from the perspective of Vega's daughter, Christina, who is applying to Harvard for a scholarship and she is basically telling how her mom is her hero on her entrance essay, hence the reason for this whole movie.

I guess its all about the details because besides the great colors and fabulous locations in California, I have to say that Tea Leoni did an awesome job as a paranoid, neurotic, pathetic mess of a mother and I might even go so far as to say she was my favorite part of the movie.

But she turned out to be a bigger piece of dog crap than I thought in the end, so lets not and say we did.

This story reminded me of American Beauty, but less trendy and more hipster characters involved, more familial elements added, but with the parents still teetering on the edge of destruction. Mix with a Penelope Cruz look-a-like (but much better looking) and you have one interesting flick on your hands.

Well, not much more I can say than I thought they could've resolved the ending a bit between Vega and Sadler, but I guess when it comes to people and their kids, or when kids are usually involved, you just don't want to go that route.

Too confusing and I agree.