killbillfanatic2005

I have been a huge fan of the Halloween series for a long time, and have seen every movie (aside from Resurrection, for obvious reasons) several times. When Rob Zombie released his original remake of the John Carpenter classic, I was intrigued and interested in seeing a new interpretation of the killer. Now, I didn't hate that movie, but it was overall just too much "Rob Zombie" and not enough Michael Myers. I don't exactly know what I was expecting when I heard that this movie was coming out, but I (for some unknown reason) was excited to see it. I got my tickets for the midnight showing well in advance, and was ready to go. As midnight on Thursday night finally approached, the more excited I got. And then the movie started. As it kept playing, the worse it got, and to say the plot was underdeveloped or even non-existent would be giving this film a compliment. I don't know what exactly was going on in the heads of the filmmakers, but obviously nothing related to the Halloween series. This piece of garbage ranks among the worst movies I have ever seen, and I have seen The Island, and many other things by Michael Bay, so that is definitely saying something. Even for me, however, there are horror movies that are "so bad that they're even more enjoyable." But Halloween II is about as far away from that as possible to be. I would rather have Michael Myers actually kill me than sit through another Rob Zombie Halloween movie. Avoid this disaster at all costs!

Now, I love Smallville. It's not my favorite show by any means, but it is thoroughly entertaining. And I enjoyed the Vengeance episode where we were first introduced to this character. She was very interesting, but her story is not worthy of six little "minisodes." I think it would have sufficed to simply have here as a guest on another Smallville episode. The quality of these little episodes is God-awful, as they look like they were shot on some college student's camcorder, and edited on some average joe's Macbook. Even though they do something for the insanely obsessed Smallville fan, they do absolutely nothing for me. I'm sure there's some of you that enjoy them. As I have not watched all of them yet, honestly I don't really have the desire too. But other than these little films, this DVD release of season 5 was quite good. And these terrible webisodes will never be able to take that away!

Meg Ryan has always been one of my favorite actresses. I loved her in You've Got Mail, Joe Versus the Volcano, and virtually everything she has ever done. When I saw that she was coming out with a new movie, I was more than excited. In the Land of Women is an interesting look into the lives of several people who live in a small Michigan suburb.

Carter (Adam Brody), who happens to write scripts for pornos, has just been dumped by his famous actress/model girlfriend, and decides to go live with his grandmother in Michigan to get over it. His grandmother (Olympia Dukakis) is constantly thinking that she is dying, and is always trying to convince Carter that any minute could be her last. Sarah (played to absolute perfection by Meg Ryan), the woman from across the street, soon comes over to welcome Carter to the neighborhood, and the two become friends. The pair begin to take walks where Carter tells Sarah everything about his painful breakup while she tells him how her daughter resents her.

Sarah's daughter Lucy (Kristin Stewart) is the usual angsty teen girl, who's life is filled to the brim with regular, and some not-so-regular, teenage drama. Her boyfriend, the quarterback, is a total jerk and she thinks her mother doesn't care for her at all. When it is discovered that Sarah has breast cancer, Lucy must face her issues with her mother in order to show her that she loves her.

Overall, this movie is quite good. Meg Ryan is truly spectacular, and so is her material. The mistake that this film made, however, was shifting its focus from Sarah to Lucy. There have been so many teen movies that have dealt with the same thing, but Sarah's character (due to Meg Ryan) was incredibly original and well-developed. If the story had focused more on the friendship that developed between Carter and Sarah, the film would have been much more effective. Stewart does do a pretty good job with her material, but the applause must be given to Ryan for her exceptional performance. As usual, Adam Brody is his normal cynical and sarcastic self, but his scenes with Meg Ryan were quite good. If you are up for a dramatic film that deals with some of life's greatest challenges, then this one's for you.

My Grade: B- (But A+ for Meg Ryan's scenes)