Calendar Girls - Helen Mirren - 2004. We saw this on New Year's Day. It is a delightful movie that is very entertaining and not the least bit offensive. 10 Die Another Day - Pierce Brosnan - Hally Berry - 2003 - DVD. The James Bond series has become one gimmick after another. The girls are beautiful and the cars are incredible, but the stories have gotten old and wearisome. Decent entertainment but not anywhere near what the old Bond movies used to be. 6 Big Fish - Albert Finney - Jessica Lange - Billy Curddup - 2003. This film, by Tim Burton, is a story about a father and his son and the misunderstandings that probably plague most father/son relationships. The first half of the movie could have been a little shorter and at times it becomes confusing, but the second half of the movie was a wonderful representation of what life should be like. Great performances and very well done - 9 The Last Samurai - Tom Cruise - 2003 - Aruba Seaport Cinema. Although fairly graphic with huge battle scenes, this is an excellent movie with fine performances by Cruise and many unknown actors. I really enjoyed it. 9 The Hotel New Hampshire - Beau Bridges - Jodie Foster - Rob Lowe - DVD. This movie is about 20 years old. The John Irving novel was the story of a very strange family that owned a hotel. The movie did a fairly decent job of telling the same story. This family came face to face with every sort of tragedy and they moved on. It wasn't always pretty but it was true to the story. 7 The Road To Perdition - Tom Hanks - Paul Newman - DVD - 2002. The story takes place in and around Chicago in 1931. Tom Hanks plays Michael Sullivan, an enforcer for the underworld. The story is actually about his oldest son, also named Michael, and how he came to live the life he lived. It is a dark movie about very hard people - but it is a good movie and the performances are excellent. 8 Miracle - Kurt Russell - 2004. The story of the 1980 USA olympic hockey team is told with Russell playing the coach, Herb Brooks. This is an excellent movie that really does justice to a great event in American sports history. 10 50 First Dates - Drew Barrymore - Adam Sandler - 2004. The story line is a little hard to believe - Lucy had an accident and she has no "Short Term" memory. When she goes to sleep, she forgets everything that happened during the previous day. Harry falls in love with her and does his best to help her with the problem. The movie has many very funny moments as well as many very touching moments. You will wonder how they are ever going to get it all tied together, but just enjoy it - the do a very good job. 9 Welcome to Mooseport - Ray Romano - Gene Hackman - 2004. The recently retired President of the US moves to Mooseport and winds up running for mayor opposed by the local plumber. The movie is slow in parts but does have some very funny scenes and was good entertainment. 8 The Italian Job - Charlize Theron - Ed Norton - 2003 - DVD. A group of very bright thieves manage to get away with 200 million in gold only to have one of their own steal the gold from them. Excellent movie - fast moving - well acted - easy to watch. 9 Out Of Time - Denzel Washington - 2003 - DVD. Washington plays a small town Police Chief who gets caught up in what appears to be a "love triangle" only to find out that he has been played for a fool. When the movie appears to be over, it is about half way to the end. Pretty good movie - enjoyed it. 8 Fair Game - Cindy Crawford - Steven Baldwin - DVD. A good action movie about a female attorney who accidently gets in the way of a Russian mob that is trying to steal a lot of money. She becomes a target and Baldwin is the cop that saves her bacon - and mighty nice bacon at that. 8 Barbershop - Ice Cube - 2002 - DVD. A comedy about an inner city barbershop and the characters that hang out there. I thought it was pretty funny. 6 Coast to Coast - Richard Dreyfuss - 2004 - Showtime. In this 'made for cable' movie Dreyfuss plays a writer who has reached a crossroad in his married life. His wife wants a divorce. It is an amicable relationship that they both have problems with. She had an affair with a friend of his and he had a short fling with a neighbor - all many years ago. Much of the trouble revolves around the death of their oldest son in an auto accident. Now, the younger son is getting married in Los Angelas and they are driving across the country to bring him a car as a present and to visit many old acquaintances and some family along the way. A very well done movie with fine performances and some great lines. 9 13 Going On 30 - Jennifer Garner - 2004. This was a cute flick that all of the teenage girls will enjoy. Garner is lovely and the movie moved along fairly well. 8 Repli-Kate - Eugene Levy. This is a movie for teenage boys and it is not too bad. A goofy geneticist (Levy) has a lab full of assistants working on cloning hamsters when they accidentally clone a beautiful young lady. The results are predictable and there is actually a lesson in the story. 7 Bruce Almighty - Jim Carrey - Morgan Freeman - 2003 (HBO). Carrey plays a TV reporter named Bruce who thinks he is always getting the short end of the stick and continually calls on the Lord to help him out. Finally, in an attempt to teach him that G-d has better things to do - the Lord gives Bruce supreme being type powers and some simple instructions. Bruce finds out that the business of running the world is far more complex than he might have suspected. 7 Raising Helen - Kate Hudson - 2004. Helen's sister and brother-in-law die in a freak automobile accident and in their will they designate Helen to be the guardian of their three children instead of the older sister, Jenna. From this point the movie might just as well be Goldie Hawn's "Overboard". Same plot, same script, different cast. 7 Along Came Polly - Ben Stiller - Jennifer Aniston - 2003 - DVD Rental. Rueben Pfeffer (Stiller) gets married and goes on his honeymoon to St. Barts where his wife Lisa (Debra Messing) falls for the scuba instructor, Claude (Hank Azaria) and he winds up coming home without her. A couple of weeks later he bumps into an old aquaintance from middle school, Polly Prince (Aniston) and falls for her. She does not want anything to do with commitment and he wants to get serious. This is supposed to lead to many comic moments. Well, there are some, but it is mostly tedious with some interruptions for middle school bathroom humor. 6 The Terminal - Tom Hanks - Catherine Zeta-Jones - 2004. A fellow from a small, unstable country in Eastern Europe arrives at JFK and has a problem with his passport. While he was in-flight, his countries government was overthrown by rebel forces and the new government had no status, so his papers were worthless. He could not enter America, nor could he return to his own country - he was stuck at the airport. The first half of this movie was very slow. After that, it picked up and had some very important messages to convey. Zeta-Jones is one of the most beautiful women in the world, but her role in this movie was just very sad. Too bad - they could have made something of it - but they didn't. 7 Lord Of The Rings - The Fellowship Of The Ring - 2002 - DVD. We finally got a chance to watch this movie. It starts very slow and is a little hard to follow but once you get into the flow of the movie and stop trying to focus on details, it is pretty good. A fantasy of good versus evil and a child who knows the meaning of honor and loyalty - what can be bad about that? 7 The Notebook - James Garner - Gena Rowlands - Rachel McAdams - 2004. This is an absolutely beautiful movie that is very true to the book that is was taken from. I don't want to give anything away. Just go see it - it's a ten! God, Sex, and Apple Pie. Picked this up on tape. It is a "reunion" movie with characters that I did not recognize. It was an enjoyable movie with a fairly good ending. The actors were attractive and the movie moved along fairly well. 7 Pirates of the Caribbean - Johnny Depp - 2003 - DVD. A fun Disney flick with great scenes and dastardly pirates - pretty scary for a child but fun none the less. 7 The Cooler - William Macy - Alec Baldwin - 2003 - DVD. This is a very good movie but not for the squeamish. Macy plays a guy who is blessed (?) with very bad luck. The casino takes advantage of that to send him to tables where people are winning lots of money to "cool" them off. He is very good at this. Meanwhile, life at the casino is changing and the story plays out to a surprisingly good ending. 8 Laws of Attraction - Pierce Brosnan - Julliann Moore - 2003. Seen on airplane between Cleveland and Houston. Two divorce attorneys find themselves constantly at odds in the court room but more and more attracted to each other - cute. 7.5 Jersey Girl - Ben Affleck - George Carlin - Jennifer Lopez (briefly) - 2003. Seen on airplane between Houston and Portland. Ben marries Jen and shortly thereafter she dies during childbirth. The rest is a bitter sweet movie about Ben's daughter growing up in New Jersey with George Carlin as the grandfather. The language was cleaned up for the airplane - probably much worse in the theater. 6 Second Hand Lions - Robert Duvall - Michael Caine - Haely Joel Osment - 2003 - Cable. Two retired brothers live on a farm in Texas. Their deceased sister's daughter drops off her son to spend the summer with them. They form an alliance all their own and create a world for this young man that is all new to him. An excellent movie for children - and adults. 8.5 De-Lovely - Kevin Kline - Ashley Judd - 2004. The life of Cole Porter as reviewed by himself on the way to his final reward, with Ashley Judd as his wife, Linda. Great music - good acting - a little slow. 9 Wimbledon - Kirsten Dunst - 2004. A British tennis player is entered into the tournament at Wimbledon and expects it to be his last hurrah. He has accepted a job as pro at a local country club. He meets a young female player from the USA who inspires him and entrances him. Sounds hokie but the movie is very well paced and very easy to watch. 9 Spiderman 2 - 2004 - Tobey Maguire. Saw this in an edited version on the plane ride from Cleveland to Phoenix. Slept through most of it. Not good on airplane screen. Dodgeball - 2004 - Ben Stiller. Saw this edited version on plane ride from Phoenix to Cleveland. Watched the first 45 minutes and gave up. Very funny in parts but very stupid in its entirety. Shall We Dance - 2004 - Richard Gere - Susan Sarandan - Jennifer Lopez. Gere plays an attorney who seems to be lacking some excitement in his life. He sees a dance studio from the window of the train on his way home and decides to stop in. He signs up for lessons and enjoys the experience. For some reason, he keeps this from his family. This is a delightful movie with good perfomances and great music. It is well paced and easy to watch. 9 Ray - 2004 - Jamie Foxx. The biographical story of the great Ray Charles. The movie covered his life from 1940 to 1965 and then just ran a few statements about the next 39 years. The music was great - and the acting was incredible. If Foxx does not win an Oscar for this performance than something is very wrong. 10 Birth - 2004 - Nicole Kidman. In the opening of the movie a young married man has a heart attack as he is taking a run through central park. At the same time that this happens, a young boy is born. Ten years later, the man's widow, yet un-remarried, is preparing to marry another who has been courting her for a couple of years. A ten year old boy shows up at her apartment and tells her that he is her deceased husband, reincarnated, and that she should not marry this man. The movie was well acted but the pace was awful and it had a lot of promise but never fulfilled any of it. 2 Mystic River - Sean Penn - 2004 (DVD). The book was very dark - so was the movie, but Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon did a very good job of acting. Tim Robbins was also very good. It isn't a film for everyone, but I enjoyed it. 8 Bridget Jones - The Edge of Reason - Rene Zellweger - 2004. This was very slow. Cute in parts but Zellweger put on too much weight and looked pasty. 6. After The Sunset - Pierce Brosnan - Woody Harrelson - 2004. This is a diamond heist movie with a few twists and turns but mostly pretty beaches and pretty girls. Easy to watch. 8 National Treasure - Nicolas Cage - 2004. This is a "Raiders of the Lost Ark" movie that starts out pretty slow but after about 40 minutes it turns into a well paced adventure. Lots of twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat and it leaves you happy and ready for the sequel - just entertainment. 8 ======================================================================================