<<BACK | NEXT >>

The Weather Man (2005) --> After blowing everyone away with the great Disney film Pirates of the Caribbean (2002), Gore Verbinski (director) joins with Steve Conrad (writer) and Nicolas Cage and decides to take us in a whole new direction. A story about coming to terms with your life, Cage displays great instincts in portraying a man who does a stupid job for a lot of money and by the end of the film he accepts it. Millions of people do this with their lives, but it's the first time I've seen it worthy of a film budget. You are left with conflicting emotions as it's not a propagation of the "you can achieve anything if you set your mind to it" myth that you see regularly in film and you're not sure you like it. On the other hand, you think it's refreshing to see a film that strives for the real even when the real is a bore to watch.


Full Spectrum Staff

Gigi (1958) --> This musical, based on a novel by Colette and directed by Vincente Minnelli, is one of my favourite movies of the genre. Maurice Chevalier is his elegant self and both Leslie Caron (as Gigi) and Louis Jourdan (as Gaston) are amazing. But what makes this a companion with the all time great musicals is the stellar lyric writing of the songs. Alan Jay Lerner, who wrote the screenplay, is a great lyrical poet and deserves all the credit in the world for making the stars shine in this movie.


Scott D. Brown

Murderball (2005) --> If you are going to make a documentary about quadriplegics and do not wish to make a propaganda film, then the best way is to be honest about the people in the wheelchairs. Just because they cannot walk doesn't mean they are any less human. They are subject to the same motivations, the same emotions, and they do not wish your pity. What they want is what everyone else wants: respect, dignity, love and (shown in this film) to ram their chairs into you until they knock you on your ass. Murderball investigates the phenomena of quad-rugby. It follows the exploits of the American quad-rugby team as they face opponents from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries in the run up to the 2004 Para-Olympics. The camera also enters the private lives the players telling us about their accidents and recoveries.


Full Spectrum Staff

Just Like Heaven (2005) --> From the director who brought us Mean Girls (2004) and Freaky Friday (2003) comes a romantic comedy from the grave (almost). Starring Mark Ruffalo as David Abbott, a reclusive and depressed architect, who moves into the apartment of a Dr. Elizabeth Masterson (Reese Witherspoon). When Masterson confronts Abbott, thinking he's a burglar, she finds out she is a ghost without a memory. Convincing Abbott to investigate the circumstances that led up to her haunting they find out she was in a car accident and is on life support in the hospital she worked at while healthy. As Masterson wrote a will indicating she did not want to be kept alive on machines, her sister decides to take her off life-support. Masterson and Abbott must race against time to find out why Masterson is haunting Abbott as it is the key to her survival. The answer is destiny and love and like all romantic comedies they are together by the end of the movie.


Full Spectrum Staff

• First
• 40
• 39
• 38
• 37
• 36
• 35
• 34
• 33
• 32
• 31
• Last

Complete List of Short Movie Reviews