The Return
 2003  3.5 stars 90 mins Foreign (Russian)   Rated: NR

Reviewed on 01/Jan/08
This movie was too minimalist for my taste. It took nearly the entire movie to get anywhere really interesting and then suddenly cuts off. The same thing could've been accomplished in half the time. The cinematography was good to look at, but the story was so skimpy that I never actually started to care about any of the characters. At the point of the "shocking" ending I was left with a feeling of "oh well." I think I've seen too many t.v. movies and films about rebelious kids from broken homes with shady dads to think this one was any different or that great.

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The Clan of the Cave Bear
 1986  3.1 stars 98 mins Drama   Rated: R  until 01-Jan-2011

Reviewed on 04/Oct/05
If you've ever read Auel's book you'll know that there is a lot in that book. There's no way it could all be incorporated especially considering that the characters communicated by hand signals. They weren't going to be anything complicated either since these are supposed to be a race of people who had a limited need for communication considering their abilities with memory. Ayla (Hannah) stood out from them as being blonde and tall because that's the way it was written by Auel. She's supposed to tower over them at her adult stage. Anyway, yeah, the makeup sucked and the music could get a little annoying at times, but I thought they did a fair job with it.

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Control Room
 2004  3.6 stars 83 mins Documentary   Rated: NR

Reviewed on 04/Oct/05
This documentary does a really good job of presenting information while not telling the viewer what to think. It lays it on you and then leaves it to you to come to your own conclusions. This film is a good example of what journalism should do, especially when presenting unflinchingly some unflattering people and actions. I'd recommend people watch it so as to at least do some critical thinking when watching the news next time and ask themselves, what am I not being shown? What's not being asked? Watch it.

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