#11- The Dark Knight (7 of 10)

Batman: The Dark Knight summarized: Entertaining? Certianly. A good film? Yes. Over-hyped? No doubt.

I enjoyed the latest incarnation in the long line of batman movies, it was a well done film with two classic batman villains and decent writing but the drooling that critics did over it was ridiculous.

In The Dark Knight Bruce Wane fights crime along with his more legitimate co-conspirators Harvey Dent and James Gordon. Long time fans of the batman series will identify Harvey Dent as the real name of Two-Face one of batman's many nemeses.

As for acting, the movie stood up to expectations, in that it was well acted, but not the greatest piece of cinema ever to bless our screens. At first I was disoriented to see Patrick Bateman (The American Psycho) in a batman movie, because of his dress in the non-costumed parts Christian Bale looked uncomfortably like he did in American Psycho. However after a solid performance I was willing to forgive this and accept him as the batman.

As for the critics that are swooning over the movie, particularly the "attention to details" and excellent props, I have one thing to say. No. Yes there was some thought put into making everything look grimy or gritty, but sprinkling dust and under-lighting every scene doesn't give a film atmosphere, it just looks stupid.

Which brings me to my next gripe: Batman lives in Gotham City, not Chicago. With nearly every outdoor scene being filmed in a easily recognizable part of chicago the viewer has to wonder if they're watching Batman or a Chicago mob flick.

In the end, The Dark Knight was a good movie, just not the pinnacle of the film industry it has been made out to be

#10- The Borne Identity (7 of 10)

You enjoy it while you're there, but once you've seen it, you've seen it -- you don't feel as though there are secrets and meanings tucked away in dark corners, as you do with a more artful thriller like Memento, but Memento immersed the audience in the hero's disorientation, while The Bourne Identity is just another thrill ride, though a reasonably well-crafted one.

The CIA wants to find Bourne, or kill him, or both. Bourne isn't sure which, so he flees to Paris, along with a German drifter named Marie.

Marie whom he entices with $10,000 and the promise of more gives the movie a badly needed shot of what-the-hell attitude, need to keep the film at least halfway believable. Terrified in moments of danger, Marie nonetheless gets it together enough to yell at an assassin, demanding to know where he got her picture.

The Bourne Identity doesn't bother much with the reality of what it might be like to discover gradually that one is, at the very least, a highly skilled government agent of some sort, or maybe worse. Borne is seems somewhat unbothered by his lightning reflexes and ninja skills.

It would have been nice if the story had been complex instead of just obscured until the end. As it was the whole thing was pretty predictable, and there was no real twist after the first 20 minutes.

The Bourne Identity does the job, but it's a very basic job; I can't work up a lot of respect for a movie that is essentially one guy beating up on everyone else for hour and a half only to learn what's going on in the last five minutes.

#9- The Italian Job (7 of 10)

A team of thieves' last job is to steal millions of dollars in gold from the home of some guy in Venice. It is never really made clear who this person is and why he has that much gold inside of his house. After the job one of the thieves turns around and steals the gold for himself, killing the leader in the process. Some years later the leader's daughter comes back for revenge by stealing the gold back.

This was one movie I was not expecting to like at all. I was surprised that I was happy that I'd watched it. It wasn't the movie in its entirety that reeled me in. It was all the clever little things. Like realizing that Mos Def was playing a character mostly deaf. Or Lyle insisting that he was the originator of Napster (named as such because he was napping when his roommate stole it from him) and he is very bitter about the idea being stolen from him. Or even half the stuff that comes out of Handsome Rob's mouth. And who would have thought to use souped up Mini Coopers as a getaway cars?

I enjoyed the acting, though it much of the dialogue was stilted and it seemed every scene was just another way of telling you that the thieves where super talented. Good acting with a somewhat deficient script.

Not a bad film, definitely not the best. I enjoyed but I might be a little embarrassed to admit it. Well it'll make a good TV movie at least

#8- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (9 of 10)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a well crafted film, one which is enjoyable the first time and bares up to re-watching. It was all around good, with good acting, an excellent plot and lovable characters.

In the film, Benjamin, the title character, is born in a senile condition but becomes younger with time, like reverse ageing. While the core of the story is about his relationship with a girl who ages in a more mundane fashion the film meanders, not in a bad way, about Benjamin's whole life.

The film's strongest point is its complex plot, with several side stories weaving in and out of the primary plot. For example, a former professional swimmer who meets and becomes a love interest of Benjamin reappears briefly later in the movie, after swimming the English Channel. This particular style of film reminds me of another great film, Forest Gump in which a full life story is told, with several similar side stories.

Another interesting part of the movie was the special effects used in making the actors appear the correct ages for the story. As for Daisy, the heroine of the story, several actresses are used, however Benjamin is played by Brad Pitt from senility to infancy. A small piece of film trivia here, before 1956 the standard in the film industry was to hire older actors and use makeup to make them appear younger if the film had to cover younger parts of their lives, however with the film Giant (one of James Dean's three major films) younger actors, i.e. James Dean, where used and where made to look older. It was a very novel approach at the time but has become commonplace. It's interesting how far we've come since then.

All in all The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was an all around excellent film, a must see and perhaps the best film for some time before or since. At the same time, I realize that this movie may not be for all, due to the relatively high need to pay close attention.

#7- Rocky III (7 of 10)

One might think a question common among Rocky connoisseurs would be 'Has Rocky jumped the shark?' but the more honest question is 'When did Rocky jump the shark'. If you asked me I would say somewhere between III and IV.

For those unfamiliar with the Rocky films, Rocky Balboa (played by Sylvester Stallone) is an Italian American boxer. In the first two movies Rocky rises to be the heavy weight champion of the world and in the third movie he has to defend and regain his title against a stronger opponent. The Rocky films are the typical underdog overcoming stifling odds movies.

Rocky III was certainly a entertaining film, the question however is whether 3 is too much or just enough. It was good to see most of the cast from the original Rocky back for round three (no pun intended), especially Apollo Creed played by Carl Weathers. As we see in later rocky films the loss of the original cast really takes away from a film sequel.

If Rocky III was better than it was bad then the appearance of Mr. T as Clubber Lang is what tipped the balance. At times Mr. T's acting was over the top but generally he added an element to the movie that lends it re-watchability. With such great quotes as 'I pity the foo[fool]!' Rocky III will at least be remembered, even if not favourably.

In the end I really can't say whether Rocky III was a worthy film or not. It had qualities of a great film, but at the same time it had several of the tell-tale signs of being a series that was dragged out for too many sequels and should be put to rest. In the end I would say it's worth a watch, but you should make up your own mind.

#6- The Spanish Prisoner (9 of 10)

There are two kinds of films, the kind that challenge the audience to think and those that aim only to entertain. The Spanish Prisoner definitely falls into the first of those two categories. 

The movie is about a stock market analyst, Joe Ross, who develops a 'process' for use in the open market. Supposedly this process will generate quite a sum of money for its investors. Joe is befriended by Jimmy Dell, played by Steve Martin and is subsequently conned into giving up his process.

The acting was perhaps not as good as it could have been, don't get me wrong it wasn't bad but some of the dialog seemed stilted and facial expression and body language where less  immersive than they could have been. Steve Martin proved to be the most experienced actor, playing his role deftly, even if it seemed to have a comedian play such a serious role.

What little the film lacked in acting it more than made up in plot. The story line was well crafted and engaging. What was nice was that the audience could imaginably predict what was going to happen if they where quick on their feet, for example at the point when a fake FBI agent contacts Ross, from what had been gathered earlier in the film it would be possible to determine that the FBI agent was an impostor. If there was one thing that could be added to the film is a warning at the beginning of the film stating that the audience should stick with the film, even if they become confused, all is explained in the end.

All in all The Spanish Prisoner is an excellent film and very engaging, a must watch for fans of the mystery genre.