DVD Reviews: Walk the Line, The Brothers Grimm, Herbie Fully Loaded, The Interpreter

I've been watching a bunch of movies lately (mostly courtesy of my sis... thnx!)... so thought i'd catch up a bit on my reviews...

Walk the Line
Joaquin Phoenix plays a great Johnny Cash. Well, I think he does anyways. I don’t know what Johnny Cash is actually like in real life, nor have I really known many or the songs he’s sung, but it seemed like Phoenix knew what he was doing. Reese Witherspoon also puts in a strong performance as his wife, for which she won an Academy Award. Both of these strong performances drive this movie, which follows Cash’s life events, including the death of his brother, which haunted him throughout his lifetime. Honestly, his life story isn’t all that interesting. He married a woman after knowing her a month, had some kids, and then cheated on her and left her… He had drinking and drug problems, and seemed to be an ass. Other than the death of his brother, he really didn’t have anything very interesting happen in his life. After watching Ray and the story of Ray Charles, this one pales in comparison. Having said that, it’s still a good movie overall, and one that I recommend watching, particularly if you like country music. (6.5/10).

The Brothers Grimm
This fairy tale movie about the writers of Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel & Gretel among other tales is a mish-mash of… well… crap. Matt Damon and Heath Ledger star in this horrible film. It’s just unclear what they were trying to do with this one… it wasn’t a fairy tale, it wasn’t a horror or suspense… not really any action or drama… definitely not a comedy… what the heck was it? Just a waste of time really. (0/10).

Herbie Fully Loaded
Why watch this? Well, I suppose it was more of a “why not?”… and while it wasn’t good by any means, it was better than I thought it would be – a decent family channel movie… but I guess that’s not saying much. Lindsay Lohan plays Maggie Peyton, daughter of a retired race car driver (Michael Keaton), who ends up getting Herbie as a graduation present. Herbie, of course, is a car that’s intelligent… somehow Maggie ends up street racing with a NASCAR champion and then ends up in a NASCAR race, which she inevitably wins… it’s a goodie-goodie movie that will make some want to hurl, but it’s really not THAT terrible. And no, that’s not because of Lohan, who actually looks quite plain-jane in this movie… That being said, this movie is definitely not good, so watch it only if you have absolutely nothing else to do (3/10)

The Interpreter
Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn star in this thriller involving politics around the African country of Mogato... Kidman plays the titled Interpreter, who overhears some whispers in the UN with all sorts of political implications… the rest of the movie is spent trying to figure out the mystery and watching Kidman interact with Penn’s character who is an agent of the FBI… Anyways, the ending is a no-brainer, and Penn/Kidman show very little chemistry. I was pretty bored. I’m still looking for a Sean Penn movie that’s good besides Dead Man Walking… I think he is a great actor, but that doesn’t mean he makes good, enjoyable movies. (3/10).