And it's always there... just waiting to suck.

200 Cigarettes was a reasonably interesting account of at least 6 different groups of people and their varied twisted routes to the same New Years Eve party in 1981. Courtney Love was surprisingly impressive; I really liked her character. Many of the other characters were not that memorable, but as an ensemble cast, it worked. I gave the movie 3 stars.

The Longest Yard (2005) is the remade story of the famous quarterback that goes to jail. Once there, he leads a football team made up of prisoners against the guards’ team. It was interesting how many professional athletes were in the movie. I suppose the idea was that they wouldn’t need to teach them how to play football. Unfortunately, they forgot to teach them how to act. Michael Irvin and Bill Romanowski were particularly bad. Regardless of that, the movie is pretty entertaining. Everybody loves seeing hard football hits and jokes about prison sex, right? Don’t expect deep thought, but do expect decent laughs. I gave it 4 stars.

The United States of Leland relates the story of a troubled teen (Leland, played by Ryan Gosling) that stabs his girlfriend’s retarded younger brother for no apparent reason. The story follows both the grieving family and the teacher trying to understand Leland’s problems and motivations. Gosling was impressive, as was Don Cheadle. My favorite, though, was Jena Malone. She plays the girlfriend, and plays it sad, confused, and very interesting. Jena can do no wrong in my book. I gave the movie 5 stars.

Batman Begins as most people say, was definitely the best in the series. There was no comic book cheese, no unnecessary one-liners, and most importantly, no DeVito, Carrey, Kilmer, Clooney, O’Donnell, Silverstone, or Schwarzenegger. Christian Bale was certainly dark and kicked a lot of ass, but I thought he was a little over-the-top in some cases with his intense snarls. I’ve missed Katie Holmes, believe it or not, and I thought she did a decent job being the high-and-mighty to Bruce’s extravagances. I gave the movie 4 stars.

Ice Age was pretty unimpressive as far as a modern animated movie is concerned. Maybe my standards have been set too high by The Incredibles and Shrek, but I was expecting more animation quality and script content. It was enjoyable but nothing special. I gave the movie 3 stars.

There’s no a lot that needs to be said about Bad Santa. The only surprise was the sheer amount of swearing in the dialog. I’m pretty sure it’s the highest frequency of the f-bomb that I have ever heard in a movie. Lauren Graham’s character was the only remotely interesting character, and there was barely enough humor to keep me from stopping the movie before the end. I gave it 2 stars.

Van Helsing was a movie that I had high hopes for at first. With every trailer I saw, however, the cheesier it looked. Cheesy is definitely the key word here. The whole sequence with Jekyl/Hyde was terrible, and it only went on from there. The James Bond training room, Kate Beckinsale’s character (and the accompanying accent), Frankenstein’s monster, Dracula’s brides, and the ending specifically maintain the cheese theme throughout. There was nothing exciting or remotely interesting here. I gave it 2 stars.

Pirates of the Caribbean is another movie that people were continually surprised that I never seen it. Maybe it’s because the buzz had worn off, but I didn’t think this movie was anything special. Yes, Johnny Depp was fun to watch, but the rest of the cast was pretty run-of-the-mill. I could have done with a movie that was thirty minutes shorter. I gave it 3 stars.

Go is one of my all time favorite movies, but I hadn’t seen it since college. This seemed like a good time to get it and refresh my memory. It was as good as I remember it. The entire cast makes the movie so fun to watch. Katie Holmes, Sarah Polley, and especially Timothy Olyphant do great jobs throughout. I gave it 5 stars.

Cheaters was the intriguing story of the students from an inner city Chicago school who cheat on a state academic competition, beating the reigning champion. The movie then follows their attempts to keep it under wraps in the face of the media. It puts you in an uncomfortable position: you know they cheated, but you like the characters. Cheaters is actually based a true story, which made it that much more intriguing. Jena Malone, as usual, does a great job. I gave it 4 stars.

High Fidelity holds another spot in the list of my favorite movies. John Cusack does a great job of showing how music and the women of his past effect his life. I liked the narrative style, with Cusack talking to you like you’re in the room. This might have been the first role that I had seen Jack Black play, and it was very funny. What do we need to do to get Sara Gilbert in more movies in bigger roles? If someone has the answer, let me know. I gave it 5 stars.