I've seen quite a few movies recently. A few at the theater, and some movies released earlier in the year on video. So, here goes.

THEATER

SCHOOL OF ROCK ****
I was shocked at how great this movie was. Along with Willy Wonka and Bad News Bears, it's one of the few children's films I know that was made for adults. Jack Black gives a comedic performance that ranks up there with Gene Wilder in "Young Frankenstein," Bill Murray in "Ghostbusters," and Jack Lemmon in "Some Like it Hot." It's a true original; Jack Black is now a star.

KILL BILL ****
I don't even know what to say. Chris summed it up very well. The movie is fucking brilliant, hell of a cliffhanger, can't wait for the next one.

HOUSE OF THE DEAD (ZERO STARS)
This movie has a very hot woman in Ona Grauer, and she jiggles around very nicely. The rest of the movie is unbelievably bad. The whole time I was wishing you were there, Chris. We would have had a hell of a time ripping into this one. They actually intercut scenes from the video game that this is based on. The movie has the wrong title; it should be "Island of the Dead," the house doesn't really play a factor. And when they find out the main bad guy made himself a zombie for eternal life, one of the characters actually asks, "But why?" For the love of Christ!

CABIN FEVER *1/2
As Chris said, the movie really has no balls, so it doesn't really work. Doesn't know if it wants to be a comedy or a horror film half of the time, and what it ends up being is a terrible clone of much better independent horror films like "Evil Dead" and "Re-Animator."

VIDEO

CONFIDENCE *1/2
One of the many heist/con movies that came out this year, and this is easily the worst one. Dustin Hoffman plays a major crime lord, who con-man Ed Burns and co. accidentaly rip off. So, now they have to do a con for him. Ed Burns is an awful actor; I don't know how he keeps getting work. Rachel Tallahay is hot, but has nothing to do here except show off her ample clevage. And people like Hoffman and Paul Giamatti are just wasted in a ridiculous script.

WILLARD **
I guess I'm one of those few film geeks who just doesn't get the cult appeal or Crispin Glover. I just think he's a loon; there is a difference between that and method acting. But this movie does actually have some creepy moments, but overall, pretty bland horror movie.

HOLES ***
Shia LeBeouf really caught my attention on Project Greenlight, so I thought I'd check out this Disney film that was getting pretty good reviews earlier in the year and I can see why. Most live action Disney films are just silly, and this one is for the most part, but what it doesn't do is speak down to it's audience. I enjoyed the characters, went along for the adventure, and enjoyed it quite a bit. If "Freaky Friday" is as good as people made it out to be, maybe Disney has a good streak of live action children's films going on here.

A DECADE UNDER THE INFLUENCE ****
This is a documentary about the influence of 1970's films. And it's a very good documentary. It was made by the late Ted Demme who really had his heart in this subject matter, and pulls off a very interesting film.

A MIGHTY WIND **1/2
While there are some funny moments, I did find this as consistently funny as "Waiting for Guffman" or "Best in Show." The movie also takes a strange dramatic term at the end of the film. One critic said that this was probably Guest's most honest film to date, and that might be right, but that doesn't mean it's that great.

BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM **
A lot of people enjoyed this movie about the indian girl who defies her family and plays soccer anyways. I found it pretty standard and predictable. I've seen this movie a million time s before, and while it's got its moments, it's nothing special.