Eurotrip, Sylvia, Girl Next Door, Passion of Christ

Movie reviews:

EUROTRIP: I found this quite funny. There are some truly inspired visual gags in here, and it's well worth watching--and that's all I really have to say.

SYLVIA: I've recently read "The Bell Jar," which is a good book that I would have to agree is the "female version of 'Catcher in the Rye'," so I watched this movie with some interest into getting some insight about Sylvia Plath. It's a fairly straightforward TV movie-ish deconstruction of her life, and her works are not truly mentioned--I guess that was the point of this woman who never got any recognition during life, only after her suicide. I really wanted more out of this. Gwyneth Paltrow is very good in this, but an average movie.

THE GIRL NEXT DOOR: Elisha Cuthbert, who is among the hottest women of all time and can be seen weekly on "24," moves in next to nerdy Emile Hirsch and the sparks fly, until Hirsch finds out that she is a porn star. This is also quite funny, and I found the dialogue to be in tune with high-school-speak. Like EUROTRIP, many inspired gags, but mostly through the writing. Timothy Olyphant basically reprises his role from GO, but he's entertaining and funny.

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST: Here we go! Controversy ahoy! Basically what you'll be hearing from Jews on this is that it's anti-Semitic, but I translate that into not believing a word of the New Testament on their part, as Jews fundamentally follow only the Old Testament (and why wouldn't they--this is the part where they are promised the world). There's a part in this movie where someone is insulted, "Jew!" he says, and it's a bad guy who says it, so I can only believe that this movie was conscious of such matters. Anyway, despite these cries of anti-Semitism, is the movie any good? Well, it's about as dramatic and powerful that a movie can be. I can say after 2 hours and 20 minutes, I was blown away, and it didn't nearly feel that long. The other part of the controversy is the torture. It is safe to say that you've never seen a person beaten as badly in this movie than any others, and that includes horror films, which director Mel Gibson sort of leans into on occasion in this film. It is horrific stuff, but it's not like being Alex in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE where your eyes are forcibly opened and you have to watch hours of unfiltered evil. Gibson cuts away many times, but you can hear the dreaded cat-o-nine-tails being mercilessly brought down on Jesus' back, and then horrifically in one scene, when they turn him over. It's the way his body looks afterwards that will have you cringing the most. There are beautiful scenes in this, especially when Jesus is on the cross and one of the other criminals being sent to death that day asks for forgiveness, and Jesus grants it, in possibly one of the most powerful scenes you are likely to see in film. It's a film that reminds you why you go to movies.