Saw a couple of movies this weekend, so here goes:

DAWN OF THE DEAD
If I had to name my five favorite horror films of all time, the original "Dawn of the Dead" would be in there; right up there with "Halloween," "Alien," "Re-Animator," and "Evil Dead 2." So, my enthusiasm for this film was not high on the richter scale, but there were some good reviews out there for it, so I thought I would give it a chance, and I am very glad I did. This is actually a really good film. And a lot of people seem surprised by this, but when you consider two of the best horror films to come out in the last twenty years are "The Fly," and "The Thing," both remakes of highly regarded films, I guess you realize anything is possible. The original is definately full of some satire and dark humor, but the remake, or reimaging if you will, is actually quite a bit more biting. Also, as seen in recent zombie films, the zombies of today are much quicker and agile, and make the situations that much more terrifying. Unfortunately the scope of this film is much bigger when it comes to characters. The original had four, this one has 8 or 9 fairly main characters, and so some of them get lost in the background. But these are all good performances, some good scares, and a lot of good dark humor; a very enjoyable romp.

TAKING LIVES
Chris, this year you and I have been agreeing to disagree a lot it seems, but we are both on the same page when it comes to this supposed nailbiter. Why are there so many good reviews out there for this film? This film is just flat out terrible. The opening prolouge is fairly interesting, but as soon as the old woman comes out with her "I saw my son, but he died 19 years ago" speech, I lost interest quickly. Scenes still amaze me like the one where you have three French cops at a Canadian police station talking only to each other, but yet they talk in English; however later in the film they're talking in French to each other. Angelina Jolie is hot as hell, don't get me wrong, but she has never wowed me as an actress, and after this, she still hasn't. Ethan Hawke is fine, but the biggest loophole in the film, is why in the hell did he ever go to the police? It makes no sense, but nothing in this stupid ass film does.

STAR RATINGS:
DAWN OF THE DEAD ***1/2
TAKING LIVES *1/2 (Simply for Ethan Hawke at times and some really good cinematography)

Still haven't seen "Eternal Sunshine..." or "Spartan," but hopefully will later this week. "Jersey Girl" next week; that movie will probably be pretty good, but no one will go see it due to the whole Bennifer thing; poor Kevin Smith.