Kate Beckinsale – very pretty. Ben Affleck – also very pretty. Josh Hartnett – not bad, but looking eerily a lot like Matt Damon. Alec Baldwin – not good. This is a big American blockbuster with huge special effects and all kinds of patriotism thrown in for good post-9/11 measure. I have been told that it is historically inaccurate, but do not know enough war history to know one way or another. The attack on Pearl Harbour takes up a huge amount of time, but otherwise doesn’t really play a large role in this love story. This movie is trying, and not succeeding, to be Titanic, down to the sinking ship scenes. (**)

I had been meaning to see this one for a long time. I kept seeing it in the rental shop and thinking that I would rent it, but something else always jumped into my hands. I guess there was that little voice inside me that said “Andy Kaufman was a big weirdo — and not really all that funny, come to think of it”. Luckily, the other voice, the one that said “Yeah, but Jim Carrey is always fun to watch”, that voice won out in the end. And I am very glad that it did. I enjoyed this movie from beginning to end. It is sometimes painful to watch, but so was Kaufman. And the movie does what it sets out to do: get a reaction. You can’t watch this movie or think about Kaufman without feeling something. The best part of the movie, by a long shot, was Carrey’s performance. Regardless of whether the movie stayed true to Kaufman (which it seems to from my own uninformed position, but what do I know?), Carrey’s performance carries the movie. (*****)

I had heard various things about this movie, not all good, not all bad. I waited until it came out on video, but I think that I would not have been disappointed had I seen it in the theatres. It definitely messes with your mind on a number of occasions, but I think it is generally well done. In the interests of full disclosure, I have to mention that Tom and I go way back. I have been carrying a torch for him ever since I saw him in The Outsiders when I was 12. I don’t imagine there are many of his movies that I haven’t seen. So my judgment of his performance may be clouded by lustblinders. Penelope Cruz, however, has not been a favourite in the past. She often comes across as kind of flaky and floozy, and I can’t respect that. I will have to admit, though, that she did a reasonable job in this one. Overall, I would say that this is a good movie (not fabulous, but strongly good). Many people dismissed it as “too intellectual”, but I would have to disagree. It is more pop psychology than high intellect, but that didn’t detract from the experience in my mind. (****)