BeatBoxBetty's Movie Reviews

The Faculty - Felicia's Journey - Fight Club - Final Destination - Flawless - The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas - Frequency

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FACULTY, THE
Despite the fact that I’m scared to death of fright flicks – (case in point; my missing cuticles ) I have to say I enjoyed this far-out freak show called The Faculty. There’s plenty of clever comedy, spooky suspense and talk about your product placement! Just try and count how many times you see threads from Tommy Hilfiger! High school will never be the same. Especially with the clever little cast of Elijah Wood, Clea Duvall, the stunning Bebe Neuwirth and the newest hunk on the block, Josh Hartnett. Rating: 3.5 Martinis.

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FELICIA'S JOURNEY
Bob Hoskins plays a lonely mamma's boy catering manager who picks up, robs and manipulates a naive preggo Irish teenager (Elaine Cassidy) in writer/director Atom Egoyan's adaptation of William Trevor's novel. Maybe Atom should've left well enough alone; although Cassidy shows promise as an actress and "Bobby" does the best he can, the film slowly unwinds into a sad-sack stew that leaves you bummed beyond belief. Rating: 1.0 Martini

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FIGHT CLUB
Brad Pitt's bod is sculpted like a Greek spa boy, and there's plenty of dark-roasted humor packing a serious punch. Although you'll cringe at the amount blood, Pitt and Ed Norton do have some great moments. And yes, there's tons of violent scenes, but there's a higher body count in a John Woo film. Note: Those who are easily offended (or bruised) should pack ice. Rating: 4 Martinis

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FINAL DESTINATION
This film's tag line is "Death Is Coming". How appropriate. This puppy's Dead On Arrival as a hefty Devon Sawa has the uncanny knack for predicting his schoolmate's death scenes. Now, I have to say in the film's defense, the first 10 minutes totally rock. In fact, the pyrotechnic plane scene will have you canceling your trip to the Bahamas in a heartbeat. But just as you buckle up for what you think will be a nice flight, your dropped off into the Bermuda Triangle of filmmaking.; bad acting mixed with a bad script. Not a good combo. Miss Ali Larter (Varsity Blues) does manage to come out only slightly injured as the nerdy love interest, but me thinks it will be a cold day in hell before she jumps on another jet bound for disaster. Rating: 1.0 Martinis

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FLAWLESS
I'm sure there are critics who'll say that Philip Seymour Hoffman's (Happiness, Boogie Nights) portrayal of a NY drag queen is over the top. Not this one. Yes he's chubby, flamboyant and grand. But I found his role of Busty Rusty both endearing and compassionate And Robert De Niro's no slouch either as former hero security guard Walt Koonz in this touching tale of two total opposites helping each other during the most trying times of their lives. With Rusty, it's dealing with the reality of his sad life and with Walt it's his realization that he isn't the rock he thought he was. Rating: 4.0 Martinis

FLINTSTONES IN VIVA ROCK VEGAS, THE
You’d think that this would be easy pickins for Betty to slam about like a dirty little rag doll, but ya know what? It wasn’t so bad. In fact, if you’ve got tiny tots and you have to take them out for a romp at the movies, Viva Rock Vegas could prove to be a fun couple of hours. It starts off before the family unit gets together as a kinder, gentler Fred Flintstone (Mark Addy) looks for love with his buddy Barney Rubble (Stephen Baldwin nails his impression of this lovable lug). The two hook up with Wilma (Kristen Johnson) and Betty (Ally McBeal’s Jane Krakowski) at a burger joint and the rest is prehistoric history. Of course there’s the bad guys; Wilma’s ex boyfriend (Thomas gibson) and her snooty mother (Joan Collins) play the heavies. It’s not earth-shattering cinema, but a decent time for the kids. Rating: 2.5 Martinis

FREQUENCY
Here’s another one of those movies that you try to like. You even suspend your idea of reality for a time to fall for the premise; during some freaky weather patterns, a father in 1969 is able to talk to his son (Jim Caviezel) in the 1990’s. Fine. We’ll go with that. But then it goes insanely out of whack as the two try to change history by changing the events as they happen. Add to that Dennis Quaid’s extra strong New Yawk-er accent (complete with gum chomping) and scenario after scenario of “Yeah, right. That would happen” - and you end up with an over-worked set of sacharine-sweet scenes and not much of a decent story line. Again, try as you may, but for Betty, Frequency just wasn’t picking up the right signals. Rating: 1.5 Martinis