Reviews

Since I love independent films, I decided to give this one a try. "Boy Wonderz" has to be one of the weirder films I've ever seen. Take five guys, add an extra syllable to their names (except good ol' Kenny) and presto! An instant spoof of the average boy band. The "Susie O'Connell" bit was pushing it into spoof land, but if you've seen (or actually care about) the TV movie that started 2ge+her's career, this will be a been there, done that type of thing. See, I prefer my spoofs available to rent, and lesser known.

The gist: 5 female cops in San Francisco and their problems and adventures. Bonnie Bedelia, Lela Rochon, Tracey Needham, Nancy McKeon, and Lisa Vidal star in this series that is headed for doom while on the Lifetime network. Seeing the network, the episodes will most likely revolve around the whole "woman-in-peril" subplot. McKeon is a talented actress, as are the others, and shouldn't subject themselves to doing nothing except "woman-in-peril" stuff. This series might fare better on NBC, whose new season was met with insufficient failures. This show is ok, just needs a new network.

Like most people who probably saw this one, I saw in on the Lifetime network. This one stars Nancy McKeon as Melanie, who's framed for killing her boss. McKeon does an excellent job in this movie, and her hair doesn't look that bad. However, this one seems as though it was made for TV and probably didn't do well commercially in the big cities. Now it can be seen on Lifetime, where the fact that the title contains the word "woman" is enough to get this one airtime. Bottom line, this is one Lifetime circulated movie NOT to be shown in health class.

"Snow Day", Nickelodeon's latest effort at a live-action feature film, falls short from "Harriet The Spy". This film takes place around the ever-popular snow day, when kids and parents get the day off. Oh yeah, and anything can happen. The younger set face off against the "Snowplow Man", who can keep them from getting the second snow day, a rarity. The adults do their job, to an extent, and the teen set deals with crushes and life lessons. Since this is a family film, the snowplow story gets more attention, as seen in the commercials, but the teen bits should have got more focus. Anyone over 12 would be bored to tears with this one, but under 12 would have a blast. Actually, I just watched this one at home. On a snow day. Really.

Kirsten Dunst stars as Tina, a pregnant fifteen-year-old. She agonizes over what to do with her life now that she's pregnant. This is your basic teen pregnancy movie, although this one was done better that other health-class worthy films. Dunst did well in her role, although that would probably be one of the few television movies that she'd do, now that her movie career is soaring. She should consider another TV movie, but it doesn't have to be like this one, which I saw in my home, not in health class. This one would be good for girls to watch, but only if they are mature enough to handle a health-class caliber film.

I saw this in health class, like most of the films shown on the Lifetime network. I thought it was a TV movie, but it turned out to be a theatrical release. I had never heard of it before then, so I just sat back and watched. I hadn't heard of Amanda Peet until "Jack and Jill", so I was surprised that I hadn't recognized her. Fans of the WB network may recognize Leslie Bibb's cameo towards the end. This movie was a decent one, it just didn't seem like one to be released theatrically.

The Seavers are back. Everyone, take cover. Mike and Kate have adopted needy children, Carol holds takeovers in her spare time, Benjamin runs a "business" and slacks off, and Chrissy was magically aged to seventeen. Maggie runs for Congress against the boss who fired her, and Alan rallies the family for the campaign. Most people are wondering what happened to Luke, that homeless kid the family took in. Well, he won't settle for television, made too much money for his own good in 1997 with a certain boat movie, and is the type who won't admit to doing a sitcom in his early days of stardom. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I suggest you find a rerun of the original series. Better yet, only a true fan of the original would completely love this one.

Despite looking as though this one was filmed on a shoestring budget in someone's actual house, this one, a male version of the classic "Clarissa Explains It All", may last the Nickelodeon season. However, I have seen many good shows go bad and finally disappear off the Nick airwaves. I'm hoping this one and "Caitlin's Way" won't do the same. It probably helps that Philip Glenn Van Dyke isn't really bad-looking, that will help with the female viewers. That, combined with reasonable acting, will possibly help keep this one afloat.

For those of us who love flat-out comedy but can't seem to stay up late enough for "Saturday Night Live", "Hype" is a refreshing alternative. That acting and writing was excellent. This one will be around for awhile, and all of the cast will be able to make names for themselves just as the SNL originals did back in 1975. Let's all hope this one lasts the season and will fare better than most comedies seen on the WB network. I don't think I've laughed this hard since "The Wedding Singer", and I'm hard to please. I believe that this one is a definite keeper for Sunday nights.

Usually I stray away from comedies from the WB network. But this one attracted me, so I figured I'd check it out. Thanks to the humor that's actually funny, good acting, and no laugh track (my favorite feature), I was hooked. Irene Molloy stands out in her debut performance. It seems as though teen 'soaps' (i.e. 90210) are really melodramatic on screen and off, and this satire displays it perfectly. This one's a keeper.

This show has a decent premise: A 32-year-old single mom (Lauren Graham) raises her 16-year-old daughter (Alexis Bledel). The catch here, and I appreciate this, is the mom's 32 going on 16, while the daughter's 16 going on 32. Bledel gives a good performance in her first role. Graham has potential with this series. Let's hope that this one lasts for the whole season and gets picked up, as most quality series on the WB (except for "7th Heaven") usually get stale and cancelled. Let's hear it for the family drama!

Get this: Teenage girl wants space from her parents. She gets it-by the arrival of five brothers and sisters, the ever-popular quintuplets. Now, I thought Kimberly Brown was excellent in "Tumbleweeds". She isn't horrible here, but could have used improvement. The worst acting came from Elizabeth Morehead, who plays the mom on the worst sitcom ever, "One World". Do I sense a pattern here? Bottom line-view it for what it is.

I saw this movie in health class as part of the eating disorders unit. I found it to be in the same category as "A Secret Between Friends": Better seen in class than at home. Everyone I know who saw this was disgusted by Casey's bulimic body. I know I was. The only major problem I see here was the anti-climactic ending. They could have definitely done more here.

Why did those writers have to mess everything up? Why did they have to make the fans change the channel? Why did Ben and Felicity have to hook up? Not too many people thought it was a good idea and now we all know why. They have ZERO chemistry and are just plain stupid as a couple. Plus, Felicity devotes all her time now to getting more and more sex by going through boyfriends on her way back to Ben. You don't see Julie much anymore, and when you do, she has this pouty-hurty-feelsorryforme-Julie look. Get over the rape already! And Elena? It's a shame that she didn't know any virgins or anyone who planned to wait for their wedding for sex. That's just sad. Now, everyone knows that Felicity and Noel belong together. Why the writers don't understand that, we'll never know, but they don't, and now the ratings are dropping. This show has lost its edge.

A movie opens up, with a screenplay by Amy Heckerling, writer of smash hit "Clueless". Like most people, I thought it would be good, so I went to see it. For the most part, it was fine, but some of the sequences in the vet's office might have people from PETA up and screaming. This movie, in a sense, lives up to its name, but is worth seeing at home, not in the theaters.

OK. Here I go. I just saw this movie and have a few things to say. To start, I found the performances from West and Sokoloff to be outstanding. Why the heck are they doing teen movies when they both are on outstanding ABC dramas anyway? Next, Franco seems good in this genre and should consider sticking with it. O'Keefe, on the other hand, has got to get away from teen roles that portray her as vicious popularity monsters ("She's All That", an embarassment to the film industry). I have never seen popular ditzes portrayed that badly until now. Make sure that the next teen movie I see is along the lines of "The class gets held back so there isn't an obnoxious prom scene and they don't live happily ever after". Oh, and WHAT was the deal with their prom anyway? "Titanic Dreams" as a theme? Get over it! Keep on writing, John Hughes. We know some teen movie authors who desperately need your help. Badly.

At my camp, it poured rain one night, so we had a movie night and saw this feature. I fell asleep through it, but for what I saw, I found it to be an entertaining children's feature. My only complaint is that Bowie got half the screen time as Jennifer Connelly, yet Bowie has top billing. Does someone besides me detect some male chauvinism here?

I found this movie to not in any way be worth going to the movie theater for, so I held out for the video. I made a wise choice. This movie had all the required "teen movie" cliches including the lead cast. Freddie Prinze jr. and Julia Stiles have absolutely ZERO chemistry, and Mr. Prinze was right when he said he was going to attempt to stop with the teen movies already. Julia Stiles just needs help in the acting department that isn't related to Shakespeare, or in general. If, and I know this is mean, Freddie Prinze Sr. saw this movie, he'd probably be rolling in his grave. Sure, his son can act, he just needs to find his specific genre. And teen movies sure ain't it.

Like the film, "Tumbleweeds", a mother drags her daughter around in search of a better life. Like "Tumbleweeds", I found this movie to be a work of brilliance. Sarandon and Portman should reunite at some point, that is, if Portman doesn't stop acting first. The main reason I liked this film is the fact that someone had the good sense to cast Shawn Hatosy in the role of Benny, a role that suited him perfectly. Like "Tumbleweeds", this is a quality film that can be shared with whomever, whenever, wherever.

Of course, some producers just had to make a movie where all the child stars could gather and congregate. Well, they managed to rope in Candace Cameron (DJ Tanner, "Full House"), Danica McKellar (Winnie, "The Wonder Years"), Jaleel White (Urkel-need I say more?), and Josh Saviano (Paul, "The Wonder Years), whom I might add wallowed in his infatuation with Danica's character the whole movie...isn't this just because the producers knew them from "The Wonder Years" and decided to pair them up? Wouldn't Kevin Arnold be jealous? It was different seeing Winnie be bad, Urkel have 20-20 vision, DJ be a brat, Paul be not so different. Of course, I can't not mention Ava, or as we all know her, Rachel Green. Yes, Ava was played by a then-unknown Jennifer Aniston. Not her worst performance, as the same for everyone. Now, most have them have retreated into child star post-sitcom fade, having all been scraped to the "Where Are They Now?" dustpan, but it's better that they faded for the most part, rather than having to create another summer camp haven for them.

Just what the world needed-another superficial cookie-cutter Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen movie. This movie gives out horrible messages to girls everywhere, complete with stereotypical "junior high" experience. They make learning anything at all seem completely taboo. I can't stand the fake French accents, or those guys on the mopeds racing around who eventually "fall" for the twins. Why am I putting everything in parenthesis? Because its all stereotyped. The twins even complain about not having a stereotypical grandfather. They should be happy they even have a grandfather at all. How does this fit the Mary-Kate/Ashley mold? This one has them fixing up a single guy who (gasp!!) ISN'T THEIR FATHER!!!!! Yes, folks, they actually have a mother who appears for all of five seconds. I haven't even sat through thirty minutes of this and I can already tell how it will end up. This movie is so pitiful, it makes Miss USA seem like an academic bowl. Really.

Really, I liked it. The premise was good, the story fit where both respective series left off, and here's my favorite part. Mary and Valerie aren't bitter! They aren't like others who become synonymous with a certain series and then refuse to talk about it, or do possible reunions (A prime example is Susan Dey, "The Partridge Family"). In fact, Valerie was saying that she'd be thrilled to do another movie, and then Mary said the same thing later, so I would be on the look for another...but if that doesn't quite work out, then they can re-run this one.

I just loved this movie. A habit of mine is keeping an eye on the VCR to see when the flick will end, but I didn't have to do it this time! The acting was superb. Lots of lines were truly memorable. I can tell that Kimberly Brown is going to be in demand for a while. Let's just hope she doesn't end up a statistic. I would recommend this movie to anyone. In my mind, it was a work of brilliance.

At least this "All That" spinoff is better than that OTHER spinoff, you know, "Kenan and Kel". Amanda Bynes is truly talented. She deserves her own show. She's probably the funniest person to fall off the "All That" carousel. I'm sure many people agree with me. I'm always right about those things, having watched things like "All That" since they premiered. Amanda Bynes deserves better than "All That". She finally got what she deserved.

Wow. What can I say? This flick was great. It showed addiction from all aspects, which you don't see too often on TV. I thought that the scene where Molly is on her cot was really riveting. The scene when Max came to his house was a really powerful scene in the flick. This is a movie all teens should watch. Hopefully it will be repeated in the near future.