Blair Witch Project -10
Summer of Sam - 3
Scale 1(Awful)- 10(Absolutely Brillant)

Blair Witch Project -10

Blair Witch Project puts Hitchcock-like horror movies back on the map. If you like the modern day slasher films this is not the movie to go see. Blair Witch Project goes back to the basics of suspense - never knowing exactly what or who is after you. The original mythology to this movie was that it was real. You know a grand part of the end from the first lines, i.e., this movie is NOT going to have a happy ending. Three students went into the woods to film a documentary and disappeared - a year later their film footage was found.

The acting and character creation of Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard and Michael Williams was sheer genius. The terror that you feel as they all start to fall apart just keeps mounting and mounting until at the end, you’re paralyzed. The final scenes are absolutely chilling-in no way corny or fake like most horror films. It leaves you with that same sense of dread that Hitchcock’s The Birds did. Absolutely bone chilling.

Blair Wtich Project was originally intended to be a small art film. It attained such grand media status sheerly by word of mouth. And boy, did these people know what they were talking about! One thing I have noticed though is that you either love this movie or you hate it - I for one love it. You MUST go see this.

Mystery Men - 10

One of the best comic book movies to date - right up there with the original Batman movie - except this is intentionally funny, unlike the most recent Batman movies.

Mystery Men is about a bunch of misfit superheroes who band together to save Champion City after Captain Amazing (think Superman meets Bruce Wayne) disappears. The naivete and lack coordination of these second rate heroes, makes them the most lovable group of goofballs you’ve ever seen.

Probably the biggest asset to this movie is it’s brilliant ensemble comedic cast. Hank Azaria is absolutely dazzling as the Blue Raja. He brings out the sheer quirkiness of the character perfectly. William H. Macy shows he’s not just that evil guy from Fargo by bringing the warmth and idealism of The Shoveler. Janeane Garofalo is hilarious as The Bowler. She delivers all of her witty retorts to her bowling ball flawlessly. Ben Stiller brings a sense of warmth and pity to Mr. Furious, who just can’t seem to buy a clue. Kel Mitchell proves that contrary to his performances on Kenan and Kel and All That he really can act. Mitchell’s Invisible Boy is a little goofy, but in a fan-boyish type of way. What can you say about Paul Rebens - the man did PeeWee Herman for the love of God?! Paul Rebens took the frenetic quality everyone loved in PeeWee and built on it to create The Spleen. The Predictable Spinning of Wise Old Sayings Award for 1999 is hereby awarded to Wes Studi as The Sphinx . Geoffrey Rush is perfectly evil as Casanova Frankenstein...the look in his eyes tells you that he REALLY did belong in that nut house. And last by certainly not least Greg Kinnear does a wonderful job as the sellout Captain Amazing.

The setting of Champion City looks like it came straight out of a comic book (along with the costuming). If you love comic books, you absolutely HAVE to go see Mystery Men. You will die laughing.