Arthur-23

Ignore the ridiculous number of negative reviews. This version of Charlie's Angels is exciting, well written, funny, and enjoyable. Don't compare it to the TV show or the prior films and you'll have a good time. It stands on its own. All of the feminist propaganda brought up in negative reviews is not really relevant (whether people are for or against). It's simply good entertainment. Make sure to stay through the credits for some fun cameos.

Although some would call Bill Maher's "Religulous" sacrilegious, it is not really a film that convincingly attacks religion, at least not the older monotheistic brands (it does a better job on the newer religious strands). Does it try and point out hypocritical positions? Yes. Does it use irreverent means to do so? Often. Does it succeed at times? Yes. But is it going to shatter religious views? No. It's just an entertaining film. While Maher does a reasonable job at pointing out inconsistencies and hypocritical positions of the Western religions (more successfully with religions that saw their founding in America), what harms the film is not so much what Bill says, but whom he chose to interview. Or rather whom he chose not to interview. Viewed properly, the film is largely an attack on extremist views of whatever persuasion as the majority of those interviewed are fringe characters who would likely embarrass mainstream members of their representative religions (with one or two notable exceptions, such as the Vatican's astronomer). If Bill chose to interview more mainstream representatives from among the non-extremist or non-fundamentalist members of the dominant Western religions (or simply avoid the fringe characters such as the anti-Zionist rabbi) -- which would arguably comprise the majority of adherents -- the film would have been more balanced and possibly more effective. A more balanced presentation with moderate monotheists who are at least as articulate and quick as Bill would have warranted this film at least one more point. As it is, the film, though well made and often absorbing, only rates a 7/10.

From the creators of the TV show "Alias," we now have "Malias"... or the male version of Jennifer Garner's famous spy role. For anyone not familiar with ABC's Alias, Mission Impossible III is a great movie. But for anyone who knows Alias' various tricks and plot twists might be less impressed. On the one hand, Tom Cruise does a fine job. He played his character well. The action sequences, especially the ones in Shanghai, were very effective, but, in making M:I-3, director and co-writer J.J. Abrams seems to have drawn heavily on two of his prior TV shows---Felicity and Alias---for inspiration, both in terms of style (the party scene near the beginning seemed inspired by Felicity) and plot twists and action scenes inspired by Alias. Of course, there are cast overlaps among all three with Felicity's Keri Russell and Felicity/Alias's Greg Grunberg playing all-too-brief roles in M:I-3. However, it's unfortunate that Keri could not have played a more developed character in the film. Nonetheless, these earlier influences were obvious from the very first scene, which used a typical Alias forward/backward plot device that's been used in virtually every season of Alias. The scene starts in the future then we spend three quarters of the movie backtracking to discover how we got to that first scene. Then we see the manipulation. And bang, bang the spy saves the world again. Just like Alias this is true of M:I-3. Considering the action scenes alone, however, they really were impressive, particularly those of Tom Cruise running through the streets of Shanghai and leaping off of buildings. Camera angles were perfect. But viewing Mission Impossible III makes one believe that Alias could make an effective transition from television to the silver screen. "Alias, The Movie" could make for an even better film since its plots are more complex than M:I-3. But with Tom Cruise as the male version of the central spy, his performance as "Malias" delivers the goods. For that this movie deserves 7/10 with an extra point for anyone unfamiliar with the classic TV show on which this movie seems to be based.... not "Mission Impossible" but "Alias."