Rapid fire film reviews

Saw some movies recently, have some opinions.

The Punisher: Over an hour and a half of boredom, followed by 15 minutes of what looked like an actual Punisher movie. Use of Ennis' first Punisher arc is moronic as it only works if "The Punisher" is a known quantity, not in an origin story.

Van Helsing: Lowered expectations are a boon for anyone coming to watch this movie. It ranks highly on the unintentionally comedy scale. It's also better than Underworld. Of course, watching paint dry is better than Underworld.

Hellboy: Ron Perleman was terrific. The design was excellent. The plot and pretty much everything else kinda sucked. Still, it was better than Punisher, which in turn was better than Van Helsing.

Love Actually: Taken as a christmass movie, which plays by christmass movie rules, this movie was excellent. One just has to suspend anything even vaguely resembling disbelief. The Billy Mack storyline was outstanding.

Shrek 2: Well, this one didn't need disclaimers and qualifiers. It was good, it was smart, it was funny. Jennifer Saunders was absolutely fabulous. Feel Good Movie of the year.

The Hunting of the President: Scary look at what Hillary Clinton famously called "A vast right wing conspiracy" to take down Bill Clinton. David Brock was probably the most revealing interviewee, as the former Republican attack dog who recently wrote The Republican Noise Machine : Right-Wing Media and How It Corrupts Democracy certainly has the inside scoop.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: Yet another brilliant script from Charlie Kaufman, coupled with an excellent performance by Jim Carrey equals an excellent film, which is true science fiction. Thought provoking, rich in ideas, and genuinely moving. Supporting cast was also very good. Still doesn't take the title of Best Kaufman Movie from Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and not as good as Being John Malkovich. Still very good.