I have to say, Kevin Spacey does a remarkable job playing Quoyle, the depressed loser. And when I say loser, I don't mean some Jason Biggs character who has a hidden personality waiting to be awakened. I'm talking about the kind of loser with no redeeming characteristics whatsoever. If you don't believe me, just watch the scene where he ineptly tries to court Julianne Moore's character by putting his head on her thigh and crying. I would feel pity for him and his childlike innocence, but he never seems to escape his role as the guy who can't do anything right. Sure, he eventually manages to earn the respect of his coworkers, but he works for a LOCAL newspaper for crying out loud! It's not like he's going to be nominated for the pulitzer prize any time soon. By the end of the film (if your head hasn't already exploded out of sheer frustration with Kevin Spacey's character) even the most conservative among us will become staunch advocates of euthanasia. And then there's the pirate theme...ugh, I can't even begin to explain how lame it is. Suffice it to say, after being haunted with images of his plundering ancestors, Quoyle decides to hack a boat to pieces along with twenty other drunks, thus confirming that he is the true descendent of a long line of God's mistakes. On the plus side, this movie would make a great public service announcement for kids to stay in school.

I hate this movie. Not because it's scary for little kids, but because it's just so awful. It's bad enough that it's a freakin' musical, but why, oh why, did they have to cast Gene Wilder as the quintessential stranger-with-candy. I think it's telling that he hires adults who look like children (Oompa-Loompas) to work in his "factory."
It has come to my attention that there are hardly any bad reviews of this movie, much to my dismay. Upon further inspection, I found that of those precious few who gave this movie a one-star review, most were concerned about the effect it would have on their kids (not surprising given that Willy Wonka has a penchant for undressing the child-actors with his eyes), and at least one guy loved the movie but mistakenly reversed the rating system (I am as baffled as you are). To clarify--because this is becoming an ever-increasing problem with reviewers--ONE STAR = BAD, FIVE STARS = GOOD. Also, I think too many people are equating tired and old with classic. The only way Willy Wankit and the Chocolate Factory is a classic, is that it's a classic example of a bad film.

I guess this movie really deserves three stars since I neither liked nor disliked it. But because of all the hype surrounding Russell Crowe's Oscar-winning performance, I was a little disappointed when I finally saw the movie. I was on an airplane at the time, and it interested me only slightly more than twiddling my thumbs and popping my eardrums. Get this movie if you don't like displaying any sort of emotion, because the film evokes none.

I have played Grand Theft Auto III and I'm a big fan. Having said that, I played it so much that I eventually got bored with trying to find new and amusing ways to kill people. Its sequel, Vice City, has a new storyline and look, but offers little more than its predecessor in terms of gameplay. Predictably, I lost interest very soon. Yes you can do some new stuff, like chop off people's heads with a katana or ride in a helicopter, but why pay fifty bucks for that priviledge? In fact, I consider this game less of a sequel than an upgrade. Rockstar Games should have marketed it as Grand Theft Auto 3.1 instead. If you are new to the Grand Theft Auto series, you will probably enjoy Vice City a lot. For everyone else, however, playing the game won't be as fun as watching the cut-scenes because the missions are so similar to those in the previous installment. Ideally, I would have someone else play the missions for me and then it would feel more like an animated adventure starring Ray Liota.