Reviews by jasoncarulli

Thank you for Smoking was a surprise gem that has a unique approach to combining humor and real world issues at the expense of the "good guys." Aaron Eckhart brought life to the argument with his well versed dialogue and a persuasiveness that made me understand why Big Tobacco is so successful. A must see.

This film is one of the best little knowns out there with a story that manages capture some great humor and serious drama. Steve Zahn is hilarious in a minor supporting role and Nicky Katt turns in his best performance as we see the paths that every teen faces after life in highschool.

Jason Biggs had a magical run of movies that began with American Pie and leveled off somewhere around Jersey Girl. In between this stretch, we got to know an actor with absolutely no talent but came to love the supporting cast that gave each of his movies some success. Saving Silverman is a prime example of what I call the Biggs Exception, where everyone else is great EXCEPT Jason Biggs. Jack Black and Steve Zahn are hilarious and make this movie definitely worth a watch.

I don't think I will ever understand why Jason Lee's career hasn't lived up to the potential we saw in Mallrats (and if anyone brings up My Name is Earl, I will laugh at you). I mean he is the key ingredient for any movie's failure...Tom Green. This movie only stole my money.

After catching the Fifth Element on late the other night, I had a second chance to give this highly tauted film another chance. After my first view some years ago, I was left searching for what element this movie contained that actually lived up to the hype everyone around me brought up. It's another funky, futuristic end of the world scenario with likeable characters, but...why is this one so good? I still don't think I quite understand everyone's fascination just yet, but I did enjoy it a bit...maybe someone can enlighten me a little more?

Thank god for the performance of Bobby Cannavale in this film, I don't think I would have been able to get through it without his unintentional comedic relief. Peter Dinklage may have overplayed his role a bit leaving me to under-sympathize his hardships. Overall, it was entertaining but hardly worth the acclaims that warranted my picking it up.

The roles Nicolas Cage and Elisabeth Shue played in Leaving Las Vegas were outstanding but the story itself left me wondering by movies end what the point of it all was. Yeah I get the struggle of each individual character and solace they found in each other but its gratuitous nature did not justify two hours of nothing more than their hardships.

A would be 70s classic that fell short in using icon Burt Reynolds as the good guy and fellow on-screen Smokey and the Bandit star Jerry Reed as the enemy. It was a typical crime drama, bad guy turns good to capture an even badder guy. I guess the mystique of Reynolds left more than this film had to offer.

It seems that all the internet hype surrounding this film and its brilliant title left more to the imagination than the actual film provided. And in the end, it may have been that movie title that caused more disappointment at the box office than anything else, I mean what more do you need to know or expect that hasn't already been said in "Snakes on a Plane"?

This film had all the elements of a cult classic in place including the hype, bad acting, and bad storyline, but fell short with the classic lines and moments that enshrine it into the following it attempted to receive. "I am sick of these motherf***ing snakes on this motherf***ing plane" had potential but was delivered at the wrong moment and felt forced by Samuel L Jackson at a time when I desperately craved a more badass Jules Winnfield (Pulp Fiction).

The followup album to what I often consider one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time, Black on Both Sides, has fallen well short of a long hiatus and high expectations. The New Danger showcases a major shift of hip hop talent dubbed over traditional beats to a more rock and roll flavor. I like the attempt, but the end result lacked the enthusiasm of Mos Def's legendary debut. Recycled lyrics and a lack of real "hip hop" are largely to blame for this sophomore slump.