The Matador is a hilarious spoof. Nevertheless, it manages to convey some thought-provoking emotions.

The Matador introduces us to the lives of a hitman and a salesman, who meet at a bar in Mexico City. Pierce Brosnan throws off his smooth James Bond image, and gives a fantastic performance as Julian, the crude and rough-around-the-edges hitman. Greg Kinnear plays Danny, the average American businessman.

Although Julian and Danny are complete opposites, they end up sharing a bond. Julian is struggling to cope with his chosen career as a “facilitator of fatalities.” Danny is dealing with the pressures of trying to succeed as a businessman. The unlikely duo strike up a friendship, which leads to a bond between them.

So why is the movie called the Matador? One very strong point in the movie is when Julian and a top bullfighter (the Matador) both demonstrate how they must possess clever skills, and devise certain maneuvers to achieve their respective “missions.”

The movie’s other interesting character is Danny’s wife, played by Hope Davis. Davis gives a good performance as the dutiful wife.

The Matador has neither a complex nor a challenging plot (but does have an interesting twist at the end). Despite the lack of complexity, The Matador is worth seeing for the humor and fine performance by Brosnan.

Let me know if you enjoyed this movie as much as I did by adding your comments below.

I am not very fond of Usher’s music, but I definitely think that he is a talented vocalist. And he is also a pretty decent actor too, when he allows himself be. His performance in Light It Up was rather good, as was his stint in The Faculty. But In The Mix really shows that the singer just doesn’t have what it takes to be a lead actor yet.

Maybe it just happens to be the bad plot and dialogue, but Usher just is not with the program in this flick. He is trying hard to look cool, but he isn’t doing much on the acting front, just looking buff and living up to that Will Smithian “street wise yet nice and hip black guy” archetype. Honestly, there would be nothing wrong with that if it was pulled off right. I actually like Will Smith’s acting. But in this scenario, with Usher doing it, it’s just plain awful.

As said before, Usher is actually able to be a competent actor, and that is why this movie is so annoying. The whole time I was in the the theater absorbing the silly boy meets girl plot I kept thinking “Wow. What happened to this guy?” Usher does actually have talent, but none of it is displayed in this film.

But to be fair, he is not the only reason this is a bad film. All the other actors do a poor job as well, and as mentioned, the plot and dialogue is pretty asinine too. Even the title - which oh so cleverly references the bi-racial love affair between the two characters - is dumb. Avoid this movie at all costs, unless of course you enjoy being bored and annoyed for 90 minutes.

Inside Man is a hostage thriller directed by Spike Lee. This is better than your average hostage plot.

The movie begins with a team of “industrial painters” robbing the main branch of the Manhattan Trust Bank. By the end of the movie, you find out why the robbers chose this particular disguise.

British actor Clive Owen gives a good performance as Dalton Russell, the leader of the robbers. Dalton is an enigma, and his agenda in the robbery is not clear-cut. The robbers take hostages, and from this point on the movie makes some clever twists and turns.

Detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) is in charge of defusing the hostage situation. Once he arrives on the scene, he receives resistance from Captain John Darius (Willem Dafoe), who does not respect his role as a hostage-negotiator.

Madeliene White (Jodie Foster) enters the movie as an ambitious power broker. Madeliene accepts a special assignment from the president of the Manhattan Trust Bank (Christopher Plummer). You begin to wonder if the bank’s president has a hidden agenda.

Detective Frazier’s skills are put to the test when he negotiates with the hostage-takers. It soon becomes clear to him that many things are not what they first seemed. Police treat hostages as suspects. Police treat suspects as hostages. Confused? Don’t worry, everything becomes clear by the end of the movie.

Inside Man has a nice touch of humour, and the movie’s music is fun. A well-directed movie by Spike Lee. The cast is strong and good performances all round, especially by Denzel Washington and Clive Owen.

I would watch this movie again, just so I can pay more attention to the minor details, which were relevant to piecing together the puzzle.

This movie is definitely worth seeing.

Let me know what you think of Inside Man by adding your comment below.

This is a political thriller directed by Clark Johnson. I went to see this movie because I thought I couldn’t go wrong - it contains a strong cast and the plot was interesting. I was disappointed.

The plot involves former members of the KGB conspiring to assassinate the President. The assassins have a mole within the team of Secret Service agents assigned to protect the President.

Michael Douglas plays veteran agent Pete Garrison. Garrison, who is having an affair with the First Lady, is trapped when he is blackmailed about the affair, and framed for being the mole.

Special agent Breckinridge (Kiefer Sutherland) is put in charge of investigating who the mole is. However, his investigation of Garrison is biassed. Garrison is a former friend whom he longer trusts (he believes Garrison had an affair with his wife).

Good performances by both Sutherland and Douglas. Jill Maren (Eva Longoria) did not give a convincing performance as an agent assigned to protect the President. How effectively can you run after an assassin with 5 inch heels?

During the investigation, it’s business as usual for the President (David Rasche). He is as busy as ever, pays too little attention to his wife, and is constantly surrounded by bodyguards. Meanwhile, First Lady Sarah Ballentine (Kim Basinger) portrays herself as a dutiful woman to the public, but is having an affair with Garrison behind closed doors.

The Sentinel could have been a great movie. However, while the most of actors perform well, the scenes were not powerful enough. Take for example the assassination attempt on the President. This is the focus of the movie, but is a big letdown. The scene seemed rushed, and everything conveniently falls into place at that time. As well, there is not much originality in this much-anticipated scene.

You won’t be missing much if you decide not to see this movie. Let me know your opinion, by adding your comments below.

Fun with Dick and Jane is a remake of the 1977 comedy by the same name that starred George Segal and Jane Fonda.

The new version stars Jim Carrey as Dick, who’s an executive at a mega corporation. He gets promoted to vice president of communication just in time for the company’s stock to plummet to next to zero. It is he who has to appear on cable tv to tell the stockholders that they have lost everything.

Jane, his wife, is played by Tea Leoni. Tea is a travel agent, but when Dick gets his big promotion, she decides to resign and does so one the same morning as Dick’s company takes the fall.

Instead of the couple looking at the bright financial future that they were when Dick got his promotion, they are not looking at a bleak existence. They are literally broke. Their savings are gone, their retirement fund is gone and all that they own is being repossessed faster than they can blink their eyes. This includes the lawn. The landscaping company sends men to literally roll up the sod and take it back.

Dick decides that he will find a job and goes out to numerous job interviews, with no success. It seems that all the employers that matter have seen his company’s fall from grace and Dick’s performance on cable tv. No one wants him to work for their company.

Dick and Jane decide to take up a life of crime to allow them to maintain the lifestyle to which they are accustomed. At first the couple takes up petty thievery. Then they get greedy and decide to turn to bigger and better things. That’s when everything goes wrong.

The fall from grace of Dick’s company is very much likened to the fall of Enron. In the first place, Dick’s company was built on the premise of lies. Richard Jenkins and Alec Baldwin do a great job of playing characters who remind the audience of Enron’s Jeffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay.

The film doesn’t take advantage of opportunities to land Dick and Jane in the center of a political comedy. Instead, there are too many wigs, too much slapstick and too many false beards during the couple’s robbery attempts. Late in the movie, the executive played by Alec Baldwin tries to move his money out of the country. It’s too little and much too late.

Though Fun with Dick and Jane is not a sensation, it may be pleasing to those who haven’t seen the original 1977 version. It’s a mediocre attempt at a remake and I predict it will not make great money at the box office.

Let me know your thoughts on this move by adding your comments below.