Reviews

I started watching "Friends" several years into the series, so when the show ended and "Joey" was announced, I thought I would give it a try. I was glad I did.

California is the perfect setting for Matt LeBlanc's clueless Joey, and Paolo Costanzo plays his nerdy nephew, trying to learn to be the suave ladies man from his Uncle Joey, to a T. I look forward to seeing how this show develops.

The weakest link is Drea de Matteo's character, Gina Tribbiani. Although Ms. de Matteo does an admirable job, her character is too abrasive and annoying to become endearing. She almost makes me long for Janice. Hopefully, Gina will mellow a little bit, or better yet, take a few steps back and allow Joey and Michael to shine.

I've been watching "Good Eats" since it came on about 5 years ago. Alton Brown and his cast of zany characters makes learning about food and cooking fun. From a food's origins to putting the finished dish on the table, AB strives to make learning about food and its preparation educational, with recipes that are both easy and challenge the way we think about eating. We have tried and enjoyed many of his recipes.

The shows are presented with humour, and many of them are sure to become classics. ("Romancing the Bird" being one)

I've been watching Sex and the City for most of its run (and just caught up with the beginnings in reruns) and I think it's a great depiction of what the real world of thirty- something (OK, so Samantha admits to being 45) women in the Big Apple. The stories have been funny, sad, touching, and more real than those of us who don't live in New York want to admit. The relationships between these four remarkable women are more than friendships. It's a bond that we can all understand.

Yes, the stories are cynical and edgy, but that what life is all about. Carrie Bradshaw, the shoe-a-holic writer, narrates the show to perfection and asks the questions about life and love so many of us without men in our lives are asking. She's met good men and bad men, and her own fear of committing makes her constantly ponder the un- attached life. And yes, a lot of the men out there are just like she portrays them, good and bad.

Miranda is the cynical lawyer who never had the skills to maintain a relationship until she found herself pregnant. Having a baby changed her outlook on life and helped her re-establish her priorities. When she did that, she found the love of her life. The episode where her mother died quite suddenly is one of my favourite's. It showed how much we depend on our friends to support and uplift us in the dark times. I drew great strength from this episode when I recently lost my mother.

Charlotte is the romantic, the one who is waiting for Prince Charming to ride up on a white horse to sweep her off her feet, but doesn't mind looking for him if it will help her find Mr. Right. She's the one who has been hurt the most by life.

And Samantha is just.....Samantha. Bold and brash, she's just like a man in the way she lives and loves. While it may make some people uncomfortable, she's got all the best (and worst) traits of some of the most successful people in New York.

"Sex and the City" isn't the greatest show on TV, but it's one we can identify with. It's honest and bold, and shows that yes, life isn't always perfect, but you can make imperfection work. It works on this show.

Marvelously inventive, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" follows Harry, Hermione, and Ron through their second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft

and Wizardry. The trio has grown up over the summer holiday. Ron has gotten taller, Hermione has started to lose her baby fat, and Draco Malfoy seems more menacing than ever, with a larger countenance and slightly deeper voice.

Readers of the books will remember "TCOS" is a more serious that "The

Sorcerer's Stone", which introduced us to the Hogwarts family. The story isn't as lighthearted as the first film, which set the tone for the series, It's darker and scarier, with a villain who is unseen for most of the movie, but revealed in a frightening sequence in the Chamber of Secrets.

Jason Isaacs, who played the evil Col. Tavington in "The Patriot", is creepy as Lucius Malfoy, proving the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Kenneth Branagh is perfectly pompous as Gilderoy Lockhart, and if you stay through the entire credits, you will be treated to a final scene of him.

TCOS is a terrific second film in the series that makes you wish there wasn't going to be 2 years until the next one rather than one.

Bring back J. Keith Van Stratten!! The new host is a little too full of himself to be watchable! Don't get me wrong....I love the show, and wouldn't want to take on any of the geeks, especially the Music Geek, but J. Keith had a coolness that Blaine

Capatch can't match.

I was a little skeptical going to see a foreign language kung-fu film

with subtitles, but "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was a most

amazing movie. From the opening minutes of the film, I was

captivated by the acting, the scenery, and yes, the kung-fu fight

scenes. The story flowed smoothly, the characters were

full-bodied people who I could really care about, and the fight

scenes were breathtaking! This is definitely a must-see.

I began watching this film on Lifetime on a Sunday afternoon, with the understanding it was your standard 2 hour TV movie. 3 hours later, it became clear it was a tad bit longer. I thought the acting was terrible, the story line less than plausible, and the characters totally unlikeable.

The ending was unsatisfying, although unexpected (or was it really?) I can't believe I got caught up in the film.

this movie is like a car wreck: so bad, you can't watch it, but so fascinating you can't make yourself turn away. shelley duvall was born to play olive oyl and robin williams, as always, adds his own special touches to the title role. however, even the two of them can't overcome a weak script, and probably the most dreadful score ever to appear on the screen. and yet, i have seen this movie about 20 times. why? i can't quite explain it, but there's something that implores me to watch it again and again (something subliminal, perhaps?)

We rented this film 2 days before Halloween. I don't usually see scary films. Heck, I still don't swim in the ocean and it's been over 20 years since I first saw "Jaws". Both my teenaged son and myself found the film to be laughable, and certainly not up to all the hype which surrounded it. When I returned the DVD back to the rental place, I told them what I thought, and the young woman behind the counter said that was overwhelming response she had from folks returning the movie. The idea was great, but the execution wasn't. A big disappointment.

If you blink, you miss half the fun. Those of you who lived through the sixties will probably get more out of this movie than the kids. There were several places where I found I was the only one who got the joke (the 'clapper' for example) It's funnier than the original even though the plot is a little weaker. Mike Myers is his usual, frenetic self and that makes "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" a surefire laughfest.