Movie Reviews: Batman Begins & Dawn of the Dead

Batman Begins(2005) My Rating: 9/10

As a Batman fan I'd have to say this movie ROCKED! This is what everyone else is saying - the Batman we've been waiting for. Yes, there were holes in the movie but I'm letting that go. It's a comic book.

But there were no flashy stars or comedic characters, just bare-bones Dark Knight and the dark villians he has to deal with played by awesome actors.

Christian Bale is by far the best actor to play the part of Batman. But the best thing about the movie was the use of great names to play these character parts - even the small ones.

Michael Caine was excellent, Morgan Freeman was absolutely great as usual, Gary Oldman awesome, Liam Neeson was spectaular, Tom Wilkinson was totally convincing, Rutger Hauer was magnificent and Ken Watanabe was a special treat!

I mean, look at all these great names that didn't get bigger than the story, film or the role they played. They just did their job.

And the noname actor in Cillian Murphy was just brilliant. The next James Spader in my opinion.

But the least important character in the movie was... Katie Holmes as Rachel Dawes.

Rachel Dawes was a character with no impact to the overall movie. Some may say they like the 'strength' of a good female character. She was strong, but that strength came from nowhere. Where's the depth? All we know of her was her relationship with Wayne as kids. That's it. That's all. Where's the depth and drive to be who she is or do what she's doing?

Mary Jane Watson in Spiderman was both strong - doing desperately what she wanted to do - model/actress, and also had depth. She had history behind her. An abusive household, a teenager desperately wanting something more and going for it by herself, and having that hidden love for Peter Parker. Rachel Dawes... she just wanted to bring people to justice. What was she really motivated by?

She doesn't need to be in the next movie. Her acting was flat and the scenes she was in were flat. And from what I hear I'm not the only one sharing this sentiment. Let's bring in someone like Jessica Alba!

I do highly recommend this movie to those who want some action, a good comic book storyline and especially those frustrated with the later releases of the Batman franchise. This one is a hit. And just like I felt with the Star Wars episodes I had to say to myself... "Finally!"

Dawn of the Dead (2004) My Rating: 8/10

I really, really, really was entertained by this movie. I felt there were a few questionable scenes, one that I might thing was irresponsible film-making, but at the end of it all, no way. YOU HAD TO DO IT.

Slick photography, good actors, enough conflict, butting heads, and good directing! To me, nothing was overly done as I may have thought in a Zombie film.

This isn't a 'scary' movie per se. For movies like that watch "The Sixth Sense", "The Ring" or something like that. This is pure horror fun! Just be prepared for some very gruesome scenes. As a Zombie film, this was what I would say is a damn good movie and exceptionally fun. And I mean that. EXCEPTIONALLY FUN!