Stealing Harvard (2003)

★★
Stealing Harvard starts out well enough before descending into a pathetic bore. Even then, the movie almost pulls it off. Jason Lee carries the film on his shoulders, turning in a sincere and amusing performance in a movie that doesn't give him much support. If there is any reason to see this mess, then it is Jason Lee. When left to do what he does best, Lee is engaging and funny, but when left to the requirements of this screenplay (which is most of the time), he is a victim of abuse.

Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (2004)

★★★½
With a title like Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself, one might assume this is a downer of a movie, but in reality, it's engaging and challenging. This is a film that you shouldn't accept at face value. Doing so would result in disillusionment. Think hard about why Wilbur and Alice do what they do, and you'll see the redeeming factor in the movie's narrative.

Radio (2003)

★★
Before I discuss the plot of Radio, before I say anything about the acting or credibility, I want to talk about the score, which is among the most annoying and self-important I've ever heard. James Horner is a fine musician, but here, he employs a sickening soundtrack with female vocal overtones to highlight the noble simplicity of the movie's main character. He used music with better results in his vastly superior Titanic score.

Jurassic Park (1993)

★★★
In the summer of 1993, it was Jurassic Park vs. Last Action Hero, with the former soundly defeating the latter in a battle of big-budget motion pictures. Audiences flocked to see Steven Spielberg's dazzling showcase of jaw-dropping special effects while many avoided Arnold Schwarzenegger's underrated action film parody. Jurassic Park suffers a little because it freely omits many intriguing elements of the book in order to concentrate on the action aspect. I read the book in 1994 as part of an English 101 class that I took, yet the sense of wonder generated by its detailed scientific elements still remains. Michael Crichton's novel was loaded with scientific information. He presented his material in such a way that the book often read like a graduate student's thesis on bioengineering. Though the very idea of a prehistoric theme park is outlandish, Crichton found a way to weave all his information into a convincing story. Jules Verne accomplished the same thing with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. That story, about a self-sustaining submarine, would have appeared far-fetched when it was written in the 1800s, yet the scientific detail is enthralling.

Uptown Girls (2003)

★★½
Who would have thought that the ugly duckling of Clueless would eventually outshine the star of that film? Brittany Murphy was the socially inept high school student, and Alicia Silverstone was the popular girl who gave her a makeover. Now, Silverstone has taken a backseat to Murphy in popularity. No wonder too, since Murphy has a sweet demeanor that makes her irresistible. In Uptown Girls, she stars as a pampered rich girl named Molly, who gets thrown out of her apartment when her source of funds leaves town.