I’ve had a sticky note on my desk for months with a list of movies I’ve seen and need to review. Get ready for another movie review purge.

Amistad – An eighteenth-century court-room drama about a slave ship mutiny. Well told story (though slow at times) that gives an honest (read violent and brutal) depiction of the slave trade. Mild nudity and and disturbing images are not for the kiddies, but I would recommend this for any high schooler who wants to get in the mood for a paper on slavery. I haven’t seen Amazing Grace yet, but I would think these two movies would make a good double feature. 3 grins.

I, Robot – I admit I have not read the book, nor anything by Isaac Asimov (who coined the Three Laws of Robotics), but I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Faced paced and a real nail-biter of a plot along with some stunning cgi ranks this one among my favorites. 4 grins.

Lost In Space – I had high hopes for this movie despite the fact that it had a “Friends” actor on the bill. It started off well, if a little formulaic. But about 30 minutes into the movie, the plot jerks became annoying. The action sequences (which were not bad in and of themselves) ended abruptly and were not well balanced with the long, boring dialog sections. In the end, a great concept with good effects and tolerable acting was hamstrung by a plot line that could have come from junior high creative writing student. 2 grins.

The Terminal – Reviewers slammed this one so bad that I waited to watch it as a 99¢ rental. I think the reviews could not have been more wrong. I really enjoyed this movie. The DVD extras make it that much more fun with stories of the incredible set (the whole terminal is one giant set, but looks exactly like 80% of the airports in America) and the antics of the cast and crew. Tom Hanks turns in one of his best performances, better than Castaway IMHO. Most of all I like the messages of this movie: Doing what’s right is more important that doing what’s easy. If you want something badly enough, it’s worth waiting for. And most importantly, American’s have forgotten what it’s like to have morals and a strong work ethic. (No one in the airport can wrap their brain around this guy’s patience, drive, and ethical standards.) 5 grins.

More movie reviews on the way including a couple of this year’s computer animated heavy hitters.