Simon's Movie Reviews

Noble heroes are easy to root for and vile villains are fun to hate, but characters who are somewhere in the middle can be a lot more interesting. Oskar Schindler, the subject of Steven Spielberg's award-winning film Schindler's List (1993), is a man who could easily deserve the title of hero since he helped save more than a thousand people from the Nazi death camps during the Second World War. Yet by his own admission he was a member of the Nazi party, a war profiteer and a criminal. I would say these flaws, and others, humanize him and highlight the possibility that in times of great evil any person can choose to do something for the good of others. This is certainly a tough movie to watch, but it is essential viewing. I have seen it a couple of times, once with a family member as well as during a history class. Most recently I did a re-watch with my fiancée who is very interested in that period of history, so I got her an anniversary edition of the DVD for Christm...

It took the storytelling skills of British director Christopher Nolan to finally get Batman right. The 1960s TV show, starring the late great Adam West, had a lot of action, but was overly campy. The Tim Burton films felt very much like comic books come to life, but the villains stole the spotlight. Then there was Joel Schumacher who nearly killed the franchise by turning it into a live-action cartoon and by putting nipples on the suit. However with Batman Begins (2005) the spotlight was firmly placed on the character of Bruce Wayne as he becomes a vigilante, the villains were much less campy, and the action sequences seemed to be set in our world. Like many people my expectations for Batman Begins were pretty low for what would be chronologically the fifth theatrical Batman movie. I had watched Batman Forever many times on VHS, but Batman & Robin , the last Schumacher entry, had left a very bad taste in my mouth. Going into theatres in Quebec City in the summer of 2005 al...