I'm Not There - Haynes, 2007

A stylishly complicated pseudo-biopic that is extremely uneven. I'm enough of a Bob Dylan buff to catch the many references and to appreciate the nuances in the various Dylanesque performances. I'm certain that non-Dylan experts would find this about as comprehensible as a vintage Dylan soliloquy.

No amount of Dylan expertise can quite hide the fact that this is a confusing mess. The early scenes with the Woody boy are embarrassingly bad, and the Richard Gere scenes seem like they should be in a different movie. Ledger's characterization also seems out of place. Both Bale and Moore seem to be taking this as parody.

Blanchett clearly steals the show and salvages the film to some degree. She deserved her Oscar nomination, and perhaps even a bit more, since she was better than Swinton was in Michael Clayton (7). Or perhaps, more accurately, both deserved nominations and no statue, and the other nominees deserved neither.

Scorsese's documentary, No Direction Home (8), is a far better film, but I give Haynes some credit for being ambitiously creative. He put together a great soundtrack, with both Dylan and others singing. And the film has some interesting cinematography, including many striking black and white sequences. A 6 rating.

Doomsday -- Marshall, 2008

Doomsday is so bad on so many levels that it is almost watchable, just to marvel at how awful it is. When they are handing out Razzies for 2008, serious consideration must be given to Splat Pack Marshall (both for writing and directing this mess), whatever twisted individual created the truly horrific soundtrack, and both Malcolm McDowell and Bob Hoskins (and their agents) for being in this disaster.

If Road Warrior (6) was directed by a demented 13 year old and performed by monkeys, you'd get a pretty good imitation of this film. A 1 rating.

Monkeybone - Selick, 2008

Monkeybone is a bizarre film that is not completely devoid of creativity but is ultimately a failure. They were aiming for Crumb (8) and got Howard The Duck (3). Brendan Fraser tries to do his best Jim Carrey imitation and puts in his worst work since Dudley Do-Right (2).

No surprise that this film bombed and equally no surprise that it's a bit of a cult film. A 3 rating.

Casino Royale - Campbell, 2006

This is the best of the Bond series, which isn't saying a whole lot since they tend to range from awful to mediocre. This version of Casino Royale is clearly an exception though, as there is solid action throughout and a much more series film than others in the series. It's all the more surprising because this is the same director as Goldeneye (4) and Vertical Limit (2), two movies which are about as ridiculous as any around.

And it isn't just Daniel Craig either. He's wonderful here, but much less so in the follow-up, Quantum of Solace (5). Casino Royale is just one of those films that is better than the sum of its parts. A 7 rating.