Reel Reviews -- Y

Yojimbo (+) -- A wonderful movie, more than worthy of being the inspiration for one of the classic westerns, A Fistful Of Dollars. The best part has to be Toshiro Mifune's towering performance as the out of work samurai--the original man with no name--who plays the rival factions like a concert violin. Certainly a classic, probably would be a Best Of All inductee, were I truly equipped to judge the nuances of Japanese movie culture. Don't miss it. Posted 9/7/04.

You Can Count On Me (~) -- It has its moments, but most of it is fairly obvious. Laura Linney (Oscar-nominated) is good, but Mark Ruffalo is better. A "not quite" movie. Posted 10/1/02.

Young Adult (+) -- I enjoyed watching Patton Oswalt play reluctant Sancho Panza to Charlize Theron's demented Don Quixote. And, with the exception of one major misstep towards the end, the movie remains refreshingly, brutally honest throughout. It certainly provides a fine meditation on who lives 'those lives,' if you know what I mean, so if you're prone to that sort of thinking anyway, check this one out. Posted 3/1/13.

You've Got Mail (+) -- I'm tempted to write this thing off for being a blatant and obvious advertisment for the shitheads at AOL, but the combination of Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks and director Nora Ephron works well enough for forgiveness. Funny and charming, though ultimately a bit depressing in its "there's no room for the little guy" philosophy.