This second installment starts slowly and I guess my only huge problem with this revival of the classic TV series is that it is not very much like the series. Bernie Mac is great but Bernie Mac as Bos? And not just Bosley, but Bosley’s brother? They never explain how or why or if this should make sense, but hey, it actually works. Bernie Mac as Bos is a hundred times better than Bill Murray was in the first movie. And then there is all the action. I don’t remember Charlie’s Angels being an action flick, but more like a detective flick. So if you get these series conflicts out of your head, you can then sit back and enjoy this movie. I thought it was overall better than the first. Could have had a little more skin from the Angels. Grade: C+

Bruce (Jim Carrey) has some problems: he wants for the glorious news anchor position and instead is relegated to covering human interest stories. He also has a hot girlfriend (from Friends) who prays for him. Bruce gets beat up, blows up very humorously and then blames everything on God. He is then called up via a pager to Floor 7 and a white room to meet God who offers him the challenge: see if you can do it better than me. This movie is hilarious and one of Jim Carrey’s best to date. I laughed out loud several times in this flick and the woman sitting behind me really was choked up. If you like comedies then you will enjoy this film. Bruce Almighty sort of reminds me a bit of Liar, Liar in the sappy department, but hey I like a somewhat sappy film now and again (as long as it has humor or good drama to back it up) and I’m becoming more sentimental as I get older. Grade: A-

While on our vacation we saw two movies in the theater, the first of which was T3: Rise of the Machines starring the pretty much one-dimensional actor Arnold Schwarzenegger

No spoilers here in this review because, hey, this whole movie is a spoiler. It starts out of nowhere and slowly grinds to a very unceremonial entry by the man, er the machine, that has always promised he would be back. It is 10 years after T2 and somehow the future can’t be stopped, even though we were convinced in T2 that it could be. Once again a terminator — a newer, better looking one played by Kristanna Loken is sent back to come after an older John Connor played by Nick Stahl who is completely and thoroughly unconvincing in his role. I mean where are all the mannerisms and tie-ins to T2’s younger John Connor? Teenage Connor was rebellious and had sort of a punk edge where 10 year older John Connor borders on neurotic behavior over the weight of the world that the future can’t be changed. He is helpless. This dramatic a character change needs some sort of explanation other than the 5 minute one that Terminator 3 provides. Maybe they felt it was more important to keep this on the editing table and we’ll get the real version of the film — the director’s cut — on DVD in a half year or so.

T3 should have gone down with Cameron’s Titanic. I get this feeling that somewhere Cameron is very glad that he had nothing to do with this horrible sequel. It’s the worst movie I’ve seen this year, maybe in the last 2 years, and yes that includes Daredevil. You can see from the ticket stubs how much $$ I wasted on this. Is there anything redeeming about this sequel? Not really.

Don’t even get me started on all the reasons that this sequel is a complete failure for the franchise and for Arnold’s waning career. Most people will go see this one on the strength of T2 — just like we did, but this has all the looks of being turned into a sequel farce. And yes, the ending totally leaves the door more open for sequels, but I think I’m looking more forward to Jason vs. Freddy. Maybe those two horror freaks will hook up with a 90 year old Arnold and we’ll have a tag team match. Related reviews at Rotten Tomatoes. Grade: F