THE BLUES BROTHERS (1980) 25th Anniversary Edition reminds one how quickly time passes.

This improbable musical of a movie still sucks for plot and character but shines on music, and especially the set-pieces at the baptist church (James Brown), diner (Aretha Franklin) and Ray's Music Store (Ray Charles).

I don't believe Aretha Franklin was ever that majestic as when she is hollering "Freeedom!" while swinging her hips and absolutely dominating the screen God bless.

The dances are as fantastic as the plot is contrived and cheap.

However, this is also the movie to see if you enjoy the Mother of All Car Crashes. How did they manage to have those dozens of police cars pile up on top of each other while flying at neck break speed (100 miles per hour as John Landis informs during the director's commentary) and how they did not have anyone killed after those two crash scenes, is beyond me.

Must see for all lovers of non-Delta Northern-white-bread R&B lovers.

MAN OF THE YEAR (Homem Do Ano, 2003) is a funky Brazilian movie that watches almost like a Tarantino flick, with most of the bloodshed but none of the humor. A man becomes a killer for hire almost by dumb luck and he can't get out of the vicious cycle.

The plot is cool but we have no idea who this character is. We never know where he is coming from. We never understand why he is doing what he is doing except for a slight dip into homophobia. The scene where he, a bloody killer, mourns his roasted pig is just too obvious and symbolically lame. What's really scary is to think that some of this stuff actually does happen in today's (or did happen in yesterday's) Brazil.

Good entertainment but only a 7 on Tarantino scale.

THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT (2004), really interesting is all I can say. But as a cinematic experience it sucks. It for example nowhere has the sophistication of Donnie Darko. This Alternative Universes plot goes back and forth in time with too many flashbacks to count, pulling us through the harrowing consequences of our actions.

Logically the whole premise is flawed because it assumes that the consequences of our actions changes only us but neither the other people around us nor our surroundings. That's why when the lead guy (Ashton Kutcher) returns to his childhood over and over he finds all the conditions exactly the same.

The only thing to change is his response to the tragic situation. But the mini-episodes where he ends up in jail and loses his arms are testimony to the writer's creativity.

A convoluted movie bungled up with endless flashbacks and contrived mechanisms (reading his diary hurls the hero back in time). Take two aspirins after watching.