By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Heads rolled and limbs flew at the North American box office over the weekend as director Quentin Tarantino (news)'s latest violent movie "Kill Bill -- Vol. 1" left its competition for dead.

The homage to kung-fu flicks sold about $22.2 million worth of tickets in its first three days since opening on Oct. 10, its distributor, Miramax Films, said on Sunday.

The bow is easily Tarantino's best. His last two movies, 1997's "Jackie Brown" and 1994's Oscar-winning "Pulp Fiction," each earned about $9.3 million in their first weekends. They ended with $40 million and $108 million, respectively.

"Pulp Fiction" alumna Uma Thurman (news) stars in "Kill Bill" as a vengeful assassin who decapitates, scalps and mutilates her way through the Japanese underworld. Vivica A. Fox (news), Lucy Liu (news) and Daryl Hannah (news) co-star.

The second installment of the film, in which she will face down the title character, played by David Carradine (news), is set for U.S. release on Feb. 20. The film was split in two because the footage from nine months of shooting clocked in at three hours. The total budget was a relatively modest $55 million.

According to exit polling, 90 percent of viewers want to see the second installment, said Rick Sands, chief operating officer at Miramax, a unit of Walt Disney Co . Not surprisingly, the film's audience consisted overwhelmingly of young males. Two-thirds of viewers were aged 21 to 39, and 60 percent were male. On the other hand, Sands noted that the film also pulled in plenty of viewers who did not classify themselves as fans of Tarantino's.

"ROCK" ROLLS TO $40 MILLION

Last weekend's champion, the family comedy "The School of Rock," slipped to No. 2 with $15.4 million, taking its 10-day haul to $39.6 million. The film, which stars Jack Black (news) as a substitute teacher who takes his charges on the highway to hell, AC/DC-style, was released by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. .

The romantic comedy "Intolerable Cruelty," starring George Clooney (news) and Catherine Zeta-Jones (news) as dueling divorce experts, opened at No. 3 with $13.1 million, a little lower than industry expectations, which had centered on the mid-teens. The film, from filmmaking siblings Joel and Ethan Coen (news), played strongest to older females. It was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Vivendi Universal SA .

The talking-dog movie "Good Boy!" followed closely with a $13 million opening, far exceeding expectations. The film, which cost about $18 million to make, was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., which was also responsible for the No. 5 film, "Out of Time." The Denzel Washington (news) thriller earned $8.6 million in its second weekend, driving its 10-day total to $28.7 million.

The top 10 contained one other new release, the low-budget horror "House of the Dead," which opened at No. 6 with $5.5 million. Released by closely held Artisan Entertainment (news - web sites), the film played strongest with males under 25 and ethnic viewers, a studio spokesman said.

Overall ticket sales ended a two-week losing streak, according to tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. The top 12 films grossed $98.7 million, up 22 percent from last weekend, and up six percent from the year-ago period, when "Red Dragon" was tops with $17.7 million in its second weekend.

1. Kill Bill Vol. 1 .......... $22,089,322

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $22,089,322

2. The School of Rock .......... $15,487,832

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $39,671,396

3. Good Boy! .......... $13,107,022

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $13,107,022

4. Intolerable Cruelty .......... $12,525,075

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $12,525,075

5. Out of Time .......... $8,590,001

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $28,711,637

6. House of the Dead .......... $5,683,280

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $5,683,280

7. The Rundown $5,208,445

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $40,268,790

8. Under the Tuscan Sun .......... $4,911,328

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $28,307,921

9. Secondhand Lions .......... $3,297,211

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $35,384,339

10. Lost in Translation .......... $2,822,419

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $18,121,154

John L.: Wow, it's like when Star Trek came back as movies after being off the air for 10 years. After a 6 year layoff, Quentin Tarantino is back in the top ten with a new movie he has directed. Kill Bill seems to be on track to match the popularity of his "masterpiece" Pulp Fiction. And this is just volume one. Part two should be even bigger. This box office report will take a look at the Four Films of Quentin Tarantino, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, and Kill Bill. Plus, the return of the Video Nose Pick of the Week with reviews of two foreign films that take violence to levels that surpass even Kill Bill's most dynamic battles. They are Japan's "Battle Royale" and France's "Irreversible." This will be the most violent Kickin' Box Office Report yet.

Quentin Tarantino is a victim of pop culture. He watched too many movies. Sat in front of television too long. And read all the wrong books. Almost all original thought has been erased from his synapses. Every other sentence out of his mouth is a reference to some form of sci fi/fantasy entertainment especially Star Trek or Shaw Brothers kung fu movies. Working in a video rental store did not help since it gave him access to any movie he might have missed growing up, or did not have in his personal collection. In 1992, Tarantino became an instant celebrity with the release of Reservoir Dogs which dealt with an undercover cop trying to foil an elaborately planned bank robbery from the inside, and failing miserably as everything falls apart. What made the movie innovative was that it took place mostly after the bank robbery and the story progressed through various non chronological flashbacks that explain how these 5 guys Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen), Mr. White (Harvey Keitel), Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi), Mr. Orange (Tim Roth), and Mr. Brown (Quentin Tarantino) got together and why one of them is slowly bleeding to death. The other thing is its shocking moments of violence like the removal of a man's ear. This movie is similar to Japanese Yakuza mob flicks but you don't need to know that to enjoy Reservoir Dogs. The acting and writing are excellent and helps move the story along so that you can't wait to see who if any of these guys can survive. There is not a bad performance in the film, with each one having a moment to stand out. My favorite is Buscemi as Mr. Pink. He has never been bad in a movie and the moment he asks why his code name is Mr. Pink is a Tarantino classic. His part is small, but turns out to be the most important. Tim Roth is the undercover cop who sees his duty come into question when he starts to get personally attached to the criminals. Roth is an actor who dominates in every role he takes. His story is the most tragic of all of the characters. Madsen's Mr. White is the most sadistic. What makes him more insane is how laid back and casual he is when he does his dirty deeds. Madsen should have received more notice for his work in this movie as it is Oscar worthy. Keitel is the father figure and leader of the core group of guys. He is a bad guy, but he is also the closest one to having a heart of gold. His story is the second most tragic as you really feel bad for him towards the end. Laurence Tierney plays Joe, the guy who puts together the team for the bank heist. This guy rules and should have been given a larger role. It is too bad that Tarantino never did anything else with him as he looks like he would kick your ass and then shoot your feet so you'd have to crawl away but not fast enough for him not to catch up to you and shoot you again. Tarantino gets to show off his copycat style and it works here better than in any subsequent film. The slow motion group walks, the Steven Wright DJ interludes, the hip soundtrack, and the rat a tat tat pace of the dialogue are make for a difficult to watch but amazing movie. I also like that even though the main characters are villains and unsympathetic killers, you don't really root for them. There is no glorification of violence here. RD doesn't get as much hype anymore due to Tarantino's second film becoming legendary, but this is still my favorite of his "four films." Final Review: 4 stars out of 5; 8 out of 10; A-; thumbs up.

The release of Pulp Fiction in 1994 shook the world. It changed the face of cinema to this day as it caused Hollywood to re-ignite John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson's careers. Plus this movie throws out any sense of chronological order as characters die in the middle of the movie and then show up later on in what are not necessarily flashbacks but sort of are. There is no main story except for a mysterious briefcase which glows with a bright light when opened that crosses paths with various people. Travolta is Vincent Vega and Jackson is Jules Winnfield, two hitmen for hire who dress like the agents from the Matrix or Men in Black. Their chemistry has become famous due to the Royal with Cheese discussion and Jackson's fireside diner chat with Travolta at the end of the movie. Jackson is underused, but his outrageous character seems to creep into every Jackson movie to follow. Travolta gets a solo story where he has to hang out with the girlfriend of Marsellus, Mia (Uma Thurman). Mia is a drug addict who tends to overdose and needs instant medicine or she will die. Her scenes with Travolta are funny and their dance together is quite silly but is still talked about to this day. The unique film structure has made many a person a fan of this movie. The crazy conversations with their pop culture references and wording that only someone who is writing this down would think of since it is not natural speak. Unfortunately, I am not a fan of Pulp Fiction. I get attacked everytime I say this movie is weak since about 95 percent of the people who have seen it love it. Tarantino won the Oscar for best original screenplay. My problem with it is what many consider its strength. Following the story is very difficult because you don't know where you are at any point in the story. You are constantly waiting for the movie to go back to the events that led up to why Vincent and Jules are wearing different clothes and are refusing to discuss it. The most disturbing thing is the storyline that started out great with Bruce Willis as a boxer who kills a guy in the boxing ring instead of taking a dive and is chased by Marsellus (Ving Rhames). But just as things were getting interesting, Willis and Rhames get kidnapped by some crazed S&M guys who decide to anally rape one of them. This made no sense to me and is one of the few times I have said something is hard to watch for me personally. Male rape is an extremely rare thing to see outside of some prison films and OZ, Ned Beatty in the woods, or old Richard Crenna made for TV movies. I understand why people have enjoyed this movie for so long, but it was a chore for me to sit through. The Vinnie and Mia stuff is actually quite boring. The only parts that are good are Jules' religious fire and brimstone rant and Christopher Walken's cameo where he tells the tale of a very special watch. There is no story here, just long moments of people blabbering. Tarantino put his scenes in a hat and pulled them out at random. It would be nice to see how this movie looks in the right order. Seeing that one character get shot to death and then realize that they will show up later in the film was jarring and manipulative. Even though I see several weaknesses in the storytelling and execution, the overall style is cool. There is a certain rhythmic beat to the way these characters talk and all the stories told in the movie are connected together. There are at least 2 or 3 movies worth of plot that could have been made into separate movies instead of stuck into one and forced to interconnect. Vincent and Jules should have returned in their own adventures since they are the most interesting. Despite my criticism, this is one of the top 5 most influential films of the 1990s and it has been copied several times. Most people rate this movie at about 4 1/2 stars out of 5; 9 out of 10; A; thumbs way up. My review is 3 stars out of 5; 6 1/2 out of 10; B-; thumbs down. Tarantino could be up to his 6th or 7th film if he had not blown his wad on Pulp Fiction. Oh, and the five most influential movies of the 1990s in no particular order are Pulp Fiction, Jurassic Park, Titanic, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and Seven.

The third film directed by Tarantino is still his most realistic and down to earth one, Jackie Brown starring Pam Grier the queen of 70s action movies. Besides, Star Trek and the 5 Deadly Venoms, Tarantino loves the so-called blaxsploitation flick. That term is pretty stupid, but it refers to several movies made between 1970 and 1978 that featured black people/African Americans in lead roles as heroes while most of the villains were known mostly as da man, and you all know who "da man" be. Richard Roundtree as Shaft is the most well known, but the one that no one ever forgets are the Pam Grier movies of the era such as Foxy Brown and Coffy have made her a cinematic icon. For some reason this fine (foyne!) actress never got any breaks when the 1980s arrived. Her roles since her prime have all been supporting to cameo parts in mostly poor films. Tarantino wanted to do a movie that would showcase Grier in ways that she had never been exploited before. She was known for her fro and her breasts, but could she carry a movie with her clothes on and still be fascinating to watch. The answer is yes as Jackie Brown was a perfect role for her and she does a great job as the airline stewardess (flight attendant) who is forced to help out the feds in nailing an arms dealer or she will end up in prison. Samuel Jackson shows up as Ordell the arms dealer and he just sort of does an impersonation of guys who impersonate him, sort of like how Christopher Walken and Al Pacino act nowadays. His "when you absolutely, positively got to kill every motherfucker in the room. Accept no substitutes" line is one of Jackson's most famous. It's his "hoo ha." Even though this was supposed to re-ignite Grier's career, it did practically nothing. Her best roles since then were in Jawbreaker and Bones which only me and some of her relatives have seen. That is unfortunate, since when given a chance she can still light up the screen with that crooked smile of hers. The career that got the Travolta/Pulp Fiction treatment was that of Robert Forster as Max, the bail bondsman who falls for Jackie. Forster's career had stalled, but after getting nominated for the best supporting actor Oscar for this movie, he kept showing up all the time in films. He is now on the television show, Karen Sisco which is a spin-off of the Jennifer Lopez movie Out of Sight. He is excellent in this film and deserved the credit. It bums me out that it overshadowed Grier so much. Of all the homage's to cinema Tarantino does in his movies, this one to "blaxploitation" is the first to get it somewhat right. It has a similarity to those older flicks, but it is not as exploitive. The story is stronger than his other movies probably because it is based on an Elmore Leonard novel so QT only had to adapt a story instead of make one up from scratch. There are two problems with the movie that hurt it when it was released. For one, it is too long. You find yourself searching for reasons why this film did not end an hour ago, and it's only been playing for 45 minutes. The other thing that is wrong is that it is Tarantino's most predictable story. Everything plays out exactly as planned with no deviations. Except for the Samuel Jackson rants, nothing really stands out. Grier is good, but ultimately is not given enough of an edge to remind you of her super tough bitch act of 30 years ago. Forster is very relaxed and subtle, but you pay more attention to him since his role is the more unique one. There is also wasted talent like that of Robert Denier as Louis and Brigit Fonda as Melanie. They are more like sideshow attractions. I like Jackie Brown as a way for Tarantino to make a real movie for once without any gimmicks. It even has a good chronological order that QT seems to hate so much. Jackie Brown is an underrated film, and a pretty good one. Final Review: 3 stars out of 5; 6 1/2 out of 10; B-; thumbs up.

The fourth film directed by Quentin Tarantino is Kill Bill Volume 1 because when it was originally shot, it was nearly 4 hours long. That is a problem when your movie can only be shown two to three times a day when you need to have it earn over a $100 million to break even. So the brain trusts, QT and Harvey Weinstein decided to break Kill Bill into two movies. This could potentially double the box office and DID sales. They are tricking you into paying to see one movie twice. It's sort of like how Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions are two separate movies even though they could have easily been edited down to one. QT goes back to his Asian cultural references by doing his version of a samurai movie. KBV1 is more Shaw Brothers than Kurosawa though, and Tarantino is proud of it since his movie is shot in Shaw scope which is a shout out to the producers of several popular kung fu movies of the 1960s and 70s. This movie also likes to refer to Star Trek, the Green Hornet, Kung Fu, Tricks, Sakura, Bernard Hermann, Ironsides, Bruce Lee's Game of Death, Yakuza, and even Reservoir Dogs to name a few. Yuma Thurman plays The Bride, Black Mamba who has just been left for dead by her former colleagues of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad consisting of Oren Ashy (Lucy Luis), Vinita Green (Vivian A. Fox), Budd (Michael Madsen), Elle Driver (Daryl Hannah), and Bill himself (David Carr dine). For some reason, anytime anyone says The Bride's real name it gets bleeped out. Hopefully Volume 2 will reveal why this should be a mystery. The attack leaves The Bride in a coma for over four years, and when she wakes up, she proceeds to go on a revenge mission, The Viper Squad must die, especially Bill. In volume one, The Bride goes after Oren and Vinita, not necessarily in that order but maybe since like Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill sort of jumps around in the plot. Thurman's work in Pulp Fiction has carried her quite well in Hollywood over the last 9 years, but her performance here is more star making as she gives her best performance ever. It is hard to believe that Thurman could do any of the things her character does, but you have to accept it or the movie falls apart. You have to realize that most of the story is not told in this first part as the second will answer some of the more confounding questions especially why she was so brutally attacked. To explain her skill as a fighter, you just have to realize that since she was part of the Viper gang, she has had some major combat and assassination training. If you watch the trailer, you will also see scenes not in this movie that may explain some of her sword prowess. Thurman looks good and has a strong presence that commands the attention of all who look at her especially Hattori Hanson (Sonny Chiba) who designs her primary weapon despite his feelings against it. The few scenes between them are the best in the movie and no one even gets killed. It is hard to believe that this basic revenge plot can be stretched out this much, but character development is a major aspect of the story. The audience has to feel for The Bride and her quest and there is plenty of time given to that fact. A unique moment in the film is when a animated sequence is used to explain how Oren became a psychopathic assassin and head of the Yakuza gangs. This anime sequence is not as crisp as the more famous ones like Gogol 13 or Akira, but it is very violent and effective in illustrating a person's pain that a live action flashback would not be able to. Kill Bill is entertaining enough and the big Crazy 88 fight with The Bride is exciting, but the movie seems to miss its potential several times along the way or just gets to excited about showing blood spurt out like Old Faithful. I am getting sick and tired of one person vs. 50 to a 100 guys at one time fights because they just lessen any type of suspense the movie wants to achieve. If this one person can dispatch that many people without being cut in half and barely a scratch why should I care when they come face to face one on one with anyone. That lone hero will win every time. There is no threat and the villains look completely inept. Thurman and her stuntwoman battle these Kato Mask wearing thugs and she dismembers every single one of them. I'm supposed to then get excited when Lucy Luis says lets fight now. Oyo, what will happen? The other thing that bothers me is that this Crazy 88 fight is filmed in black in white not for aesthetic, cinematic, Orson Wells type reasons, no. It's in black in white because if it was in color the movie would have jumped over NC-17 and went straight to X rated. The trailer shows pieces of this fight and if you notice, Thurman's yellow Game of Death outfit has what looks like black mud all over it. Well, that has been digitally added for the green screen general audience previews. Those spots are blood red when the color returns, not black. However, they may have been dirt since the moments that cause the stains are in black and white. It just frustrates me. The fights between The Bride, Vinita, and Oren are very quick and unsatisfying. You want more out of them, but it doesn't happen. It is just like when Lucas kills off Bob Feet and Darth Maul just as they were becoming cool in the Star Wars movies. There is not build up for the Vinita battle as much of it is shown in the trailer, and the build up for the Oren final confrontation is good, but executed poorly. Luis should never handle a sword again and stick with the kung fu in Charlie's Angels. Bill's face is never shown, but we all know it's David Carr dine, and he will be more visible in volume 2. The scene stealer of the movie is personal bodyguard to Oren, Go Go Yubari (Chiaki Suriname). She wears the school girl outfit and has the meanest stare I have ever scene. Her fight with the Bride is the best one since the Bride shows some actual fear and doubt that is never shown anywhere else. That fear and vulnerability that was so evident in the first moments of the film when she is about to be killed needed to be shown more. She is still human and does not have any superpowers, so there needs to be a little hesitation when she has to throw down with 88 trained killers at once. Volume 1 of Kill Bill is fun, but needs volume 2 to flesh out some of the hanging chards of the plot. A whopper of a twist is revealed at the very end that gives the movie a nice cliffhanger to hold on to until February 20, 2003. The movie is good, with my main criticism being Tarantino keeping with the formula and not deviating from it. His Black Mamba heroine is supposed to be invincible and nothing will get in her way to ultimately kill Bill. Final Review: 3 stars out of 5; 7 out of 10; B-; thumbs up. Quentin Tarantino loves movies and it shows in all four of his main features. He takes his favorite memories of childhood and throws them into his work. He has talent and a great imagination. I just wish he would do less homage and more of a his age and create more original product.

BATTLE ROYALE  ( BATORU ROWAIARU ) - FULL REVIEW

Violence in American movies is flinching. Anything too brutal has a jump cut or a catchy one liner to lessen the fear. Kill Bill is being heralded and criticized for its over the top violence of dismemberment and bloodshed. However, the blood spatter is ridiculous and most of the graphic removal of limbs is done in a black and white blur with little time or emotion invested in the victims. It flinched. Movies made in other countries tend to be more brutal with their violence. One such brutality is the Japanese Lord of the Flies remake, Battle Royal (Batoru Rowairu). This movie has had difficulty getting distribution in the United States and was nearly banned from being shown in Japan for its disturbing subject manner. It was nominated for several Japanese film awards that are equivalent to the United States' Oscars and won for best editing. The Catalonian Film Festival awarded it Best Picture for the 2001 ceremony. Through acts of shocking violence, the director, Kanji Fukasaku, has made a somewhat satirical drama of a society giving up and resorting to the most extreme of actions, killing its children. The film is based on the book by Kosher Thalami. It is a near unspecified future and Japan's economy has gone done the toilet. On top of that, the teenagers have decided that anarchy is the only way to get their rocks off and proceed to make the lives of adults, especially teachers like Kitano (Beat Takeshi Kitano) miserable. The government conspires to take drastic measures to control its exceedingly out of control teens by thinning the herd. The Battle Royal Act is passed and once a year a high school class of 40 to 50 students between the ages of 14 and 16 are kidnapped, drugged, and taken to an island facility where for 3 days they will battle to the death. The last one standing gets to live and re-enter society. And there can only be one standing because if there is more than one child alive after the 3 days, they will all be killed by their exploding collars. Right off the bat, this plot is stupid. It makes no sense and is counter productive. I could understand a chemical reprogramming scheme that brainwashes the kids into acting right, but this survival of the fittest plot screams of board room brainstorming sic if where you sit around and try to think of some outrageous premise and justify it by being socially aware or metaphorical to today's society. If they want the kids to die so much, then just shoot them all except one and have that be it. But, there has to be a full length feature here, so accept the nutty premise. And you should because the execution (pun intended) of this plot is very well done and when this movie ended I felt it was one of the best I had ever seen. The teacher, Kitano, is the headmaster of the island group. He goes over the rules and you better listen or you might get a knife in the middle of your forehead. Kitano is very excited about this deadly game and claps and cheers along with the instructional video girl (Yuko Imamura voice of Chun-Li in several Street Fighter video games) who spells out the rules of the Battle Royal. Beat Takeshi rules as this guy and even though he is insane, you almost feel bad for him because in a better world he would be an awesome teacher. This movie could have degenerated into a complete mess with just shootings and stabbings every five minutes until no one is left. Well it is that, but the movie also tries to get you to care about every teenager who is killed or kills themselves in the movie. Battle Royal has all the standard teen clichés with the young would be lovers, Shay (Tatsuya Fujiwara) and Noriko (Aki Maeda) who try to avoid killing anyone and still escape with their heads in tact. There are two psychopaths who relish in the hunt, one a girl, and one a veteran of a previous battle. Seeing how they all react in different ways to this dilemma is fascinating as you realize you can trust no one. What makes this movie hard to watch is that you are watching children getting slaughtered for nearly 2 hours and it is not fun. It is very reminiscent of how Lord of the Flies shows children degenerate into madness when separated from society. It would have been nice if the movie had made a case for these kids deserving their fate since the majority of them seem to be nice guys. Only the 2 crazed students show any type of madness that would warrant a Battle Royal law. Most end up in tragic situations. Many commit suicide, but most band together to try to survive only to be slaughtered by competing classmates or their own group turning on themselves. The best sequence in the film is at the lighthouse when one misstep ends in disaster. There are some corny moments like when certain couples start killing each other and they start to profess their love. The pace is so quick throughout the film that it's little annoyances are forgiven. Battle Royal does limp to a weak conclusion as it seems to be that the writer could not figure out how to properly end this story. There is a set up for sequel which was made, but I have not been able to find it on video yet. From what I hear, it is not as good as this first one. Special note of the character of Teacake (Chiaki Suriname) who plays an innocent looking jogging student who is the third most sadistic one on the island. I point her out because she plays Go Go  Yubari  in Kill Bill and both characters have similar personalities. Battle Royal is not for the weak of heart for it will haunt those with nervous spines. It does have something to say about society and its problems, but I doubt it will ever come to this. Final Review: 4 stars out of 5; 8 1/2 out of 10; A-; thumbs up.

Irreversible is one of those gimmick movies that plays backwards like Memento and Betrayal. Gaspar Noe has directed a French (Freedom) film that is guaranteed to either disgust you and sue the video store for renting it to you, make you have migraines from the epileptic seizure inducing camera work, or puke out your last meal if you are able to sit through the middle section that shows the motivation for the ultra violence in the beginning. Monica Bellucci plays Alex, a very attractive French girl who is in love with her ex boyfriend's best friend. The three of them, Alex, Marcus (Vincent Cassel), and Pierre (Albert Dupontel) all hang out together, but they are still dealing with their complicated relationships. At this point in the film when these relationships are revealed, it really doesn't matter anymore because the audience already knows what will occur. A movie just about 2 guys who hang out with the same girl they have both made love to could have made a fairly interesting independent foreign film, but that is not what this movie is about. It is about blind revenge without regard to consequence. To explain this movie, you have to reveal its secret. Alex gets raped basically at random for being in the wrong place at the very wrong time. That attack sparks a rage in Marcus that leads to an act that should be considered just as violent. It is amazing that the actors were able to even film these unforgiving scenes as the rape is probably one of the more vulgar ever shot. It takes place in real time with no edits and has only one camera angle. This shows that rape is a crime of violence and sex has nothing to do with it as this is very unsexy. The director seems to make an extra effort to show very little nudity in the scene so as not to mistake it for eroticism. It is contrasted later in the film where Alex and her lover are very naked, but by showing that, it can be truly erotic. The viewer respects their relationship and it is all the more tragic when compared to Alex's attack. When Marcus and Pierre find the lair of the rapist at the gay night club, "The Rectum," the camera follows them around as if you are their in the S&M club with them as it swings around and around and around. I almost stopped the tape because it made me dizzy. If you can watch these early moments, then more power to you. The images in that club were unique to me. I don't really want to see those things again. How this moment in the film ends is the most shocking when the movie is taken in as a whole because it does not play out as you think it does on the first viewing. Since the rape is son random and the rapist never met Alex until he decided to attack her, the plot really becomes sort of weak. Only playing it backwards keeps the viewer interested at all and as the movie continues it becomes more and more pointless as we already know what will happen and the one secret revealed in the beginning at the end is just clichéd and is used too many times to upset the audience. If you watched the movie in proper chronological order, it exposes it as not meaning much. Rape on film is hard to watch. To all the directors that want to make the statement that rape is bad, we all get the point. We don't need to see scenes like the one shown in this movie to understand that. No matter how well it is shot, it comes off as being exploitive. Irreversible is not a nice movie and I can't recommend it. Don't fall for any of it's marketed controversy. The headache the movie will give you is not worth the effort. Final Review: 2 stars out of 5; 4 out of 10; C-; thumbs down. If you want to see a "good" rape movie, then rent the Accused with Jodie Foster. If you want to see a really terrible rape movie that is legendary then rent "I Spit on Your Grave." If you're like me, you'll watch your newly remastered copy of the Lion King.

1. School of Rock's second week performance drop-off is one of the lowest of the year for a movie that opened at the top of the box office.

2. Good Boy's talking dogs gimmick is usually a license to print money as movies like that are very popular with the kiddies.

3. Intolerable Cruelty has a good looking cast, but the lack of interesting plot described in the trailer caused people not to rush out and see this Coen Brothers movie.

4. I will say that Catherine Zeta-Jones Douglas looks very much at the peak of her abilities.

5. Out of Time is another movie that has a confusing trailer that makes it unclear what is exactly about and keeps people away from seeing it at the movie theater.

6. I saw the making of House of the Dead on the XBox video game and it was enough for to wait until free rental day at the video store to risk seeing it.

7. The Rundown is not going to do as well as people hoped, but it seems to be liked by those who saw it, and it has a good chance of recouping its production costs when it comes out on video.

8. Under the Tuscan Sun is running out of chicks.

9. Since the internet has the Return of the King trailer online now, people do not need to sneak into Secondhand Lions anymore to see it.

10. Lost in Translation has a lock on tenth place and does not want to let go.

Whew. This is my longest box office report ever. John Grisham and the memory of Ed Gein returns to the cineplex next week with Runaway Jury and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre coming out for our viewing pleasure. Kill Bill has a chance to repeat in the top spot. Bye for now.