Babel (2006)

Babel was all over the place. Literally. The film spans idioms and continents. It satisfies and leaves you wanting more. It's both poignant and pointless. While the acting was great all around, I felt the Mexican & Moroccan stories worked the best, while the Japanese tangent never quite came into focus. Adriana Barraza, as the children's nanny, should have won best supporting actress. She was brilliant in her role. See the movie for it's parts, not the sum of the whole.

Rating: B-

The Hole (2009)

I’m willing to buy into the idea that there’s a bottomless hole full of creepy stuff in the basement of these people’s house. But what needs to be based in reality is the reaction of the characters to that hole.

No teens in their right mind would simply keep it a secret and continue investigating. It would be reported and authorities of some kind would come down for an inspection. Certainly after the appearance of a small barefoot child bleeding from the eyes.

And if an evil clown doll is following you around your house, there’s no way in hell any kid’s going to be able to sleep there again. In the end, the secret of the hole turned out to be completely lame, just like the movie.

Rating: D-