B

The Babe: * 

Release Date: 1992
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Arthur Hiller
Poorly written, acted and played out, despite a true story.  Not near enough baseball scenes to please anyone.  Overall weak and unfair to the real Babe Ruth.  John Goodman was disappointed in his own performance.

Batman: **
Release Date: 1989
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Tim Burton
Dark, meaningless and cartoonish Batman adventure.  The movie completely belongs to the Joker all the way through, while Batman has been reduced to a sideshow character.  Production value is somewhat impressive.

Batman Begins: *** ½ 

Release Date: 2005
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Christopher Nolan
Updated origin story is entertaining, character developmental and strong on the action; a cut or two above your average superhero flick.  Becomes starkingly realistic for a superhero film.  Remains as one of the finest superhero movies put to screen.

Batman Forever: * ½ 

Release Date: 1995
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Joel Schumacher
Noisy, flashy and colorful Batman movie means that it's totally ridiculous from start to finish.  The villains remain the main part of the show.

Batman Returns: **

Release Date: 1992
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Tim Burton
Batman sequel extends the narrative but is also more grim and far fetching then it's predecessor.  Batman remains as the sideshow with the villains the main stars.

Batman and Robin: ½

Release Date: 1997
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Joel Schumacher
Probably the worst superhero movie ever committed to the screen.  Felt bad for the cast and crew who had to follow through with this cartoonish crap.  Clooney is outright ridiculous as the caped crusader.

Battle of Britain: **

Release Date: 1969
MPAA Rating: G
Director: Guy Hamilton
An all-star ensemble cast are the biggest feature in this WWII drama that is only what the title suggests.  Even though a lot of the history is correct, we feel emotionally detached from this pic.

Battle of the Bulge: * ½ 

Release Date: 1965
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Ken Annakin
Recounts the harrowing Battle of the Bulge in the winter of 1944-45—but the movie is so overproduced and totally historically inaccurate!  Attempts to boost it by the star power it has is futile.  In the end it's bland, uninteresting and serves as yet another senseless 60s war film.

Battle for Planet of the Apes: *

Release Date: 1973
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Boring, uninteresting and pointless.  Series that started so well with the 1968 original has rapidly detoriated to this torture.

The Bear: ***

Release Date: 1988
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Jean Jacques-Annuad
In all, a majestic motion picture, but not in the cinematic awe-inspiring sense like we would want.  Becomes a little saga on it's own, delivering a srikingly brutal, realistic and harsh perspective on life in the wilderness.

Behind Enemy Lines: **

Release Date: 2001
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: John Moore
The Bosnian War gives the film a very unique setting, but the entire movie feels somewhat like a video game.  Overuse of slo mo action and the hero running away from an army of bad guys.

Ben-Hur: ****

Release Date: 1959
MPAA Rating: G
Director: William Wyler
The epic of all epics, the crowning achievement of Hollywood entertainment, and a colossus in modern filmmaking.  Story and characters are full of depth and development.  Overall prodution value and set pieces are incredible, the best ever pledged to film history.

Beneath the Planet of the Apes: **

Release Date: 1970
MPAA Rating: G
Director: Ted Post
Not much to say, other then that this is a disappointing sequel to it's very good predecessor.

Big: ** ½ 

Release Date: 1988
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Penny Marshall
Ending is contrived and unsatisfying.  Generally a good tale about the lessons of growing up, shot through with some humor.

Big Jake: ** ½ 

Release Date: 1971
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: George Sherman
Standard issue Wayne flick, ups the ante by being substantially entertaining.  Overall lightweight, shallow Western fare.  Focus on violence is heavier then other Wayne westerns.

Bird on a Wire: *

Release Date: 1990
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: John Badham
A lame excuse for an action-comedy.  Overall, lowsy and unenjoyable, and not near as much fun as it promises.  End action fight sequence is overlong and overly cartoonish.  A waste of time.

Blackbeard: **

Release Date: 2006
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Kevin Connor
TV movie biopic is poorly acted.  You won't learn much about Blackbeard himself, and the battle sequences are poorly staged.  Could have been just as well done as a stage performance.

Black Hawk Down: ***
Release Date: 2001
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Ridley Scott
Vividly depicts modern warfare at it's grittiest brutality.  Hampered by some unfocused storytelling, but again, the portrayal of battle couldn't have gotten any better.

The Blue Max: ***  
Release Date: 1966
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: John Guillermin
Features some of the most impressive dog fights captured on film.  Let down by a drowsy lead acting performance, but overall one of the most overshadowed WWI films ever made.

The Bodyguard: **
Release Date: 1992
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Mick Jackson
Likeable, though flawed drama-thriller.  Marred especially by a highly formulaic romantic subplot and a poorly-written script.  This one lacks enough suspense for a good thriller; go ahead and even call it plotless if you will.  Even so, it's not without it's moments.

The Bourne Identity: ** ½ 

Release Date: 1988
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Roger Young
Three hour long spy adventure is generally faithful to source material, but is rather drawn out and at times uninteresting.  Poorly casted and so-so action sequences, but again very faithful to the book.

The Bourne Identity: ***

Release Date: 2002
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Doug Liman
Not faithful to source material, but is substantially engaging and crowd pleasing.  Action scenes are made with profession.  Successful and skillful in spy action form.  Should be noted for it's own sense of realism instead of special effects.

The Bourne Supremacy: ** ½ 

Release Date: 2004
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Paul Greengrass
Acting improves over it's predecessor, but not much else.  The weakest edition of the trilogy in feeling as a follow up to the forerunner while also a build up to it's follower.

The Bourne Ultimatum: *** ½

Release Date: 2007
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Paul Greengrass
The only Bourne film that feels wholly complete.  Made with complete profession.  Gains and keeps momentum throughout.  Acting is the best of the trilogy with all actors feeling very confident in their respective roles, and the action is more intense then the previous installments.

Braveheart: **
Release Date: 1995
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Mel Gibson
Never boring but also really never accurate retelling of the Scottish War for Independence against England, under the leadership of William Wallace.  Overall, a very overrated historical epic (mainly because it's not historical). The nice cinematography shots, although, deserved that Oscar for Cinematography.

Bruce Almighty: ** ½ 
Release Date: 2003
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Tom Shadyac
God gives a man his ultimate powers for a week to see if he can do it any better.  Carry is funny in his own way as usual.  Ultimately, the film boils down to predictability, but it's fortunately entertaining.