THE DARK KNIGHT - Wow! This movie was flat out great. The franchise is obviously headed in the right direction. Here we follow Batman as he battles the Joker, the mob, and a never-ending supply of goons. We even get a surprise visit from the Scarecrow again. Very cool. Christian Bale is great as Batman/Bruce Wayne, but Heath Ledger steals the show here. It's almost sad watching his performance because you know we'll never see him repeat it. Yes, this film is dark. But the movie works because it feels more like a crime drama than a comic book movie. The bar has now officially been raised for comic book movies. I used to think SUPERMAN II was the best superhero movie ever made, but now I'd have to strongly consider moving this one in its place. Great movie. Definately worth all the hype it's getting.
RAMBO - I've always been a fan of the very first Rambo movie, FIRST BLOOD. Great movie, great scenery, great lines. It's a classic. But similar to the Die Hard franchise, the central character has slowly abandoned his "normalcy" from the first installment, and morphed into some kind of comic-book superhero over time. So here we are with the 4th installment of the Rambo series...cleverly titled "Rambo." There's nothing to review here. There's only one idea behind this movie: how many ways can we dismember the human body. I swear, everyone who gets shot in this movie has something that falls off or blows apart. It's no surprise here that I didn't care for this movie. I guess the only surprise that's worth mentioning is how big Stallone is these days. I mean...have you seen the guy recently? I thought the Incredible Hulk was playing Rambo. Men don't naturally age over time and have their head and muscles grow twice their original size. The guy is obviously juicing.
NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS - I have to admit that I thought the first National Treasure movie was fun and entertaining. Was it great? Of course not, but I was entertained. The story is the same here. In this installment Nicholas Cage and his gang of code breakers travel the world in a race to find the book of secrets, the lost city of gold, and to clear his great great grandfather's name. These movies are like the "diet" version of the Indiana Jones franchise. There's enough thrills and twists here to keep you entertained, but there's very little substance. Like the first film I would say this one is worth renting, but don't expect great cinema.
IN BRUGES - I have some breaking news to report. Colin Farrell has finally made a good movie. After years and years of bad movies and forgettable roles Farrell has finally made a winner. Here we have the story of a group of hitmen double-crossing one another on the streets of Bruges in Belgium. The twists and turns are fun and keep you guessing, the characters are cool, and the scenery is gorgeous. But best of all...there are so many great lines here. Let me just say that this film is violent and bloody in some parts, but it's also very funny. Great movie!
RUSH HOUR 3 - Don't get me wrong, I didn't rent this and I didn't see it in the theater. It was on cable one night, so I managed to catch it. There's really no point in reviewing this thing. You know what it is, and you don't really care what it's about. This is more of the same jokes and gags that we've seen in the first two. I admit, I laughed a few times. But this franchise has run out of steam. The first one is great, the second one is okay, and the third one is forgettable. Do you hear the words that are coming out of my mouth?
BE KIND REWIND - I was really looking forward to this one, and I guess I wasn't overly disappointed. However, this movie isn't as funny as I thought it would be. Jack Black and Mos Def work in a fledgling VHS rental store in New York City. Through a freak accident all the VHS movies in the store get erased. So to fix the problem the two begin to make their own versions of the movies to replace the lost footage. The first act moves rather slow with a few laughs, the second act picks up the pace as the two begin to make their movie parodies, but then the third act slows down again and the laughs slowly disappear. Don't get me wrong, there are some funny scenes here. Jack Black's parody of Driving Miss Daisy is almost worth the rental by itself. But still though...the trailer is funnier than the actual movie. Overall, the movie has a warm feeling to it, but it's not the laugh-out-loud flick I was expecting.
PERSEPOLIS - Another surprise here. An interesting animated movie about a young girl's maturity into womanhood during the Iranian revolution. When we first meet the girl and her family they all want political reform. But once the dust clears and the political waves of change settle the girl and her family resent the new regime and eventually rebel against it. The story here is interesting by itself, but the animated look to the film adds a sense of mood to the story that I'm not sure you would get otherwise. Surprisingly, this movie is not anti-American. In fact, it's quite the opposite. The film is based on a true story, and worthy of a rental.
INTERVIEW - This was a nice surprise. An independent, character-driven, dialouge movie about two characters playing a game of truth or dare. Steve Buscemi wrote and directed this interesting movie about a Hollywood reporter interviewing a starlet (Sienna Miller) over the course of a late night. After several drinks the two banter back and forth in Miller's apartment and both discover skeletons in each other's closets. Or do they really? The movie works great. You feel like you're watching a stage-play instead of a film. The twists and turns throughout keep you from getting bored and keep you involved. Nice surprise.
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