At The Movies

GRAN TORINO - Clint Eastwood has still got it after all of these years. Here Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a grumpy retiree living in Detroit who shakes his head at all the changes happening in his neighborhood and in his life. The story picks up right after Kowalski's wife dies, and he is forced to adjust to living alone. He soon befriends his next door neighbors, an asian family with a lot of drama in their lives, and he soon finds himself involved in their family crisis. Eastwood wrote and directed this movie, and here he displays his classic style of storytelling. You're not going to get a lot of camera moves here, no "hand-held camera" jerkiness, and no quick edits. As always he lets the story drive the film, and GRAN TORINO follows Eastwood's classic formula flawlessly. The interesting thing about this movie is though it takes place in a modern day Detroit neighborhood, the film follows a very traditional "western" formula. The story arc here is right out of Eastwood's western classics, such as PALE RIDER for example. This is a great film that is beautifully told and perfectly executed. I rarely say a film is ever perfect, but I have to say this one is pretty close.

CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM: SEASON 1 - Jenny and I have always been curious about this HBO comedy, so we finally decided to give it a try. Larry David, the former Seinfeld co-producer and writer, plays himself in this satire. Imagine the comedy of SEINFELD, sprinkled with the comedic dialouges you find in Woody Allen films. Mixed together you get CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM, a comedy that follows the life of Larry David and his family and friends. It took Jenny and I a while to warm up to this one, but after a few episodes we found ourselves laughing out loud more and more. This is a very funny show. Very clever and great writing (though most of the show is performed through improv.) We'll definitely continue with this one.

STEP BROTHERS - Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly are two men who live at home...each with their own parent, and both are basically the embodiment of a 30 year old child with no ambition. After their parents are married they are forced to live with one another in the same house and same room. As they try to get along they both struggle to find their paths in life. I had mixed feelings about this one going in, but I found it pretty surprising. It was a bit funnier than I expected. Ferrell has some pretty good lines here as usual, but Reilly really adds a lot as well. The end result is a movie that is funnier than it deserves to be. This isn't the best Ferrell comedy by any means, but pretty good for a rental.

2 DAYS IN PARIS - Written and directed by Julie Delpy, 2 DAYS IN PARIS follows the relationship of Jack and Marion as they spend...well...2 days in Paris. Marion (played by Delpy) is originally from Paris, and she takes her American-born boyfriend Jack (played by Adam Goldberg) home to meet her family and friends. But through the course of events, Jack soon discovers Marion has had quite a "flirtatious" past. At times the film felt a bit scattered, but overall the film was strongest when Jack was meeting a new "old boyfriend," or discovering some new wrinkle in her past. Delpy's writing, acting, and directing are fine here...but none of them are anything interesting. However, the real meat of this film is the performance of Goldberg. His neurotic paranoia is pretty funny as he tries to find the truth in her "suggestive" past. This one was pretty good.

DISTRICT 9 - This sci-fi film (produced by Peter Jackson) is a very different alien flick. In this film, a giant space ship appears in the skies over Johannesburg in South Africa. When the humans finally make contact with the aliens, they discover a ship full of dying and starving aliens in need of help. Instead of helping however, the humans exile the aliens to a "shanty town" village outside of the city limits...in an area nicknamed "District 9." Often times I find the sci-fi genre these days being tired and overdone. Rarely do I ever come across anything interesting and unique anymore. DISTRICT 9 is an exception. This is a sci-fi story...that much is true. But included here are topics of human rights and apartheid...which adds an unusual layer of depth to an otherwise ordinary sci-fi film. I really liked this one. It's a very different sci-fi flick, and that's a good thing.

SHOTGUN STORIES - It's hard to knock independent films. They have very little money to work with, so I'm often more forgiving when I watch one. Having said that, here's an independent that's pretty bad...and doesn't deserve to be defended. In SHOTGUN STORIES, you are tossed in the middle of an old fashioned "Hatfield/McCoy" family feud...set in a modern day small Arkansas town. In the film a clan of brothers and half-brothers begin to clash after the passing of their mutual father. The clash quickly grows to fistfights and then murder. The build-up throughout the film is somewhat interesting, as you are convinced an all out blood-bath is right around the corner. However, the 3rd act of the film delivers a huge letdown, and the result makes you wonder what the point of the story (and title) really was. Anyway, I admired the effort here...but the film just doesn't come together.

THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR - Hey...this one's bad. I know. I knew it was going to be bad going into it...and believe me...it is. But I have a guilty pleasure for Jet Li films...so I'm always curious to see his latest. In this third installment of the Mummy franchise, Brendan Fraser ventures to the far east in search of the Dragon Emperor (played by Jet Li.) Joining him for the ride is his family, his friends, and a whole suitcase full of bad...BAD...jokes. The action and effects here are not bad...and offer just as much eye candy as the first two installments of the franchise (THE MUMMY, and THE MUMMY RETURNS.) But as expected the script is horrendous, and you really have to wonder why they would resurrect this franchise after 7 years. Anyway...this one was pretty bad...as expected.

EAGLE EYE - This is one of those "Man Who Knew Too Much" kind of stories, where a secret conspiracy is out to ruin the life of an unsuspecting victim. In this film, Shia LaBeouf plays Jerry...whose life is turned upside down when he gets involved in a conspiracy and gets mistakenly identified as a terrorist. Throughout the movie Jerry and another victim (played by Michelle Monaghan) get chased by police, the military, and secret organizations...only to escape with the help of a mysterious voice on a telephone whose always one step ahead. I fully expected to tear this movie apart, but I was surprised how decent it was. It's not a great film by any means, but it's not as bad as I thought. Pretty good for a rental.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: SEASON 4 - Well...after 4 seasons of this show I finally finished it. Season 4 is the last season of BSG, and it's a pretty good end to an otherwise up and down show. As I've mentioned in the past, BSG at times is a great show that tries to be something better than your traditional sci-fi show. However, on the other end some of the acting on BSG is sometimes laughable and unwatchable. But through thick and thin I've stuck with the show waiting for the big payoff. And the payoff comes at the 2 hour series finale which is better than a lot of sci-fi movies I've seen on the big screen. Season 4 is by far the strongest and best of the 4 seasons. And while many die-hards of the show may not be satisfied with the series finale, I was pretty satisfied with it. It didn't answer all the questions, but it resolved most of them. And as an added bonus, there were story developments that tied in this version of the show to the old 70's show that we all watched as a kid. Anyway, very good ending to a pretty good show.