Killing Two Goals With One Post

Way back in February, I issued a challenge to readers to go see a movie that they would normally avoid, taking a chance that they just might be pleasantly surprised. I hadn't gotten around to meeting the challenge myself, despite my other goal this summer of seeing a movie a week. (My experience so far can be summed up as: So Many Great Movies, So Few Weekends...)

But I finally decided I could hold off on seeing War, Inc., the next movie I really want to see, for at least another week and, instead, went to the newly released action-adventure flick, Wanted.

I'm not normally into major action movies, especially ones that I suspect will have a lot of gratuitious violence in them. (This movie is about assassins so I thought it was a pretty safe bet...) But, like I mentioned in the original challenge, there are always movies that transcend their genres and I loved both Pulp Fiction and The Usual Suspects, which weren't exactly Disney-esque. And I had some hope that Wanted might fall into that category as well, for a few reasons:

• While I try to avoid reading reviews before seeing a film, I had been hearing some general good buzz about the movie.
• I think Angelina Jolie is a pretty good actor and Morgan Freeman is a great one, so I figured they could help elevate the film.
• I had seen James McAvoy interviewed on The Daily Show earlier this week and thought he was a total doll, so I figured just watching him for a couple of hours couldn't be all THAT bad! :) (Funnily enough, I have never seen him in a movie before, even though he's been in two that I did actually want to see: Atonement and The Last King of Scotland.)

So how was it? Well, the question should really be, how DUMB was it? And the answer: EXTRAORDINARILY DUMB!

Man, was this a BAD movie. First of all, there wasn't a single likeable character in it. McAvoy's Wesley Gibson started out as an annoying doormat and ended up as an annoying cold-hearted bastard.

Then there was the “plot.” I can deal with a certain amount of holes in the logic in the name of fun and/or excitement, but this was definitely the swiss cheese of storylines.

Now, based on the raves I gave to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and the fact that one of my all-time favourite TV shows was Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I think it's also safe to say I have a pretty healthy ability to suspend disbelief when it comes to over-the-top action scenes. But the car-chasin', pistol-packin', knife-wieldin', rat-explodin' sequences in Wanted were SO over the top, rolling my eyes just wouldn't do the implausibility justice. I'd have to throw in my shoulders, hips, and ankles to even begin to come close to expressing how unbelievably ridiculous they were...

Did I mention the exploding rats?

To sum up, I hated this movie. HATED IT. So does that mean I'll never go to another one that looks like it might not be exactly my cup of tea? No way. Because you never know when you might find a real treasure, the kind that makes lines like “You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in Paris?... A Royale with Cheese,” and “Who is Keyser Soze?” stick with you more than a decade later.

A movie buff can dream, can't she...?

AND... Loved It!

I make a point of NOT reading reviews before I see a film, because I prefer to form my own opinion without being influenced by others. However, I had heard that most of the reviews for Get Smart have been negative, so I was a little worried about it.

Well, that worry was unwarranted. I loved the movie! Of course there was some dumb stuff and ridiculously unbelievable action scenes (how come nobody ever complains about those in the Bourne series?). But I laughed out loud—and I mean LOUD—several times throughout the showing.

As I'd expected, Steve Carell was perfectly cast as Max. I loved that he didn't try to play the role too broadly. He treated the character with respect, which is what made the funny scenes that much funnier and the touching scenes that much touchier.

I was impressed by Anne Hathaway as well. I hadn't thought she would have the right combo of sass and class to pull off Agent 99, but she was good and the two stars had great chemistry together. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Adam Arkin, and most of the other supporting characters were terrific as well. The only disappointment for me, cast-wise, was Terence Stamp. Maybe the fault lay with how the part was written, but he just wasn't Siegfried to me.

I also liked the way they incorporated the familiar elements of the original series—the catch phrases, gadgets, etc.—without hitting us over the head with them. (I was also surprised at how many things I'd forgotten from the original. I mean, how could I ever forget Hymie the robot? Classic!)

I don't know how well the movie will play for people who aren't diehard fans of the TV show. But if you loved it as much as I did, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

And if you do see it, please come back and let us know what YOU think!

Guest Gecko

I'm guest blogging on Film Gecko today about my anticipation for Get Smart, the movie.

And file this under “How Old Do I Feel?”... A few years ago, I was working in marketing for a company that was trying to come up with a new tag line for an ad campaign. When one of my colleagues suggested, “Get Smart,” I commented that there might be a copyright or trademark issue because of the show. “What show?” she asked.

Sigh.

Movie Madness

I mentioned in an earlier post that one of my goals for this summer is to see one movie a week. Likewise, back in (cough, cough) February, I issued an EA challenge for people to go see a movie that they wouldn't expect in advance they would like, because they might end up surprising themselves. So I figured I could mesh these two concepts together pretty easily, since most of the time there are hardly any movies playing that interest me.

Little did I know that this summer would turn out to have one of the best movie lineups I've seen in years!

So while I do intend to go see a movie that I wouldn't normally (I'm currently thinking of Zohan, but I shudder a little at the mere thought of it...), so far I've taken in some pretty good flicks.

The first one was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Loved it! I know others have found it to be too unrealistic, but I had no problem suspending my disbelief for a couple of hours and just had fun with it.

Next up was Sex and the City. Loved it! I thought it was completely true to the series, which is all that I was looking for.

Last week I went to a documentary I'd never heard of: Young@Heart. Loved it! It's about a chorus of elderly people (average age is around 80) who perform worldwide. The twist is that they sing songs you wouldn't expect from this age group, like Schizophrenia by Sonic Youth and I Feel Good by James Brown. It's very uplifting, although you should definitely take some tissues with you if you go.

And yesterday was And When Did You Last See Your Father? Liked it. There were lots of great performances by Colin Firth, Jim Broadbent, Juliet Stevenson, and a young actor I had never seen before, Matthew Beard, who was fabulous as Firth's character as a teenager. The movie is based on a true story but I didn't find it really grabbed me. There were some weird cinematography glitches as well, where a brief scene or two seemed to be completely out of focus. And I found the direction a bit choppy, making it a bit difficult to figure out the significance of certain actions and reactions. But it definitely had some moving moments and I'm glad I saw it. (It would have had to be really bad for me not to like it, what with Colin Firth being in it and all... :)

What movies have you been seeing this summer?

P.S. I definitely won't be living up to my challenge this week either as Get Smart is coming out on Friday. I've been dying to see this ever since I heard that Steve Carell would be playing Max. That's the most inspired casting I've heard of in a long time! (And I can't wait to see the new millenium's version of the Cone of Silence!)

Ants. Why'd It Have To Be Ants?

I used to be a HUGE movieholic. When I was in my twenties, I went to the movies once or twice a week and knew the names of all the actors and most of the directors.

But the last time I saw one in an actual theater was sometime last year. I don't remember, exactly, but it was Knocked Up, which I think was one of last summer's big hits, so it would have been around then.

I've decided this summer to try to get back into the habit (if for no other reason than to get me out of the house once in a while...) My plan is to see one every weekend from now until Labor Day. And what better movie to start the summer season than the ultimate action adventure, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull?

NOTE: There are no spoilers to come, so feel free to keep reading... :)

I loved, loved, LOVED Raiders of the Lost Ark and I wrote a post last year about how happy I was to hear that they were bringing back Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood. But overall I was expecting this sequel to be pretty lame. I was pleasantly surprised, therefore, by how much I enjoyed it.

Of course, it had no hope of living up to the original, but I thought Lucas and Spielberg did a really good job of recreating that first film's fun factor. Harrison Ford seemed to slide effortlessly back into the role of Indy and Shia LeBoeuf—whom I've never seen before now—was a really good addition. I would have liked to have seen Marion's part expanded, and I had trouble with Cate Blanchett slipping in and out of her Russian accent, but those problems were pretty minor. (More distracting was seeing Scrubs' Janitor as an FBI agent!)

The stunts and the special effects were pretty over the top but, again, I was fully expecting to have to suspend disbelief (although perhaps not by quite as much as I did). So all in all, I'm giving Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull a big 'ol thumbs up!

The funniest thing about the movie to me was the audience. I'm sure when Raiders came out, the average age was somewhere around 21, 22, tops. This time, it must have been at least 35! :)

Oh, and by the way, did I mention that I HATE ants?!

Blog of the Day

If you've got a little bit of Indy in you (the more academic side, that is), you might enjoy Discovery's Archaeorama. Not surprisingly, they've got lots of fascinating news items, complete with videos, on the site, including footage of current digs around the world, such as the Stonehenge excavation that is now underway.