Be Kind Rewind

This was a really stupid movie.

I had originally intended for that to be the extent of my entry, but I find I feel compelled to say more about it.

In his movies, Jack Black is always partly a loser, so that's nothing new. He usually makes up for it by being hilarious, and by having at least a few endearing qualities. However, in this movie he is a complete loser, and also perhaps somewhat insane... and I must have missed the endearing qualities.

Best part of the movie: When Jerry (Jack Black) stood up between the signs that said "Keep" and "Out", mimicking the message Mr. Fletcher had been trying to pass on to Mike (which was, of course, "Keep Jerry out.") You're probably asking yourself, "and she thinks that is the BEsT part of the movie?" Yup, that's what I said. The entire movie was disappointingly un-funny, and was slapped together like one of Mike and Jerry's Sweded videos. There were points during the movie where, judging by the soundtrack, they were trying to convey poignancy or tension, but... it wasn't working. I'm not sure if they were trying and failing, or if they were mocking movies that try to convey poignancy and tension. Either way, it didn't work for me.

I had been hoping that this movie would be hysterical, perhaps even funny enough to usurp the ruling position of "There's Something About Mary" on my Best Comedies Ever list (not the least because that movie is raunchy enough that I'm embarrassed to call it a favorite) but it wasn't even close.

We Are Not Amused.

Princess Protection Program

I don't actually have anything to say about this movie (another Friday Family Movie Night selection) other than the fact that the entire thing screams DISNEY. There is just one reason why I am adding an entry to my blog for this movie, and that is Selena Gomez. She is a really good actress! Very believable as a teenage girl in high school. OK, so I don't know how she would deal with a role that forced her to stretch some, but in all seriousness, she has a very natural manner that keeps you from remembering she's acting. Most Disney divas beat you over the head with their subconscious, "I'm acting!! I'm acting! Look at me act!" throughout their performance. Not Selena. I actually first noticed her skill in an episode of The Wizards of Waverly Place that I was forced to endure. She was the only actor in the show, surrounded by over-actors. (You like that term? I made it up. In case you weren't certain, it refers to actors who over-act. Otherwise known as bad actors). It doesn't hurt that she is also super cute. Or maybe, like my friend Jill might have said long ago, she is cute with a pretty twist. I like her! I am looking forward to seeing what kinds of movies she makes if she ever gets away from Disney.

Sphere

I thought this was another movie I'd seen bits and pieces of throughout the years. In my mind, it was Event Horizon under the sea (rather than in outer space) with Sharon Stone. I was looking forward to seeing how much it differed from my expectations.

As it turns out, I don't think I'd ever seen any of it before. It almost reminded me more of The Matrix (without the matrix) than Event Horizon. It was a pretty good sci-fi-slash-psychological-thriller flick.

I really can't put my finger on why, but I loved finding out that the space ship they found at the bottom of the ocean was actually an American ship rather than an alien one as previously suspected. I think what I mainly liked about that was the fact that I didn't guess it or see it coming.

Lorenzo's Oil

This was another movie I absolutely dreaded watching. I had heard it was very good, but also that it was extremely sad, and I like tear-jerkers about as much as I like war movies and westerns but for different reasons. (Westerns and war movies tend to bore me; I just can't get into them. Tear-jerkers make me mad because I get into them too much.) It didn't help that my mom is one of the people who recommended this movie to me, and our taste in movies differs wildly.

I must admit this was an excellent movie. Certainly not something I can put in the category of "fun and entertaining," but it wasn't the tear-jerker I expected, for which I was very glad (although I must admit I did get choked up at one point). One big thing was that I had totally expected Lorenzo to die during this movie, and he didn't! That went a long way towards keeping this movie from being as depressing as I expected. In fact, I looked Lorenzo Odone up on wikipedia.org just now and was very surprised to find out that he lived until the age of 30, having passed away just over a year ago. It wasn't all good news online, though. Getting the actual facts took away from the feeling of hope the movie leaves you with. The movie gives you the idea that perhaps, rather than just stopping the progress of the disease, Lorenzo actually began to improve after treatment (he was able to wiggle a previously immobile finger, and began to signal "yes" and "no" with eye movements after months of no communication whatsoever), but this was not the case; the ability for these movements and signals was not lost and regained, it was merely never lost. Yes, Lorenzo's Oil has successfully treated many other boys, but it was discovered too late for Lorenzo. It definitely prolonged his life, but at what quality? It was also sad to hear that his mother passed away in 2000 (only 8 years after the movie was made).

I thought that the movie rather vilified several doctors and the couple at the head of the ALD charitable organization, and I wondered if in real life it wasn't more shades of grey than the black and white presented in the movie, but it is an understandable modification given that black and white makes for a much more striking story than grey.

Event Horizon

A horror movie in outer space. This is one of those movies I've seen bits and pieces of throughout the years but had never watched the entire thing from start to finish (until tonight). Good solid entertainment! No more, no less. No deep thoughts, but it sure kept my attention. One thing I never picked up on in all the snippets I'd seen in the past was that the ship had literally been to Hell and back. Interesting idea.

I didn't get the eyeball thing. Why did Sam Neill's ex-wife (or whoever she was) keep showing up without her eyeballs? (Other than "because it was really creepy"). The closest thing to an explanation given is when Neill says something along the lines of, "Where we're going we don't need eyeballs," although perhaps his actual phrasing was slightly less corny.

Everyone was hallucinating about dead people they used to know, right? Except for Mama Bear, who was seeing her son who she left behind in a wheelchair on Earth with her ex. I took this to mean that her son had died after she left, although I suppose that's up for debate.

Big plot hole: When Justin was in the airlock, he was in pretty bad shape after just over 30 seconds of decompression; however, after Weir shot out a window, Miller survived what seemed to be several minutes of the same type of situation without any visible effects. That's fine with me, though. The movie still managed to keep me riveted and hanging on the edge of my seat (figuratively, since I was standing up washing dishes and such throughout most of the movie) even if it wasn't especially realistic--or perhaps because it wasn't.

Mamma Mia!

Our local library actually has several of the movies that are on my netflix queue. Since the netflix disc I received on Thursday was broken and we were going to the library anyway, I picked up Mamma Mia! ABBA-fan friends of mine have really enjoyed it.

What a fun movie! It reminded me of Grease... in Greece! I don't know ABBA songs well enough to sing along very much, but I could at least hum all but one of them. I think if I could have sung along it would have been just that much more fun (although I'm afraid if I tried that my howling might have awakened my kids).

I loved the surprise wedding switcheroo at the end, and Pierce Brosnan is definitely the one I would have chosen too. Although, as hard as they tried to make him sound good, he really can't sing all that well. At least he's pretty.

The Four Feathers

I was definitely not looking forward to watching this movie. I have a vague memory of bad reviews when it came out; even worse, Hud was convinced I'd seen this movie before AND that it was lame. But evidently at some point something about the movie had gotten me curious enough to put it on my netflix queue, and if I'd watched it before, I had absolutely no recollection of it. So I went ahead and watched it. I had plenty of dishes to wash and clothes to iron anyway, so it was either this or another rerun of Friends.

It's entirely possible that this was simply another case of low expectations being exceeded, but I thought this was a pretty good flick! Very nice to see Heath Ledger looking handsome and dashing again, unlike his role in "Lords of Dogtown." Even when he was covered in hair and dirt after spending weeks (or months?) in the desert he looked much better as Harry than as Skip. On the other hand, it was somewhat disappointing to see Kate Hudson with red frizzy hair. She looks much better when her hair is smooth and blonde.

I can't really figure out why the reviews would have been bad. It may not be Oscar quality, and it's not a movie I would watch over and over again (there are very few of those), but the acting was good, the story was interesting, the romance was sweet, and the action was exciting. Oh, and I had not seen it before, so that was another nice surprise.