MOVIE REVIEW - Wall*E (2008)

I'm not as sold on Pixar as the rest of America. Toy Story was mediocre, Monsters was cute, Nemo and Incredibles were good. But when the critics raved, "How can Pixar continue to top itself after every preceding masterpiece - and yet they have", that just doesn't mean a lot to me. And then came Wall*E, which I hope gets nominated for Best Picture. This was a terrific movie, more for adults than kids. The animation was so real at times that I literally forgot that I was watching animation (and no, I'm not talking about the Fred Willard scenes).

Wall*E is a robot left behind to pick up the mountains of garbage on earth, and he's still faithfully doing his job 700 years after humans destroyed the planet and ran off in a spaceship. Within the first couple of minutes, we are drawn to the incredibly endearing qualities of this robot - he saves "treasures" that he finds in the trash, like the diamond ring case (he threw out the diamond ring); he has a delightful friendship with a cockroach; he watches old movies and falls in love with watching Audrey Hepburn fall in love. Then, a probe is sent from the human spaceship, checking to see if earth was once again habitable and not expecting to find anything. The probe's name is Eve, and she’s a fierce, modern, enchanting robot with beautiful blue “eyes”. And while some may classify this film as an animated robot love story, it is much more. It's also a stunning sci-fi tale; an environmental message movie (that surprisingly didn't tick me off, because its message was accurate and didn't stray into non-solutions); a commentary on humanity's technological move away from intimacy; and just a deeply warm, fun, beautiful movie.

MOVIE REVIEW - Wanted (2008)

Mostly, this is a high-adrenaline action movie. But it's also clever (especially the first 30 minutes, as we get to know James McAvoy's office drone-to-be-assassin); hot (it stars Angelina, who is cool in spite of her tabloid fame); and, for an action movie, at least, has a story. Not a great one, not one that takes much intelligence. But it's fun. And oh, so violent. With tons of swearing. And bullets that can curve. And a lot of bad people die. So, it made me happy.

MOVIE REVIEW - Savages, The (2007)

By now, there have been enough wildly dysfunctional family dramas that you need to have something worthy of viewing. Laura Linney, who I love, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, always versatile, star as siblings who don't communicate much as adults. But as their father begins to need help as he ages, they have to join together in taking care of him - even if just lining up a nursing home. Yes, this is possibly an accurate depiction of many distant, uncaring families going through this situation. But it doesn't show much growth in the characters, it is rather dull plodding through its not-much-going-on plot, and it is highly unpleasant.

MOVIE REVIEW - Happening, The (2008)

I can't quite decide what Shalamingading wanted from this one. I always want to like his movies, but sometimes he's just too determined to be himself, at the expense of his craft. Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel are two of my favorite actors, but they were not themselves - it was as though he told them to overact, to act as though it was a high school play, or as though it was the '60's. And once again, the marketing campaign for this movie does it an injustice, describing it as a horror movie when it isn't. What is it? Heck, I don't know. It's an interesting apocalyptic concept - in concentrated urban areas, people become disoriented, then begin killing themselves. But it's not particularly scary. It's not particularly gory. It's rated R, which I assume is because of all the death - but it's a very tame R. I read where Shalamingading was trying to create a well done B-movie. He got the B part right. And it wasn't terrible - there were plenty of darkly cute parts. Betty Buckley was quite good as the disturbed matron protecting the last refuge. But overall, I was just confused as to the mood he was trying to create.

MOVIE REVIEW - Incredible Hulk, The (2008)

As a kid, I wasn't a comic book guy. But I did love the TV show starring Bill Bixby - while a comic book derivative, this show was melancholy. The music was haunting, Bixby was a great actor, and the show focused on his pain and loneliness, which made for surprising good drama. The first Hulk movie was a disaster - dull, brooding, and cartoonish. This redo is tons better. It's also a bit brooding (with Ed Norton in Bixby's role, how could it not be), but nicely done. Good bad guys in William Hurt and Tim Roth. Excellent tributes to the TV show (including an appearance by Ferigno, a quick shot of Bixby, and a short segment with the TV theme song - and the hulk is voiced by Ferigno). Liv Tyler is not my babe of choice, but she did a fine job as Norton's girlfriend. The CGI Hulk was better than in the first movie, but the CGI elements, especially the CGI-overloaded grand finale clash between the Hulk and ultra-ugly second Hulk, were the least interesting aspects of the movie. But the story holds up well, and it's a nice blend of action, heart, and nostalgia.

MOVIE REVIEW - 300 (2007)

Not bad. Definitely written for the teenboy perspective, with arms and lame one-liners ripping off with equal frequency. Some moments were so preposterous that I couldn't tell if they were trying to be a comedy (they weren't). But it's still somewhat enjoyable.

MOVIE REVIEW - Rescue Dawn (2006)

Nicely told POW story starring Christian Bale, based on the true story of Dieter Dengler who was shot down in the early years of the Vietnam War. As a citizen, I think stories like this should be told often so as to remind us of our foundations in heroism. As a moviegoer, it feels like this story has been told equally well many times before.

MOVIE REVIEW - Brown Bunny, The (2004)

This "movie" is the director/writer/producer/star's conceit, and it is horrible. Eighty percent of the film is spent in a car, watching the main character drive across a glum America. To the sound of his car noise. There are two minor surprises at the end - one, at just how much of himself this untalented filmmaker wanted to show of himself; the other, well, you are so ready for the movie to be over, that the surprise has exactly zero emotional impact. DUD.