One post, four movies! No one can live at that speed!

I am four movies behind! I shall endeavor to make up for it before I get my next two 'flix in the mail this afternoon. So, lets dive right on in, shall we?

Nacho Libre

I love Jack Black. Love him. I love him in Tenacious D (the show and the band), and I love him in the movies. I mean, come on, who could have been a better Barry in High Fidelity? No one, that's who. Naturally, therefore, I was all jazzed about this movie wherein The Jack plays a mexican wrestler. Hilarity couldn't help but ensuing, right? Well, yes, sort of. First off, because I don't actually watch television, many things get past me, like the fact that this movie was a Nickelodeon production, which meant that some of the more adult humor that could have added a little jazz to this story couldn't be shown. I'm okay with that, though, but what really didn't work was the feeling like this movie was a tug of war between someone's desire to make the next Napoleon Dynamite and the more in your face style of Jack Black's own brand of humor. The movie was filled with attempts to capture that realistic understated awkwardness that made Napolean work so well, but which seemed a little too forced, and, when juxtaposed against the gut-punch one-liners and physical slapstick that were classic Jack, it just felt like two goofy luchador movies sloppily sewn together like a first week Home Ec apron made of patches of velvet and strips of a nubby polyester blend.
That being said, though, there were some definite moments of belly laughter, and mostly they were those moments when you felt like Jack had been given free rein. The sneak attack baptism still makes me giggle until I gasp for breath, for instance. I just wanted it to be more of that and less of something, well, less.


The Descent

Wow. Just wow. I freakin' loved this movie. It was taut and fast and downright disturbing. The acting was top-notch, the characters had depth, and I got very invested in the twists of their relationships and the undercurrents that ran through the group.
To give a quick synopsis, this is the story of a group of English women who regularly gather for various extreme sport-style adventures. A year after a tragic accident (no, I can't tell you about it, you'll just have to watch to find out) the group gathers together to explore a series of caves in the Appalachian mountains. The caves, however, aren't exactly uninhabited, and the inhabitants aren't exactly friendly. Sounds like pretty typical sort of horror movie fare, right? Maybe, but the execution is everything! It's not just a creature feature, and the denizens of the darkness aren't the only dangers in these caves. It definitely has it's moments of "jump out of your seat" quick scares, but it's real effect is in the way it makes you think about the characters, their acts and their motives, the claustrophobia it induces, both physical and psychological. This movie is not for the faint of heart of the weak of stomach, but if you like something that gets under your skin, I highly recommend you watch it. I want to make this a much longer review, but without getting into spoilers and, "Dude, I totally almost pissed myself when...." I don't think I can. See it, and come back, we'll discuss then!


Idlewild

I hadn't seen anything other than the teaser trailer before this movie first came out, and I knew I had to see it. The exuberance of the dance and the energy of the directing drew me in, and when I finally got to see it, it did indeed live up to it's promise of a damn good time.
Starring Andre Benjamin (Andre 3000) and Andtwon A. Patton (Big Boi) of Outkast, this is a rowdy prohibition era roadhouse musical filled full of the delightfully anachronistic hip hop this duo does so damn well. I really loved the way that the songs and the dance numbers were filled with that idiosyncratic sense of rhythm that Outkast calls its own. The songs pop and snap in unexpected places, as do the dancers, and the camera work follows along in a delightful synchronicity. The style of the film borrows heavily from music videos, and that's pretty refreshing in a musical and works perfectly, I think.
I was also impressed with the acting of Andre Benjamin. He turned in a delicate and sensitive portrayal of Percival, a shy piano player by night and an assistant to his distant and domineering mortician father by day. The love story between him and the sultry chanteuse Angel Davenport, as portrayed by Paula Patton and her lovely cheekbones (seriously, she's just beautiful), is sweet and quite believable as it unfolds.
Antwon Patton isn't quite the actor his cohort is, but his character, Rooster, didn't need quite so tender a touch as Percival. As a philandering ne'er-do-well and nightclub sensation who gets caught up in a net of gangsters and showgirls and angry wives, he does a pretty decent job.
Darn fine movie, and a Hell of a lot of fun!


Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance

Here's another awesome and disturbing Korean thriller from Park Chan-wook. Park also directed Oldboy (which I may have to review sometime because it was truly astounding) and Lady Vengeance (which should be in my mailbox today!). These three movies, though they aren't a series, are Park's exploration of the nature of revenge. Like Oldboy, Sympathy is dark, violent, and hard to watch at times, and in the end you sort of feel a little soiled, but as though you've lived through a grim and unforgettable life experience and are strangely affirmed to have come out the other side. I know that doesn't sound like a vote of confidence, but it actually is. It takes a lot for a movie to really reach in and rearrange your headspace, and this one does that. You won't be a better person for watching this movie, but you will have great fodder for some deep and unsettling thoughts and conversations.
Without giving away too many of the interesting turns and character perspectives this movie takes, I can tell you that it starts out as the story of a deaf man who tries to get a kidney for his dying sister, but after being swindled by some black market organ dealers, decides, with the help of his girlfriend, to turn to kidnapping in order to raise the money he needs. Everything goes wrong from there. For everyone. And I do mean everyone. Pretty much if you are in this movie for more than a few seconds, you are screwed, my friend.
This movie definitely isn't for everyone, and don't say I didn't warn you if you rent it and can't make it through. It's brutal, but amazing.

The Covenant

This was a fun, fast-paced, and very glossy flick, and I enjoyed it. It certainly isn't high art, by any stretch, but for what it was, I thought it was really well done.
The four teenaged scions of old Ipswich witch families are on the cusp of coming of age and into their full powers. The power, however, has a price - it ages its user with each spell, and it's addictive. Just before the eighteenth birthday of the oldest of the set, Caleb, a new magic user with naught but bad intentions appears on the scene, determined to take power for himself. Not super original, but we're talking about a PG-13 teen thriller here, not Citizen Kane. Naturally, there is a love interest for the main protagonist who gets caught up in the struggle, becoming a pawn and a prize in the game. There is also an undercurrent of normal teenaged discord between not only the four "Sons of Ipswich," but also with other age mates at their school. I thought the writing, directing, and acting did a great job of making these characters human in spite of their powers and their undeniable and enviable cool. I liked that you could see teenage friends who love each other, but don't always get along, and that even though they had access to great power, that power came with a price some were willing to pay and some were not. This movie had the slickness of movies like Underworld, Blade or Queen of the Damned (which I know many people didn't like, but if you look at them in the spirit of an enjoyable, escapist, heavily music-video-influenced appeal to the seduction of an untapped and fairly harmless dark side of their audiences you can see where they succeed and can be a good time), but lacked the sort of overly egocentric wish fulfillment those movies too-powerful and thoroughly unbeatable characters embodied.
In the end, I thought it was a good time.

The Da Vinci Code

The Da Vinci Code
I've gone back and forth on wanting to see this movie for a while, but finally I said, "what the heck?" and put it in the queue. Before I get to the movie, though, let's go ahead and deal with the hype about the book so that we can get it out of the way and actually consider the movie all on its own.
I know that a lot of people are upset that this book gets so many historical facts wrong, that some think it's poorly written, etc. When my husband and I first read this book I enjoyed it. I thought it was just as well written as any other popular best-seller, and in fact, much better than many. I liked the subject matter and the ideas it was exploring, and we had good conversations sparked by it. Later I talked to several people about it and I started to hear all about how they felt that Dan Brown was presenting some sketchy and badly researched ideas as fact and they seemed offended by that. I was sort of swayed by these arguments, in no small part because I really respect and liked a lot of the people who were saying these things. The more I think about it, though, the less I agree. I mean, it's a novel, a work of fiction. It's a fast-paced modern novel with some interesting bits of history and mythology thrown in. Fiction, people, fiction. I read a book called Assassini about a sect of killer priests harbored by the Vatican, and I don't recall anyone getting their britches twisted about it. I think, because The Da Vinci Code was so very popular (and there is a reason for its popularity - it's easy to read, moves quickly, has interesting characters and plot, and has a lot of thought and conversation provoking ideas), it's sort of a natural reaction for intellectuals to tear it apart. I do want to point out that Dan Brown didn't create these ideas out of whole cloth. There have been numerous books, articles, and movies that have made similiar points, heck there is even a video game called "Gabriel Knight: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned" (featuring voice work by Tim Curry - woot!). Anyway, in the end, I think it's a decent book, I accept that it's a work of fiction, and I think it should be enjoyed for what it is, not vilified for trying to be something it's not.
So, all that being said, let's talk about the movie, shall we?
First off, I still don't know that Tom Hanks was the best choice for this role. On the one hand, yes, he does certainly have a professorial vibe, but it's the dry, tweedy, musty sort of professor that you would find in the lecture hall and expect to smell faintly of old toast, burnt coffee, and dandruff shampoo and who's lectures are a challenge even the most hardcore insomniac. The Robert Langdon of the book was more dynamic, more vibrant, more charismatic. Maybe it's just me, but I don't find Tom Hanks charismatic at all, and between the atrocious hair and the strange bloating he has going on, I found him rather hard to look at in this movie. Audrey Tautou did a pretty good job as Sophie Neveu, however I really did want her to have red hair. Those are nitpicks, though, I admit.
On the whole, I found the movie pretty good. It had an interesting story, the action was evenly paced, and the directing was up to Ron Howards standards (well-done but nothing innovative or spectacular). I thought Ian McKellan was a great choice for Sir Teabing, and the writers certainly did a good job preserving the important plot points from the book without altering, omitting, or contradicting what was written in the book (yes, I am looking at you, adapters of the Harry Potter books *glare*). So, all in all, if you can see your way past the book hype, enjoy a good tale of mystery with some history and religion thrown in, you will likely enjoy this movie (as long as you don't spend the whole thing trying to figure out what happened to Tom Hanks head). It was sort of like a more leather-bound library style Indiana Jones movie.

Orgasmo from Heaven

This is the inagural post of my new movie geek blog. I'm going to try to give at least a brief review of each movie we get from Netflix in order to get myself into the habit of writing, in hopes that I will actually do more of it, both offline and over at my regular blog. And, what better two movies to start off with than these two?



Pennies From Heaven
This is a movie my husband recommended that I don't think I'd ever heard of. After looking at the description, though, I knew right away that I had to see it. Starring Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters, it's a musical set in the 1930's about a feckless song salesman who falls in love with and radically alters the life of a small town school teacher. The musical numbers are mostly told as fantasy segments from the perspective of the various characters and are actually lip synced to the original recordings by people like Frank Sinatra. Imagine a mongrel mix of Purple Rose of Cairo and 9 to 5 (yes, the Dolly Parton movie) and then top it all off with a striptease tap-dance number by none other than Christopher Walken, and you end up with something immenently watchable and entertaining.


Orgasmo
Trey Parker's hilarious movie about a niave Mormon boy who unwittingly turns into a porn super-hero! Seriously, there aren't enough good things I can say about this movie! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! Trey is just damn funny and Dian Bachar as Choda Boy, his dildo helmet-wearing sidekick, just takes it that much further into pants pissing territory. For those of you who watch that sort of thing, you can play great game of Name that Porn Star, as the cast is liberally filled with well-known Adult Film actors, including Ron Jeremy! Bonus! So, get this movie, watch it, then go back and watch it again with the director's commentary on! The only thing better than a Trey Parker movie is a Trey Parker movie with him and his friends recording a director's commentary while drinking heavily. Same goes for Cannibal! The Musical. Seriously, this is silliness at its finest my friends, and you owe it to yourself to see this flick.