jeffpaulsen

We did some catching up on our Netflix dvds this weekend. Reviews follow.

A note about my scoring: I give each film a (+), a (-), or nothing. A (+) means I liked it and I think you should see it, and a (-) means it has wasted enough of my time already and I can't recommend that it waste any of yours.

Brick (+)
Our hero (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, from 3rd Rock from the Sun and 10 Things I Hate About You) is contacted by his missing ex-girlfriend, plunging him into a world of deception and violence. It is "film noir" and "hard boiled" in every important respect. It's about crime and double-crossing. It's photographed with an artsy eye. The dialogue contains no filler at all.

Here's what makes it different:

1. it's all high school kids. Instead of the police sergeant and a distant unseen FBI beyond them, our characters worry about the assistant vice principal, and the cops beyond him.
2. everyone speaks in hard-boiled Dashiell Hammet slang, circa 1938. Police are referred to as bulls, "heel it' means to flee, &c. Nothing out of line in a period piece, really - but this isn't. It's set in present-day San Clemente.

If that sounds like you might like it, you're probably right. If that sounds like it would confuse or annoy you, you're probably right.

The Netflix reviews for this film are full of things like "I work in a middle school so I know kids don't really talk like that" and "sad 30-something indy director who wasn't hip in school has to invent his own slang". What the hell ever.

I loved it, and so did Ula. Worth renting for sure, and possibly worth owning.

Cars (+)
We saw this in the theater when it came out. Now it's out on DVD. Didn't bother going through Netflix for it, just bought it. It plays better on larger screens - there's a lot going on visually - but it's still a sweet story with a happy ending.

I'm a car guy, and it's clear that the writers and animators were also. I'm not immersed in the mythology of Route 66 like I am with cars generally, but I'll grant there's fertile ground there. Some people have told me that America doesn't have a culture. Those people can watch this movie and eat a dick.

Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector (-)
If you don't like Larry the Cable Guy, don't see this film. If you do like Larry, you still should not see this film. More uninteresting and unfunny than actively offensive.

Jim Carrey had the chops to make Ace Ventura: Pet Detective work for many people (not me, though). Larry's mostly funny on a stage, but this didn't work at all for me.

Went out last night with the marvelous ula1066 for dinner and a movie. Dinner at Porto Terra, a most excellent Tuscan restaurant. Ula had tomato soup and a salad, and I had casarecci alla Bolognese (short-ish noodles in meat sauce with cream). Not diet food, but wonderful awesome.

Movie was BEERFEST, the new film from the Broken Lizard guys, who brought us Super Troopers. Beerfest is more even and better-paced, but lacks the quotability of Troopers. Cloris Leachman is awesome as great-grandma Wolfhausen, a notorious whore ("I alvays schleep better mit a little sausage in me"). Jurgen Prochnow and Will Forte get to talk in a ridiculous fake German accent ( I know Prochnow has a real German accent, but that wasn't the one he used for this movie). You probably already know if this is the kind of movie you like.

I just watched the trailer for Casino Royale, the next James Bond movie. It's incredibly promising.



It is not very often that a movie trailer makes my jaw drop, and even less so on my little computer screen. I literally turned to Sigivald and said "Jesus Christ did you SEE that?". This is going to be outstanding.

This is taking Bond back in the direction of what Ian Fleming wrote, restarting the character from his first mission. I am rather more than cautiously optimistic.