Like millions of other Americans, we eschew the theatres with their over-priced tickets, noisy asshole patrons, and expensive concessions and rent DVDs from the video store. Last weekend we rented seven and the cost was about what we would have paid to see just one movie at the mall.
Hitch – B+ – Will Smith is back to making decent films. He plays a consultant who takes nice but ordinary guys, cleans them up, and gets them introduced to women they couldn’t ordinarily get to talk to. Yes it’s kind of a chick flick, but there’s enough in this movie to make it watchable.
In Good Company – B+ – Somewhat predictable but still entertaining story about an older executive (Dennis Quaid) whose company gets bought by a billionaire media mogul. He suddenly finds himself playing second fiddle to a manager who is half his age (Carter Duryea). There are some good scenes between the two as they try to cope with the situation.
Miss Congeniality 2 – Armed and Fabulous – B – I think the sequel in this case was better than the first movie. Sandra Bullock returns as Gracie Hart, an FBI agent who we last saw in 2000’s Miss Congeniality. The story in the sequel takes place 11 months later when the winner of the pageant and William Shatner are kidnapped and held for ransom in Las Vegas. Hart has become the “face” of the FBI, and no one takes her seriously as an agent. It was a nice movie.
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou – B- — This was one strange movie, very surreal. The dreamlike qualities range from the fight scenes down to the made-up species of fish. Bill Murray was interesting as the popular under sea explorer Steve Zissou. This is the kind of movie you should see once, but I don’t know if I’d want to see it twice.
National Treasure – A- — I went into this move knowing that I would hate it. The premise is pretty silly – a treasure map is hidden in invisible ink on the back of the Declaration of Independence – and I really don’t care much for Nicolas Cage. Once you suspend your disbelief of the premise, it’s a good movie. There’s an interesting puzzle, both good guys and bad guys pursuing the heroes, and some nice action. I was surprised.
The Pacifier – B – A fairly formulaic Disney film but Vin Diesel managed to pull it off. There are enough false leads and twists in the story to make it work. Diesel plays a navy SEAL who is assigned to watch the kids whose father was killed when Diesel was trying to save him from terrorists. Yes, it does make a kind of sense in the movie. Of course, the kids need discipline, and they don’t really believe that they are in any kind of danger. Diesel has to learn how to deal with kids. It was kind of hard to watch Brad Garrett (Robert from Everybody Loves Raymond) as an asshole vice principle, but overall it was a fun movie.
Racing Stripes – F – Does Disney have a formulaic script computer program that every once in a while generates scripts? This piece of crap was completely unwatchable. I know I’m not part of the demographic they were aiming for, but Sweet Zombie Jesus this movie was bad. There was inane dialog, talking animals, PETA propaganda, PC propaganda, a stupid premise, cardboard characters, and a moronic plot. Any parent who makes their kid watch this tripe should be charged with child abuse.
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