Movies 2/22-3/1
This was a great week for movies… it’s not often that I find a 4-star movie, and this week I caught more than one AND a 5-star movie. :)
Mongol (2007)
Rating: 
Extraordinary production by Russian director Sergei Bodrov. Hollywood doesn’t seem to know how to make epic films anymore… I can’t remember the last one that comes close to this. Braveheart might be the last war film that compares to this one, and they are actually quite similar. This film, which I later found out to be the first of a trilogy, follows Genghis Khan from his childhood (as Temüjin) through the point in time where he starts uniting Mongolia under a single khan. The battles are great, the love story is well done, character development is spot on, and the panoramic views of the countryside (there are a ton) are absolutely stunning. While this may not be completely accurate historically (Wikipedia isn’t helping me here), I find I don’t even care. Thank goodness there are still filmmakers out there who can make a film like this happen. I can’t wait for the next two in the trilogy.
Underdog (2007)
Rating: 
I didn’t expect much from this film, but since I remember seeing the cartoon as a kid, I just had to make sure it ended up in the kids’ Netflix queue. I don’t really remember it being advertised for theaters (was this straight to DVD?), which is too bad. I would have liked to take the kids to this in the theater… it was laugh-out-loud funny, which sometimes can be that much more fun when viewing with 100 other parents and kids. I previewed this to make sure it was OK for the kids, so I got to see it twice and it was still funny the second time.
Sophie’s Choice (1982)
Rating:
In my quest to watch all (or at least as many as possible) movies on the American Film Institute’s(AFI) Top 100 lists, I ended up having to watch this one even though I didn’t expect to enjoy it. (I don’t think it held up very well after 27 years, though Meryl Streep had a very good performance.) I completed the original (1998) AFI 100 Years…100 Movies list several years ago, only to find out it was updated in 2007. The new 10th Anniversary 100 Movies list made several changes, and this ended up being the single movie I needed to watch to additionally claim that list as complete. If you want an interesting read explaining why the AFI lists are somewhat junk (I have started to agree after watching too many movies), check out this article by Jonathan Rosenbaum.
Sukiyaki Western Django (2007)
Rating:
Spaghetti Western meets the world of the samurai. How could that possible go wrong? If you don’t like either genre, stay far away from this movie. If you enjoy both like I do, then check it out right away… this was so much fun. The action, humor and scenery are all very well done. If you watch this not realizing these types of films are supposed to be strangely over the top, then you either need to watch more of them or stick to something else. Minor warning… if you can’t stand Quentin Tarantino, he has a cameo in the film, but his scenes can easily be skipped if necessary.
The Painted Veil (2006)
Rating:
I have to give the assist to Grant on this one. I remember passing this one up a while back when it was recommended by Netflix, based on the description I read at the time. One of my major pet peeves with Hollywood is the great number of movies where infidelity is a major plot driver. Yes, that’s part of this movie, but it ends up being a very good love story if you make it all the way through. It does help that it’s a period piece (which tends to gain any movie a star in my book), and the scenery in many of the cinematic shots is just plain gorgeous. This is a very well-shot film.
30 Days: Season 2 (2006)
Rating:
I enjoy Morgan Spurlock’s documentary/propaganda films and TV show far better than anything from Michael Moore, but you still have to take his stuff with a grain of salt. The neat thing about his show, if you haven’t seen it, is that he sticks a person in a very weird scenario for 30 days and films the events that unfold. The best episode this season was probably the one where he sticks a legal-US-immigrant-turned-border-patrol-minuteman with a family of illegal immigrants for 30 days. He has to live like they do, find work like they do, etc., and the way you see him change some of his preconceived notions is interesting, even if he doesn’t ultimately stop enforcing the law.
Heroes: Season 2 (2007)
Rating:
This is another fine season of Heroes, and I’m glad to keep requesting this show as a Christmas present (though, it took me far too long to finally watch the shows). It’s too bad the season was cut-off due to the writers strike (like everyone else’s favorite shows). Can’t wait to watch season 3 once it’s over and published on DVD. I do have to admit that I’m really getting tired of the genetics professor, Mohinder Suresh. I just don’t see that he adds that much to the story, even though he tends to play a prominent enough role. I suppose he has to be around so there is at least one “normal” character in the show that the audience can relate to, but if that’s the case, it completely fails during this season.
Tropic Thunder (2008)
Rating:
This is not your normal parody movie. Just popping in the DVD and getting to the main menu left me realizing this. I knew it was supposed to be a farcical look at recent (and not so recent) war movies, but seeing the menu itself playing cut scenes from the movie that looked exactly as if it was NOT a parody had me laughing like crazy the three or four times the menu looped. Brilliant. The movie itself was very well done, even though it was filled with cheese galore. I should not have liked this movie that much, lol.
Fred Claus (2007)
Rating:
I’m probably being a bit harsh with this rating, but after all the other films I watched this week, this was just plain stupid. I had low expectations going in, and it was even worse than those. On top of that, in my book, Vince Vaughn (like George Clooney) automatically removes at least one star from any movie he appears in.
Priceless (2006)
Rating:
This is a very enjoyable, light-hearted, French romance/comedy flick. The scenario is pretty funny: a money-grabbing girl ends up with a bartender at a hotel thinking he was another rich guy to bag. She eventually finds out and it pains you for a while as she completely walks all over him for a day. However, that’s where things start getting really funny as he stumbles into a money-grabbing situation himself… they start competing in a way, though you know he still really loves her. I won’t spoil the rest of the movie, so the last thing I’ll say is I really enjoyed the jazzy music playing in the background throughout the movie. I’ll have to see if there’s a soundtrack out there for it.
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