Movies

Humor is a funny thing, funny as in odd. I can read the funny pages day after day for months on end and never crack a smile, and then one day something will tickle my funny bone and I'll laugh till I cry.

My daughter came home from college for the weekend and we watched three movies together. One supposedly funny, one Coen brothers film, which vary between grim and funny (think "Fargo" and "The Big Lebowski"), and one serious drama. The first two we rented from our local Mom & Pop video store. Probably the last time, they are closing up shop in two weeks.

Tropic Thunder - Ben Stiller. Supposedly funny, and their were some funny bits, but not that great. It was a little confused. On one hand it's satirizing people in the movie business, on the other hand it is replaying bits of the Vietnam era: militray helicopters, soldiers, jungle, violence and Vietnam era Rock and Roll. It was basically ridiculous, and I can see that some people might really enjoy it. Not quite stupid enough for me? A lot of foul language. You remember the old trickle down theory? Well it applys to the language in this film. The guy in charge (played by Tom Cruise. I didn't realize it, the girls had to tell me.) is the most foul mouthed of the lot, and it rolls downhill from there, until you get to the pyro tech who is reduced to swearing at his equipment and his non-English speaking help, both of which ignore him. Jack Black does a revolting bit as a strung out junkie. Tom Cruise plays super-rich, amoral jackass to a 'T'. I think his dancing really says a lot about his character. The best part were the fake movie trailers at the beginning of the movie. Why are farts so funny?

Burn After Reading - Coen Brothers. I've always liked the Coen Brother's movies. They are always a little different. And I appreciate George Clooney. He is handsome enough to play James Bond, but his characters are usually a little flawed. Good reminder that beauty is not always a good indicator of character. Tilda Swinton plays a real bitch, again. Last time I remember seeing her was in "Michael Clayton". George was there, too. I think she's done other stuff, but she is starting to get typecast in my mind. I liked Brad as the empty headed gym instructor. I was shocked and disappointed when ... we'll skip that bit, just in case you haven't watched it. The trailers led me to expect more humor, but it was more grim than funny. You could call it a comedy of errors, except nothing that happened was that funny.

Defiance - Daniel Craig. This is third film I have seen about Jews putting up some kind of fight against the Nazi's in WWII. All three were based on true stories and involved small groups of people, relatively speaking. I am just a little fuzzy on what makes a person look "Jewish", but I am pretty sure Rutger Hauer and Daniel Craig don't fit the bill. How they got picked for these roles I'll never know. I liked this film because, A) the good guys manage some success, and B) it makes a better than average attempt at explaining the situation.

Quantum of Solace - Daniel Craig. Saw this some weeks ago. I think the producers may have lost their way with this one. It struck me as just another action/adventure film. Took itself a bit too seriously. And that hotel in the South American desert? What was that? I think they may have spent more on the explosives to blow it up than they did on building it. Just once I would like to see a realistic car chase. Or maybe I need to read up on car chase stratedgy. Or maybe there isn't any, and I should write a book about it. If you want to take out the other car, why drive on for 20 minutes before you make an attempt? Do it now, before they figure out what they are doing. Ram them, tap them into a spin, whatever, but do something, don't just keep burning screen time. A race is one thing, but if your real objective is to stop your opponent, hoping their car will 1) break down, 2) run out of gas, or 3) run off the road, is a poor choice of inaction.

There were some film noir bits, but I don't recall there being any of the totally over the top kind of fantasy that we used to get in James Bond movies. It is sort of more realistic, but at the same time there are some silly bits. It's kind of like a car being driven by a drunk, it's weaving all over the road. Sometimes it's racing along, and sometimes it's wandering in around in the infield.