Stuff by Steve

It’s tough to categorize this movie. It’s not a sports film, since the Red Sox are only shown in brief clips here and there. It’s not a drama, really, or a romantic comedy. It’s somewhere in between. And in between is a light-yet-serious movie about a guy and a girl who just try to make it work. The hook is that the guy is a die-hard Red Sox fan - you know, the kind that go to Florida to watch all of their spring training games. You’ d think that this would make for some awkward situational comedy, but except for a few scenes, its actually treated intelligently rather than portraying the guy as some mutant who can’t fit into the real world and the girl as the beauty who must rescue the beast. I really appreciated this movie for that. Drew Barrymore was okay, but Jimmy Fallon’s character came across as heartfelt and sincere, and not even in the well-acted sense. You just felt for the guy. Overall, the film made me smile and reflect and often both. I liked it because it showed that compromise is important for both sides of a relationship, and that love is both wonderful and tough. You know, there’s no free ride when it comes to matters of the heart, and anyone who tells you different is lying or has never had a relationship for more than a year. In the end, this movie didn’t do anything really wrong, but I can’t give it a higher mark because there just wasn’t anything in it that grabbed me. It was “nice;” but good-nice.

War of the Worlds
I’ve been a fan of this story ever since listening to the original radio play in elementary school. The movie looks a tad embellished, but I think it will get the point across. Latest theatrical trailer also made Danielle curious. Excellent.

Batman Begins
Not sure about Christian Bale as the caped crusader, but Batman has been a successful- oh wait, I was thinking of Spider-Man. Well, they can’t do much worse than Batman Forever, can they?

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
I haven’t read the book, so I’m not a “member” of this club, but I may just pass this one. I’ve heard that the screenplay will make a lot of people angry, besides being just plain dumb.

xXx: State of the Union
So, did Vin Diesel ask for too much money for the sequel? I have no faith that Ice Cube can pull off the sexy-bad-guy-turned-good-guy. But I’m really skirting the issue here. Another xXx movie???

Kingdom of Heaven
Danielle says, “Another one? We already saw ‘Gladiator,’ ‘Troy,’ and company.” True, but this time it’s the Middle Ages, the romantic age of the sword. Although, she has a point. How many semi-profound sweeping epics can we stand? Aw, who am I kidding? I can’t wait.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
May 20, people. Put it on your calendar. If you want to look like a geek. Well, remembering the date isn’t that bad; at least, not when compared to lining up at the wrong theater. Come on, people. It will show on more than one screen.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith
Not a big fan of either Brad Pitt or Angela Jolie, the concept is amusing. A married couple discovers late in the game that they are both secret agents working for opposing sides. Hilarity must ensue. It must.

Fantasic Four
Yet another superhero movie. Marvel’s comic empire is almost a license to print money these days, but the resulting movies haven’t all been winners. This will essentially be a live-action ‘The Incredibles’, and they’ll have to do well to better that one. To be fair, FF was the original, but it’s all in the director’s hands now.

Stealth
Just saw a trailer for this in the theater. Did they run out of movie monster ideas? Or good female leads? An AI-controlled stealth fighter becomes self-aware (no!) and preys on its “wingmates”. Looks like ‘Anaconda’ in the air. If anything good comes of this, it’s that scientists will realize that when you let a computer think for itself, bad things happen. Although, this film will undoubtedly show that we aren’t much better off letting humans think for themselves either.

The Pink Panther
I like Steve Martin, but this idea is just dumb. Roberto Benigni is funnier than anything, but even he couldn’t pull it off in “Son of the Pink Panther.” There just isn’t a bumbling fool like Peter Sellers.

The Dukes of Hazzard
And now to mention the two words that may well spell the doom of the summer releases: Jessica Simpson. See ‘The Pink Panther’ above for my commentary on why remakes of great material should not be made.

For swashbuckling treasure hunter movie buffs, it’s been a while since the last Indiana Jones. Disney offered up a pretty good one last year in National Treasure; Sahara is similar, but with some notable differences. Here, instead of an implausible plot carried out by an ordinary guy just trying to do the right thing, we have a plausible plot carried out in an implausible manner by a James Bond-esque semi-superhero. Matthew McConaughey plays well a hunky southern gentleman named Dirk Pitt with a knack for getting into and out of trouble. It’s exciting to watch him scheme his way from one near-death adventure to the next. This is also where the movie falls flat, however. We quickly become accustomed to Dirk squeaking by with narry a scratch, and the tension in the film suffers as a result. Also, the female lead, played by Penelope “how does she get parts in movies” Cruz, seems there only to provide the moral background for Dirk’s do-gooding. McConaughey had way more chemistry with Steve Zahn as the comic-sidekick (that guy cracks me up). Still, the movie has tons of charm, and although its representation of Africa makes you feel like having a shower afterwards, it is an entertaining romp from beginning to end.

Having grown fairly tolerant and, in many ways, appreciative of the first movie (”Miss Congeniality”), I had the usual high expectations of this sequel. It’s hard to put my finger on why I was disappointed, but I’ll try. I think the biggest problem with the movie was that the charm was gone. The first 20 minutes were spent erasing everything we knew and had come to appreciate about the main character from the first film, lowering her from “quirky-gorgeous-tomboy” to merely “beautiful-yet-shallow-and-self-absorbed”. The movie then proceeded to attempt to prove that this was not the way to go, and that she was really better off being her original unkempt self. It was almost like the first movie never existed. Add to that the below-par acting, uninspired story, and confusing sub-plots (lame is almost a better word, actually), and the movie just didn’t quite cut the mustard. To be fair, it wasn’t terrible, but if you’re going to watch it, make sure you’ve seen everything else on your list first.