Nachoooooooooo

Some friends and I were discussing Nacho Libre, and one friend said this:

"I really, truly despise Jack Black, and I've never seen _Napoleon Dynamite_, although the excessive quoting of it (none of which sounds funny to me, but that could be the quoters) has put it in the "annoying" category for me. That said, the trailer for _Nacho Libre_ looked pretty funny."

To which I replied:

"I wouldn't suggest seeing it then. Or if you do see it, wait until it's at the discount theater. Basically what I would describe the movie as would be a blend of Jared Hess's Napoleon Dynamite type humor and Jack Black doing his Jack Black thing. Overall Black is pretty understated, which I liked. But every once in a while they give him a chance to do his Jack Black thing, which seemed to take him out of the character. Also, there were random fart jokes that didn't seem to fit in with anything in the movie except to try to go for the cheap laugh.

I might suggest seeing Napoleon Dynamite at some point, if just to see what all the hype is about and if you happen to like it. I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it to the point of quoting the entire movie whenever I got a chance. I'd say the same about Nacho Libre. So chances are if you see Napoleon Dynamite and don't hate it, then you probably won't hate Nacho Libre."

That's my basic review right there. I smiled and chuckled quite a bit during the movie, and even laughed a few times, but I wouldn't go so far as to say "Oh, you have to see that movie! It's the funniest movie ever!" (Some people told me that about Napoleon Dynamite, which left me disappointed.) I liked it quite a bit, I enjoyed myself, but I didn't absolutely love it.

MI3

A co-worker and I were talking the other day about how an action movie, in order to be a truly great action movie, needs a truly great bad guy. Mission Impossible 3 fits the bill better than the trailers indicate. Philip Seymour Hoffman is, I believe, one of the greatest working actors in Hollywood today and seems to absolutely throw himself wholly into every role he plays. MI3 is no exception to that. If Owen Davien says, "Tell me what I want to know by the time I count to 10 or I will shoot (insert person you care deeply about) in the head" you'd better believe he's going to do it. He's that kind of evil, and a truly great action movie bad guy.

That said, you should realize by now that you can't judge MI3 by the first two. It's a completely different beast. J.J. Abrams makes his film directorial debut, and it's a great one. I think having directed tv shows such as "Alias" and "Lost" made the transition to film rather smooth. And I'm sure it doesn't hurt when you're working with such talent as Lawrence Fishburn, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead), Billy Crudup, and the list goes on.

Tom Cruise does his own stunts, and I think it makes a difference when you actually see the guy's face who is jumping off the roof of a building, or out a window, or being thrown into the side of a car by an explosion.

I'm having two online conversations and trying to write this review, so I'm not concentrating much. I guess I really can't think of anything else to say except that it's a really good movie and go see it for yourself. If nothing else, go see it for the Superman Returns, X-Men 3, Pirates of the Carribean 2, and Nacho Libre trailers before the movie. If only there were a Snakes on a Plane trailer... ;-)

Day off? What day off?

I think in my last post I said something about writing about Syriana and Wimbledon on my day off, which would have been today. Unfortunately, the pregnant massage therapist at work who wasn't due until mid-May went to the hospital today, so I got called to take her shift. And then I'm taking her shift tomorrow morning and Saturday morning as well as my Friday and Saturday afternoon/evening shifts. I'm going to be one busy little massage therapist the next few weeks.

As far as Syriana and Wimbledon go... The basic message of Syriana is that America is evil and corrupt, which is what I expected of the movie. Also, I didn't like it because they killed off the only character I actually cared something about. Wimbledon isn't the greatest romantic comedy out there, but I think it's worth watching, especially for the director's commentary on all the different camera tricks they used, or if you like tennis and/or seeing Paul Bettany's rear end multiple times. Of course, you could just watch A Knight's Tale for that.

If there's any pet peeve that I have about romantic comedies it's that couples tend to fall madly in love in an unrealistically short period of time. I realize there are some people who do. I used to work at a summer camp with a guy who met his wife on a Monday, and that Friday he told her that the next week he was going to take her out on a date and ask her a question and he wanted her to be thinking about what her answer would be. But for a majority of us that isn't enough time to meet someone and get to know them well enough to know that you could live happily with them for the rest of your life. I told Brian after we watched Wimbledon, "If you ever make movies, and if you make a romantic comedy, can you make sure that it takes the couple longer than two weeks to fall in love?"

Chicken Little Walks The Line

It's been over two weeks since I went to the discount theater for a double-feature of Chicken Little and Walk The Line. However, last week I worked all 7 days, and the week before that I worked all 7 days. I didn't actually have massages all 7 days. I went to the mall location to hang out and see if we got any walk-ins, and there were a couple of days where we didn't, so my "work day" consisted of hanging out with the receptionist to keep her from getting bored.

Anyway, back to the movies. I thought Chicken Little was enjoyable, though Brian would probably tell you otherwise. Ah well, that's why we only spent a dollar per ticket to see it. Although I thought it was enjoyable, it was definitely a kids movie. See, there's a difference between kids movies and family movies. Family movies are most of the movies that Pixar puts out - maybe aimed at children, but that everyone can enjoy. Kids movies on the other hand are movies that kids will enjoy but the parents might not. The most enjoyable things about Chicken Little for me were the soundtrack (especially the BNL song at the beginning, and the characters performance of "Don't Go Breakin' My Heart" at the end) and the voices. It's definitely an all-star cast with a lot of great cameos. I might be willing to see it again, but if I do see it again without all the energy of the kids in the audience I'm afraid I might be disappointed.

And for a complete change of pace, we went to see Walk The Line next. In the words of Christopher Walken... "Wow. Wowie, wow, wow, wow." Amazing movie. For a basic synopsis, see John Stewart's joke at the Oscars. "It's like Ray, but with white people." I thought that was one of the highlights of John Stewart's Oscar jokes. But my mind is all over the place. Back to Johnny Cash. My only beef with this movie is that they didn't go past 1969. I would have liked to see them go a bit farther into his life, if only just to show what a turn-around he had after the drugs. (Or, if only just to include "Man In Black" or "Boy Named Sue.") I'm a big fan of Johnny Cash, though admittedly I'm a fairly new fan. I didn't pay much attention until American IV: The Man Comes Around and that gorgeous music video for "Hurt." But now I can't get enough.

One more thing I'l say about the movie is that Reese and Joaxin acted their butts off. They definitely deserved those Oscar nominations (and win for Reese.) They did all their own singing, which I thought was great. If you're a fan of Cash, you can tell that Joaxin Pheonix's voice is not quite the same, but I think it's about as close as you can get without actually using Cash's voice. And considering that Cash's initial thought on who would play him was Johnny Depp...well, let's just say I love Cash's music, voice, and style, but I never thought he was all that pretty.

Alright, time for me to get ready for work. Maybe on Thursday (my day off) I'll write about Syriana and Wimbledon.

The Entrance to Narnia?

No...just the entrance to our apartment complex. Really, I just wanted a chance to show off the Colorado sunset.

The Second Chance

Last week I got an e-mail from a friend of mine. She got it from a from of hers, who got it from Steve Taylor.

"Those of you who know me, which should be everyone on this list, know that a deficit of talent, aptitude and funding has never stopped me from pursuing a new career.

The latest result opens this Friday, February 17th at a theater quite possibly near you. It's called THE SECOND CHANCE, it's been picked up by Sony Pictures Distribution, and despite my inexperience as a writer/director, it turned out reasonably well due to a number of factors beyond my control.

It's not like you owe me anything just because we're "email pals," but if you go to www.thesecondchancemovie.com you can find out if and where the movie's playing in your area. And I don't expect anyone to drive more than, say, six hours to buy a ticket (even though I'd gladly make the trek for your major motion picture debut).

Feel free to forward this to all your "email pals." I'm told that if enough of you pay to see THE SECOND CHANCE on its opening weekend, you'll send a "message to Hollywood." And if you should neglect to delete my email address when circulating this, you'll send a "message to Steve" to never again mark mass emails as urgent."

Anyway, on Tuesday after church Brian and I, along with a couple of friends, went to see it. It stars Michael W. Smith as the associate pastor of a suburban mega-church which has a sister church in the inner city that they raise money to support. The church board is not happy with Smith, so they send him off to work in the inner city church as punishment. From there, you can probably guess what happens. He deals with the things that he is not normally exposed to in his 'safe' suburb and ends up learning some life lessons and eventually feels God calling him to stay in the inner city.

Despite the predictable ending, the movie is actually pretty decent. I haven't generally been a fan of many Christian films, mostly because the quality just isn't up to par. I believe that God is a creative God. I also believe that God has called us to give Him our best. Between these two statements, I have never understood why our "best" as Christians can't be just as good as everything else around us. The Left Behind movies, and others in that vein, have not lived up in my opinion. The Second Chance is, I think, a step in the right direction. It certainly has it's flaws, but it's just about as good as you can expect a movie starring Michael W. Smith to be. The characters and plot, though somewhat predictable, come across as genuine. One of the ways I judge whether or not I like a movie is if I had an emotional connection with the characters and if the story draws me in. That was the case with The Second Chance. I think tears even came to my eyes at one point.

As I stated before, the movie has it's flaws. I wouldn't put it in my "top 100 movies of all time," but for what it is, it's pretty good. I would even go so far as to say it's the best Christian movie I've seen. I guess my thought process is that if we support The Second Chance, then maybe there will be another step towards bridging the quality gap between Christian and mainstream cinema. It probably won't last that long in theaters, so if you'd like to see it you might want to go this week. If not, I'm sure it will be out on dvd soon. I hate to be so negative about it's box office prospects, but when Brian, myself, and our friends went to see it, we were the only ones in the theater. In any case, it's worth seeing, if only to support Steve Taylor in his pursuing a career in film.

The Basics of Brokeback

As promised, here's the rundown on Brokeback Mountain, or "the gay cowboy movie" as some people are refering to it. The basic plot is this: It starts in 1963. Enis, played by Heath Ledger, gets a job herding sheep on Brokeback Mountain for a summer, hoping to save up money for his wedding that November. The other man working with him is Jack Twist, played by Jake Gyllenhall. One night up on the mountain they get drunk...and then you can probably figure out what happens. They spend the summer on the mountain together with just them and the sheep, and they develop a very close relationship over the months - physically and otherwise. They go down from the mountain and part ways. Enis gets married and has a couple of kids. Four years later he gets a postcard from Jack saying he's coming through town. Enis' wife sees them kissing, though they don't know she sees them. From that point on, once or twice a year they go on "fishing trips" to Brokeback. But it was from that point that the damage was done. Enis eventually gets a divorce and can never live a fully normal life.

This paragraph reveals the end of the movie. If you don't want to know the end, skip to the next paragraph. Finally, years later on one of their "fishing trips" he confronts Jack about it, and they end up parting ways for good. After this Enis finds out that Jack has died in a car accident or something of that nature (he was filling a flat tire, he over-filled it and the hubcap flew off and hit him in the head or something like that.) Enis goes to visit Jack's parents and offers to take his ashes to Brokeback Mountain, where Jack had wanted his ashes spread. They say no, they have a family plot where he will be buried. But Jack's mother offers to Enis to go up to Jack's old room. There he finds one of his own old shirts from their first summer at Brokeback that Jack has kept all these years. He takes it home with him, and the movie ends with him just saying, "Jack, I swear..." and looking at his old shirt.

Now, I didn't really care for the ending. I thought it ended rather abruptly and didn't bring any sort of closure to anything at all. That said, it was a decently good movie. It was however far from being a great movie. In fact, I believe the only reason it's getting all the awards and attention that it's getting is because of it's homosexual themes. My problem with the movie was not that it was gay, but that it was being hailed as this wonderful movie that holds this epic love story. But gay or not, I don't consider an epic love story to be one person ruining another person's life. In fact, neither character showed any inclination of actually being in love. The movie, as I saw it, only showed that they both had this physical need for homosexual interaction. If it had been more of a Romeo and Juliet "star-crossed lovers" thing, then I might have liked it more.

It's my belief that the people who are protesting this movie probably wouldn't protest it if they actually saw it. Or rather, if they actually saw the whole thing and didn't walk out during the first intimate scene between the two characters. Now, I realize that everyone views things differently, and some people might really love this movie. But the movie I saw was not a gay cowboy movie, but a movie about a man whose life is ruined when he acts on a physical desire which is not healthy considering he is about to be married when he first acts on it. It causes a sort of addiction which leads him to live a half-life, not willing to fully give himself over to his wife or to his lover. The fact that his lover is a man holds no precedence in this case. You could replace Jake Gyllenhall with a woman, and change his wife (a great performance by Anne Hathaway and a wonderful departure from her usual "Princess Diaries" type role) to her husband, and it wouldn't change my opinion of the film one iota.

In conclusion, I would say it's worth seeing, if only to see what all the hype is about. But I would also add that it's worth seeing for the "bargain matinee price" that I paid for it, or at the discount theater. I think if I had paid regular movie price for it I would have been more disappointed that it was only "good" and not "great."