TNMC Recent Reviews

This past Thursday, we saw Doug Liman’s “Jumper” (Hayden Christensen, Samuel L. Jackson, Diane Lane, Jamie Bell, and Rachel Bilson).  This movie is getting hammered by the critics, but don’t let that deter you.  It’s a lot of fun!

Hayden Christensen plays a nerdy high school dude who, for whatever reason, finds that he has the super-human power to “jump” (i.e., teleport) to anyplace on the globe, instantaneously.  So what does he do?  Turn into a super-hero, saving people all over the place?  Hell no!  He does what you or I would have done: he robs a bank and starts living the life of a millionaire jet-setting playboy.

Of course, he soon finds out that it isn’t all that simple.  Turns out there are other “jumpers” on the planet, and worse yet, there is a well-funded cabal of “paladins,” led by a white-haired Sam L. Jackson, who are dedicated to wiping them out.  Soon he is fighting for his life, as well as that of his girlfriend.  The rest is a fast-paced chase scene, utilizing all sorts of clever gambits that you might dream up if you were a jumper.

If you are capable of checking your brain, as well as most of your spinal cord and nervous system, at the door, you can enjoy this mindless fun as much as I did.

Tonight, we saw Martin McDonagh’s “In Bruges” (starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, and Ralph Fiennes).

You might call this a “black comedy,” except that it wasn’t really all that dark, and it wasn’t really all that funny. Maybe it was a “gray comedy”? Either way, it *was* really, really good! Funny enough and dark enough and bloody enough to keep me very amused, and laughing, and intrigued.

Basically, it is the story of two Irish hitmen, an older, philosophical one, and a younger, brash one, sent to the tiny hamlet of Bruges (pronounced “Brooozh”) in Belgium after a botched hit in London. How the two of them deal with it, and the aftermath, and the tiny city, and the wrath of their boss, provides the drama. They also run into an amusing array of Euro-trash characters that provide even more drama and humor.

I’ve never been much of a fan of Colin Farrell, but I’ve always been a huge fan of Brendan Gleeson. And I must say, they were both excellent here, as was the story, the directing, and the writing. Even Lord Voldemort himself (Ralph Fiennes) was very good as their psychopathic boss. If you like the Coen Brothers, Tarantino, or Guy Ritchie, this is a movie for you……Jake

P.S. - besides Brendan Gleeson and Ralph Fiennes, Clémence Poésy was in the movie to round out the Harry Potter triple!

We saw Matt Reeves’s “Cloverfield” (starring a bunch of unknown actors, so don’t worry about it).

“Cloverfield” is a great movie! Not that I am recommending it to you, however. I’ve recommended lots of movies to people, only to have them come back and tell me, “You are an idiot! That movie sucked!” So I don’t recommend movies much any more. I just calls ‘em likes I sees ‘em.

This movie is a perfect example, and I suspect most people will hate it. It is all filmed through a hand-held cam-corder wielded by one of the characters, so it is very choppy, sloppy, and nausea-inducing. That will probably bother a lot of viewers right there. One dude in the row in front of me kept muttering about it being “the worst movie I ever seen!” Dumbass. Think “Blair Witch” meets “Godzilla.” and you’ll get the gist.

But, other than that, if you can edure it, the movie was very fun, creative, and thought-provoking. Imagine a Godzilla movie, told from the perspective of one of the random little nippers running around in the streets of Tokyo, instead of the scientists and military experts above it all. What would they see? What would they feel? How would they struggle to survive?

Only, this was set in Manhattan, not Japan, and told by the random young Yuppies trying to survive the monster attack. Very creative, very disturbing, and very good at commenting on their mindsets at the same time. Like I said, I loved it, based on the unique perspectives that it provided.

Also, the character weilding the video camera for most of the movie was a total dildo, and that made the film hilarious! He was always slipping into tangents, which helped to counterpoint the overall horror of the story with just the right touch of humor. I thought that was a brilliant addition to the story-telling technique.

Basically, it is a movie that is a total “aquired taste,” and you may like it or not. Caveat Emptor……Jake