So while I was up at Mare & Lair's, we watched a few movies--here's what I thought....
1) The Hunted--Here we have an interesting combination. No, not the Benecio Del Toro//Tommy Lee Jones deal, I'm referring to the Rambo: First Blood//Deliverance//Deerhunter images that clearly influence this film. Jones plays a "civilian advisor" to the military who has been secretly training soldiers for years in the art of survival and killing. Del Toro has become, unbeknownest to Jones, his best student. One day, Benecio cracks and goes, pretty much apeshit--if you'll excuse the expression (and you know, you rarely read the word "apeshit" in a good movie review these days). He's up in the woods of Oregon and kills a couple of hunters who he feels have just a little bit too much of an advantage on the wildlife, what with the huge scope that could spot a tick on a dog at 300 yards. So he reacts, granted, a little bit harshly and....um......disembowels both of them. (That could be classified as "a little bit harshly") So his old mentor Jones is sent in after him, and the chase is in on between teacher and student. There's a couple of references here about the environment, protecting nature interspersed with a few knifefights--I love a good dichotemy as much as the next guy, ya know? Anyway, Del Toro is good as the Rambo guy (which I suppose would make Jones the Richard Crenna of the story). Naturally the local police and the FBI don't understand--how could they? There's a scene at the end of the movie where one of the characters sees a wolf running through the snow into the forest that brought to my mind the scene where Robert DeNiro, in the aforementioned Deerhunter, realized that he could no longer kill for sport anymore. There's a lot of heavyhanded morality that this film wants you to notice, but if you take it strictly at face value, with man vs man vs nature---its pretty good stuff. ***1/2
2) The Road to Wellville--do you know what's about as uncomfortable as uncomfortable can get? Watching a movie that has a few too many sex & nudity scenes....while your parents are sitting there next too you! EEEEWWW!
This somewhat strange film purportedly tells the story of John Kellogg (Anthony Hopkins), who's claim to fame was that he invented the cornflake--supposedly with the idea that it would help "clean the customer out" or something like that. He also has people, especially rich people, who come to his sanitarium for a purification.
These rich people include Matthew Broderick & his wife Bridget Fonda, who both discover what is good for what ails them--and its not necessarily corn flakes, if you know what I mean and I think you do. Suffice to say, there's some nudity, we have Lara Flynn Boyle & Bridget getting the beejezus screwed out of them, Matthew Broderick walking around wearing this device that---um---artifically provides him stimulation, we have Dana Carvey (DANA CARVEY???) walking around as Hopkins crazy son who was emotionally abused as a child. And meanwhile, John Cusack is married to some old broad and trying to get someone to help him finance the mass production of cereal. Whew. There's a lot going on here. It reminded me a little of the farcical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, in the sense that there is just so much going on that you have to keep track of. That being said, some of the stuff works and is pretty funny, and some of the stuff falls flat (sort of like the movie I compared it too). **1/2
3) Stuck on You--here's an example of why you shouldn't listen to other people's opinions of movies (wait a minute! What am I saying?)--when this movie first came out I saw the trailers and thought it look very funny, then I read a few reviews that absolutely lambasted the film as utter trash.....and I ended up not going to see it.
So this afternoon, after I got home, I had a few hours to kill before the playoff games started and stumbled upon this movie. Here's what I love about Farrelly Bros movies--they will unquestionably offend someone at somepoint--and they will always have moments that will have you laughing out loud. Matt Damon & Greg Kinnear play conjoined twins ("We're not Siamese twins--we're american.") who live on the east coast in a small town in Massachusetts. Bob (Damon) is happy working as a cook at a burger joint, while Walt (Kinnear) dreams of a move to Hollywood that will allow him to pursue his acting career. Mind you, all this goes on while their conjoined, which leads to some very funny sight gags. Also, in keeping with most of the other Farrelly Bros movies, there are some wonderful cameos, including Tom Brady & Lawyer Milloy from the NE Patriots, Frankie Muniz & a wonderful extended cameo by Meryl Streep. Excellent support is also offered by, believe it or not, Cher--playing a bitter and rapidly aging actress named "Cher" (go figure). There's a very funny sequence with her and her agent where they argue about her current value to the public:
"You were one step from being the corner square before you hired me."
"Center square. They told me that I could be the CENTER SQUARE."
Very good scene. The movie isn't as good as the very best of the Farrelly Bros (my personal fave is Me, Myself & Irene)...but that's not necessarily a disclaimer. There are some very, very funny scenes in this film. ***3/4
Later,
Jeff
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