12/29/05---More....Yes I said MORE...movie reviews

I have made a concerted effort, on behalf of you....my readers, to watch as many movies as I can while on vacation....and all the while trying to do some reading also.
Man oh man....I can't wait until retirement!  Here's the latest:
1) Bad News Bears--I refer, of course, to the recent update starring Billy Bob Thornton.  BBT is sort of an acquired taste, as he's made some really horrible movies, and others that are absolute cult classics (Bad Santa anyone?).  Here he steps into the Walter Matthau role of Morris Buttermaker, drunken wreck of a former baseball player, who is bribed into coaching a little league baseball team.  Here's the amazing part:  He's great in the role.  He's even better than Matthau (which is really saying something).  He gives the role a bit more believability than Matthau did, and adds an even sleazier background (he's a pest control guy, lives in a trailer park, likes to check out the girls playing softball on the next field over).  Its a very solid performance by BBT, who is matched by Greg Kinnear, continuing to add to an already impressive resume in his role as the rival coach that was played by Vic Morrow in the original.
I always thought that Morrow's take on the role was one of real evil--here, Kinnear makes the character sort of a pathetic weasel.  He seems to be channeling the ghost of former MASH character Frank Burns in this performance, and he's good at it.
The kids aren't as good as they were in the original, but there not bad.....especially the fat kid playing the catcher and the wheelchair bound kid who has managed to get a spot on the roster.  Its all good fun....at the very least the equal of the original.  And we really can't say that about a lot of films, can we?   ****
2) Into the Blue---I remember when I was a teenager going to the movies and seeing a film based on a Peter Benchley novel called The Deep.  It was a fairly average movie, but what everyone remembered was how awesome Jacqueline Bissett looked in a wet t-shirt while she was scuba diving.  The film wasn't great, but it sure the hell was great to look at.  And in a lot of ways, so is this movie.  Everyone in the movie is so damn good looking it makes you sick.  Jessica Alba is so hot, your remote practically smokes.
Paul Walker is absolutely ripped and even Scott Caan, playing the sorta weasel friend role has a six pack across his stomach. How in the hell do all those people in the Bahamas manage to find so much time to work out?  Decent adventure tale, with the hot scuba divers trying to outwit the evil drug dealers.....but they all look great.  ***1/2
3) Cinderella Man--a few years back Ron Howard hooked up with Russell Crowe and made A Beautiful Mind.  That movie won about a zillon awards, most deserved and now they're back again with the tale of depression era boxer James J Braddock, who rose up from abject poverty to fight for the heavyweight championship of the world.
Crowe is sorta a huge jerk in real life....but man oh man, can he ever act.  And Renee Zellweger, in her best role since Jerry Maguire, manages somehow to be from Texas but pick up a near perfect New Jersey accent for her performance.  They are both matched by the great Paul Giamatti as Braddock's manager.  Its a great film, not just as a boxing movie, but as a look at the struggles that average people went through during the depression.  Very good, and highly recommended.  **** 1/2
4) The Killing--I was lucky enough to stumble upon this gem this morning on TCM.
This was Stanley Kubrick's very first movie, and you could see the greatness that was ahead of him.  Its the fairly simple story of a robbery, told from a number of points of view.  There are no superstars here, but a lot of faces you'll recognize from terrific character roles throughout their careers (Sterling Hayden, Elisha Cook Jr & Vince Edwards---who is outstanding as a vain playboy here).  Some have said that this may be the finest crime drama ever made.  I don't know if its that good, but its a real good movie, that really shows you a gritty, dirty side of the late 50's that wasn't shown much.
**** very good stuff
5) Serendipity--now, unlike Must Love Dogs, which I reviewed the other day, here is a fine example of John Cusack making a good romance movie.  Here the object of his affection is Kate Beckingsdale, looking so good you just want to jump through the screen, and both are ably supported by Jeremy Piven and Molly Shannon.  No, really.
Molly Shannon.  She's really good in this performance.   ***3/4  good romanctic stuff
6) Dazed & Confused--this is one of those movies that I watch on t.v. everytime its on.
Why?  Well, pretty simply because I knew EVERY kid in the movie.  I would've been a sophmore when this film was set, and I knew all the characters.  The burnouts, the jocks, the elitist geek who thought they were so above it, the ridiculously hot girl going out with someone who's an idiot....there all here.  Okay, so we didn't have the creepy older guy hangin out around our school (a hilarious Matthew McConaghey) and we didn't have that disturbing ritual of beating and humiliating incoming freshmen.  Other than that....it could've been old Plantation (FLA) H.S. back in the day.  And if you are into classic rock, the soundtrack absolutely is SMOKIN.  ****1/4

Yep, I have a movie about a bunch of pothead teenagers in the 70's rated above a Kubrick film....hey, no one said life was perfect.

Later,
Jeff