6/28/08---Movies, get your movies...right here

So I've been trying to catch up on my movie viewing lately....some good, some not so good...here's a few reviews and recommendations for ya.

1) Cloverfield:  I can't believe I'm saying this, but....I liked this movie.  Actually a lot.
Its sort of a modern day take on Godzilla (NYC attacked by a giant turtle--but wait, there's more too it than that) and part of the fun is that the story is told from the point of view of a guy with a camcorder who was videotaping his friend's going away party--uh, and then the giant monster attacked, and he gets everything that is happening on video.
What makes the movie fun is two things:  the giant monster has these little versions of itself (sort of a cross between a cockroach & a locust) that lives the giant host and comes down to the ground--and its looking to feed!  And the other thing is, and this is a key in any hokey monster movie--you never really get a good look at the monster itself.
Its always sort of in the shadows or fog or smoke...which is the way I like it.  If you get too good a look, then the whole "that's really fake looking" thing comes into play.
A good popcorn "Godzilla is attacking Tokyo" sort of a movie.  Fun.   ***1/2

2) National Treasure 2:  Book of Secrets.   Okay, I'll be honest with you.  I'm sort of a guilty pleasure Nicholas Cage fan.  The guy has made some really good movies---Valley Girl, Con Air, Face-Off....and he's made some horrible ones also.  But one of the best things about any Nicholas Cage movie lately is watching the absolute abomonation that is Nick Cage's hair.  I mean, the guy makes $10 million a movie and he can't afford to buy a better wig?  Geez Louise man...c'mon!  Here's the sequel to his recent adventure hit where he plays sort of a modern day Indiana Jones....this time searching for some documents from the Civil War that will prove his ancestor was not a conspirator in the Lincoln assassination.  Its all big fun--as long as you don't think TOO much.  Jon Voight & Helen Mirren are a stitch as Nick's bickering parents.   ***3/4

3) The Interpreter:  Remember when we used to think that Nicole Kidman was the weird one in the Tom Cruise//Nicole relationship?  Yeah, well....boy were we wrong!
Here, once again, she adapts a sort of British accent (supposedly south African I think)
as an interpreter at the U.N. who overhears what she thinks is a plot to assassinate a visiting diplomat.  Sean Penn, looking very old and tired in a not-really-good-Al-Pacino-kind-of-a-way, provides assistance.  A decent time killer if political intrigue is your thing, although it seems a tad full of itself.  ***

4) The Man Who Knew Too Much:   Alfred Hitchcock.  I mean seriously, does it get any better than that?  I've always believed that the zenith of his career were his pictures from the 40's & the 50's--but that's just me.  Here we have James Stewart & Doris Day as a couple (Stewart being 14 years old than Doris--cradle robber) who visit exotic and mysterious Marrakesh with their young son--apparently its the sort of thing that doctors do after they've "been to Paris for a medical conference".  What the hell is a doctor from Indianapolis (Stewart's character in the movie) doing going to France for a medical conference???  Don't they have those things in Chicago?  Anyway, intrigue soon develops as their young son is kidnapped and taken back to London and its all a plot involving--you guessed it, the killing of another diplomat.  What the hell are these diplomats doing that requires all these assassination attempts?  Anyone, its big fun with lots of terrific mood and camerawork....and Doris sings Que Sera, Sera....
Great way to spend an afternoon.  ****1/4


Later,
Jeff