Movies: Random Short Reviews

The UK newspapers have been reporting on the first actual face transplant in France. It made me wonder how much longer before life imitates the art of Face/Off. I found it far-fetched that you could fool someone's closest friends and family by just switching faces (and swallowing a voice modulator). Eventually the change in accent or body language might give one away. Or you wonder if the spouse would notice other anatomical or body language differences of a different sort. But the ruse just had to be good enough to fool the strangers in the movie-going audience and John Travolta and Nicholas Cage did that pretty well. Add some great action direction from John Woo and the minimum number of summer chases and explosions and you have a fun movie. Grade B-

As a subscriber to the full cable package, I get to watch movies that I didn't feel he were worth even paying matinee prices. One of those was another Nicolas Cage thriller titled National Treasure. It was fun to look at, yet plodding. The only saving graces were Justin Bartha as Riley whose injections of humor were too few and far between and the scene where Ben has to buy the document he just stole -- though I don't recall the actual lobby and the store at the National Archives being as large. Ultimately, the efforts resulted in an overpriced and lame attempt to capitalize on the popularity of The DaVinci Code (replace famous Renaissance Man with American Founding Fathers) while failing to recapture the charm and fun of Raiders of the Lost Ark. It is sort of a tossup as to whether this movie was better than another Indiana Jones ripoff called King Solomon's Mines. National Treasure wins in effects and explosions with a newer technology and a bigger budget, but as lovely as Nick Cage and especially Diane Kruger are to look at, they would lose in a Celebrity Deathmatch - beauty contest to the Richard Chamberlain / Sharon Stone tag team. But that may not stop me from watching the recently announced sequel -- on cable. Grade C+

It was probably more than a rumor that Nick Cage was going to play Superman (I think I even remember seeing a cutout of him in the famous blue costume at a movie theater. He even named his son Kal-el. But more about Superman in a minute. First we talk about the other big hero from DC Comics, Batman. Director Christopher Nolan, who directed the instant classic movie, Memento, and a better than decent American adaptation of Insomnia, saved the whole Batman franchise with Batman Begins. Nolan has injected his signature way of portraying psychological themes (the main one being fear) that has been sorely missing in recent Batman movies, making it the best of modern Batman movies (Batman loses points for casting Prince in a musical cameo, and letting Jack Nicholson as the Joker outshine the hero) and perhaps the best of all Batman movies. The only weak points were letting Liam Neeson remind me too much of his Qui-Gon Jinn character (though it may have been the only decent acting job in the otherwise awful Phantom Menace), and failing to make us fully believe that Katie Holmes could be a tough DA assistant. It will be a challenge to see if an even better sequel can be conceived. I'd instead nominate Nolan to take a crack at the graphic novel classic Watchmen. For now it places just misses beating out 1978's Superman and lands in a close race with the recent Spider-Man 1 and 2, X-Men, and X2 as best movie adapted from a comic book series. Grade A-

So getting back to Superman, WB revealed the trailer for Superman Returns before Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The sneak peak looked pretty cool, but it gave me the impression that they were just remaking the 1978 version, and maybe introducing come continuity issues with the TV series Smallville (though I've only seen a few episodes). You have to dig around the Internet a bit to find out it will not be the case. Director Bryan Singer has not disappointed me yet with The Usual Suspects, aforementioned X-Men films, and "House, MD", so I hope that his track record continues (even after Superman with Logan's Run).

As for the Goblet of Fire itself, I enjoyed it. It didn't seem as fun and imaginative as The Prisoner of Azkaban, but does achieve the goal of portraying the awkwardness of the transition from childhood to adulthood. Or at least I presume that is what is meant by the tagline "Everything Will Change." Some scenes brought back painful but funny memories of trying to find a date to the Junior Prom. Some of my friends who watched the movie walked away totally disappointed. They believed too much was cut from the book. This is why I've decided not read popular books until after movies are made (if ever). It's rare to find movies that improve over the book much less meet the 'fanboy' expectations. Finally, there is a general consensus of disappointment with the actor playing Dumbledore. But who could possibly fill the robes of a legend like Richard Harris. Grade B