MOVIE ROUNDUP

Okay, now that I know people actually read this silly blog, I am going to make you suffer through my movie reviews. Dudeseeg in his entirety is made up of about half a dozen topics, all of which he can discuss endlessly. There's movies, baseball, poker, UFOs, quantum physics, and the Black Plague. Seriously, those are my interests and the only things I think about from dusk til dawn. Kind of creepy, I know, but I've managed to become a 36-yr-old guy with no career, yet no drug dependancy, so I need something to occupy my mind, and these are they.

A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

This is a good flick. I like smart, subtle storytelling. This story does well by presenting itself as a character piece rather than a straight revenge tale. I'm the only guy on Earth who hasn't seen the Lord of the Rings films, so Viggo Mortenson is brand new to me. He was a good choice to play the hero here, a typical everydad who shows his heroic side during a botched robbery attempt at his small town diner. Viggo becomes the hero, but the media attention draws some shady types from Philly to come check him out since they think he is the same guy they knew way back when. It plays out like a Hitchcockian wrong man plot until the pivotal moment when we realize that he is the guy they think he is. He had left his violent self behind years ago to become a mild-mannered family man. All was well until his past caught up with him and now he's got some business to take care of, both in Philadelphia, and at the dinner table with his family, who no longer knows him. I like a good story, and here is one that I can recommend.

RANSOM

I saw the Mel Gibson movie a few years ago, and didn't really realize it was a remake until Tivo grabbed the original off of TCM for me. This one stars Glenn Ford, who does a nice job, and Donna Reed, who starts out super cute and lovable, but becomes a bit of a shrew as her agony increases. Her role reminded me of Doris Day in The Man Who Knew Too Much. The job of both wives was to become hysterical under duress, requiring sedation, so they could spend the tensest moments in bed while the '50s husband went about reclaiming their missing son without the wife's constant badgering to do it better. Ford takes the high road and decides that he can forever change the rules of kidnapping by eliminating the profit motive. The detective lets him know that whether he pays the ransom or not, the odds don't change as to whether he will get his son back, though it does sometimes assist in ultimately catching the kidnappers when they start using the ransom money down the road. Ford decides to take one for the team and deny the bad guys their payoff, instead offering it as a bounty on their heads, should his son come to harm. It's no indy, so I'm not spoiling your enjoyment by telling you that the boy comes home in the end, which pleases the wife to no end. Of note is the great supporting performance by Leslie Nielson, who became a comedy staple later in life. I saw Forbidden Planet lately and now this, which both offer Nielson in his dramatic heyday. He actually had a very strong persona and is quite enjoyable in these roles.

ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM

I love documentaries. I spend many days playing poker while watching The History Channel; I read nonfiction while I'm pooping, and a good Hank Greenberg bio will even get me out of the house and into a movie theater. This movie was kind of dry in the style department. It was interesting, though long. It's a good expose on "the American way." Enron was a lesson in unchecked greed. I was a California resident during the era of the rolling blackouts, and it was clear that we were simply being raped by the Texas-based energy company. Governer Gray Davis came across as impotent during this ordeal and he ultimately gave way to the Governator. It's sad to see that nothing bad really happened to the top executives of Enron, while the common employee lost his job and his retirement fund. This movie shows a specific example of the evil corporation in action, however, I would recommend the more general and very much more entertaining film, THE CORPORATION, which chronicles the rise of the corporate entity to its role of prominence in today's world economy.

BUBBLE

Here's an interesting little flick. This is Steven Soderbergh's first of six distribution-defying experiments in modern cinema. The budget was low, the story is simple, the actors are amateurs, and the medium is digital videotape. The film was available on DVD and cable at the same time it was released in theaters. Soderbergh is a very good storyteller. I was just getting interested in film when Sex, Lies, and Videotape came out in 1989. That movie was a touchstone in the modern independent movement. He was a wunderkind at the time, but then entered a long period without much notice, until he resurfaced with the great film, OUT OF SIGHT, which also partnered him with George Clooney. Lately, Soderbergh is mixing up his game, following mainstream movies with low-budget independents. I saw THE LIMEY a few years ago, which was interesting. The movie was solid but it paled compared to the awesome commentary track, still one of my favorites. I enjoyed Ocean's Eleven, but I'm more interested in films like SOLARIS, which is deliberately paced, emphasizing mood over flash. BUBBLE is really great if mood is your game. The non-actors do a wonderful job - giving the film an authentic documentary feel. The set up is great - a middle-aged woman comfortable in her dead-end job and daily routine which she shares with a much younger coworker has her routine upset when a young woman comes to work for the company and steals time with the young man. It's very simple, but very true. Things get complicated and ultimately I was somewhat disappointed by the ending, but the overall mood of the piece has me looking forward to Soderbergh's next offering.