I tend to take longer to post my impressions of movies depending on how inspired I was by the viewing experience.
I saw "The Dictator" a few weeks back, and while it was somewhat funny, it was mostly flat. My hope for this movie stemmed from the previous experience of seeing "Borat", which surprised me as being hilarious throughout. Unfortunately "the Dictator" was too concerned with its heartwarming and ironic message that it ceased to be a comedy. As is too often the case, once again the trailer really did give away most of the funny parts, with one notable exception involving Daffy Duck cartoons (now I've officially given away all the funny parts making it pointless for you to see this movie).
Johnny Depp and Tim Burton made my favorite Halloween movie, "Sleepy Hollow". They have worked together many times, often with wonderful results. As with the movie I reviewed above, here in "Dark Shadows" it would seem that everyone involved in this movie forgot that they were supposed to be making a comedy. Parts that could have been funny were interrupted by disturbing moments, and the overall tone of the movie was too campy for the disturbing parts to rise to the level of dark comedy. I heard someone else accuse Johnny Depp of being on cruise control in this role, and I would have to agree. Usually his performances are unique and fun to watch, but here it was just blah. This coming Halloween I'll be watching my copy of "Sleepy Hollow" again, and hopefully the "Dark Shadows" experience will quickly escape my memory.
The kids and I saw "The Three Stooges" at the local dollar theater this past week. Personally I've never been that much of a Stooges fan, but being a guy I have a certain amount of appreciation for them and their cultural impact. I do like previous Farrelly brothers movies, and knowing that they're big Stooges fanatics got me interested in what their updated version would be like. Overall I really enjoyed the movie; the Stooges were well cast (Curly being the best), and the story was strong enough to hold together the slapstick scenes and typical Stooge dialogue. Perhaps the best question that could be asked concerning the Three Stooges movie would be, is it really necessary? Of course not, but then isn't that true about so many movies. This was entertaining, and true to its source material, what more could we ask for?
Rob and I saw "Snow White and the Huntsman" the other night. There are certain movies that are really good for the first 3/4 or so, then fizzle out at the end. When it's all over I actually wish that I could have just seen the good part and left before everything went down hill. What would be worse, not knowing the ending to a good movie, or sticking around long enough to know that it wasn't that good after all? Alas, this is one of those catch-22s; one that is impossible to avoid. Even if you swear-off movies altogether which helps you cut out the bad endings, you'll completely miss out on the good movies which are out there. "The Last Samurai" is an excellent example of this unfortunate phenomena, everything in the Japanese village was wonderful, but the final battle sequence and subsequent closing pretty much ruined the movie. Here in "Snow White" there is so much to like; lush fairy tale atmosphere, Charlize Theron as the evil queen, amazing effects, and even good performances from an actor and actress who haven't impressed me with their earlier work. Yet, as is too often the case, the conclusion of this movie doesn't live up to its set-up. Perhaps you could be spared the disappointment of this movie and walk out when the ravens begin swarming around the evil queen at approximately the 100 minute mark. Can you handle not knowing the ending while being comforted with the fact that you were spared a bad experience?
... Neither could I.
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