Some Quick Movie Reviews

An Inconvenient Truth, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Manbearpig.

Okay, so if you know me, you know that I’m like totally gay for Al Gore. I just find him to be a really good guy – like Jimmy Carter. Just like Carter, he’ll probably make a better impact on the world outside of office.

Anyway - the movie. I’m not going to dig into the science presented or speculate on its validity. Even if I went through the trouble of finding the data and evaluate it all myself, I doubt a theater manager would be any more of an expert on it than a lawyer or a bouncer. That being said, I believe Gore makes a pretty compelling case in the film… in the film.

As for the marketing campaign, I think he’s certainly much looser and affable than we saw him in the ill-fated presidential run that he won/lost, but still dangerously running on sound-byte loops. The most damning phrase of the sell, is his continuous use of the phrase, “The debate is over.” I really don’t think that’s true. I mean if it were, wouldn’t there be some sort of consensus? Would this movie have a market?

Despite all of these issues and the fact that you can’t believe a goddamn thing anyone, much less a former lawyer and politician that you’re like totally gay for, tells you. I think this documentary is worth checking out. Specifically, if you can do it for free.

Nacho Libre

Director Jared Hess is probably the most qualified Wes Anderson clone around. I think if he finds a script that really fits his style as much as Napoleon Dynamite, but with some sort of… what’s it called?… oh, yeah… story, he’ll be pretty interesting to see. Nacho ain’t it. That being said, if you get a kick out of watching Jack Black act goofy, this is the movie for you.

Cars

When I saw the first trailer for Cars, I thought, “Well, Pixar, you had a good run.”

The more I read on it, the more I started to come to think it might be okay. I mean, John Lasseter was directing, after all. He’s a great animation director who really seems to be in love with the medium.

So I saw it. I liked it. I didn’t love it, but I expected to hate it. It had a ton of contemporary humor without being flat out topical or direct references to films that no one will remember in ten years, giving it a shot at becoming a classic. It was funny, cute, and brilliantly animated.

Picture Doc Hollywood, only Michael J. Fox isn’t the guy with the busted down Porsche – he is the busted down Porsche. But, unless you can arrange a private screening, I’d wait for the DVD and skip the noisy-ass kids.

A Prairie Home Companion

I think that this is what George Lucas was trying to accomplish when they made The Radioland Murders. The difference? Garrison Keillor’s dry sharp wit, despite being mostly wholesome and slightly Christiany, is tailor made for this kind of story; that, and the fact that he’s been putting on this show for about a million years. Then you throw in Robert Altman, a director that can overdue it with the ambient action, but slides into this story as easily as a simile that perfectly analogizes a great fit. It’s a cute, charming, and poignant story that is drenched in the dry humor of the Mid-West. The best movie I’ve seen so far this summer. Kevin Kline is as great as he is in A Fish Called Wanda, and Woody Harrelson and John C. Reilly are hilarious as the risque singing cowboys.