Henry Under House Arrest: 5 Movies Reviewed

So while waiting around today for my landlord to come fix our toilet, I watched a few movies I had never seen before (which is always nice). Here are some brief reviews of what I caught up with...





Be Kind Rewind

I skipped this one when it first came out but decided to give it a shot on dvd as I find the concept (two guys who work at a video store, accidentally erase the tapes, and then try to "remake" all of the movies) to be very original and full of possibilities. Unfortunately, the director Michael Gondrey doesn't mine the idea for laughs but instead for an indie-kewl version of Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. Seriously, this just becomes a "save the rec center" movie. The best parts of the movie are obviously the fake movies that Jack Black and Mos Def make (otherwise they are both very annoying in the film) but the best gags from these were in the trailer.

Verdict: Not without charm but disappointing and a missed opportunity.

Grade: C-

Best Scene: Their version of Boyz in the Hood




Fury

Fritz Lang's first American movie is a very interesting one. Its about a good, decent man, who while passing through town to go meet his fiance, is picked up by the police for matching the description of a fugitive kidnapper. The people in town hear the police have the kidnapper locked up and form a lynch mob to get their own brand of justice. The police at the station try nobly to fend the mob off but the mob break through and burn the jail down. Tracy's fiance gets there just in time to see her beloved go up in flames.

It comes out that Tracy was innocent but the town refuses to turn anyone who was in the mob in. One night, Tracy's brothers are trying to figure out how to get justice when Tracy himself walks in. He tells his brothers he barely escaped after an explosion blew the doors off his cell. He doesn't want to reveal himself to the authorities however...he wants everyone who was in the mob to be tried for murder.

The rest of the movie is a court-room drama essentially with different reveals and what-have-you. Fury is a more of an interesting movie than an entertaining one. It presents a grim portrait of human nature and it is interesting to think about Lang, having just arrived from Nazi Germany, deciding to make a film about how a mob mentality can cause men to do terrible things. Also, at first, one is firmly on the side of Tracy and his revenge plot...but then one's opinion starts to change when you realize that Tracy has started to completely lose it and what he is doing is also wrong.

Verdict: It's not the most subtle movie ever made but it is a film worthy of viewing and discussing.

Grade: B

Best Scene: Watching the mob form and erupt in violence.



Jumper

Imdb, tell us what the plot is: A genetic anomaly allows a young man to teleport himself anywhere. He discovers this gift has existed for centuries and finds himself in a war that has been raging for thousands of years between "Jumpers" and those who have sworn to kill them.

This was not nearly as bad as I thought it was gonna be. It was a fairly entertaining, globe-spanning, silly action movie. Hayden Christensen is still completely devoid of talent and charmless, and Sam Jackson continues to make me sad, and I can't take Billy Eliot seriously, but somehow I still liked the movie. The action scenes are well handled, the use of the teleportation powers are relatively original, and it doesn't hide from its influences (mentions Marvel comics, etc.)

Verdict: A fun movie that doesn't over-last its welcome. Everyone in it is kind of annoying but I still enjoyed the film.

Grade: B

Best Scene: The fights between two "jumpers"


The Foot Fist Way

If I thought I wasn't going to like Jumper, I thought I was gonna hate The Foot Fist Way. Its not that I really dislike Danny McBride (I thought he was pretty funny in Tropic Thunder)...its just that this movie seemed more like Napoleon Dynamite mixed with the worst of Will Ferrel than anything else.

As it is, the movie isn't that great. Well let me rephrase: the movie is pretty bad. The plot is unoriginal, the acting is terrible, and it kinda builds to nothing. Yet there are enough funny scenes in the movie for me to give it a mild recommendation.

Or you could just watch this red-band trailer and fast forward to 1:20 and watch the funniest thing in the movie. That's probably enough.



Verdict: Kinda funny. Just watch that scene in the trailer...

Grade: C+

Best Scene: That scene. In the Trailer. 1:20.


Death Defying Acts: Houdini's Secret


Saw this at Blockbuster and grabbed it for cheap. I like Catherine Zeta-Jones and Guy Pearce and I'm always vaguely interested in things about Houdini so I thought why not? Well...now I know why this made less that 6000 dollars in the U.S. It's not that it is so awful...it's really not a terrible movie...it's just a T.V. movie that happens to have three people I've heard of (the other being Saoirse Ronan - the Academy Award nominated little girl from Atonement) in it.

Again I turn to imdb: During Harry Houdini's tour of Britain in 1926, the master escapologist enters into a passionate affair with a Scottish psychic. The psychic and her daughter attempt to con Houdini during a highly publicized séance to contact his mother whose death has haunted him for many years. However all does not go to plan...

Everyone in the film is perfectly good, Zeta-Jones is always a quality movie star and Guy Pearce is always likable but somehow the thing never rises above being a Lifetime movie. It has hints of films like The Illusionist but even that movie had more energy and fun in it (and I thought that was a pretty slow and muted film).

We never learn enough about Houdini's methods or training to satisfy me, the romance never really comes through, and every time I look at Saoirse Ronan I'm reminded of the horror that was Atonement.

Verdict: I had an open mind about this one but it just wasn't that good. Too bad.

Grade: C


Well the landlord finally came (now we can use our toilet without filling up the tank with a big bucket of water...). Not the best use of time ever spent by man but what are you gonna do?