S Movies
Spanglish (2004)
I almost gave this movie four and a half stars, but it wasn’t concise enough to be that good. But it was pretty darn close.
I like Adam Sandler. To date I have seen pretty much everything he has been in. And like most comedic actors, lately he has had the serious urge. Punch Drunk Love was a little too quirky for me, so this is a nice midway for me.
This movie is about Adam Sandler and Tea Leoni and their well to do family. They hire a nanny in the form of a beautiful young Spanish woman, (Paz Vega) and they soon all become enveloped in one big family. But not by choice.
Paz does not speak English and has deep cultural roots, and Tea is this borderline Obsessive Compulsive with no tack and extremely low self esteem that she projects on others. So, naturally, they butt heads. Adam Sandler is stuck in the middle. A world class chef that is understanding and loving, and trying to work with everyone around him, but getting walked over and is near his breaking point.
There is a short love affair between Tea and her real estate agent, and Adam Sandler is falling for Paz. But being a good husband, he mostly resists, and puts his children first.
All the while, Paz’s daughter Christina, is pulled in every direction. She is actually the narrator of the story. This is why I did not rate it higher.
I was riveted by the movie. But it was convoluted on who is was supposed to be about. You want some more resolve at the end of the story, but you don’t really get it because the story is about Christina. Or so they want. But the story focuses equally on many different relationships, so that is why you feel this tug of war as an audience member.
This movie has a lot of chick flick in it. If you like Adam Sandler, he does some funny commentary on what is going on around him, but is for the most part serious. But it has great acting from Sandler, Leoni, and Vega, so see this movie, just don’t expect everything to be completely resolved when you leave the theater.
Spongebob Squarepants (2004)
I wasn’t sure about this movie. Whether it was even going to be worth the drive to the cheap theaters some Tuesday night. But Christine and her girls love Spongebob, so they bought the movie and we got to watch it.
I liked it. I wouldn’t watch it over and over again, but I liked it. There is this peculiar feel to this type of animation. It isn’t classic at all, in fact every time I see an episode I am reminded of Ren and Stimpy with all of the over exaggerated emotions and their gritty bodily effects.
But there were some very funny lines, some were in previews, some you’ll just have to watch the movie to see. I liked the use of live motion blended in with the animation, it wasn’t clunky but fit the tone. I just didn’t really care for the scene with David Hasselhoff whisking Spongebob and Patrick away to the middle of the ocean.
If you are in a silly mood, and enjoy good animation (this was good animation, it wasn’t that highly stylized corner cutting crap that is out there today) then check this out. If you are the type of person that is easily offended by naked starfish butts, or have small children, I wouldn’t recommend this. I don’t think that the humor is so much “adult” as it really isn’t for children under the age of like 7-8.
Shark Tale (2004)
I sure do see a lot of movies in this area of the alphabet, I wonder if there is a study on why that may be, I NEED SOME ANSWERS!
Shark Tale. About Will Smith who is a small fish in the big ocean who wants to be better than he is. By a stroke of luck, and a little lie, he convinces his whole city that he can kill sharks. Then he hooks up and makes friends with a timid shark with the voice of Jack Black. Together they further this lie to the breaking point. Finally Smith realizes what he has and admits his mistake and everyone lives happily ever after. Also starring the voices of Angelina Jolie, Robert DeNiro, and Renee Zellwegger.
I thought this movie kind of sucked. I am not the type to sit and compare to the other films of the same genre, even though it is a little weird that I think this is the second time Dreamworks has released a full length animated film of the same idea right after Pixar. Shark Tale is different from Finding Nemo in that Nemo had a ton of realism in it’s characters and surrounding. This film is more an illustrative interpretation.
So, for the very least you should see this movie for the imagination. But that is it.
I laughed, hard, five times in the movie. I didn’t chuckle otherwise. It was just kind of cheesy humor, and nothing very inventive.
So, this won’t touch anything done by Pixar in creativity, only go see it if you marvel at how these films are done, which I do.
Silverado (1985)
Christine let us borrow this movie with “Quick and the Dead” a couple of weekends ago. It only took four settings to watch it. I kept falling asleep.
I didn’t really like this one all that much. It has a good cast, Danny Glover, Scott Glenn, Kevin Kline, and Kevin Costner all in their younger days. A typical western, Silverado is about these four guys that kind of come together under strange little town and run all of the bad guys, and I mean a ton of ornery lookin varmits, out of town in one huge gunfight.
I think maybe the fact that I kept snoozin through the movie made it a little more disjointed. I liked seeing Kevin Costner as this young hip gunslinger with no brian and no fear. Kevin Kline was cool too as a wise and fast gunman, but he didn’t have very good taste in women in this movie. But you never really learn why the town is corrupted. You hear all these mentions of past story lines and past lives with some of the main characters and some of the bad guys in town, but they never really get explained.
If you are looking for some fun gun fights and really like one of these actors, see this movie, it doesn’t fall down from bad acting. But if you want to stay interested, I would pass on this movie. Especially since it is older the cinematographer is a little dull.
Shrek 2 (2004)
The second part of this lovable tale of the ugly orge with Mike Myers voice who has strange adventures with a talking donkey with the voice of Eddie Murphy. We were looking forward to this movie, and were able to see it for a first time in early May with a gift certificate that I got for being the best man in Justin Varner’s wedding.
We liked the movie mainly because it is breathtaking to see what they creators can come up with. This movie does top just about everything that Pixar had done to date, except for maybe Finding Nemo. But it was also fun to see all the spoofs they did off other movies.
But I still go back to the wonders that they are able to create. I have done some computer modeling and although I am sure it is not with as nice of a program as they are using, it is still plenty hard. Hell, I had a hard time modeling a Foreman Grill, let along a whole world of creatures.
My one problem, even having seen the movie twice now (borrowing from a friend at work), it didn’t make me laugh out loud that much. I really laughed a ton during the first movie, and that one was something were weren’t expecting much when we went to see it in Ann Arbor three or four years ago.
But it is still a fun movie, and the trailers didn’t do it justice. You have to see it for the graphics at the very least and see what a movie can be for all of those bombs that get released every day.
Spiderman 2 (2004)
This blog just missed me singing the praises of this movie when it first came out, so on top of every other reason, it was one more excuse to go and see it again now that it was at the cheap theaters this past Tuesday.
Here’s my thing with this movie, and most people can empathize with this.
Most people read books, and some people have characters that they love, whether it be from old TV shows like Mission Impossible, or cartoons like Scooby Doo, and there is nothing more thrilling to see these characters come to life on the big screen.
Comic books are looked down on for whatever reason, but they are basically books with pictures, and the characters are very dense with back story.
So when a comic themed movie that comes out like this one, you have to stand up and take notice, and here is why.
1. Realistic translation of the characters – You go to a movie to suspend some belief, and this is grounded just enough in reality to possibly be real.
2. Groundbreaking special effects – Seriously, when will you ever see the context for a guy swinging around those breath taking cityscape scenes, or the fights between Spidey and Doc. Ock on the train and building facades?
3. Relatable characters – This is especially true to the comic as Spiderman is a kid, who is just trying to make it by, that has this incredible weight of life to balance with everything. This movie has desire, struggle, inner demons and really makes you feel for Peter Parker.
4. Respect to the books – My problem with the first movie was that it was dumbed down, even past the necessary introduction to the characters to have painfully forced “moments” between Peter and Mary Jane and kind of cheesy dialogue that you can only assume was there because they were trying to appeal to a tag younger teenie audience. (To the disagreement of Chip Cullen, Jerry Davidson, and Avi Shertok, sorry guys). This time round, the dialogue was natural, it was a good translation of the character of Doc. Ock, and the action / violence didn’t seem as watered down.
So, I loved it, you can tell. It is not just because it is a comic book movie. Actually, some of the movies I hate the most are comic book movies, because they are that kind of “supernatural” experience that can flop even worse in a big screen translation.
There have been only four really solid Comic book movies ever in my opinion. First there was Batman, then Batman Returns (Michael Keaton’s tortured Bruce Wayne was prefect, silent, violent, and efficient), X-Men 2 for many of the same reasons as Spiderman 2 but even more so, and now…
Spiderman 2.
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)
I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t like this movie just a little, and the fact was that I enjoyed it from the beginning to the end.
It’s a movie with the classic “movie picture” kind of feel with old 50’s clothing, architecture and automobiles. Then you put that against a landscape of modern technology, robots, planes with gadgetry that would make Batman jealous, and dinosaur type animals and you have this great blend of the two.
Now, the naysayers of this film think it is stupid, probably for it’s plot. But I say this. It feels like what most people have for a stereotype of a 50’s movie. Things are a little “golly gee” and even the violence is hinted at but rarely shown, but you know that up front, so you shouldn’t expect some great in depth plot other than a mad scientist bent on cleansing the world and
starting anew in outer space.
It has this filtered look, glowing lights, rich slick colors that are never bright but are textured, and it has vision for design and pushing what a modern movie of real life actors and completely created scenery can be. There may be times where you say, gosh that looks a little unreal, but then for every “American Pie” and “Mean Girls” teenie movies that rely completely on the same concepts of sex and discovering, you have a movie that never existed.
You had some individuals that had to think of such a grand movie and then have the perseverance to give it life. You have got to respect that, and you have to expand you mind. See this movie and see what a different idea of a totally CG movie can be apart from the Matrix and the Star Wars movies.
Only turned into Hollywood mush for a brief scene that doesn’t interrupt the main plot line, you have quirky relatable characters that you can empathize with, and you have a great original story, which really isn’t too common anymore.
