Movies in March

Remember March? I just might, briefly.

Penn and Teller Bullshit makes a nice supplement to any critical thinking curriculum, provided you don't mind salty language and nudity, lots of nudity. A thought-provoking show, all possible sacred cows are targeted. Penn and Teller Magical Mystery Tour is much more family friendly, as they go to Egypt to explore the history of cups and balls. It led both my boys to try to do cups and balls themselves. Plus, Teller speaks. For some reason I was expecting him to sound like Harpo, which is silly since he isn't from the slums of turn of the century New York.

Rome Season 2 was not quite as good as season 1. There was no way they were going to get an older Octavian that was as good as the kid who was playing young Octavian, I think they would have been better served leaving the young one in. They apparently knew cancellation was imminent, as they started to rush the history a bit. I wished they could have taken the time to tell the whole story properly; it really was a very cool show, cut short. But then I do have a weakness for those, don't I?

Shakespeare Retold is a series of modern adaptions in modern language of a few of the plays done by the BBC. I'm usually pretty snobbish about Shakespeare being in Shakespearian language, but I loved these. They feature all sorts of "oh, that's guy from _____, and she was in _____" casting. The Taming of the Shrew was particularly well cast, but it was Macbeth set in a restaurant in Scotland that blew me away. I always was a tragedy girl.

Old Dogs starring Robin Williams and John Travolta. If not for Seth Green and Justin Long, I would have completely forgotten this movie already. Prince of Persia was surprisingly watchable for a movie about a videogame. Ben Kingsley in particular is delicious. I wished they'd gone a step further and gone full period piece with it, give it a little Peter Jackson LOTR attention to detail.

The Tourist was a not particularly good Johnny Depp film. The plot twists made it necessary to keep a distance from both of the two characters, which made it hard to care about either of them. Plot twists about characters can be compelling (I'm thinking Fight Club, The Sixth Sense), but mostly they just make me feel like I was cheated and lied to. In this case, it was obvious to me that Angelina Jolie's character had to be more than she appeared to be or Jolie never would have played her, and the second plot twist was just stupid. IMO, and all that.

Rango, on the other hand, was a perfect Johnny Depp movie. Sharp writing, and gorgeous animation from the crusty characters to the desert landscapes. Awesome, awesome movie. Can't wait for the DVD.

Despicable Me is mostly gone from memory now. I do remember being pleased with the three girl characters who had all sorts of layers and quirks, particularly the tomboy girl who favored pink. Nice to not just reach for the stereotype.

Too Fat for 40 is another Q&A with Kevin Smith, with one Q and a really long A. I'm not sure if Smith gets the irony of following up his "don't go to where the puck is, go to where the puck will be" story with a story about trying to get Bruce Willis to rehash bits he's already done.

Bottle Rocket was the first movie from Wes Anderson. I'm not sure how I've gone so long without seeing it, I've watched all of his others multiple times. I can see how he caught attention with this one, although it seems so quiet a film now.

The Newton Boys is another one I've been meaning to watch forever, based on the true story of the most successful bankrobbers ever. A fun movie, especially the clips that run during the credits with one of the real Newton Boys (the one played in the movie by Ethan Hawke) talks about his youth as a bank robber.

Lastly is the latest from Farah Khan, Tees Maar Khan. I loved this movie, although apparently some people have pretty strong feelings against it. I'm not sure why, I laughed out loud at several points. Akshaye Khanna in particular was awesome as the Bollywood actor obsessed with winning an Oscar (the movie is set in the long shadow of Slumdog Millionaire, but there are a few M. Night Shyamalan jokes in as well). Katerina Kaif continues to rise in my estimation; she's funny here as the actress who responds to every direction by adjusting her hair and/or makeup for the scene. She also has an item number that's smoking. I've never been too impressed with her dancing before, but under Farah Khan she really shines. It helps to start with a jammin' song: