Some More Movies

Here's some recommendations of movies I've watched recently. There's quite a range here. Comedy, love story, musical, western.

IDIOCRACY: This is the second live action movie directed by Mike Judge, who previously brought you Office Space, King of the Hill, and that intellectual masterpiece known as Beavis and Butthead. It seems to me that B&B influenced a lot of Idiocracy, as most of the characters talked and acted exactly like them. The movie takes the premise that "survival of the fittest" no longer applies to the human species. Our most intelligent people aren't breeding, putting their career first or finding other reasons to wait. Meanwhile, our dumbest people are popping babies out all over the place. So, when Joe (Luke Wilson) and Rita (Maya Rudolph) volunteer for an army hibernation project that goes wrong and end up waking 500 years later, they awaken in a world that has gotten much dumber. Joe was average in our society; now, he's the smartest man in the world. Naturally, the people want him to solve all their problems, which he attempts to do with mixed results. The movie is very funny, and I would recommend it with a warning that the language is very crude.

ONCE: This is an independent film out of Ireland. It has a sweet story about two strangers that meet and literally make beautiful music together. It's a very mellow movie, with no violence or sex, just lots of cursing. The story, however, mostly just serves as a backdrop to the soundtrack, which is incredible. In fact, the movie just seems like one long music video. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova wrote the music, performed it in the movie, and acted. They also performed the song "Falling Slowly" at the Oscars, which deservingly won. It also produced one of the greatest moments in Oscar telecast history. Hansard accepted his award first, but when Irglova stepped up to speak, she was cut off by the orchestra. During the break, the producers decided to give her a second chance to say something (they were ahead of schedule anyway), and she gave a passioned speech about independent music. It was a great moment. Anyway, I'll recommend the movie, but I recommend the music more.

OLIVER!: Oliver! holds a special place in my heart, as I played the role of the Artful Dodger when I was in fifth grade in an adult production of the show (a local reviewer even said I had the most convincing British accent in the show, which still makes me laugh since one of the cast members was actually British). I haven't watched the 1968 movie in a long time, but now I have. It's really quite excellent. The music is wonderful, the choreography is very tight, the cinematography is beautiful, and the performances are mostly superb. The kid who plays Oliver still bothers me, but Ron Moody's Fagin steals the show, while Oliver Reed's Bill Sykes becomes as menacing a villain as there is. If you don't know the story, a runaway orphan named Oliver Twist gets mixed up with some petty criminals on his way to discovering his destiny. It was the last musical before Chicago in 2002 to win the Best Picture Oscar. I highly recommend it.

3:10 TO YUMA: I don't generally like Westerns. Unforgiven was good, if depressing. Blazing Saddles, of course, though that's more of a parody than an actual Western. I can't really count Back To The Future part III as that's technically scifi. I've seen bits and pieces of the spaghetti westerns, and they seemed pretty good. Mostly, Westerns don't do anything for me (am I the only person in the world that didn't like Tombstone? It feels like it sometimes). 3:10 To Yuma was definitely an exception. It's a fascinating story about men tying to transport a notorious outlaw (Ben Wade, played by Russell Crowe) to Contention, where they'll get him on the 3:10 train to Yuma Prison. Unfortunately, Wade's men are after them, and it takes a lot of courage by Dan Evans (Christian Bale) to get him there. It's a powerful movie, and probably unjustly overlooked by the Academy, but I'll recommend. It's very violent, however...just to warn you.

There you go. Enjoy.