Get Smart Is Laughable

I was hoping that the new "Get Smart" movie would be okay. I was prepared to be disappointed. But I wasn't. I was delightfully surprised. It was great. The movie is laugh out loud funny. For once, the best bits aren't all in the trailer leaving you with the feeling that you'd already seen all the funny parts. The audience even applauded at the end. A sure sign that everyone enjoyed it. I saw the first "Get Smart" movie and this is much better.

It is played straighter than the TV series. I'd say that one of the strengths of this movie is that it is based on the series without trying to recreate it. The movie can stand on its own. People get shot, knifed, and beat up and they bleed. The violence is more realistic and the stunts more harrowing. Homage is given to the series without going overboard. There are cameos by Bernie Koppel, the original Siegfried; the cone of silence; the telephone booth; Hymie, the robot agent; the red Sunbeam; the blue VW Karmann Ghia; the gold Opel; and the shoe phone. See, Smart Cars None of these touches seem out of place and are woven into the story. Bill Murray must be a fan of "Get Smart" because he has a cameo as the lonely Agent 13 who plays a Larabee like role. Larabee is in this movie, but he never shows up in a mailbox or a trash can. In fact, the movie Larabee is a jerk and doesn't seem to be a friend of Max.

The one thing I missed was the chemistry between Max and Agent 99. Unfortunately, they aren't a couple for most of the movie. They might as well have subtitled the movie "When Max Met 99." You might even classify this as a prequel. The movie provides Max's backstory. He's a first rate overly detailed analyst for CONTROL who is dying to be a field agent. When the movie begins, he and 99 haven't met yet although he's heard of her.

When I saw the trailers, I thought the casting was inspired and it is. Like every little boy in the '60s I had a thing for Barbara Feldon as Agent 99. She was everything a girlfriend ought to be pretty, witty, supportive, gorgeous .... Anne Hathaway wasn't even born yet so she's way too young for me. That's too bad because she has never looked better. She's hotter than ever as the svelte, coolly competent, kick butt 99. When she dons an Agent 99 wig for part of the movie, she could be Barbara Feldon's even better looking daughter. I thought she'd be perfect as 99 and she is.

Steve Carell doesn't look particularly like Don Adams but he does great job. He doesn't come off as someone who is trying to do a Don Adams impression even when he utters the trademark line "Missed it by that much." It isn't quite as funny when he does it. He lacks that wryly nasal Don Adams tone to his voice. His Maxwell Smart is actually very smart and perceptive and just a bit more competent than the TV Max, but not too competent. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson even does a good job as the hunky Agent 23. Alan Arkin is a great choice for The Chief. Terence Stamp is a much more menacing and evil Seigfried than Bernie Koppell ever was. There's very little funny about him. An enormous KAOS assassin bears an uncanny resemblance to Richard Kiel, who was Jaws in Moonraker and other Bond movies. He's apparently no relation though as he is professional wrestler Dilip Singh from India. James Caan plays a Bush-like U.S. president whose vice-president runs the show.

I really enjoyed this movie. Even my wife was pleasantly surprised at how good it was and the kids loved it. Speaking of children, a word for the wise --- this movie deserves its PG-13 rating. In addition to the violence, there are frequent uses of the "s word", sexual comedy (including some based on gay sex), one obscene hand gesture, and some nudity. I wouldn't take elementary age or younger children. But I do recommend that you see this movie. At the end, look for the misspelling of the word Cessna in the credits as they roll.

You're A Mean One Mr. Brooks!

The wife and I recently got a night out without the kids and decided to see an “adult” movie. No, not an XXX movie! I mean a movie that wouldn’t be appropriate for the kids to see. We settled on “Mr. Brooks” with Kevin Costner. It was a good choice. It was definitely different from our usual movie going these days.

The main character, Earl Brooks, is that most modern of monsters --- a thoroughly organized, very intelligent, highly functioning serial killer. He has a thriving business, a happy family, and a beautiful home. He is a modern day Jekyll and Hyde. Although most serial killers suffer from Antisocial Personality Disorder, the organized serial killer is one of the two types of serial killers so Earl Brooks is not as improbable as I first thought. Mr. Brooks has a voice in his head named Marshall (portrayed by William Hurt) so he is probably schizophrenic, which makes his button downed facade more improbable. Mr. Brooks is sort of like Hannibal Lecter without the cannibalism. Mr. Brooks is chilling in the way that only someone who stalks and kills other people but is the Chamber of Commerce Man of the Year can be. I won’t reveal too much of the plot because it is the plot twists and turns that make this movie worth watching.

Marg Helgenberger of “China Beach” and most recently, “CSI; Crime Scene Investigation” is her usually lovely self as Mrs. Brooks. I do question why such a loving wife never wonders where her husband is during his all night long adventures. The cover story is that he is in his pottery studio. But no one in the family ever comes to the studio to check on him, to chat, or to see his latest work. The studio is ridiculously clean and where do all those pieces that he must create go? Danielle Panabaker plays the beautiful college age daughter. She’s just a bit creepy when she hangs all over Daddy to get what she wants. Is she seducing her father or what? Costner’s reserve saves these scenes from being too creepy.

Speaking of reserve, at least one review I read complained that Costner slept walk through the role and didn’t portray enough emotional range. I think that’s the point. Underneath the cool, calm, reserved exterior of Earl Brooks lurks a homicidal maniac. A person fighting his homicidal urges and the encouraging voice in his head would probably be very reserved as he struggled to maintain his facade of normalcy. It is that thin veneer of calm competence that makes Costner’s portrayal of Brooks so chillingly believable. By the way, Mr. Brooks fights his “addiction” to killing by attending AA meetings. He repeats AA prayers often and calls himself an addict.

Demi Moore is the equally improbable homicide detective who hunts Brooks. What is so improbable about her character? She is a tough as nails, unstoppable homicide detective who is even wealthier than Brooks. It would be like Paris Hilton picking up a gun and a badge and going to work.

Dane Cook plays the serial killer fanboy, Mr. Smith who wheedles his way into the life of Earl Brooks so that he can vicariously feel the thrill of the kill. He manages to make his character even less sympathetic than Earl Brooks. He has never killed anyone and yet you find yourself rooting for Brooks against Smith. It can’t be easy to play a character that makes a serial killer look good. Mr. Smith's nervousness and lack of calm makes a good counterpoint to Earl Brooks.

It is frightening to think that there actually are seemingly normal people just like your next door neighbor who are capable of serial murder. In the end, that is what makes this movie a guilty pleasure. If you like low key “horror movies” that are more cerebral than visceral, I’d recommend this thriller as one you should see.

Surf's Up For Family Fun

First, let me make it perfectly clear that I did NOT want to see this movie. My reaction when the trailer came on before other movies was “not another penguin movie!” Now that my children are 11 and 13 I’m looking forward to fewer animated children’s movies and more PG and even PG-13 fare. In fact, I had planned to take my son (the older child) to Live Free or Die Harder, but he invited along a friend who wanted to see Surf’s Up a second time rather than Die Harder. So I very reluctantly went to “another penguin movie!”

The three of us were the only people in the theatre for a 5:50 p.m. Wednesday evening showing. The kids got a real kick out of that. It was like a private showing. I was pleasantly surprised by the movie. The only apparent reason for most of the characters to be penguins is a blatant appeal for the “cute factor.” Oddly there are Antarctic penguins, Australian penguins, and tropical island jungle penguins --- odd but entertaining. One major character is a chicken from Wisconsin. How a chicken from Wisconsin ends up on the back of a whale in the Southern Ocean is never explained. But then who cares? Another non-penguin is a badger (I think) surf promoter with a Don King hairdo. The chicken is daffy and way cool.

The movie is laugh out loud funny even in an empty theatre or maybe that’s especially in an empty theatre. The movie ultimately works because it is really a tale about following your dreams against all odds, friendship, loyalty and loving what you do. In this movie, winning isn’t everything. Everything is staying loose and having fun while doing your best. Winning is the byproduct of loving what you do and doing what you love. The win at all costs penguin surf champ who worships his trophies is a jerk. For the real winners, friends come first. In addition to being funny, the movie has a good moral for kids too. I recommend it. It has earned good reviews and they're well deserved.

Live Free or Die Hard: The Implausibilities

Warning! Spoilers Follow! I don't want to ruin anybody's fun, but I just can't let some of the implausibilities of Live Free or Die Hard go without comment. Here's a list of just some of the implausibilities in the movie.

• A raging gun battle goes on in a city for 15 minutes and not even one police car is seen or heard.
• McClane seeks cover behind plaster and lathe walls that are shot to pieces but he's not even nicked.
• Farrell's computer blows apart while McClane and he are in an adjoining room. We see similar explosions level homes earlier, but Farrell and McClane aren't scratched or even bleeding from their ears.
• The bad guys crash the entire country from a moving truck, but never grab for a handhold or sway.
• McClane brings down a helicopter with a police car. (Hint: If you're being shot at from a helicopter at very close range, shoot back at the rotors or motor.)
  
• Standard cell phones are used to hack computer systems and tap into satellite communications.
• An F35 Lightning hovers under an overpass. (Yes, an F35 can hover, but under a highway?)
• McClane survives having missiles and cannons from the F35 shot at him.
• Enough bullets are shot at McClane to keep the U.S. Armed Forces in Iraq supplied for an entire month, but he is never hit. He, of course, dispatches the bad guys with a pistol.
• The hackers tap away on keyboards at hyperspeed and the computers react instantly.
• The bad guys fly over D.C. in an unmarked helicopter while brandishing assault rifles.
• McClane flies a helicopter and finds the Warlocks house miles away without any trouble even though all utilities are out so he's flying through total darkness.
  

Now for the glaring errors --- McClane walks past an overturned Crown Victoria cab and you can clearly see there's no exhaust, transmission, drive shaft, or rear axle. Next to it is another car completely stripped of its interior.C'mon folks! You're making a mega budget Hollywood blockbuster! Is it too much to ask that you not completely strip the cars before burning them?

Still the pace, special effects, and fun of the action carries the movie through all the eye rolling implausibilities. In the end, isn't it all about the spectacle?

Live Free or Die Hard: Implausibly Entertaining

If I judged movies based on plausibility, then Live Free or Die Hard would be one of the worst movies I've ever seen, but that's not how I judge movies. I judge movies based on whether I'm entertained and don't check my watch to see how much longer it is. You won't be checking your watch during this entertaining, fast paced, action flick. Even the critics give it a 78% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes . For once, they seem to recognize a movie for what it is --- mindlessly fun entertainment.

Bruce Willis still has what it takes to play the wisecracking, courageous, super tough cop John McClane. All of the elements of the Die Hard formula are there. Justin Long ,who plays "the Mac" in the Mac vs. PC commercials, is his reluctant good hacker sidekick. The plot involves a high tech scheme to "crash" the U.S. for nefarious purposes. Long's character, Matthew Farrell, is using an Apple computer for his hacking when we first meet him. I wonder if that was a requirement of his contract? For the rest of the movie, he does most of his hacking, including tapping into satellite communications, on a Nokia 9300 PDA phone. Just as implausibly the bad guys use Nokia N95s or similar phones for much of their hacking. Ironically the uberhacker known as "The Warlock" (super-geek director Kevin Smith) exclaims with amazement that the head evil hacker crashed NORAD with "just a laptop." He'll be really amazed to discover the same guy crashes the whole country with a few desktops and cell phones.

This plot wouldn't even have been possible when the first Die Hard was released in 1988. Every day technology has advanced that much. In this movie, computers, cell phones, and the latest STOVL jets are as essential to the plot as the curmudgeonly John McClane.

Timothy Olyphant portrays the chief evil hacker as the kind of villain you just love to hate. Maggie Q plays his girlfriend/accomplice, Mai. McClane describes her as "smokin' hot", as do many Internet commentators, and she is "smokin' hot", but you're not sorry to see her go.

A lot of the implausibilities are good for a chuckle or provide the thrills. There's a lot of bits that make you think "that would never work, but it sure is cool to watch!" After all, cartoonish escapes and the ability to keep going after being run over, shot, beaten, and falling 50 feet are all part of the Die Hard formula.

In the end, good triumphs over evil. McClane is implausibly still standing despite an army of bad guys focused on killing him. He takes a lickin' and keeps tickin', as one character says he's "a Timex watch in a digital world."

A good time was had by all. Even the implausible bits are good for a chuckle so put your brain in park and have a good time.

Aarrrggghhhh! It be Pirates III

The family went to see Pirates of the Caribbean III recently. I was the only family member who loved Pirates II. I pronounced it the best pirate movie that I'd ever seen. The other three family members yawned in reply. As we were leaving Pirates III, I announced that it suffered from the same disease as Spiderman III; i.e., an excess of length. The family agreed weakly, but pronounced it nonetheless the best Pirates of the Caribbean yet and "much better" than Pirates II. I enjoyed it but I still think II was better. It is nearly impossible to keep track of the crosses, double crosses, and fake crosses, and three hours is just too long for a movie these days. Look closely at the pirate who is the "Keeper of the Code." There's a good reason he looks like Captain Jack Sparrow's older brother. You could say that he had a great influence on Jack. Bottom line --- It is worth seeing and a good time was had by all.

Now for an entirely different take on it I found this review http://rickstimeonearth.blogspot.com/ Rick apparently didn't enjoy it all.

A Brief Review of Spider Man 3

The family went to see Spider Man 3 last Friday. I can sum up everything that is wrong with it in four simple words --- It is too long! The darn thing is two and a half hours. Sam Raimi needs to become familiar with a process called editing. He easily could have cut thirty minutes to an hour from the movie and nobody would have missed it. The end result would have been a compact, fast paced action film instead of a slow paced, muddled action-romance. Still it is entertaining and could have been worse.