Monday, January 16, 2006

More movies

The Dukes Of Hazzard: At the suggestion of my good buddy Tubby, I rented The Dukes Of Hazzard last week. I thought Willie Nelson was funny in his role as Uncle Jesse, and Burt Reynolds was a fine choice for a slimmer, more evil, Boss Hogg. I was also very happy to see Flash, even if Roscoe P. Coltrane was meaner than I remember him to be. Johnny Knoxville was surprisingly good in this movie as Luke Duke. I never would have guessed he could act! Sean Willams Scott did an acceptable job as Bo. As for Jessica Simpson, well, I don't think she had two dozen lines in the entire movie so I can't rip apart her acting apart too badly. Essentially she was just there to walk around in sexy outfits, which she did very well. Of course, my favorite part of the movie was this exchange of dialogue:

Boss Hogg: Do you really think you can fix this thing (The General Lee)?

Cooter: Well, I'm fixing to fix her.

Hogg: You couldn't fix an election if your brother was the governor!

I also was happy to see a guy wearing a Full Moon Fever T-shirt throw a hot dog at a guy wearing an armadillo hat. That was pretty damn funny. Especially because I'm pretty sure I once have had a hot dog thrown at me while I was wearing a Tom Petty shirt.

The Dukes of Hazzard makes for a good rental if you don't want to think too much.
Grade: B

Munich: On the completely other end of the spectrum, the latest film from Steven Spielberg takes a look at the aftermath of the massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics. I thought the movie was a bit long, and though I haven't read any other reviews to corroborate my theory, but to me the movie seemed to be a statement about the aftermath of 9/11. This is in line with something my wife said she was once told by a professor: A historical movie often says just as much about the time period in which it was made as it does about the film's subject.
Grade: B

(By the way, It feels a bit weird to give identical ratings to a brainless comedy and a movie that could be considered Oscar-worthy, but I need to judge films within their own category. Catch my drift?)

I have seen a lot of movies lately, but the cool thing is that I haven't paid full price for any movie since King Kong. The reason is that at the theatre I live near they are very generous when it comes to matinees. We saw Munich on Saturday at 4:50PM and only paid the matinee price of $5.50. Any movie before 5:00, any day of the week, is a matinee. We literally paid more for the snacks at the concession stand! Also, gift cards for Blockbuster and Hollywood Video are beautiful things.

That's all for now. But we also rented Million Dollar Baby, so look for a review later this week!

1 comment:

Tubby said...

Mike V you have to see The 40 Year Old Virgin if you haven't already.