Over the years, I’ve come to the conclusion that so-called professional movie reviews aren’t generally worth the paper they’re printed on. More than once or twice it has happened both that I have gone to see a movie because the reviews were great and then hated it and that I have skipped seeing a movie that was bashed in the papers, only to see it years later and lov it.
I don’t know why this is – maybe the “professionals” have seen too many movies and start to appreciate very different kind of thing from the rest of us or then they simply have no clue as to what’s good and what’s not. And in any case – you can’t argue about taste, so why bother reading the pro reviews at all? (This is not to say that mine are any more reliable, just that I don’t agree with any of the “pros”)
Upside of Anger
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An interesting story of a situation developing after a husband leaves his family, the mother developing into a real alcoholic and her four daughters trying to hold the family together and add some humor – and, well, life – into the family’s life. And then there’s a single, middle-aged neighbor (Kevin Costner) who half-forces himself to the family’s life. Starting out as drinking buddies, the relationship(s) develop into semi-predictable directions. Some good laughs, kind of light on the drama part other than for few exceptions. An average 3 out of 5.
The Interpreter
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A U.N. interpreter (Nicole Kidman) happens to overhear a short conversation suggesting that the not-well-liked leader of one particular country is about to be assassinated during his visit to the headquarters. She gets “protection” in the form of a secret service agent (Sean Penn) who doesn’t really believe her and instead starts digging up her past. That is, doesn’t believe her until more things start happening and the race to find the potential killers and their weapons begins..
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Overall a nice thriller that manages to create some decent moments of suspense. 3½ out of 5.
Mr. and Mrs. Smith
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A summer action flick with a story to suit the genre: a couple, both contract killers unbeknownst to each other, get sent to hit on the same target and end up becoming each others’ targets. The efffects are nice enough and while realism is obviously out the window (towards the end too much so), the movie has it’s moments and just flows fairly smoothly along without activating too many braincells. Something like 3- out of 5 considering appropriate disclaimers (i.e. basic summer action flick).
The Princess Diaries 2
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Sequels are always dangerous. Typically they’re horrendously worse than the originals. Princess Diaries 2 doesn’t quite stoop down to that level, but it’s a step down from the original regardless. Here “Princess Mia”, thanks to some enemies applying an archaic law, has to find a husband within an entirely unrealistic timeframe to be able to stay in power. Obviously there are plenty of terrible candidates, one really nice but without the sparks… and then the perfect one. Only trouble is that the perfect one is classified as an enemy. Quite predictable, occasionally funny, not great but not terrible. 2½ out of 5.
Life Aquatic
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Finnkino, the main Finnish distributor, is describing the movie as containing “Huikeita merenalaisia maisemia tarjoavassa seikkailukomediassa…” (roughly transleted as “An adventure comedy offering spectacular underwater scenes..”) which really makes me wonder if they watched the film at all. The underwater scenes were like a badly drawn cartoon and seriously fake-looking. I mean terrible, even nauseating.
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I’m sure it was supposed to be a comedy, but I missed what was fun about it. The adventure? Not really there. Maybe it just wasn’t the right genre for me, but this must’ve been one of the worst movies in a while. 1½ out of 5 and that’s stretching it.
Spanglish
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A story about a Mexican immigrant mother and her young daughter, trying to live their new life in the US. A very “clean” story about cultural differences (the social commentary could have been much more harsh), the movie really starts when the immigrant gets hired by an upper-class family as a maid. One problem I had with the plot was that almost everyone is really nice to the beautiful immigrant, Flor, and her daughter, Christina; she gets a job without speaking any English whatsoever and a quite decent salary too. The hard times as an immigrant are discussed in maybe two sentences and even then mostly everyone is smiling. So not exactly a very realistic start, but that doesn’t ruin the movie – as it’s supposed to be a comedy/drama, after all.
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Emotions develop between the family’s husband and the maid and the family’s wife’s episodes of varying degrees of craziness do not help the situation. The slowly melting language barrier provides some laughs, as do the numerous and evident cultural differences. Overall a cute, fun and not an entirely brainless romantic comedy. 3½ or even 4- out of 5.
War of the Worlds
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A strange movie in that it had, in any real sense, neither a beginning nor an ending. Or rather both were very abrupt and, I’d say, poorly executed. The story basically is about one broken family escaping the invaders and trying to survive amidst some family discord. There are no superheros where a single person would save the world, which I think is a refreshing exception in catastrophe-movies. Special effects are for the most part very nicely done. The plot, however… well, we all know the plot, right? Good eye-candy and decent acting, but nothing spectacular here. Maybe 3- out of 5.
Monster in Law
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This is really what sparked the comment at the beginning. This has been universally bashed by critics so I didn’t have too high expectations; perhaps the lowered expectations helped, but I found it to be quite an okay movie. The name really tells it all – a battle of wills between a to-be-mother and daughter-in-law. Jennifer Lopez is quite good and Jane Fonda isn’t too bad as the evil mother-in-law either. The supporting cast is also professional and so the viewing experience from that angle is quite pleasant. The plot is nothing to write home about and is quite predictable, but it’s supposed to be in these kinds of movies. Overall a pleasant surprise that I’d rate 3½ out of 5.
