by Ethan Johnson
June 13, 2007

Lookit! Lookit!

Spider-Man 3: For whatever reason, the previous two installments of this franchise never inspired much "pub" from me other than to say "go see it." Unfortunately, being the sequel to the sequel, one must necessarily see the other two to "get" the third. So what I can say without piling on the spoilers is that the saga is pretty consistent throughout, and director Sam Raimi makes a point of emphasizing the "human" aspect of the characters rather than just making this a dumb action movie. Very well cast. Draggy in parts, but that's how the other two were. As a trilogy, worth the calories.

Shrek the Third: I presume that this is the final installment. The players are sounding bored with the project, and the Shrek franchise is essentially built on a tried-and-true formula. Pop culture jokes, Shrek and Donkey have an adventure, "sad clown" music plays for what seems like an eternity, and the story is wrapped up in a neat little package. Nice work if you can get it. It was "ok" but if you wait for it to come out on DVD or cable instead of flocking to the theatre, I'll understand. See the matinee.

The Pursuit of Happyness: Meh. It was reasonably well-acted and everything, but I had major problems with the plot. Some people like buckets of sap and don't want to think about nitpicky plot issues, so decide what kind of person you are and then rent or avoid accordingly. I'll stop there.

Volver: Very interesting. I have only seen one other Pedro Almodovar movie, so I am going to surmise that he tends to make films that on the surface seem to go one direction but actually head off into uncharted waters. I really didn't know what to expect going into this, and if you have the stamina to wait and see how the plot unfolds, you're in for a good time. If not, you may be wondering what all of the hubbub was about.

Cowboy Bebop Remix (Disc 1): After months (!) of waiting for this disc to become available for rental through Netflix, it finally showed up and I gave it a look-see. Hmmm. Not quite sure why people are so geeked about this series. Musically, it's amazing. I knew that going in, actually. But as for the rest of it, it doesn't seem to be the cream of the Anime crop by a long shot. I don't watch as much Anime as I did in the 1980s, but I saw better stuff back in those days than this more contemporary offering. I have disc 2 standing by, so I'll see if my opinion improves. (It didn't - in fact, the series got progressively worse. I dropped the rest of the series from my Netflix wait list.) I'd say skip directly to the amazing soundtrack and pass on the series, unless you simply must see all of the Anime ever produced.

Pan's Labyrinth: Incredibly dark. Creative and compelling, but hooo wheee, dark. Not recommended for the youngsters. That's all I can say without spoiling the movie too much. Rent with caveats. And seriously, adults only.

Stranger Than Fiction: Will Farrell seems to be going the Jim Carrey route. More to the point, the Robin Williams route: Comedy 'til the cows come home, and then more serious movies to show that he really can act. Except Will Farrell isn't exactly a slapstick guy, for the most part. Anyway, Will Farrell was very well-cast for this movie despite my initial reservations. The previews tried to make this movie seem zanier than it actually was. Silly marketers! I didn't have the epiphany like some people did, but that's OK. Worth the rental, just temper your expectations a bit.

Date Movie: Complete and utter crap. And no, "Lily" from How I Met Your Mother can't save it, so don't expect miracles from Fred Willard either.

Rashomon: I really don't know how to describe this movie, other than to say it's probably best treated as a "don't obsess over it, just watch it and let the movie happen" kind of thing. One thing's for sure, you'll be able to evaluate if claims that a given situation is "just like Rashomon" have any merit. Very well acted. Give it a whirl.

Strictly Ballroom: This flick had a severe identity crisis. Was it a comedy? Was it a mockumentary? Was it Dirty Dancing? Who knows! I didn't know going into this that it was made by Baz Luhrmann of Moulin Rouge fame, which I loathed. That probably explains the choppiness that was probably thought to add "edge". It was at least watchable, compared to the failure that was Moulin Rouge, but that's not really saying much. Gotta love the "the girl is ugly because she wears - gasp - glasses!" thing. Rent if you must, but really, you want the Japanese version of Shall We Dance? if ballroom dancing is your bag. <EM>