I had the chance to see a few movies this week--the best of them being Evening with Claire Danes, Vanessa Redgrave, Toni Collette, and Natasha Richardson. Transformers (yawn) was decidedly the worst of the three.
Since half our family had some strain of pneumonia last week, we needed to find some inside activities, like going to the movies. The kids were jacked up to see Enchanted, and I don't think they were disappointed. I loved the mirth and inspiration of the film, but thought that it could have delivered a bit more. Amy Adams was perfectly cast as a contagious charmer, naive to the modern world she encounters after being banished from her land of forever and ever. The cast was wonderful, even Patrick Dempsey, who seems to have recreated himself as a coolly stoic modern-day version of Cary Grant. It surprises me how that awkward hat-wearing dude from the 1980's became the new George Clooney. Enchanted had lots of funny lines and amusing bits, though we were robbed of many surprises thanks to today's spoiler-laced trailers. But the idea for the film was so inspired, that you hoped for more than just an update of Pretty Woman. A little more surprise, please. Grade: B+
Evening features two real-life mother-daughter pairings--Meryl Streep and Mamie Gummer (who play the same character and don't share screen time) and Vanessa Redgrave and Natasha Richardson. The cast of Evening is also outstanding, though more so for their dramatic chops. The film centers around Redgrave's character as she lay dying--in and out of dreams about her long lost, secret love. Her mumblings drive her doting daughters (Richardson and Collette) to distraction, but this dramatic device serves as a creative way to tell a parallel story of one woman's beginnings set against her own ending. This is a somber tale, with humanistic "truths," but the performances are solid and the story is tight. Grade: A-
And then we must come to Transformers, which was huge disappointment. Granted, I was tired, but there's no way it should have put me to sleep as often and as long as it did. Several times I had to stop and rewind to get a grip on the 90 seconds I had lost here and there. Eventually, I took an hour break to watch the pitiful, rain-soaked Monday Night Football game, only to return to the movie and watch the last hour of it from a standing postion four feet away from the TV. This is not a great advertisement for your action movie, Michael Bay. Clearly the worst of the movie, was its script and dialogue. If there are any Writer's Guild members picketing for future revenues from this disaster, you get no sympathy from me. Every character but perhaps Shia LaBeouf's was uninspired, though they did an admirable job of making his parents likeable and unique. But Jon Voight pulled out his Big Book of Movie Cliches to play his part as the Secretary of Defense. I also found it highly unlikely that high school/college kids would be called upon by America's military to offer their computer expertise. The smaller, Decepticons also relied heavily upon the Big Book of Movie Cliches, each one a take-off on Johnny, the robot from Short Circuit. Worst of all, was the reflective words from Optimus Prime, the warrior-leader of the Autobots. Ugh. This spectacle was set against the familiar carnage of loud, pointless action. The special effects were brilliant at times, but the shots were often so tight and quick that it was hard to make out what exactly was going on in any one frame. My eyes glazed over from the many random explosions meant to bedazzle me. Grade: C-
