If I were on deadline as a critic I would have been fired by now. Just a little movie review catch-up before I get too far behind. Least recent movie first:
- Robots
- Sin City
- Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous
Robots
Brought to you by Blue Sky Studios (Ice Age, Bunny), Robots takes a classic premise — young man goes off to seek his fortune — and sets it in a world inhabited entirely by robots. Rodney Copperbottom (voiced mainly by Ewan McGregor) travels from his small town to Robot City in search of Mr. Bigweld (Mel Brooks) so he can present his latest invention. Inspired by Bigweld’s weekly TV show as a kid, Rodney has been tinkering all his life, creating other bots and gagets in the hopes of one day hitting upon something that will help is father Herb (Stanley Tucci) who is, literally, a dishwasher.
When he gets to Robot City, though, Rodney suffers a rude awakening: not only is the city bigger and less friendly than he expected, Bigweld Industries has been taken over by a ruthless robot named Ratchet (Greg Kinnear) who plans to phase out the production of replacement parts so robots will be forced to buy the upgrades he is having the company produce. Adopted by a misfit band of robots including Fender (Robin Williams), and his sister Piper (Amanda Bynes), Rodney begins repairing other robots, becoming a local hero to the ones who can’t afford Ratchet’s upgrades. Aided by one of the Bigweld Industries insiders Cappy (Halle Berry), Rodney discovers that Mr. Bigweld has simply abandoned his company, checked out, and now lives shut away from the public.
How the movie ends isn’t really important, especially given that you can see the ending coming from a mile away. This movie is somewhat disappointing given the high standards we’ve come to apply to animated films (that balance of harmless fun for the kids and enough to interest adults achieved with, seemingly, such ease by Shrek 2). What is interesting is the subtle visual commentary on the march of technology: all the older robots have a late-1950s/early 1960s sort of look to them, rounded corners, chrome accents, pastel colors whereas Ratchet and his new upgrades are sleek, silver one-piece bodies, the future the way we thought the future would look standing squarely in 1945. The plight of the “common man” vs the corporation, the working class vs the rich is something you can’t avoid in this simple film. They hit you over the head with it.
This film is earnest, though, and its heart is in the right place. For a kid, not a bad movie; for an adult, a little bit of a drag. I’m going to give it 2 1/2 popcorns.
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Sin City
Based on Frank Miller’s comic book of the same name Sin City has garnered more attention for the unusual way in which it was shot and for the fact that director Robert Rodriguez (Once Upon A Time In Mexico, Spy Kids) gave up his Directors Guild of America card so that Miller could have co-director credit than it has on its own artistic merits.
Miller’s metropolis is a corrupt city straight out of classic film noir, where the cops are crooked more often than not, men are tough, and women come in too kinds, big trouble, and even bigger trouble. A series of interviewing narratives, this film is set among the scum, the criminals and the politicians.
Beyond being extremely violent and a filmic curiosity, Sin City is a fairly good parable in the film noir vein. The bad guys usually get what is coming to them, but only after the hero has had the life very nearly beaten out of him. Sacrifices are made for principles and friends are sold out by the weak for a little bit of cash.
How well all the technical bells and whistles will translate to the small screen remains to be seen. The hard edges of the characters and the stories won’t lose anything, though. For that, 3 1/2 popcorns out of 5.
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Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous
Don’t get me wrong: I love Sandra Bullock. I think she’s talented, definitely not hard on the eyes, and, from what I’ve read, probably a pretty nice person. That said, this movie wasn’t really worth the time, and my ticket was free.
The first installment, Miss Congeniality, was the story of Gracie Hart (Bullock), a slob FBI agent recruited to go undercover at the Miss United States pageant after event officials received a series of threatening notes on the eve of the competitions. Ugly duckling undergoes a transformation after being worked on by a team of beauty experts and undergoing the ministrations of a pageant consultant (the incomparable Michael Caine in an incredibly fey turn), and Gracie learns the value of forming friendships and being a lady.
The sequel turns on the “what if…” premise that Gracie’s celebrity prevents her from going on undercover missions so she agrees to become the public relations “face of the bureau.” Again, personal stylist Joel (Diedrich Bader) in tow, Gracie has gone from one extreme to the other: she now embodies the epitome of pampered, modern femininity. When Miss United States (Heather Burns reprising her innocent, giggly role from the first film) and pageant host Stan Fields (William Shatner aptly parodying himself) are kidnapped, Gracie is forced to work with Sam Fuller (Regina King), a brash, African-American agent who thinks that Gracie is a joke. Two hours and several predictable set ups later and both Sam and Gracie have learned the true meaning of friendship and teamwork.
The gags in this movie work OK, and I did laugh right out loud several times, but so much of the film felt forced that it offset anything that did work, though it was nice to see Treat Williams ham it up as the (slightly) villianous SAC of the Las Vegas FBI field office. For trying way too hard for a laugh, and for the absolute moron who tried to sell us Elisabeth Rohm as a woman of Scottish descent, I’m giving this 1 1/2 popcorns out of 5.
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