Movie Reviews, Vol. I

These reviews are brought to you by Netflix and Hastings in Maryville, TN. Their affordability has had me on a movie-watching tear (at least for me) over the last week.

Kung Fu Panda
Grade: A-
I’ve been really hard on Dreamworks animation over the years, as they put out nothing but Pixar rip-offs (Antz, Shark Tale) and two too many Shrek movies (which is about to become three too many). So in my season of being a WALL-E apologist, I naturally ignored Kung Fu Panda. Yet when I started working on my Netflix queue, I felt compelled to start off with the Jack Black-being-Jack Black-but-as-a-panda comedy. First off, they had it available on Blu-Ray, and I don’t need much excuse to take in some HD eye candy. Secondly, the movie was received well by both critics and people I know.

The verdict? It’s actually a really good movie. Not a great film, mind you, but a really good movie; and that’s what it set out to be. It’s gorgeously animated in an old school, Looney Toons sort of way (as opposed to the realistic environments and camera details from WALL-E). It has a solid script, and a nice, lighthearted story. And yes, it looks amazing on Blu-Ray, so check it out if you have that chance. Well done, Dreamworks. Now please cancel Shrek the Fourth.

Ghost Town
Grade: B
Thanks to some combination of my affinity for The Office and for British accents, I’ve become a fan of Ricky Gervais. He’s actually quite funny on his own merit, but he’ll forever be connected to those two realms in my mind. I didn’t, however, expect much from Ghost Town, a.k.a. The Sixth Sense (of Humor). Tea Leoni never inspires much hope of greatness in a movie, I’m afraid. And I’m actually regularly annoyed by Greg Kinner, but that may be because he always plays annoying characters (no exception here). All that said, Ghost Town is pleasant enough. Not particularly memorable, but not at all painful. Gervais’ turn as a dentist-turned-awkward insult-comic isn’t golden with the same subtle humor from his roles in The Office or Extras (or even award shows), but it still works enough times to be funny. And the movie is decently heart-warming, and, again, not in a painful way.

Amadeus
Grade: B+
I’d actually seen Amadeus before…kind of. I saw the last 45 minutes, followed by the first 45 minutes, thanks to some incredible bizarre “editing” by Furman University channel 14. It wasn’t really enough to get a good feel for the ’85 Best Picture winner, so Tiffany and I gave it another go. It’s definitely a solid film; F. Murray Abraham in particular is very, very strong as famed composer/apparent schemer Antonio Salieri (that’s probably why they gave him a best actor nod for it). The thing is, it just drags. Then again, we rented the Director’s Cut, so there was probably some extra meat in there. Either way, I would definitely recommend it…but I would spread it over three sittings or so. And I also recommend having a music history knowledgeable companion; there are a lot of important historical and musical intricacies in there that need to be known/explained to really appreciate the story.

The Shawshank Redemption
Grade: A+
Hyperbole warning: as far as what I appreciate in a movie, Shawshank nears perfection. Acting with serious emotion depth and diversity? Check. A story that is epic not because of the scale of the setting but the scale of its characters? Check. A film that visits the realistically dark corners of the human heart only to drag us back out to shine on life-affirming hope? Check. Morgan Freeman? Check. Shawshank knows that, often, deepest hope is born out of deepest brokenness, and it will drag you both places, kicking and screaming.

And if I ever have the strange misfortune of ending up in prison, I want Red to be my friend.