MindsBase

Maybe I wasn’t expecting much when I opened my netflix envelope and discovered this one had made its way to the top of my queue… but I have to say, I enjoyed this light action comedy!

Knight refers to Roy, played by Tom Cruise, while I assume day is meant to be June, played by Cameron Diaz. So the names are sadly contrived, but that’s okay. The story starts with June at the airport, running into a stranger — twice — and then ending up on a near-empty flight with him. She’s merely thinking romantic connection, but is in for much more as Roy has to kill or knock out everyone on the plane (all of whom are after him for an unknown reason) and emergency-land the plane in an open field. Now she’s stuck with Roy… even though she makes several attempts to get back to her regular life.

Over the course of the movie, she toughens up, so yay there. And, you start to understand Roy and why he’s acting so crazy.

I think I liked it because despite some average writing and predictable storytelling, it had some really funny, spoof-ish action, and really talented actors in Cruise and Diaz. They both totally got their parts spot on.

You know what the tone of Knight and Day reminded me of?

That’s right: Get Smart (Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway). Knight and Day wasn’t as funny as Get Smart. In fact, if you haven’t seen Get Smart, shame on you. Go add it to your queue. I’ll wait. My kids still like to randomly call out “it burns, oh it burns!” but thankfully they’ve all forgotten about “squeezing the lemon”.

So Knight and Day had those kinds of action antics we all love. This was rated PG-13 but other than the strangeness of hearing the cherubic-looking Diaz utter the “S” word several times, my kids didn’t have issues with the movie. Sorry, but her 12-year-old facial features just look silly when swearing. I’d buy it from Anne, though.

Enjoy!

Oddly, this is my second post with this title, but this time it refers to the movie Stranger Than Fiction. But maybe it’s not odd, since there are no less than six different films — unrelated — of this same title. But I’m talking about the Will Ferrell one from 2006. The other night, while staying up to catch the lunar eclipse, I popped this movie in. Anyone who writes fiction will love this movie for obvious reasons, but so will everyone who enjoys consuming stories… as well as people who identify with slight obsessive-compulsive tendencies. And IRS agents. And people being audited. Basically, this movie is for everyone.

There are early clues that this story is going to be told in an unconventional way, as writing appears right on the screen during the opening sequence to give the audience a visual display of IRS agent Harold Crick’s (Ferrell) affinity for numbers and counting. Soon, we are introduced to the idea that the soothing female voice doing voice-overs (Emma Thompson) is actually audible to Harold. I mean, he notices her talking about him, narrating his life. The stakes are set when we hear our trusty narrator forecasting an early death for poor Mr. Crick.

From here it gets a little confusing as the story starts some seemingly  unrelated threads of other characters. Don’t worry, you’ll get it on the second viewing.  This is one of those lovely movies that brings it all together at the end and ties a neat bow. This is a feel-good movie that has some intelligent fun with fiction, IRS agents, literary professors and bakers, with a twist of romance mixed in.

You’ll enjoy it. Here’s a cute clip. Notice how Harold sits in the accordion part of the double bus. The whole movie is smart yet subtle like that.

Four nods to this one!

It’s PG-13, but personally I don’t know what age I’d recommend on this one. I watched with my preteens, and since I’m a nazi about people not sleeping together on the first date, I didn’t even have to say anything. They know where I stand. Other than that, I don’t recall language or violence issues — unless you count the multiple ways the narrator imagines of killing herself… but I found those comical. Sick me.

Enjoy!

I was first introduced to Neil Gaiman — or perhaps I should say, Neil Gaiman’s works — when a full-size cardboard cutout of Claire Danes stared glossily down at me at the movie theater. I hadn’t seen her in a few years, and never satisfyingly since her brilliant role in short-lived TV series My So-Called Life*.

So here she was, dressed head-to-toe in a silver gown with long, silver-blonde hair, obviously starring in a magical story of some sort. Well, I was more than right, as she was playing a LITERAL star, in a quirky fantasy based on the novel Stardust by Neil Gaiman. Check out the movie if you haven’t, you’ll be treated to Robert De Niro in a corset and Michelle Pfieffer with one sagging breast.

I later picked up my first Neil novel of the same title and enjoyed it very much. Technically, I listened to it, and he is an excellent reader of his works, as well. I went on to sample a few more of his works for children, but didn’t get into much of his adult fiction.

Until this past week.

I needed more audio for my trip to Yellowstone, and on the library shelf was Anansi Boys. I was hoping for the flashier, much-talked-about American Gods, but I grabbed Anansi Boys anyway.

I was disappointed when I put in the first CD and realized Neil was not reading this audiobook, but in time I realized that it was perfect having it read by Lenny Henry. His voicing of the Carribean accents was wonderful.

But on the story itself — I get the feeling that this book is not people’s favorite Gaiman story. It’s strange, it’s quirky, it deals with the gods of African tales and ghosts and sweet old-lady witches. I get the feeling there’s been some confusion about where to shelve this book, though it is clearly adult fiction with an adult main character, Fat Charlie. Fat Charlie is leading a kind of ho-hum life, but he loves and wants to marry a sweet girl who insists on him reconnecting with his father for the upcoming wedding. He soon finds out that his father has died, and when he goes to Florida for the funeral he finds out that the father he was always so embarrassed by was actually the trickster god Anansi — the spider.

From there, a major can of spiders is opened when Fat Charlie invites the “brother”** he never knew he had to come visit him. Interspersed in the narrative is the occasional story about Anansi the spider and the other gods, and I have to say, the first one left me and my family roaring… gales of laughter, I tell you. It was then we knew this was a specially-woven fabric of story. It’s not just about one man — though you do cheer for this poor guy by the end — it’s about a bunch of ordinary people experiencing extraordinary things. It ties up neater than a professional gift-wrap at the end, too. I loved it.***

* Note that I don’t  usually link you to some boring summary of media I reference in my reviews… I usually hand-pick a youtube clip that I feel represents it… and so it is, here. So follow them, often! (they open in new windows)

** You’ll see why I quoted “brother” when you read (or hear) the book.

*** I’d say this is a 14 and up read for language and some sexual inferences. Didn’t bother my kids, though.

I watched Spanglish last night, and it was nothing like what I thought it’d be. I hoped it wouldn’t be like The Waterboy or Big Daddy or several other Adam Sandler films, but I didn’t expect it to be more serious and real than 50 First Dates. It is his most mature film to date, hands down.

Hopefully, people didn’t go into this movie looking for a love story like Dates (or a crude farce like Waterboy) because this movie actually had something to say — something Hollywood almost never says.

So what did this movie (which was, incidentally, funny and charming as well) say?

It showed parents sacrificing their own happiness for their kids’ well-being. It showed them choosing family obligation over momentary pleasure. It showed them, in short, being responsible grown ups.

Shocking, I know!

Well, not Tea Leoni’s character, but she was the catalyst for the story, and she played her part so that you both laughed at her and felt sorry for her. It was a razor-fine line. She must be a pretty great actress.

But Adam Sandler and Paz Vega played their concerned parent roles well, and it became obvious that Sandler believes in this story. He didn’t set himself up as a perfect man, but as a real one, trying desperately to hold his family together.

The show-stealers were the two daughters, though. Shelbie Bruce as Vega’s Mexican-born, Americanized daughter and Sarah Steele as Sandler’s kind, grounded, charming daughter. It was those two parent-daughter relationships that made the film, and these two actresses did wonderful jobs.

Two things were wrong with this film:

1. The Title — come on, who thought this was a good idea? Yes, a language barrier is a part of the movie, and you could even argue that the two people communicating the worst were Sandler and his wife! But the word Spanglish is just plain ugly. Words have shape and sound, and much like Susan Sarandon’s movie Stepmom, this title kept me away from the film. It doesn’t say heartwarming movie to me.

2. The Teasers — this movie is grossly mis-billed as a “zany” comedy, which, aside from Leoni’s incredibly strange sex scene, is way off. Here’s what Netflix’s blurb says about Spanglish:

Cultures clash with a mighty clang in this comedy of manners and mayhem directed by James Brooks. When a beautiful Mexican housekeeper, Flor (Paz Vega), is hired by a rich Los Angeles family, everyone’s life is upended in hilariously zany ways, especially when the parents (Tea Leoni and Adam Sandler) make it their mission to be so welcoming that they become overwhelming — especially the dad, who’s quickly smitten by Flor’s beauty.

This makes it sound like Sandler plays a guy who would start an affair with his housekeeper right under his wife’s nose, which is really the opposite of the events of the movie. And using words like “hilarious” and “mayhem” makes it sound like fluff when it is substance (with flair). And it led me to worry all through the final moments of the film that the whole movie setup was just to get the two leads into bed. Thankfully, it wasn’t, and if you haven’t seen this movie, be forewarned. It is a movie about parents and children more than about men and sex. Hurrah for that!

Think I’ll start rating the things I review… how about nods? I give this four out of five nods. If you’ve been avoiding Spanglish for fear it is like Big Daddy, don’t worry. It has its priorities straight. See it.

= 4 nods