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originally printed 03.17.05 in the Eureka, California newspaper The Times-Standard.
Robots
Faulk: This latest installment in the high-tech animation genre that started with "Toy Story" - a movie that has yet to be matched by its followers - started slow. As could be expected, once Robin Williams' voice pipes in, so does the humor. The movie takes off from there, although at times the plot is a bit overshadowed by Williams' frenetic joking. Did he really quit taking drugs? Sure doesn't sound like it. Visually, the movie was breathtaking and the jokes were fast and furious. It's hard not to sympathize with Ewan McGregor as the protagonist Rodney Copperbottom, and it was good to see Mel Brooks shake off some rust and get back in the business, even if it's as a round-bottomed has-been who can only find success with someone else's project - oh wait, he's not acting.
Rating: XL
Durant: Note to self: My almost 3-year-old son is not ready to sit still and quiet for a movie, even if it is a computer cartoon. Collectively, I saw about 30 percent of the film because I had to keep taking my son outside due to the fact that he couldn't stop from yelling at the screen. What I saw looked nice, and I chuckled a couple times, but it seemed really formulaic. Robin Williams was good, but appeared to be restrained nowhere as good as the Genie in "Aladdin." Now we have been criticized for our non-review reviews, but hey, what are you going to do? It wasn't a total loss though, I did see the new trailer for "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith." Man, oh man, whens May again?
Rating: (From what I saw) L/T
DVDs
The Incredibles
Faulk: I liked this movie almost as much as my son, who has spent the last three days figuring out how to beat the boss in the video game based on the movie. Something about fat and lazy former super heroes is just funny (see Mel Brooks above). Seeing this movie in close proximity to "Robots" makes a comparison necessary - I think that ultimately "The Incredibles" is better only because it's good from beginning to end, whereas "Robots" takes a while to get off the ground. And then you have to wonder, is traditional animation dead? I'd hate to think so. There's something wonderful about actually drawing characters rather than constructing them from a series of mouse clicks. Seeing the newest animé movies that are scheduled for release in the next few months shows indeed that art form lives on.
Rating: XL
Durant: I bought this DVD without seeing the movie when it was out in the theaters for one reason - Pixar - and I wasn't disappointed. Very funny and very good. There were some blatant rip offs, like Dash being chased through the forest by those flying saucers, very "Return of the Jedi," but it works and only a dork like me would notice. I suggest learning who did the voices before you watch, because you'll spend the whole movie racking your brain trying to put a human face to computer character. I didn't get Syndromes voice until the credits - I kept thinking Ron Howard for some reason, maybe it was the red hair. Holly Hunter and Samuel L. Jackson are no-brainers. I didn't get a chance to watch the extras yet, but with two kids under 5 in my house Im sure I'll see them, and then again, and then again, and then ...
Rating: XL
Buffalo '66
Durant: Vincent Gallo is cool. This is an older movie, but being as Hollywoods giving us nothing but crap lately, we decided to raid the vaults and remember why we like watching movies in the first place. I haven't seen Gallo's latest directorial/writing effort, 2003's "Brown Bunny," but if it's anything like "Buffalo '66" I will laugh my ass off. Vincent Gallo as Billy Brown is one of the best characters to ever flash on the screen and the arty feel, with the boxes and the flooding lighting, is refreshing. It is an arty film that's not too full of itself, and repeated watching is almost guaranteed.
Rating: XL
Faulk: Holy mackerel. This movie rocked, to use a technical term. I have a lot more respect for Christina Ricci, and Vincent Gallo may be the next coming of Chris(t) Durant. The writing was impeccable here - from the conversation in Billy Brown's parents' house to the telephone exchanges between Goon (aka Rocky) and Billy Brown, as Brown plotted the death of the failed Buffalo Bills place kicker who put him in jail. Thank you, Chris, for making me watch this movie and for letting it linger for two months on my shelf at home.
Rating: XXL
7:00 PM
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