Movie #148 -- Fever Pitch

Title: Fever Pitch

Director: Bobby and Peter Farrelly

Release Year: 2005

Plot Summary: A young thirtysomething man has an unhealthy obsession with the Boston Red Sox. He also has a relationship with Drew Barrymore. Which one will win out?

Thoughts: You know, if you were to take two of my least favorite actors and some... hmm... marginal directors and put them altogether, you'd get this movie. But it's a very good movie. Yeah... I don't get it either.

Gone are the Farrelly brother's traditional gross-out humor, replaced by genuine emotion. Drew Barrymore still talks out of the side of her mouth and really doesn't add a whole lot of "cute" to the movie. But Jimmy Fallon... He, despite his ability to muss every single Saturday Night Live sketch he was ever in, is both charming and funny in this movie. This role was built for him.

Oh, and it doesn't hurt that Nick Hornby (he of About a Boy and High Fidelity fame) wrote the novel upon which this movie is based.

Rating (0-10): 7.0

Recommendations: Charming, winning, funny, and surprisingly touching. Highly recommended viewing.

Movie #147 -- Nacho Libre

Title: Nacho Libre

Director: Jared Hess

Release Year: 2006

Plot Summary: Jack Black plays Nacho: the son of a Catholic Deacon and a Lutheran Missionary. In Mexico. He likes to wrestle and dress up an awful lot like Strong Bad. He has a crush on a nun. Oh... and corn on the cob. Lots of corn on the cob.

Thoughts: Okay... Imagine all that stuff that I just typed and then imagine Napoleon Dynamite. With me? Good. This movie will invariably be compared to writer/director Hess' previous work and rightfully so: same quirky storytelling, same off-beat humor, same strange directing.

That being said, it's not as funny or as endearing as Napoleon Dynamite. Part of the charm of that movie was the unknown actors and their wildly imaginative parts. Part of that charm is lost here with Jack Black -- he is his usual over-the-top self, which seems to work for most of the film. I can't wait to see the out-takes and deleted scenes in a few months when this is out on DVD. And the song he sings about Encarnacion is GENIUS.

Rating (0-10): 6.5

Recommendations: If you liked Napoleon Dynamite or you like Wes Anderson's work, you'll like this. Otherwise, save your money.

Movie #146 - Cars

Title: Cars

Director: John Lasseter

Release Year: 2006

Plot Summary: En route to a big race, cocky race car Lightning McQueen gets waylaid in Radiator Springs, where he finds the true meaning of friendship and family.

Thoughts: I love this movie. How much do I love this movie? As of this edit (6/26/06), I've seen it four times now. I think it's safe to say I love this movie.

Pixar always does a great job of making their movies about the characters instead of the story (though never at the expense of the story), and Cars is no exception. Hell - the country-bumpkin tow truck, which my sister and I were both prepared to hate, ended up being my favorite character in the whole thing, just because he's so genuinely good-hearted that you can't help but love him. =)

As for animation - GORGEOUS. Seriously I've never seen anything like it. Makes me just want to get into my car and drive cross-country. A few dozen times. In a row. I don't know how they manage it, but it's obvious why it takes three to five years for Pixar to finish a movie...

And of course, the little humorous touches and easter eggs will keep you in stitches the whole time. If you keep a sharp eye out, you'll find something new every time you watch.

Storywise, there's nothing particularly new here - big-city boy ends up in the middle of nowhere, where he meets some good folks and learns that fast driving and big bucks don't mean a thing if you don't have friends. Despite the clichés, though, this movie is all heart.

Recommendations: I don't care if the previews didn't interest you (they didn't really interest me). I don't care if you don't like NASCAR (never saw the point at all personally). I don't care if you have the bubonic plague and aren't allowed to come in contact with other human beings. Bring your own bubble, for pity's sake! It is fantastic. :D

Movie #145 -- Godzilla

Title: Godzilla

Director: Roland Emmerich

Release Year: 1998

Plot Summary: Godzilla visits New York, hangs out, gets his picture taken, eats Sushi, hides in the sewers... you know... what any good Asian tourist in NYC would do.

Thoughts: I didn't watch this movie until a few weeks ago. I remember 8 years ago when this movie came out and there were ads for it all over the place: on the side of buses that read "his foot is as big as this bus" for instance. I remember that Taco Bell had a massive ad campaign for this, too.

Only now do I realize what I was missing. Forget X-men 3 or either of the Jurassic Park sequels in terms of crappiness... THIS is the movie that sets the standard for big-budget films gone horrible, horribly wrong.

Hit (The Patriot, Independence Day) and Miss (The Day After Tomorrow, Universal Soldier) director Roland Emmerich released a bomb of a film with this one. Screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rosio (who's work is usually MONEY -- Pirates of the Caribbean, Shrek, Aladdin, etc...) blew it huge on this one. Even Matthew Broderick (whom I usually like) can't save this one. Of course, he's forever doomed to be Ferris Bueller. And Maria Pittilo is AWFUL. The lone bright spot of this movie is Hank Azaria. Of course, I feel bad for him in this flick, though.

Rating (0-10): Oh, God... 2.8

Recommendations: To quote Terry Zwigoff's Ghost World: "This is so bad it's good and then back to bad again." I recommend that you not watch this movie, basically.