Movie Reviews

The Island
Starring Ewan McGregor's bad accent and Scarlett Johansson's lips
This movie got some bad reviews but the plot piqued my curiosity so i Netflixed it. Lincoln and Jordan live in a Gattaca-esque society where everyone is healthy and happy. They're told they survived a 'contamination' that made the rest of the world unliveable. A couple times per day, a big brother type announces that someone else has won the lottery and is allowed to go to 'the island' which is a utopian place untouched by the contamination. Of course this is all malarky. They are actually clones of the real Lincoln and Jordan, who live somewhere in LA and were rich enough to have them created in case they ever wanted new skin, a new liver, etc. Lincoln figures it out, non-clone Steve Buscemi helps them escape, and Djimon Hounsou hunts them down. Evil Scientist Sean Bean does evil scientist things to prevent further problems.
Very stylistic with some pretty cheesy lines (as futuristic action flix usually employ) and major lapses in believability, even for an action movie. You can tell Scarlett's used to lines with a little more brain behind them and Ewan's American accent comes and goes like the tide. Scenes with human Lincoln, who IS Scottish, and clone Lincoln, who is American, are a manifestation of this. Very annoying product placement throughout, and not in that excusable satirical way. Big waste of Buscemi, Hounsou and Bean, who are all fantastic actors dumped in stereotyped roles. Rotate them all one degree and you've got an interesting movie. Overall it was pretty lame, but given the current trend in embryonic stem cell research and cloning, believably disconcerting. i give it 1.8 out of 5 "disturbance in the hologram control room!"s.

The Producers
Nathan Lane, Matthew Broderick, Will Ferrell, Uma Thurman, & Pharmacist George
Yup, made the mistake of paying for this one. It's a really bad movie based on a musical based on a movie about two guys making a really bad musical. Got it? There were moments of sheer hilarity, but those were always preceded and followed by moments of sheer banality. 80% of the jokes fell painfully flat and the songs weren't very musical, if that makes sense. Uma Thurman is distractingly tall and blond, and don't get me started on her accent and singing. Pharmacist George and Matthew Broderick are really great, especially Broderick who is usually cast as the mild, stammering nice guy and is a complete screaming nut in this one. Will Ferrell is a Nazi playwrite and pigeon fanatic. He does what he can with some really lame jokes. The pigeons were given better material. Recommended (but only for free or Netflix) if you like slapstick and campy musicals. 2 out of 5 Adolf Elizabeth Hitlers.

The Life and Death of Peter Sellers
Geoffrey Rush, Emily Watson, Charlize Theron, John Lithgow, and Stanley Tucci as Kubrick
This was an HBO movie that got a few awards, and i'd caught a bit of it in the blissful 48 hours after you get the cable installed and they give you the dangling carrot of HBO and other special channels. i Netflixed it b/c Josh grew up watching the Pink Panther movies so i thought it would be fun. It's a great film, but like most 'warts and all' bio-pics, its honest portayal of Sellers is disenchanting and painful at times. Nonetheless, really great performances all around, especially by Rush, who is always so good. i don't normally like Charlize Theron, but like her brilliant, inspired turn on Arrested Development as a mentally challenged British spy, i really enjoyed her in this supporting role as Sellers' second wife, Brit Easton. i heart Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow is always good to have around, especially in sweet 60s hairstyles. It's very imaginative, Eternal Sunshine-esque in that regard, and deserving of its acclaim. Recommended for everyone, especially those who don't mind a hero's fall from grace. 5 out of 5 Inspectors.