Quick Movie Reviews (12.18.08)

Tropic Thunder (2008)
I’ll have to admit that I was expecting a fairly uproarious comedy a la Naked Gun (1988), but what I got was a much darker comedy that was interesting throughout and really freaking funny at key moments. The star of this show is Robert Downey Jr. His turn as a five-time Oscar winner who goes through an operation so that he can play the African-American sergeant of an American patrol in Vietnam is beyond funny. The other surprise here is Tom Cruise as the movie’s producer, Les Grossman. You’ve probably already heard about his role but it has to be seen to be believed. The movie is a complete mockery of the whole Hollywood system and its attempt to produce and deliver the ultimate war movie. There is a running theme in the movie that will make most people extremely uncomfortable – where Ben Stiller and Robert Downey Jr. talk about Stiller’s character’s role as a mentally challenged young man in one of his movies. You are laughing but you feel guilty about it.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008)
This sequel to Madagascar is funnier and livelier than the first one – although I have to admit I laughed until I cried when Melman walked out of the men’s room in a subway station in New York with a “mint” in his mouth. What makes the second movie stronger is the screen time given to the penguins. Beyond funny. If I had to pick a storyline that began to bore me to no end, it was the little old lady. That joke just got tiresome after a while. I would highly recommend this for all families. Another key component – it is short. Like it’s predecessor, this film clocks in at a brisk hour and a half.

Hancock (2008)
I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. Given everything that I had heard, I fully expected to hate it, but I didn’t. I definitely would recommend it as a rental. Your money would not be wasted. But here’s the thing. . .for the movie to really work, you have to dislike Hancock from the get-go. Director Peter Berg sets you up with this by having Hancock be generally disgusting, rude and obnoxious to everyone from old folks to young folks. The problem is that Hancock is played by Will Smith, who is easily one of the most likeable actors in Hollywood. And despite everything Hancock does, he is still Will Smith. I won’t give away the twist here but you can see it coming a mile away. Plus, 15 minutes into the movie, we all know how it’s going to end, but it doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. Charlize Theron is okay in her role as the dutiful housewife but she isn’t given a whole lot to do. I was surprised by Jason Bateman, who is great as the PR guy who helps turn around Hancock’s image. And, as fate would have it, my wife and I happened to catch Juno (2007) on HBO and I was reminded of how much I enjoyed him in that as well. Caveat: While it bills itself as a superhero yarn with redemptive qualities, it is not for the youngsters. There is a completely useless “sex scene” that makes no sense in the context of the movie. There is also some crazy fight sequence that made no sense to me about two-thirds of the way through. However, all in all, I would recommend this as an enjoyable piece of entertainment.

Van Johnson, R.I.P.
Each year we lose more and more of our Golden Age actors, and we lost another in Van Johnson on Dec. 12. He was the standard contract MGM hunk there for a while and did some respectable work. Two outstanding efforts that I would recommend would be Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944) where he plays Lt. Ted Lawson and The Caine Mutiny (1954), where he is phenomenal as Lt. Steve Maryk. In this overall terrific film, Johnson holds his own with the likes of Humphrey Bogart and Fred MacMurray. I need to offer a mea culpa here and say that I completely screwed up at a recent holiday party when I went on and on about how great Johnson was as Shane in the movie Shane (1953). Of course anyone with any sense knows that Shane was played by Alan Ladd. One thing I did get right – it is one of the great westerns.

Bettie Page, R.I.P.
Okay, I know she wasn’t an actress but she was the quintessential pin-up girl and the subject of a good biopic that I would recommend – The Notorious Bettie Page (2005). In this movie, she is portrayed by Gretchen Mol, who is ably supported by one of my favorite actresses – Lili Taylor. Page died at 85 on Dec. 11.