Movie overload
We go through phases of renting movies. Often, we’ll go for weeks (and even months) at a time without renting anything. Then, suddenly, we’ll get a wild hair and go out and rent a bunch of movies over one weekend. We call this "festing" as in throwing a festival. We also tend to get massive quantities of "box" food, or anything easy to fix that comes already made in a box — just heat and eat!
It was a fest weekend. Wahoo!
We rented four movies and the first one we watched was The Interpreter. It stars Nicole Kidman as a U.N. interpreter (no kidding!) who overhears a murderous plot against an African dictator. Sean Penn also stars as a Secret Service agent assigned to investigate her case.
Back during its theatrical release (as I recall), most of the reviews seemed to be so-so, luke-warm at best. But we have to say that it was one of the best thrillers we have seen in a long while. It was tremendously enjoyable. It was a well spun tale with numerous plot twists and quite believable characters. Sydney Pollock, the director, did a masterful job of revealing just enough to keep us on the edge of our seats, but still keep us guessing up to the end. There was not a wasted frame in the entire movie.
It was rated PG-13 (probably for a couple of violent moments) but, by and large, was very tame, especially for the genre. The story never lost its grittiness and the characters never rang false. All in all, I give it an A.
The second movie I watched was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I can sum this movie up in two words: Johnny Depp.
If you like his quirkiness (at least on the screen) then you will love this film. He is apparent that he is having a ball playing the character of Willie Wonka. I think his acting is genius (even if in reality Mr. Depp is a bit of a nut job). Everyone else seems to be set dressing, hired for their ability to look and sound the part. But Johnny Depp is the whole show. Well, and the Oompa-Loompas. I give it an A as well.
I’ll get back to you on the rest. I haven’t seen the others yet. I suspect we have seen the best already!
