Cineplex Complex

After an unusually intense week of filmgoing, I have managed to see all three movies that came out last week. Here are some spoiler-free observations on the week that was.

As has already been well-documented, The Matrix Revolutions stunk up the theater. To me it felt as if 10 minutes into the movie, the Wachowski brothers were clubbed unconscious, locked in a closet and the rest of the film was directed by some over-zealous Terminator fan. That dreadful 25-minute sentinel vs. human battle sequence (which didn't feature a single character I cared about) made me feel like I was watching Rise of the Machines. Plus, the movie didn't answer any of the franchise's philisophical questions- a complete cop-out for fans of the first two films. Walking out of the theater, I thought that the movie had to have been a hoax. I'm still waiting for the Wachowski brothers to be released so that they can make the real ending to the Matrix trilogy.

Elf was another movie that I was really rooting for, but ended up as a disappointment. I've been a huge Will Ferrell fan since his first Saturday Night Live sketch back in '95 ("Get off the goddamn shed!") and I'd even go so far as to declare him to be the best performer in SNL history. No one else could do impressions, goofy characters, physical comedy and play the straight man, which Ferrell did masterfully. And he carried the show during his last five seasons, appearing in seemingly every 90% of the sketches. So while I'm thrilled that he's finally been getting recognized as a star, I was rather miffed that his first starring vehicle turned out to be a rather sappy, witless kids movie. There were a handful of laughs scattered throughout the movie and I'm sure a wide audience will find it unobjectionable, but I felt Ferrell was too trapped in this role. He has such a broad array of comedic talents that it's a crime to confine him to a rather one-dimensional role in such a soft film. I'm very much looking forward to next July's Anchorman, where I think his full potential will be realized.

Easily the best movie I saw last week was Love Actually. The commercials make it seem like a cheery, heart-warming holiday chick flick- which, on some levels, it is. But I liked how much deeper the movie went in terms of tone and character. Several of the nine intertwining stories are ones of heartbreak and pain, and I'm glad that writer-director Richard Curtis didn't feel the need to give every character a happy ending. At the same time, all the characters were so likeable (especially the gorgeous Keira Knightley) that you still leave the theater with a big smile on your face. This movie really illustrates why the British do comedy so much better than we do. If this were an American movie, it would be a limp, predictable PG-13 piece of schlock, instead of the edgy, witty, adult, surprisingly politically conscious film that Love Actually was.