It’s been twenty five years since the move This is Spinal Tap was released into the world.  Today I just saw it for the first time.

It isn’t that it has been quoted a billion times, that’s certainly not the case at all.  In my opinion there were not a lot of great lines in the flick.  But the movie is widely known enough to be claim cult pseudo-classic.  I’m not quite sure if it is one or not.  People talk about it existing, I think just for the sake of it being a novel idea.  A documentary (or rocumentary as it calls itself) about a band that actually doesn’t exist?  Brilliant!

I am not convinced that I liked the movie.  I am convinced that I like the idea of the movie.  This movie had the same flaws as Napoleon Dynamite and Borat for me.  That is that everyone talked them up and claimed they were the greatest thing since the invention of cake.

Like any cake loving warm blooded human I rushed out to see this films.  Although after viewing them and hearing any moderately funny jokes repeated trillions of times, the movies didn’t seem to do it.  While there were some jokes in the movie I certainly wasn’t impressed to any significant degree.

The whole ‘existence of the band’ thing is somewhat confusing because apparently they decided after making the movie that they should make the band for real and put on a couple shows.  In it’s time I understand that a lot of people thought of the band as real.  Except for a couple moments in the movie, it does seem like it very well could be a real band.

The annoying thing about the ‘band/movie’ is looking through wikipedia about it.  One of the guys in the band actually does the voice for hard rocking Otto in the Simpsons. (As well as Mr. Burns, Smithers and Flanders to round things out!)

Aside from being a goofy movie, if you haven’t made up your mind on if you should watch it here is one thing to push you off of the fence (although I don’t know which way) :   Fran Drescher is in it.

Flintstone in some great looking stop motion. Apparently it was made for a movie called “Flintstones on the Rocks” Which is about Fred and Wilma having marital problems. Seems a little bit darker than the usual chronicles of Bedrock. It came out in 2001 and a quick search looks like it might be hard to find.

I have recently spent hundreds of dollars going to the theater to watch an informing new show called “The Informant!” staring Matt Damon.

Damon’s character, the borderline schizophrenic compulsive serial liar Mark Whitacre  runs around giving the FBI all kinds of information about his company’s price fixing schemes.  Also he tells them all kinds of weird things that may or may not be true, which leaves the FBI thugs with mixed feelings.

During the whole movie, Whitacre is narrating the whole thing with his random wandering thoughts. It is a little weird at first as many of them have absolutely nothing to with the plotline or any of the characters in it.

Although without the inner narration the movie would be a lot more serious.  You are never sure what to believe, and you want to think that Whitacre is telling the truth.  Eventually you have to stop believing him completely or risk having him betray the trust that you need as an audience member.

Matt Damon did a very good job with the character and transforming into a part that would normally go to seasoned nervous paranoid schizophrenic acting master Nicolas Cage.  Damon took the roll and made it his own.  While Damon isn’t exactly type-casted as an actor, this role was outside of many of his previous flicks.  And he did a great job at it.

When the ten nominations arrive for best picture, don’t look for this one.  Although if the movie was released later in the year there is a chance that Damon would be able to get a best actor nomination.

It’s interesting to watch older movies just to see what things used to be like back in the day.  Of course when I say ‘older movie’ I’m talking about 2003.  I recently re-watched Matchstick Men staring Nicolas Cage and directed by Ridley Scott.

I have seen this movie once before, back when it was in theaters, so I knew about the twist that it contains.  (And if you keep reading, you’ll know it too!)

It was much harder to watch knowing that it was all a setup.  Everything was so painfully obvious, but if you weren’t looking for it like poor old Nicolas Cage then you will feel really duped. (Not quite as duped as his character though!)

This really is the roll that he can play well.  A neurotic weirdo with no self esteem and multiple crippling social disorders.

It is a good movie and Cage plays his part soo well!  I’m somewhat shocked that he was looked over completly for any awards for the part.

The movie is great.  It is hard to watch twice.  Unless you are completly devoid of emotions and empathy and really like to watch people get suckered and stomped on.  Then you can laugh at Roy all you want as his heart is torn out in slow motion.

The latest movie ever made was ‘Inglorious Basterds’ staring Brad Pitt, Christopher Waltz, and a whole bunch of other weirdos nobody has ever heard of.  There are two intertwined plot lines at play.  A girl who owns a movie theater, and a team of ruthless bastards on a mission to kill as many Nazis as possible.

This movie is really neat, but it is  a Quintin Tarantino flick, so you know that it is goofy, gorey, and just plain screwed up.  There are some parts of the film that he must have done soley for the purpose of reminding you who directed it.  I can honestly say that I think this is his best movie so far.

Beware the Jew Hunter

This is one of those movies that needs to be seen in the theaters.  There are so many powerful moments that will be lost on your tiny tv or computer screen.

This movie has and endless supply of quotable one liners.  As fun as it is to run around ratteling them off now, I’m sure that it will be very annoying when everybody and their dog starts in.  I suppose though, that’s why he makes his movies, so people can do exactly that!

The movie was very well cast.  Everyone played their parts well, especially Christopher Waltz, “The Jew Hunter.”  His performance was utterly fantastic.  He won some award, “Biggest Baddass at Cannes Film Festival” or something like that.  The award was actually best actor at Cannes.  Hopefully he won’t get skipped over when the Academy Awards nominations get passed around.

Honestly this is a hard movie to tackle here.  Not just because it is a Nazi movie, but it is a Nazi Tarantino film.  That is a seriousy double whammy to end all double whammies.  Just get out there and see this movie.

Ever see a movie so bad that you wish you could travel through time and stop yourself from watching it?  I know I certainly have!  The good news is that the latest movie I watched, “The Time Traveler’s Wife”  wasn’t one of those movies.  Don’t take that as a recommendation though, because it was still an unsatisfying piece of cinema.  The guy gets shot.  That may or may not be a spoiler, I don’t know.  It happens pretty early on.  But he is a time traveler, so it is actually in the future after the movie is open.

I’ve never written a movie about traveling through time to kiss your wife or watch your dead mother sing in her opera performance, but I did watch one last week.  Not all time traveling movies are created equal.  There are so many little details and chronological cares that have to be done just right.

This movie does an okay job at that, there are still some questions, but none are incredibly jarring and offsetting.

Aside from some guy getting sucked through time every time he sneezes, the main character also has to deal with trying to keep his wife happy.

It’s not quite like he can use his traveling powers to great benefit here either.  He can’t choose when to go back in time to get out of arguments, he can’t zip back 15 minutes and put the seat down or run the vacuume.

What he can do however, is go back 30 years to when his wife was just 6 and start hitting on her before she knew what was going on.  That kind of creepyness just weirded me out.  And I know some creepy people.

There were a couple of loose ends in the movie, and the ending was very predictable and anticlimactic.  If you only see one time traveling, paradox creating, love empathy stiring movie this year, see “Star Trek“  If you decide you still have an hour and a half to kill and don’t mind paying $8 to have a weird flavor in your mouth, then see “The Time Traveler’s Wife.”

A smurf movie?  Seriously now?

Apparently so, the director Raja Gosnell has signed on to direct “Smurfs,” a live action/animated movie starring the blue little buggers from Belgian cartoonist Peyo.  Can we let the eighties die already?

Speaking of aging animated characters, Spongebob SquarePants has been around for 10 years now.  I don’t have much to say other than, wow that’s a long time for a cartoon.

I think that after a couple seasons my cartoon will have to end.  I don’t want the quality to go down here and lose my fan base.  It’s not like I’m making Scrubs or the Simpsons or something here.