September's At-Home Movie Reviews

I'm been slacking on my movie viewing lately, not just because I've been busy, but because I've been waching so much TV. Not only all the new stuff on the fall lineup, but I went through the complete series of Firefly and season one of Lost. More on that later. But for now, only 4 films here.

Robots (2005)
Director: Chris Wedge, Carlos Saldanha
Stars: The Voices of Ewen McGregor, Robin Williams, Mel Brooks, Greg Kinnear, Halle Berry, Amanda Bynes, Drew Carey, Jim Broadbent, Paul Giamatti, Stanley Tucci
IMDB: 6.4

This movie generally got bad reviews, but dammit if I didn't enjoy the heck out of it. The story is nothing new: Small-town boy (robot), Rodney (Ewen McGregor sans Obi-Wan accent) goes to the city to pursue his dreams of success (become an inventor). City is in crisis from corporation run by baddies. They're discontinuing the manufacture of spare parts to force eveyone to buy the far more expensive upgraded bodies. No one will do anything until boy shows them how and gives them hope. Yadda Yadda Yadda. But visually, this movie is breathtaking. The complexity of the robot society is so marvelous, you'll rewind to scenes just to make sure you can take in everything that's going on. It's also a huge ensemble cast, which makes Robin Williams usual schtick less annoying. The ending is a huge Braveheart style battle with tons of robots trashing tons of other robots. Another cool thing is the placement of music. You'll hear War's Lowrider, C&C Music Factory's Gonna Make You Sweat, and Britney Spears Hit Me Baby One More Time, amoung others, all in silly situations. That's a big redeaming quality of this movie. It's downright silly. It's not Pixar, but from the maker's of Ice Age, it's the next best thing. Best gag: When Rodney arrives in Robot city, he asks a robot street performer for directions. The street performers begins dancing doing...wait for it....wait for it...THE ROBOT! To Chingy's Right Thuur, no less. SILLY!

The Sneaky Cheetah's Grade: A

Sahara (2005)
Director: Breck Eisner
Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Steve Zahn, Penelope Cruz, William H. Macy
IMDB: 5.9

Another film that got shit on by critics, Sahara is a an action/adventure/comedy that get's it right, when so many similar films fail miserably. It's based on a novel by Clive Cussler, just one of the umpteenth "Dirk Pitt" book he's published since 1973. I've read 4 Pitt books, and really enjoy them. Pitt is a combo James Bond/Indiana Jones: A treasure-hunting, ass-kicking, hottie-bangin' guy, played deliciously by Matthew McConaughey. The adventure involves a missing civil-war battleship full of confederate gold, a deadly disease outbrake in Africa, and a global environmental disaster waiting to happen. It's fun and funny, mainly due to McConaughey's rapport with one of my favorite actors, Steve Zahn. Zahn (as Al Giordino) isn't so much Pitt's comic side-kick as partner in crime. I've never been impressed with Penelope Cruz, but she's ok in this movie. She's not the helpless female lead, but a sorta-capable hottie who'a also one of the gang with some good funny moments herself. The soundtrack is a major cool factor of the film. What do middle-age diver/navy seal/ working class guys listen to? Classic Rock, baby. And whenever there's a radio present, blaring out of it is some Skynyrd, Grand Funk, Guess Who, or some other classic rock legend. It's a perfect fit. Surprising good directorial debut from Breck Eisner, who it's believed only got the job cause of daddy (and Disney Tycoon) Michael Eisner. I definantly recommend this film. You could do alot worse in the adventure genre. Give Sahara a shot.

The Sneaky Cheetah's Grade: B+


The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005)
Director: Garth Jennings
Stars: Martin Freeman, Zooey Deschanel, Mos Def, Sam Rockwell, Alan Rockman, Warwick Davis, Bill Nighy, John Malkovich, Anna Chancellor
IMDB: 6.7
Another adaptaion from a literary source I've read, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a book considered to be on the level of the Bible by some, and a rambling plotless piece of garbage by others. You really have to love British Humor to like this book. The movie does it's best to Americanise it for the mainstream which hurt the story I think. Just as the Earth is about to be destroyed to make room for an intersellar freeway, Arthur Dent (Freeman) is saved by his friend Ford Prefect (Mos Def) who turns out to be an alien doing research on Earth for a digital encyclopedia called "the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." They grab their towels (you'll see)and hitch a ride with Earth's destroyer's, the alien homicidel poetry-loving Vogun, and eventually run into Ford's cousin Zaphod Beeblebrox (Rockwell), who's also the President of the Known Universe and his girlfriend Trillion (Deschanel), who's actually an earthling that Arthur was hitting on at a party a few weeks ago. They're on the run after Zaphod stole the greatest spaceship ever made to pursue the ultimate question. See they've discovered the ultimate answer to Life, the Universe and Everything is actually 42. So now they have to find the ultimate question. Sound interesting don't it? Well throw in a depressed robot named Marvin (Warwick Daivs in the suit, voice of Alan Rickman), and a planet designer who's really good at making Fjords, and some white mice and you've got this film. You can imagine how hard this would be to really nail in a film. And it is. The cast is good, especially Zooey Deschanel and Mos Def, although it seems a lot of Def's dialog had to be overdubbed. The special effects are spectacular and they do hit some of the right comedic moments. But read the book, skip the film. Or at least read the book first!

The Sneaky Cheetah's Grade: Book - A, Film - C +

Layer Cake (2004)
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Stars:Daniel Craig, Tom Hardy, Jamie Hawkins, Kenneth Cranham, Michael Gambon
IMDB: 7.4

This film seemed promising because even though it was Matthew Vaughn's directorial debut, he earned major street cred as the producer of Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. I figured Layer Cake would fit in nicely with those two, and to a certain extent, it does. British mafia/drug dealers and almost unintelligible accents. But here's how it fails. They forgot the humor. Both Lock Stock and Snatch had me rolling at times, yet I struggled to find one humorous scene in this film. It does have a twisted, convoluted plot, and multiple layers of back stabbing and double crosses, yet for a film with "HILARIOUS" printed in bold across the front of the DVD case, it was disappointing.

The Sneaky Cheetah's Grade: C