During the Thursday, Aug. 20 broadcast, I shared my mixed feelings about "Inglourious Basterds" and we talked about the perfect storm of marketing/fanboy idiocy surrounding "Avatar."
And, then, about 12 minutes before the end of Friday's show, I called in from a parking lot to talk about what I'd just seen during the "Avatar Day" 3-D IMAX sneak preview. (Short version: "Dang!") Marvel at my excited overuse of the word "immersive"!
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Cort and Fatboy (Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009 -- Part 2) [ mp3 ] [ streaming ] [ iTunes ]
Cort and Fatboy (Friday, Aug. 21, 2009) [ mp3 ] [ streaming ] [ iTunes ]
Writer/director/producer/cinematographer/composer/caterer Robert Rodriguez likes to switch between making pulpy bloodbaths ("Sin City") and attention-deficit family flicks ("The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl"). "Shorts" is probably the best of his family flicks since the first "Spy Kids."
The premise is basically an excuse for Rodriguez to lob kitchen sinks: A rainbow-colored rock that grants wishes falls from the sky in a Texas suburb, and Rodriguez tells a handful of short stories (out of order, "Pulp Fiction"-style) about what happens when various townsfolk get a hold of that rock -- nerds, bullies, parents (Leslie Mann, Jon Cryer), germaphobes (including William H. Macy) and even the Steve Jobs-like head of a tech firm (James Spader).
Yes, there are modest lessons learned about the importance of friendship and turning off your iPhone every once in a while, but mostly it's an excuse for Rodriguez to play with robots, aliens, giant sentient boogers and upright-walking crocodiles. The humor is a mix of suburban-targeted, barn-broad, smart/dumb jokes about Pterodactyl poop and kids named after typefaces. (Personally, the movie kind of won me over when it introduced a Wednesday Addams-like brat named "Helvetica Black," then gave her a cool theme song.)
"Shorts" ain't Pixar or anything, and if you prefer your children's movies as fine art, I hear there's this new flick called "Ponyo." But Rodriguez exhibits a steadier hand here than he has on most of his other all-ages pictures. The kids are agreeably deadpan and smart, and there's something mildly clever in the way Rodriguez couches his time-hopping narrative structure as the result of a kid fast-forwarding and rewinding through the story. I'm not sure if parents will be counting out each of "Shorts"' 89 minutes or not, begging for it to end, but I'm guessing 8-year-olds will absolutely love it, because Rodriguez isn't talking down to them or using pop-culture references in place of actual gags; he's making what might be called eye-level children's entertainment.
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Grade: C-plus; 89 min., rated PG for mild action and some rude humor.
During the Friday, Aug. 14 "Cort and Fatboy" broadcast, we had a little nerdgasm over "District 9." I also quizzed Fatboy about his movie-junket experiences, and told a story about interviewing Jerry Seinfeld.
I turn up around 43:55, but as always the whole show's well worth a listen -- especially now that honey-voiced David Walker has returned as a regular guest. _____
Cort and Fatboy (Friday, Aug. 14, 2009) [ mp3 ] [ streaming ] [ iTunes ]
Beloved instructional characters Mr. Do and Mr. Don't
teach Portlanders how to behave at the major cultural events of August 2009 -- in this
full-color, twice-as-long version of the strip printed in Friday's Oregonian. __________
And, finally, "G.I. Joe." (Actually, Governor Eric D. Snider comes in to review "G.I. Joe," which I didn't see, but I do ask the Governor some follow-up questions. We also talk about Eric's gift for making jokes about dead celebrities on Twitter.)
This is going to sound like a backhanded compliment, but I mean it as sincere praise:
I've seldom seen a thriller go from eye-rollingly dull to clever, funny and exciting as dramatically as "A Perfect Getaway" does about 40-odd minutes into its running time.
I mean this as praise because I think writer/director David Twohy ("Pitch Black") did something kind of nervy here: He seems to have made the opening third of his movie feel pedestrian on purpose -- right down to the editing and dialogue and shot choices -- just to throw off the audience. Really.
The film starts with a dull couple (Steve Zahn, Milla Jovovich) on a Yuppie honeymoon in Hawaii. They hear the police are looking for murderers who kill newlyweds. As Zahn and Jovovich head out on a 22-mile hiking/camping trip with bad cell-phone service, they keep running into threatening characters who might fit the killers' profiles. Of special interest are a pair of surly drifter hippies (Marley Shelton, Chris Hemsworth) and a charming duo with a penchant for knives, hunting and tall tales (Timothy Olyphant, Kiele Sanchez).
The story takes its sweet time getting going, and that opening section features dopey moments like Zahn parking his Jeep so the front tire coincidentally rests right on top of a newspaper featuring a story about the murders. (Frankly, there's a good 20 minutes in the middle that's carried entirely on Olyphant's charisma.) But then Twohy lays all his cards on the table and the movie shifts into high gear, and "A Perfect Getaway" suddenly turns into the sort of fun, pulpy, violent chase picture one might reasonably expect from the director of "Pitch Black." The actors are instantly more charming and/or psychotic, the action is better-shot and -edited, all the winking conversations about screenplay structure suddenly make sense, and the dialogue starts getting intentional laughs. If you're willing to have your patience tested, Twohy and his cast reward it. ______
Grade: B;97 minutes; rated R for graphic violence, language including sexual references and some drug use.
