More Movie Matters

Keeping Mum
Add a murderous twist (and good writing) to Nanny McPhee or Mrs. Doubtfire, and you have Keeping Mum — a black British comedy that had me chuckling from beginning to end. It stars Maggie Smith... that's Professor McGonagall to my fellow Harry Potter fans — as a sweet elderly woman with a dark past who'll stop at nothing to ensure the happiness of the family she works for. FINAL GRADE: B+

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
I was more amused by this than most people I've talked to — but I'm also only a casual Indiana Jones fan who sought out the film to stay on top of my 6-year-old nephew's interests (for the record: I would NOT recommend taking a 6-year-old to see this, for one scene in particular). I've heard some say it's too campy (but wasn't it supposed to be, I ask); others, that it wasn't campy enough (which I can kind of see — at some points I worried the film wanted me to take it seriously... and I may have given it too much benefit of the doubt). But, whatever, it made me chuckle with all of its horrible hokeyness. FINAL GRADE: B-

Meatballs
Yeah, I know. This Bill Murray classic was made before I was born, so why do I care to watch it now? Because it's a Billy Murray classic. He stars as Tripper Harrison, the silly-but-loveable head counselor of a co-ed summer camp who challenges authority even when he doesn't need to, and shows a softer side in relating to teenage boy bullied by his cabin mates. And for the most part, I was entertained. But I was also immensely disturbed by one quasi-rape scene that was meant to be taken comically and yet changed my perception of the film altogether. So you can relate to teenage boys, and even if you really care about a girl it's still OK to threaten her physically so long as YOU know you're not going to do anything? That's just not funny. But, whatever, the rest of the film was OK. FINAL GRADE: C+

Storytelling
I rented this thinking I'd seen every other Todd Solondz film but this one — and then quickly realized that I'd seen this one before, too. Per the norm, it's disturbing and yet... real... and also quite possibly not very memorable, when you consider I only remembered the actions just seconds before they occurred (not to mention, I didn't really care about any of the characters). I like the idea of it though, with the movie split into two parts: "Fiction" (where a girl recaptures a horrific, personal experience in writing but can't get anyone to believe her) and "Nonfiction," where a hopeful documentarian edits his subject material to suit his personal aspirations. FINAL GRADE: C+