Ocean's 12 and Spanglish

Finally finished up with the reviews of Sunday's movies, but I don't have much of an intro - I'm still trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do in this "The Conversation" thing that the cinetrix seems to think I should contribute to.

Which I will, eventually. After I've gotten my HBS reviews done, and actually updated Transplanted Life, and maybe actually watched another movie or two (I missed a sneak of The Assassination of Richard Nixon last night, but I'll be damned if I miss Sky Blue Wonderful Days this weekend).

I will say I'm kind of surprised how much I enjoyed Spanglish, though. The family and friends who likely form most of this blog's readership know my opinion of Adam Sandler, and I was pretty sure that a PG-13 American movie wouldn't feature nearly as much of Paz Vega as her Spanish movies do, if you catch my drift. But, then I remembered it's an immigrant movie, and I love the heck out of those.

Okay... On with the reviewing:

Ocean's Twelve

* * ¾ (out of four)
Seen 9 January 2005 at Loews Boston Common #7 (first-run)

It's almost pointless to try and dissect Ocean's Twelve, because contradiction is inevitable. It's overstuffed, with too many characters and plot points and goofy cameos, but at the same time, it's one of the most fluffy, airy movies you'll ever see. It's loose and silly but never quite carefree. It's one of the most cleverly self-aware movies you'll ever see, but doesn't quite make that pay off as much as it perhaps should.

Read the rest at HBS

Spanglish

* * * ½ (out of four)
Seen 9 January 2005 at AMC Fenway #8 (first-run)

A little over year ago, Jason Whyte and I were chatting on Instant Messager about the worst movies of 2003. I arrived at Anger Management pretty quickly, but was puzzled by the number of otherwise respected actors who has supporting or cameo roles in that typical Adam Sandler turd. Either Hollywood is even more cynical and opportunistic than I had previously believed, or he's one of the nicest people in the world and people just like working with him. My fellow Jason said he was pretty sure it was the latter. "Well, for crying out loud," I said, "can't he be nice to writers, too?"

Read the rest at HBS