Short Movie Reviews (2 New &1 Old)

1. Little Miss Sunshine
I saw it a few weeks ago. I don't know if it made laugh or cry more. But I very much enjoyed it. The perfomances were great, Greg Kinnear has been one of my favorites since As Good As It Gets. It seems he either picks very good roles or has the ability of making what most actors take as two dimensional charachters and making full blooded three dimensional people. He does so in this role playing the go-getter dad. Alan Arkin, as the grandfather who shoots up heroin was dead on, I really want to see more movies with him in it. Steve Carrell was really great casting, I was curious how he would play a suicidal gay professor, but he carried the performance with just right balance of piercing comedy and tragic pathos. The little girl in the movie is great and the son (who is a bit of a look alike with Eliott Smith) does a great job as an angsty teen. There's a running gag of the van breaking down that somehow doesn't get old. Anyway, go check it out.

2. Snakes on the Plane
Yes, I went to see this movie. I had fun in the theatre and talked through out the whole thing. I actually wanted to see more snakes. There's no point in reviewing the title speaks for itself.

3. Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
This movie has the distinction of making Dorothy Parker seem like an annoying, boring, drunk hag. While in truth she was a witty, interesting drunk wit. The director seems to admire Robert Altman's style of directing - with people talking over each other and music playing over dialogue. However, unlike Robert Altman who most of the time gets away with this style because he executes it so well (see Gosford Park), Alan Rudolph's effort falls right on its face. Half the time one cannot hear what the characters are saying, the other half you don't know what they are referring to. Instead of showing us the wit of the Algonquin Round Table, he presents it to us without context. And don't get me started on the way Jennifer Jason Leigh speaks as Mrs. Parker, absolutely dreadful.Skip this film, especially if you are a Dorothy Parker fan.