The Box Office Hits and Misses

I'm not a big fan of movie-going - I may go to six movies a year, tops. But I managed to go to three in the last few days. To mark the occassion, I'll make a brief review of them here:

War of the Worlds - This movie works because the acting was believable and the effects visually stunning. Moreover, unlike other war flicks, we aren't forced to see it through a general's eyes, or an overly heroic main character. Here, Tom Cruise's simple goal is survival on his way to dropping his kids off at their mother's, and along the way becomes a better father. I won't spoil the ending, but since this is a remake of a film and based on a book from 1898, it's hardly an original concept, but turned out to be a worthy remake, unlike other Hollywood attempts to cash in on old ideas.

Bewitched! - I'll admit I'm a Nicole Kidman fan, something I discovered when watching The Interpreter earlier this year. Here, I found her attempt at comedy to work well, even up against Will Ferrel's antics. The movie is kind of a split-personality, as the romance and the comedy aren't perfectly blended. But the premise holds up pretty well - rather than a simple remake of the 1960s television series, or an enlarged version of a t.v.-style plot, as with most movie adaptations, this movie involves Nicole being a witch with the very same powers given Samantha in the t.v. show. She swears off magic, but finds life on Earth not that easy, and along the way discovers love. My main complaint wasn't Will trying to do romance, or Nicole doing comedy, but that the Shirley McClaine character looked set to be involved in a subplot near the end, but her story didn't go anywhere.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith - It was an amusing flick that balanced romantic comedy and the typical action/spy movie. It's major problem was the villain in the end was never named, and - well, let's just say that the ending doesn't make clear whether the plot was resolved. But I thoroughly enjoyed the scenes where Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt tried killing each other. If you want an escape for a couple hours at the Box office, this is a perfectly acceptable movie. If you want to see quality story development, this isn't it.