Buy It, Rent It, Ignore It

Here is a little segment I like to call: Buy It, Rent It, Ignore It.

We've watched some new-ish movies lately and I thought I'd share my opinions...

Ignore It

Dinner With Schmucks and The Other Guys.  They're both crude and offensive movies.  Not really sure why I sat through them.  Don't bother. 

Rent It

Although Paul Rudd really disappointed me in Dinner, I did enjoy his performance in How Do You Know? with Reese Witherspoon and Owen Wilson.  It's a cute one where Reese is torn between the man she's dating and the man she's falling in love with.  It's a nice little movie and Jack Nicholson has a great cameo role.  When it comes to video, rent it. 

Buy It

Tangled is probably one of Disney's best creations in the last several years.  Buy it.  Buy it the first week it's on video and costs way too much.  I've noticed a very obvious evolution in Disney movies, specifically with the princesses/heroines.  Disney princesses of the 21st century don't just sit around and sing to animals while they wait for the prince to come rescue them.  Disney princesses of today go searching for their happiness, whatever it may be.  In the case of Tangled, she wants to get out.  I don't want to say much more, but it's great.  I even like the "Disney" version better than the original story.  Everyone knows that Disney takes liberties with original stories and "pretties" them up.  In this case, Disney has added more intrigue and magic to the story of Rapunzel.  Do you know the original story of Rapunzel?  While pregnant with her, Rapunzel's mother sees some rapunzel greens in the yard of the witch next door.  She wants some so bad she starves until her husband sneaks into the witch's garden to gets some.  The wife eats it up and cries and begs for more so her husband has to chance the witch on the ultimate craving-run and gets caught.  So he offers his unborn child to the witch in exchange for more rapunzel greens.  Then the witch takes the baby and eventually locks her in a tower.  Yeah, the Disney version is better.  Believe me.  Buy it as soon as it's available and you will see.  Or go to the theater.  It's still playing.

True Grit.  Holy cow.  I wasn't sure what to think of this before seeing it, but I wanted to go in with an open mind.  First off, I grew up watching John Wayne movies.  I have no idea how many times I've seen the original version of True Grit.  Is "several" a number?  And I feel a fierce loyalty to the Duke.  But, I was also very interested in the new version.  Raise your hand if you love Matt Damon.... I'd raise my hand, but I'm typing.  He's great, but then again, a wet paper bag could act better than Glen Campbell.  And the young girl, Hailee Steinfeld, is endearing.  Much more endearing than Kim Darby had been.  Plus, the Coen brothers make great movies (O Brother, Where Art Thou and Raising Arizona).  I just wasn't sure how I would feel watching Jeff Bridges play Rooster Cogburn.  Here's my feeling: both movies (the 1969 version and the 2010 version) were based on the same book.  The plot is nearly the same, the characters are nearly the same but the movies were made during two completely different eras in Hollywood with two different generations of filmmakers.  It's like trying to compare Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  They're essentially the same story, but so different it's really hard to compare them.  I think Josh and I both agreed that the only thing Jeff Bridges didn't do as well as John Wayne was the line, "Fill your hands, you SOB!"  But it's such an iconic line, it's impossible for anyone else to do it.  My recommendation is to buy it.  Not necessarily when it costs $25, but eventually buy it.  See it in the theater or rent it, but plan on buying it.

And that's tonight's rendition of Buy It, Rent It, Ignore It.