Strange Wilderness

After the genial, beloved TV host of the popular wildlife show "Strange Wilderness" passes on to the great nature special in the sky, his son Peter Gaulke takes over the series--and things are never the same. Ignorant, bumbling and blissfully unaware of his own lack of talent, Pete sprinkles his documentary narrations with dubious factoids. When the ratings sink to an all-time low and the show is about to be canceled, Pete and his filmmaking partner Fred Wolf realize they have to come up with "something big" to save the series. It looks like they've hit the jackpot when Pete lucks into a map of the legendary Bigfoot's secret cave. But when the clueless producer leads his ragtag crew to the wilds of Central America to film the elusive beast, they encounter a string of disasters.

Because I see so many movies, ultimately, I see a lot of really bad movies. Every once in awhile a movie comes along that is so bad that it makes otherwise normal bad movies seem to be Oscar contenders. Strange Wilderness (SW) is that bad. SW is one of the most amateur-ish made films I've ever seen. Often times the camera is off-centered and the actors don't seem to know what to do on screen. Although I'm sure SW cost nearly nothing to make in Hollywood terms...One has to wonder if the embarrassment of participating in this film won't hover over the actors, directors, and producers for the remainder of their careers. Jamie says "0".

Step Brothers

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby co-stars Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly re-team with that film's director, Adam McKay, to tell the tale of two pampered best friends whose single parents fall in love and decide to marry. McKay and Ferrell share screenwriting credits, and Judd Apatow and Jimmy Miller produce.

I'm not a big Will Ferrell fan. Semi-Pro, from earlier this year, was awful. However, maybe Step Brothers is an example of movies to come. Step Brothers is a hilarious movie. From beginning to end there were more than enough laughs to make it one of the funniest films I've ever seen. Not only did I think it was funny, but fellow theater goers thought it was funny also because the entire crowd was laughing along with me. It will deserve a second viewing on dvd because the theater was laughing so often that I missed many of the verbal hilarities do to too much crowd laughter.

Ironically, movie critics do not agree. Over all, critics gave Step Brothers average to poor reviews. What can I say...They are wrong. Jamie says "9".

The Dark Knight

With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to destroy organized crime in Gotham for good. The triumvirate proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a rising criminal mastermind known as the Joker, who thrusts Gotham into anarchy and forces the Dark Knight ever closer to crossing the fine line between hero and vigilante.

The Dark Knight is the rare movie experience that exceeds the media hype of its pre-release. For months movie fan have been bombarded with clips of the menacing Joker tormenting Gotham city. For months movie fans have read media reports stating that the late Heath Ledger deserves to be nominated for a supporting Oscar for his portrayal of the messy-make-upped Joker. The Dark Knight does not disappoint. More "crime-saga" than super-hero movie, The Dark Knight exceeds on all levels including drama, action and thriller film aspects.

All actors involved in the film do a great job. Christian Bale, always solid in every film he is in, as Batman is suburb as well as Michael Caine, Aaron Eckert, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gary Oldman, and Morgan Freeman. But of course the high light of the film is Heath Ledger as The Joker. Every time he is on screen his performance is chilling. Larger than life, Ledger played The Joker as a crazy emotionless psychopath. His performance will not just be remembered as his last, but also as one of the most memorable villainous portrayals in film history. Time will be the ultimate judge, but I predict his version of The Joker will be mentioned in the same breathe as Hannibal Lector when talking about the all-time great movie villains.

Of course its easy for actors to give memorable performances when the director is maybe the best in the business working today. When will Christopher Nolan make a bad film?

As of press time...THE DARK KNIGHT is the best film of the year so far. Jamie says "9".

HANCOCK

John Hancock (Will Smith) is an unhappy and reluctant superhero who is living in his own world. For some unknown reason, Hancock is depressed and has started drinking very heavily. He has saved many lives in Los Angles over the years, but in doing so, he has no regards for damaging buildings, trains, roads, cars, or anything that gets in his way to get the job done. The last time he captured several criminals, it cost the city $9 million to fix the damages. The public has had enough of Hancock, and they want him to stop or go to another city. Then one day, Hancock saves the life of Ray Embrey (Jason Bateman) from being run over by a train. Ray is a Public Relations executive who now can go home to his wife and child, because Hancock was there. Ray owes Hancock his life, and he makes it his mission to change his superhero's image and have the public cheering him. Ray's wife, Mary (Charlize Theron), believes Hancock can not be fixed, and she doesn't want Ray to be hurt.

Hancock will make my list of the 10 most disappointing films of 2008. The first half of the film was very promising. Will Smith's portrayal of a lushful super-hero is very memorable and funny. Unfortunately, the screenplay takes a wrong turn at the the film's halfway point. I don't know if one could call it a plot twist, but the story surprising takes its characters away from from where the first half of the film is taking them. This change in story-line ruined the entire film for me. Hancock gets a "3".

Hancock is directed by Peter Berg which is his 5th effort in this role. Although Hancock isn't his best, his first 4 films deserve to be seen: The Kingdom (6), Friday Night Lights (9), The Rundown (9), and Very Bad Things (6).