One perfect movie plus others

Why has no one ever told me that The Big Lebowski encapsulates one of my obsessions? No, not bowling - name doppelgangers! It has been ten years since its release and it is clearly a cult classic but it was not until the recent HD DVD fire sale that I decided to give it a chance.

In the movie, Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski (Jeff Bridges) is repeatedly mistaken by thuggish debt collectors for Jeff Lebowski, an LA millionaire. After one of the thugs pees on his rug, The Dude decides to visit his name doppelganger for retribution of some sort. Of course, everything becomes more complicated from there.

Not only does the name doppelganger feature appeal to me but one of the main characters reminds me of my friend, Army Jon. Every time John Goodman's character, Walter Sobchak goes military on the people around him, I chuckle and flinch.

The blind purchase of The Big Lebowski was worth the risk, not like that pretentious piece of crap, Donnie Darko.

Speaking of crap, I recently saw some free movies at the grand opening of the new AMC Theatres at the corner of Yonge and Dundas. All of the movies shown have been released on DVD but here are some mini-reviews in case you were thinking of giving these movies a chance.

Alien vs Predator - Requiem
Joe and I joked that we might not be able to follow the plot because we have not seen the first AVP. Fortunately, the plot is predictable with all characters being paraded like cattle to the slaughter for the Aliens and the Predator. Likely to survive: the mother who has just come home from a military tour of duty, the well-meaning former convict. DOA: the teenage girl who strips down to her underwear, her asshole boyfriend, the woman who says, "Why would the Government lie to us? The Government never lies." Wish he had died: the former convict's milquetoast brother who gets beat up by the asshole boyfriend. The fight sequences are more like badly lit sex scenes; a confusing flurry of torsos and dark limbs. Pretty bad but not bad enough to recommend.

The Mist
Surrounded by unknown dangers hidden in a thick mist, townspeople stuck inside a supermarket struggle to stay alive. There is much suspense generated by the mystery of what will attack next but the greatest tension comes from inside the supermarket where prejudice and scapegoating become the real dangers. There are the usual idiotic characters who deny that anything extraordinary is happening and Marcia Gay Harden's religious nut is a caricature. However, you have to give points to characters that find the growing mob mentality inside the supermarket scarier than whatever might be lurking outside. Worth renting and watching with friends.

Charlie Wilson's War
A look into the people behind the secret American financing of the Afghan rebels during their war with the USSR in the 1980s. I am not a fan of Tom Hanks but as the title character in this movie, he balances sleaze and political acumen believably. The movie also does a balancing act of being a good political satire though by the end, when the shadow of 9/11 is cast most strongly, the movie's treatment of the topic seems too slight in retrospect. Enjoyable but likely a case of preaching to the converted.

3:10 to Yuma
I have been waiting to see this movie since Air Canada rudely disrupted its screening during a recent flight home. So, needless to say, the movie is compelling enough to draw viewers in. Poor Christian Bale spends most of movie being bullied by land barons, Russell Crowe and even his teenage son. In a bid to save his ranch from seizure and get a little respect, Bale agrees to escort outlaw, Crowe to meet the 3:10 train to Yuma Prison with trouble dogging his every move. The acting saves the whole film from becoming as hokey as it sounds.