Film reviews: Tuxedo surfers, tough guy, rat in the kitchen

It has been a while since Dori and I saw a bunch of films all at once on the big screen. A few months ago, we watched Apocalypto and We Are Marshall in the same evening, but since then we have been selective about the pictures we want to see in the theater. This weekend, we broke the trend and saw movies three nights in a row. Two were animated, and one had a wryly animated lead character. All three were good.

Surf's Up: For an animated film about surfing penguins, this movie was actually pretty entertaining. I thought it had just enough of a lesson to be worthwhile, and that the lesson was not over the top, like is the case with some animated movies. There was some pretty good music in the soundtrack, and the animation was great. For a boy who grew up on the Animaniacs and TaleSpin, modern animation is a marvel. However, this is the last penguin movie that I care to see for the next few years.

Live Free or Die Hard: Watching Bruce Willis kill bad guys is cool enough, but the one-liners laced throughout the fourth Die Hard installment really make this one worth seeing. It has noticeably less bad language than the first three, which were all made back when writers and directors must have thought action stars needed to be cast with vocabularies somewhere between sailors and rappers to be believable. Willis (a.k.a. NYPD detective John McClane) seems appropriately worn out, and his sidekick, played by Justin Long, is a computer hacker who provides great contrast to Willis' gruff cop. Like Surf's Up, this film also does not try to be more than what it is, which is an action movie. Those who made the film know we bought tickets just to see John McClane shoot stuff and be tough, not to be lectured about some thin moral value. Live Free or Die Hard delivers plenty of explosions and humor, as well as the catharsis of watching the good guy win. Again.

Ratatouille: The animation in this film was slicker and more technical than Surf's Up, and the story was also more intricate. The trick here was getting audiences to fall in love with a rat, and once I got over that hurdle, I thoroughly enjoyed Ratatouille. What was interesting was that a lot of the dialog and some key chunks of the plot were at an adult level of understanding. At one point, the film's villain says something like, "...not that anyone can be a great artist, but that a great artist can come from anywhere." That line hit me like I've never been hit by a line from an animated movie before. It took me surprise that a film about a rat who dreams of being a chef could be deep. In the end, though, it's the fancy animation and typical slapstick laughs that are the best reasons to see Ratatouille.

Film review: 'Seraphim Falls'

Dori and I just finished watching this stunning Western about one man trying to kill another for a painfully tragic wrong done to him years in the past. It is beautifully shot and well-acted (Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson co-star), and if the plot sounds typically Western, it is. But the ending is not. It will surprise you. If you're familiar with John Wayne's films, the lessons that linger after Seraphim Falls will definitely resonate, even though the look and pace of the movie are unlike most early Westerns in every way.

One thing I enjoyed about Seraphim Falls was the fact that the dialogue and script do not make everything in the plot obvious. In other words, this movie does not treat viewers as unintelligent, needing every little detail spelled out. Instead, it allows things to happen that explain the plot--a mark of good literature and good film-making alike.

Warnings: Some foul language is peppered throughout, and a lot of realistic, gruesome violence is shown. It is definitely not a film to let the kids watch, but it would not offend most adults I know, and in the end it is actually edifying.

Summary: If you enjoy a compelling movie with adventure, guns and horses aplenty, combined with a meaningful plot, this movie is for you. I can't give too much away, but suffice it to say this film is worth an hour and 45 minutes of your time in more ways than one.