Next Stop Wonderland

This 1998 movie from Director Brad Anderson was a surprise. It is a fresh, Woody-Allenesque drama (but set in Boston) that had me laughing and interested the entire 104 minutes.  In fact, my wife and I enjoyed it so much we watched it twice this week. And we’ve talked about buying a copy for our collection.

It’s about a young nurse (Hope Davis) who is dumped by a radical activist (played by a young Philip Seymour Hoffman). Her mother (the very funny Holland Taylor) places an ad in the Personals for her and hilarity ensues while she keeps just missing a young plumber-turned-Marine-Biologist (Alan Gelfant).

A very enjoyable flick for the whole family.

Run Fatboy Run

David Schwimmer directed this Michael Ian Black (of Stella fame) story. The principal Simon Pegg and Black wrote the screenplay. This was a very enjoyable movie with a lot of unusual humour. Sure the basic plot is simple and predictable, but it’s how the talented actors get from A to B that is a lot of fun.
Simon Pegg is excellent at creating a sympathetic character to watch in Dennis Doyle, someone who has trouble finishing anything. I think Pegg did even better here than in Hot Fuzz another of his films that I own. Although Hot Fuzz was filmed in the same year (2007) I found the growth of Dennis far more believable than the change in Nicholas Angel who goes from strictly by the rules and neurotic lawman quickly to someone too much like Harry Callahan for my taste. I think that film would have benefited from the character restraint in Run Fatboy Run.
Beside Pegg I liked Dylan Moran‘s character (the irrepressible but lovable and funny Gordon) best. Harish Patel‘s Mr. Goshdashtidar was a lovingly done but stereotypic Indian-man-in-England.
Other actors who were good were: Matthew Fenton (Jake), Hank Azaria (Whit) and Thandie Newton (Libby).
A very much recommended comedy for adults and definitely not suitable for a pre-teen sleep-over, son (you know who you are).

Two Mules for Sister Sara

This library rental was a treat:  both a comedy and an Eastwood action film (1970).  Directed by Don Siegel who also did Dirty Harry and co-starring Shirley MacLaine, this is wonderfully full of twists and features the real historical even of The Franco-Mexican War (1862-1866) as a backdrop.
Highly recommended for those interested in a fun movie but it ain’t for young kids.

Reaper

This is a new sitcom, filmed in Burnaby, BC. It isn’t about the same type of reaper as we saw in Dead Like Me which I reviewed earlier, the main character (Sam Oliver played by Bret Harrison) is working for the Devil (exceedingly well done by Ray Wise). I’ve only seen the first episode so I don’t know how the story progresses but it seems that Sam has to retrieve escapees from Hell. It sounds challenging and with friends like Bert ‘Sock’ Wysocki (Tyler Labine is fantastic) it is but this series seems to work excellently well. Just the right mix. I definitely want to see more! Just as engaging as Dead Like Me was.
Highly recommended.