The Legend of Zorro Failed to Launch the Interpreter

This weekend the name of the game was relaxation. Well, other than that whole tiling escapade - though in a bizarre way that was also relaxing. But the most relaxing bit was watching several movies with Tim (no, not all in a row.) In point of fact, we watched The Interpreter, The Legend of Zorro, and then I watched Failure to Launch (while Tim was battling the forces of evil with some friends and an LAN.)

Failure to Launch:

If you're in the mood for light, airy, and completely devoid of substance, this is a good movie. It's fun, it's relatively clean (probably still wouldn't let the under 15 crowd watch it) and the acting is above mediocre. The story is of three grown men, all friends, who still live with their parents. Of the three, Matthew McConnaghey's character is the only one who "shouldn't" be living at home. (One is a "wanderer" and the other actually owns the home and lives there so as to take care of his mom.) Enter Sara Jessica Parker (sorry, I'd use their character names, but, well, they were that forgettable) who is a "professional interventionist". Essentially she dates the guy, builds up his self-confidence, and thus he now feels empowered to leave the nest. So Matthew's parents (Kathy Bates and someone who looks familiar but I can't place him) hire Sarah Jessica and, as you would expect, Sara Jessica and Matthew fall in love - he finds out she was hired, she gives the money back, they're angry at each other, the friends step in and then everyone lives happily ever after. For it's genre (smack in the middle of chick-flick land), it's good, but not on the level of classic chick-flicks. I'd give it 3 chicks out of 5.

The Legend of Zorro:

High in both schmaltz and sequel factors, this movie is exactly what you'd expect for another Antonio Banderas as Zorro movie. Other than wanting to reach into the screen and turn Joaquin (Antonio & Catherine Zeta-Jones' child in the film) over my knee or put him in the corner for the next miliennium or do something that was mildly reminiscent of parental supervision and/or discipline, it was a fun two hours. The brat does end up helping to save the day, of course, and there are some fun sword fights and other standard Zorro staples. The only thing I really disliked is, unfortunately, one of the major subplots that involves Catherine Zeta-Jones' character divorcing Antonio Banderas' character, as part of a blackmail plot to get her to spy for the US Government until California becomes a state. They made it plausible, certainly, but at the same time the added fighting didn't come across as love-lorn, romance - it came across as bitter bickering and fortified thoughts that they had very little foundation for a successful marriage in the first place. Of course at the end they are reunited and she finally realizes that Zorro is part of who they are, but it was enough of a jar in the plot line so as to basically ruin it for me. That said, I'd give it 2 Zs out of 5 cause, well, it's still Zorro.

The Interpreter:

Nicole Kidman plays an interpreter for the UN (in NYC) who overhears a whispered assassination plot one evening when she returns after hours to retrieve something she left behind when the building was evacuated earlier that day. She doesn't report it until the next day after hearing something that makes it "click" to her, causing her to appear suspicious to the powers that be from the get go. Sean Penn is the Secret Service Agent in charge of the investigation into the reality of the plot - back on the job even though his estranged wife was killed just two weeks ago. The plot thickens as it's revelaed that Nicole Kidman's character is from the African country now under the oppressive thumb of a liberator turned terrorist dictator - the man whose life she heard threatened. It's a fascinating jumble of twists and turns that keeps you on your toes wondering if Sylvia (Kidman) is good or one of the "bad guys". In the end, they dispense with archetypes and leave you with characters who don't fall neatly into "good" and "bad" slots but who are quintessentially human. I especially liked the fact that they rebelled against a "tie it all up with a pretty bow" ending and also resisted an impossible romance between Kidman and Penn's characters. I give it 4 microphones out of 5.