movies

The in-flight movies on the way back to Japan were kind of poor, or poorly chosen. They had Tin-Tin, the new Muppet Movie, and one other "big screen only" action flick (I forget which one), and I wasn't up for watching it on a 5" screen with washed-out contrast. So the only movie of theirs I watched was:

Tower Heist
I like Ben Stiller in just about anything, but I would have cast Casey Affleck and Ben in each others' roles. I guess Ben wants to be a serious actor now. Alan Alda was great as a bad guy. Other than that, I expected more out of a cast of this quality, the drama and laughs were both a bit weak, and the final target of the heist was unbelievable in an unenjoyable destroying-my-suspension-of-disbelief kind of way.

So I turned to stuff I'd loaded on my notebook, which I'd been saving for a while:
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
If I'd known this was a Shane Black thing, I'd have seen it sooner. If I'd known Val Kilmer would be this cool, I'd have seen it sooner. RDJ is solid in his role as well. Funny, well-written, and enjoyable from start to finish.

The Missing
Tommy Lee Jones is awesome. The guy playing El Brujo was horrifying, and the makeup was really good -- I just assumed they'd found someone that ugly. I was surprised to see Val Kilmer show up in this as well. A little unintentional theming, I guess? His southern accent was distracting. Cate Blanchett's American accent is not. Ultimately, the movie went on a bit longer than I would have liked; the second act stretches on for a bit. The finale is good, though I was honestly expecting something even more bleak, considering the tone of the rest of the movie.