Cable Movie Roundup #1

Here are some thoughts on a few movies I watched recently as part of my effort to take advantage of a free premium channel deal I got goin' on through FIOS...

Jumper: This is the one in which Hayden Christensen can teleport himself all over the globe, I guess because of his high midi-chlorian count or something. It's kind of a cool concept, with an attempt to develop a "mythology" for these Jumpers and those who pursue them, but it's a disappointing movie. The relationship between Christensen and Rachel Bilson never works, serving only to take time away from cool teleporting stuff. I'm never a big fan of Christensen, anyway. I enjoy some of director Doug Liman's other films, but this one never comes together for me. At least I never heard the dumb Third Eye Blind song of the same name, or if I did, I blocked it out.

You Kill Me: Another disappointment from a talented director, John Dahl's "You Kill Me" is an offbeat story of an alcoholic hitman who heads out of town to dry out, finds love, but may find he can't totally leave the past behind. This blend of low-key comedy and gangster hijinks has its moments, but it doesn't really go anywhere. It's more of a pleasant time filler than a must-see. Still, you have to love the casting of "Hey Now" Ben Kingsley in the lead as a Polish hitman, with Tea Leoni as his love interest, and if that pairing strikes you as at all interesting, you should see this.

Into the Wild: This is the most disappointing of these films. After all, it got all the acclaim and the attention. But though there is some beautiful scenery, I just can't get into the lead character enough to care. Perhaps it's director Sean Penn (and of course the writers') decision to make him look like such a self-absorbed bozo so early, then pile on the "his parents suck" angle throughout, but Christopher McCandless annoys me early and never wins me over despite an earnest performance by Emile Hirsch. This problem is especially acute given the long running time.

Plus Penn keeps doing things to separate me from the story: Letting Hirsch, in character, look directly at the camera, putting obvious overplayed oldies on the soundtrack when the Eddie Vedder original songs are so much more effective, and casting Vince Vaughn and apparently asking me to take him seriously.

"Wild" has some virtues, such as the cinematography, the Vedder music, and I'll be damned if Hal Holbrook doesn't nearly make the whole thing worthwhile with his all-too-late and all-too-brief appearance. Overall, though, I was glad I never saw this in a theater, though perhaps I might have felt more involved in that setting.