Do you like dry humor and slow moving plots? Then you will love “The Life Aquatic”. After finishing the movie, I felt like I needed a glass of water: the movie was so dry! I would compare the humor to that of “Napoleon Dynamite”; however, Napoleon’s saving grace was the quotability of the lines.

The life aquatic has a great cast: Bill Murray, Angelica Huston, Cate Blanchett, Owen Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Michael Gambon, and many others. It follows a documentarian, Steve Zissou (Murray), on his mission to track down and kill the shark that ate his best friend. They encounter pirates, relationship issues, and attempted mutiny along the way. The story is off the wall and just quirky. There were moments that were unbelievably hillarious, but there was also a lot of scenes that were completely stagnant. Much of the movie (the relationships, conflicts, etc.) seemed completely artificial, which was probably intentional, but left any of the important plot developments with little or no weight; ergo, the viewer was not at all invested in the movie or the outcome.

I wouldn’t say that I hated the movie, but I didn’t find it very enjoyable either. I would liken this movie to a cold cup of your favorite type of coffee: you want to like it, and you feel like you should like it, but it’s cold and ultimately unsatisfying. If you liked “Rushmore”, “The Royal Tenanbaums”, or “Lost in Translation”, this is your type of movie. I would recommend renting it, trying it out, and approaching it with an open mind. However, don’t be too upset if the movie leaves you unimpressed.

This movie is based on the comic book characters created by Stan Lee many decades ago. Five scientists/astronauts try to perform a revolutionary experiment aboard a space station. A cosmic storm bomards the station, and everyone aboard is changed forever. Their DNA is altered in such a way that they each are given different super powers.

-Reed Richards, played by Ioan Gruffudd, becomes Mr. Fantastic; he is able to stretch and contort his body like super-elastic rubber. He is an uber-nerd with strong feelings for Susan, but he has trouble expressing his feelings without letting his intellect get in the way.

-Ben Grimm, played by Michael Chiklis, is transformed into The Thing; he is made of virtually indestructable rock and has super-strength. His transformation left him looking very disfigured, and he has trouble adjusting to the change.

-Susan Storm, played by Jessica Alba, becomes The Invisible Girl; apart from turning invisible, she can create force-fields. She has feelings for Reed, but she can’t get him to express it.

-Johnny Storm, Susan’s brother, played by Chris Evans, becomes The Human Torch; he can throw fire, turn his body into flame, and fly. He seeks fame and girls with his new found powers, which alienates him from the others.

-Victor Von Doom (what a name), the sponsor of their experiment who also went on the expedition became Dr. Doom; he obtained the ability to suck electricity from power sources and channel that energy into powerful electric blasts…oh, and he also got an indestructable metallic body and superhuman strength. He was a power hungry businessman who went a little off the deep end after being transformed into the evil Dr., so he becomes the arch-nemesis of the Fantastic Four.

The story is excellent. Like the X-Men they have to find out how to cope living with powers in a normal world. They also have to cope with the difficulties they have in their own relationships. The characters are very well played, and the movie is extremely entertaining. I did not enjoy the movie quite as much as the X-Men movies, but I would highly recommend it to anybody who likes good action movies (especially comic book fanatics, which I used to be). It was refreshing to see several relatively unknown actors make such an entertaining film, well done!

Jim Carrey, Téa Leoni, and Alec Baldwin star in this comedy. This movie is a humorous commentary on corporate scandals and American society. It starts with Dick (Jim Carrey) getting a huge promotion just before his company tanks. His company, like Enron, went bankrupt because of the decietful bookkeeping and corrupt actions of the company’s big men (CEO and CFO). As in the Enron story, the big men escape with all the money and the rest of the employees are left with nothing. The rest of the movie follows Dick and Jane while they unsuccessfully search for jobs and finally resort to a life of crime out of desperation.

The movie was hillarious in many parts, but, overall, it is not quite as funny as Jim’s old movies (Liar Liar, Dumb and Dumber). I loved the fact that it reminded all of us about corporate dishonesty; we need contunual refreshers, lest we don’t forget. The acting was very good by Carrey as well as Ms. Leoni. I don’t think that Baldwin was the right person to cast in his role: his accent was not very convincing, and he didn’t seem as sinister or as snobby as he should have. Overall, I think it was a very entertaining movie.