Have you ever had the felling "Oh no, NOT another one!" when seeing another sequel released? Well I have and "Shrek III" was one of those. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the first two I begrudgingly rented the latest one at the behest of the Grouchmate. I'm not that much of a fan of animated feature films since they all went the way of computer animation, so I've avoided things like "Ratatouille" and their like. And NOT to my surprise, I actually LIKED "Shrek III". The characters were not just cartoon cutouts and they were done with wit and cleverness. Dialogue was not just stilted and formulaic like some of the stuff I've seen on Cartoon Network. And MY personal favorite sequence was Fiona, Shrek's wife, leading Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Rapunzel on a mission to save Shrek's life. Hilarious! My advice? If you have not seen it already then RENT IT!
Rescue Dawn is another in a long line of Viet Nam movies, but two things save this one from the "Who Cares" list. First: It is the true story of Lt. Dieter Dengler, a naturalized German American, who is shot down over Laos. Second: Christian Bale brings his intense personality to the role. These two things made it worth my time and I am glad that I watched it. It is not the usual "jingoistic" flag waver, nor is it one of the cynical declamations by a leftist film maker. It is simply a movie about the relentless will of one man in an impossible situation. Well worth your time, I'd say.
WARNING: No matter what friends, family or coworkers say, DO NOT BOTHER to rent "Knocked UP"! I was lured by the review of a trusted film critic into renting this, and maybe the theater release was not as bad, but the DVD release included nudity, a torrent of profanity and sexual references and a prosthetic view of a baby "crowning" from a stretched vagina. As Kidgrouch would say "OMG!!!" This has to rate as THE WORST video I have watched in YEARS! We had to watch two episodes of "This Old House" in order to clear this one from our minds that night. This was an example of why hell's fires burn bright and hot!