One Word Movie

May the Lord have mercy on me

After about three good movies coming out in all of December, there are about a million films coming out on Friday that look interesting. There is that new Clint Eastwood one, maybe that Closer one (even though it stars Jude Law), and 2046 by Wong Kar Wei. This is the sequel to In the Mood for Love, which was a critically acclaimed piece of shit, so I might give it a miss. Then there's Team America which could be worth a look, and a new film by Lukas Moodysson. I probably won't go to see the Moodysson one, he sounds as if he's off on a bit of a teen nihilism tangent at the moment. The BBFC says it contains strong sex, sex references, and surgical images. Nice. And neither will I go and see Vanity Fair. It sounds like an exercise in point-missing. Read the book instead, it's an English version of War and Peace, only it's better and one third of the size.

Oh yeah, and Nick went to see The Aviator and he reckons it's good (caution: this is not an official rating), so now I'll definitely have to go and see that. Jeepers.

Today's one word movie is Napoleon Dynamite. I almost didn't get to see this film. I tried to go and see it in Islington, and it was sold out. Then, one day in the Christmas holidays I rolled along to the Odeon Covent Garden cinema, to be greeted by a young man in an advanced state of gormlessness.

- Could I have a ticket for Napoleon Dynamite I say
- That's nine quid he says.
Blimey O'Reilly I think to myself, this film had better be good.
I get the ticket into my hands, but crushing disappoint ensues:
- This is a ticket for I Heart Huckabees. I'm sorry, I don't want to see that, it's got Jude Law in it, I say.
- ? says the thick half of the IQ twins.
- Can I have a ticket for Napoleon Dynamite please? I say
- That starts in two hours, we changed the times, says Gormless.
- Can I have my money back then please? I say.

The answer to this is yes, eventually, after the superviser has just looked at you as if you are proposing a conceptual work of art involving the plumbing in the men's toilets. The Odeon Covent Garden: a shit cinema.

Erm, oh yeah, there was a point to this story. After these two abortive attempts, I was wondering if Higher Powers did not mean for me to see Napoleon Dynamite. I worried if attempting to see it one more time would show contempt for these Powers. But then I also thought, why would Higher Powers be afraid of a whimsical comedy-drama like Napoleon Dynamite? So I decided to attempt to see it one more time, even if it meant risking the Higher Powers keying my karma.

You can tell from the credit sequence that Napoleon Dynamite is going to be good. It's a cheap film, but this means that they have to rely on imagination and inventiveness. So, for instance, you get credits made out of food, and a llama that is only in two shots. I wanted to see more of the llama but presumably they couldn't afford it. And they have the best bad t-shirts since Thora Birch's Raptor effort in Ghost World.

The whole thing operates on terrifying principles of nerd logic. These are not comedy nerds. They are scary like radioactivity. It is very entertaining. Go and see it. This film is good.

posted by Chairman Peyote @ 11:48 AM