Movies for Guys » Steve Zahn

Sahara

Billy Bob — Sun, 10 Apr 2005 04:00:00 +0000

Sahara is the instant pudding of action films. You take all of the ingredients of a good action adventure film, stir them together and serve ‘em up. The result is not going to compare with a good chocolate mousse of a movie, like say Raiders of the Lost Ark. But it’ll still be a crowd pleaser at the dinner table.

The unlikely plot here is a couple of ex-Navy SEALS who now do underwater salvage are led to the Sahara desert to look for a lost Civil War ironclad. Yeah, you read that right, civil war, ironclad, sahara desert. Stay with me here. Our hero is Matthew McConaughey, who I hate reviewing because I keep having to double check how to spell his last name. But I digress. To make a proper adventure movie pudding, we also need a sidekick, Steve Zahn gets the call here. Zahn is one of those guys who has a knack for playing characters you’d like to smack.

Along the way they meet up with the obligatory damsel in distress, another key ingredient of our adventure pudding. Our damsel is played by the lovely Penelope Cruz, who unfortunately stays very clothed, though they do throw us a bone with one bikini scene. Cruz’s character is tracking a plague in the same area when our boys rescue her.

Ok, got that? We have a convoluted plot, a hero, sidekick and damsel in distress. What else do we need? Well, all we need to do is add some guns, explosions, fights and some villains to use them on. Then we stir and serve it up. And serve it up they do.

Sahara gets 3 stars from us, though it was only a couple of bare breasts or chuckles away from that 4th star. Yes, it’s a bit disjointed, formulamatic and totally predictable. But it is exactly what it advertises itself to be and a fun way to spend a couple of hours.

National Security

Billy Bob — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 04:00:00 +0000

National Security follows the buddy movie formula to the letter. There’s very little originality here. It appears the studios decided to drop Martin Lawrence into a cookie cutter buddy movie script and just let him do his thing. With that said, this movie is a lot better than it has any right to be.

Martin plays Earl Montgomery a cocky police academy washout. His path crosses with policeman Hank Rafferty, played by Steve Zahn, and they mix like oil and water. As you would guess due to the laws of the buddy movie universe these two ultimately end up being forced to work together after they both end up with jobs at the same rent-a-cop agency called National Security.

Zahn is the straight man, while the director apparently decided to just wind Martin Lawrence up and turn him loose. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. When in form, Martin is very funny. We get a surprising amount of action in what we were expecting to be just a silly comedy from the trailers. Not only do we get multiple shoot outs, but we also get some pretty creative abuse of Ford Crown Vic police cruisers.

If you like Martin Lawrence this movie is definitely worth seeing. And due to the action, it’ll probably make a pretty good DVD even if you aren’t really a fan. We were pleasantly surprised that this movie was better than we expected, however that’s really not saying a lot. This is a good solid 3 star effort, not a must-see, but if you’re in the mood for comedy and action it’s not a waste of time.

Dr. Dolittle 2

Alex — Fri, 10 Dec 2004 04:00:00 +0000

Did you like the first Dr. Dolittle? Well then, you’ll probably like this second one, too. I guess Hollywood never wants to be accused of not milking a cow for all it’s worth and so it gleefully embraces any chance it gets to make sequels for movies that makes more than $100.00 in profit. Dr. Dolittle 2 (or DR2 for short) is, thankfully, a better-than-average sequel.

This time around, Dr. Dolittle (Murphy) is still busy performing his veterinarian duties but now he’s also heaped animal psychology and a bit of activism on his plate. Yes, all kinds of animals still show up at both his clinic as well as his home looking for help but Dolittle seems to have adjusted to it all. Likewise, the general public has gotten used to his unusual talents and all seems well.

The plot (what there is of it) soon appears in the form of some wild critters who recruit the good doctor to help them save their forest from an evil logging company (insert requisite Hollywood jab at corporate interests). As it turns out, the only way to save the forest is to get two bears of an endangered species to mate in that area. A female is already there but the only available male has been in captivity his entire life as a song-and-dance man..uh..bear.

As you might imagine, this bear is in NO condition to live in the wild and so Dolittle has 30 days to get him into shape and teach him how to fend for himself. This isn’t exactly an original or complex plot, but it is adequate for hanging about 90 minutes worth of jokes and gags on to. If you’re looking for a family-friendly way to kill time with one evening, DR2 would be a pretty good choice.