re: The Cabin in the Woods. TulaneLSU's 2011-12 movie review thread

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Our Idiot Brother Most of you fellow members of The Arts Board are quite familiar with the Diogenes who lived in Sinop three centuries before the birth of Christ. Diogenes was, of course, a wild man, one who cared nothing of social graces and truly a bete noire par excellence. In one antidote, a host invites Diogenes to a dinner party. There, Diogenes acts rudely by telling the truth. According to the host, he behaves like a dog, so the host throws him a bone to chew. Diogenes instead gets up, lifts his leg, and urinates on the host.

It is hard to watch Our Idiot Brother without thinking of old Diogenes. But this modern Diogenes lacks the teeth and the cynicism of the original. In their place are love and concern. In the idiot brother, played by the incompetent Paul Rudd, we find a man whose honesty is so honest, that his brand of honesty is gaucherie in a world of dishonesty. When a world is built on what is not true, where we clamor to put masks on everything, even ourselves, the one who sees clearly, with honesty and integrity, is the villain, at least at first. When those who need catharsis are in denial, the one who tries to bring what they need is a pariah. But truth eventually wins, and the pariah becomes the hero.

Unexpectedly, this movie was not a dumb sex-drugs comedy. It was a movie, with funny moments, about a wayward family whose only member who sees the world as it really exists is considered an idiot. That is until their worlds, built on deceit, treachery, and lies, are flipped upside down. And in the end, we see, in the words of Shakespeare, the affable character played by Rudd as "wise enough to be the fool." This movie, however, suffered from a script that waddled like a duck at times and it was too short to adequately develop the many relationships. After a slow, but comical beginning, the movie builds but never reaches a climax of enlightenment or emotion. 5/10

Prom - As a confessed lover of nostalgically sentimental movies, I went into this movie thinking it would whisk me back in time to my own high school years. But, I am sad to report, it did not. The movie tries way too hard to be sentimental and it comes across as a cheaply made movie. The premise is absurd - that prom is the entire point of high school and people look forward to it their entire lives. Unless things have changed, that's not true to real life. The director also tries to make prom night into some sort of Breakfast Club - attempting to be this generation's boundary crosser, showing that all kids in high school put on masks and one day (prom) take them off to see that they're all similar to each other. Judging by the zero other attendees in the theater while I was there, I don't think it succeeded in being a favorite of any generation, not even those who are juniors or seniors in high school, their obvious intended audience. 2/10

Rango As some have said, this is a kid's movie for adults. The themes of self redemption, challenge, and justice are ever present. Set with a Western motif, I have to say it's one of the best Western movies ever made. The computer graphics are believable, the story is tight, the dialogue wonderful, and the characters as spritely as a lizard crossing an interstate. It is also a humorous movie whose wit is matched only by its self knowledge as a Western. It is probably the best movie at the theaters in March. 8/10

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