Oh, the Movies We've Seen

BIGGER THAN THE SKY
This is definitely a little movie but quite an enjoyable bit of fluff for all that. After his girl friend breaks up with him, an ad man decides that he needs to break out of his mold. He tries out for the local community theater production of Cyrano de Bergerac and winds up getting cast as the lead. He becomes more and more absorbed by acting while simultaneously being attracted to the actress playing Roxanne. At times this is determinedly quirky but as this is a love letter to acting and the theater that is forgivable. Look for Patty Duke playing twins. (This will only make sense to anyone who ever saw The Patty Duke Show). We didn't discover it until the credits were running and it doubled our fun.

HC Rating: *** Good despite lack of flubber

EQUILIBRIUM
Hannah came home from a "shindig" raving about this movie, "It's so much better than The Matrix!" No one in our household is a huge fan of that movie so the bar for our expectations was not set all that high. This movie paid off in spades for style and, in our opinions, bettered The Matrix for plot.

Combining elements of Fahrenheit 451, THX-1138, 1984, and Brave New World, it is set in a post-WWIII world where humans dose themselves at regular intervals with drugs that repress emotions so no one will hate and, therefore, hurt others with war. However, naturally, the down side to this is that there are no positive emotions either. Christian Bale portrays Preston, a top-level "cleric" (a.k.a. fabulously trained killing machine) who finds and destroys "sense offenders" who have stopped taking their drugs and are indulging in books, art, music and the like. Preston accidentally misses a dose one day and finds out what he's been missing. His partner, Taye Diggs (yes, ladies, now the truth about why I raced to rent this movie is out!), is ambitious and on his trail as he tries to conceal his burgeoning emotions while still indulging in them. There is more to the plot (albeit not a lot more) but the overall message and ending was much more positive than in The Matrix and ... stylish fighting out the wazoo! 'Nuff said. Mind candy but quite a treat anyway.

HC Rating: **** Nine thumbs up!