Hitting for the cycle in movies

Seeing four movies in a single day is a rarity, unless I'm at a film festival. Even then, the chances of all four flicks being enjoyable are slim.

Tuesday beat the odds, with a quartet of movies that satisfied on a variety of levels. It occurs to me that it's like Evan Longoria hitting for the cycle, that convergence of skill, timing and luck resulting in a single, double, triple and home run in a game. Like viewing four fine flicks in a day, it doesn't often happen.

The home run was Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, that I'm definitely reserving a spot for on my Top 10 list of 2008 releases. This should be the indie sleeper of the year when awards are being bandied about.

Slumdog Millionaire is the story of Jamil (played by three actors at various stages of his life), who's introduced as an adult on a roll playing the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Jamil is on the verge of winning 20-million rupees answering trivia questions. His knowledge of the answers is anything but trivial.

Jamil is so good that he's accused of cheating, and is tortured by the police in order to learn how he does it. When he doesn't break, a detective begins listening to Jamil's explanations of how he knows what he knows. Boyle uses extensive flashbacks to Jamil's youth as a "slumdog," part of India's orphaned masses surviving by hook or crook. By sheer fate, every answer has a tragic, comedic or romantic connection to his past.

It's a fascinating yarn -- equal parts Quiz Show and Oliver Twist -- filmed by Boyle with the same vitality he brought to Trainspotting, 28 Days Later and Millions. Real edge-of-your-seat stuff. Slumdog Millionaire is slated to open locally on Dec. 26, and shouldn't be missed.

The triple was a third viewing of Kung Fu Panda, a movie as visually accomplished as Wall-E or Ratatouille, without Disney's sanctimonious vibe seeming to argue that animated art shouldn't be entertaining for kids or kids at heart. We shared it with friends, Ronnie Lee and Kristin Coffey of Cheers Events, a party planning business helping out with my upcoming story about backyard movie experiences.

Kristin and Ronnie (and their adorably plump baby Kevin, whom I now call "Po," after Jack Black's panda character) set up an inflatable screen in their St. Pete backyard so Times photographer Martha Rial could snap pictures for the story (slated for the Nov. 29 Home section). Chicken wings and a few beers got me thinking that Kung Fu Panda also deserves consideration for my Top 10 list.

The double for the day was Ron Howard's Frost/Nixon, dramatizing the 1977 television showdown between previous lightweight interviewer David Frost (Michael Sheen, The Queen) and disgraced president Richard Nixon (Frank Langella), who won a Tony for the role on Broadway and currently is my pick for a best actor Oscar.

Like most Howard films (Apollo 13 is the best exception), Frost/Nixon is a bit emotionally distant for my taste, until the final 45 minutes when these roles evolve from caricatures to characters with something to win and lose. Langella doesn't offer a make-up-caked impersonation but a telling impression of a proud man for whom defiance was his downfall. Frost/Nixon opens locally Dec. 25.

The single -- and only a surprise bunt legged out -- was Creature from the Haunted Sea, a 1961 schlocker directed by Roger Corman that Ronnie plugged into the DVD player after Kung Fu Panda. I know my father must've shown this thing at one of his drive-ins, but I hadn't seen it.

Strictly Mystery Science Theater 3000 material, with a boatload of Cuban Communists, sneaky treasure hunters and a dumbbell U.S. spy crammed on a boat, terrorized by a monster that looked like a cardboard Sleestack wrapped in crepe paper. Funny, funny stuff, especially with our crew providing commentary.

Nothing I'll want to revisit, but Creature from the Haunted Sea preserved my Tuesday batting average at 1.000 -- a noteworthy accomplishment any day with two or more movies on my to-do list.

Comments

[Steve Persall]

Thanks, Keith. I swear I don't know how that movie slipped by my misspent youth. Everyone should check it out, though.

[keith]

I remember watching Creature from the Haunted Sea when I was young and your description of the monster is right on.