Anthony Hopkins has been in some crowd pleasers over the years, and The World's Fastest Indian -- a nifty title as well -- is surely one of them. A fun and life affirming story of a New Zealand pensioner (Burt Munro) in the 1960s, who wants to break the land speed record of his 1920s home altered "Indian" motorcycle. This requires this lively if somewhat in poor health chap to travel to the U.S., avoid various problems such as the fact the cycle is not up to code, and so forth. One does not worry too much.
The story is based on a true story, the director actually produced a documentary on the same subject in the 1970s. If one can find it, they can aim for more verisimilitude there, but this film (perhaps suggested by it being put in wide release after a limited run late last year as well as some cheers from various parts, including the blogsphere) will make you laugh and feel good. Not bad, even for 10.75.
[The Landmark, in lower Manhattan, is also a nice theater. Now, it has veggie hotdogs and other treats fitting the writer ... too expensive, but it is a nice touch. After all, it fits their demographic.]
I also caught some of A Walk To Remember on television recently. This is a teen movie with deep moral leanings involving a bad boy who falls in love with a minister's daughter (Mandy Moore, looking good without so much makeup), who has a secret of her own. The movie can be deemed a bit trite, but I was touched by it because of the honesty of the performances, and the fact that we really do care for these characters. It has a few missteps, but it suggests that "moral" stories can be told in a way that appeals to teenagers and wider audiences. They need not all be based on Nicholas Sparks books, but the potential is there.
Oh, and Sarah Vowell (radio commentator/voice in The Incredibles, author) was on Conan last night. She has such a distinctively wry voice ... if I ever buy her latest book, I would get the audio book. The NYT also have had her as a guest editorialist ... as usual, doing a better job than the people she replaces. For instance, her SOTU column (behind a subscription wall, but I have an alternate source; :-P NYT):
For there are American citizens who used to think that there could be no greater blow for representative democracy than a president worming his way into the White House thanks to one Supreme Court vote. That is, until the day said president was actually elected to a second term by an electorate that overlooked the previous four years of galling, irrevocable policies with upbeat, intelligence-insulting slogans -- ''Clear Skies,'' anyone? -- to say nothing of entering into an ugly war based on lies that has made the world a more dangerous place when it wasn't exactly all Davenport, Iowa, to begin with.
Thus the election unleashed four more years in which even a goody-goody nice girl, who was raised to believe that ''shut up'' is a curse, cusses at her morning newspaper with the foul mouth of a gangsta rapper who has stubbed his toe.
Except for that one creepy, silent breakfast when it hit her that her psychologist friend Kate, who counsels torture victims at the Bellevue/N.Y.U. Program for Survivors of Torture, might someday have patients damaged by operatives of the United States.
In fact, it has been said that God is currently angry with America. But according to God's publicist, the Supreme Being would like to clarify that He's not angry, but that ''He would like His name taken off the credits.''
Sigh. Need to listen to some more of her wry takes on presidential assassins, not how the current one assassinates our values.