Wordplay, The Wicker Man, & Hail the Conquering Hero

Wordplay is an outstandingly fun documentary about crossword puzzles, including touching on the greatest crossword of all time: the 1996 election day puzzle that could be completed either way depending on whether Clinton or Dole won. The movie was well made and enjoyable straight through, with a fascinating look at the crazy people who put my inability to do crosswords to shame. Everyone else in my family can do them, but not me. I have a lot more respect for Mike Mussina than I did before (I already had just the right amount of respect for the Indigo Girls) and watching Mussina, Ken Burns, Jon Stewart, Bill Clinton, and the Indigo Girls all solving a puzzle created earlier in the show was quite nice. Interestingly, the director, Patrick Creadon worked a lot for Maxim as a cinematographer. Gotta do something to make sure no nipple or pubes show. And that prepared him to make a good documentary.

The Wicker Man is the remake of the 1970s thriller classic of the same name. This one stars Nic Cage and is terrible. There is one reason I'm watching it, and only one: My Year of Flops and this particular paragraph from it, "Clearly something wicked and Estrogen-fueled is happening on the island and Cage’s escalating rage can be traced by the ever-increasing volume of his demands. After a certain point Cage begins screaming every line with hilarious urgency. When that doesn’t suffice Cage starts punching and kicking random women in the face. Just when it seems Wicker Park (sic) has reached an untoppable apex of jaw-dropping ridiculousness Cage dons a bear suit and starts yelling things like 'Killing me won’t bring back your fucking (sic) honey!' It is at this point that Wicker Man becomes unbelievably, almost inconceivably awesome." Unfortunately, I cannot top that paragraph in any way: the movie is that terribly, terribly awful/esome. And the many, many, many shots of the little girl getting hit by a truck. Seriously, Neil LaBute hates women so very, very much. And apparently making good movies. Because he certainly didn't want to make one with this film. It starts out fairly sensibly, and then goes batguano crazy as Nic Cage loses it. And if you ever wanted to see Leelee Sobieski kicked in the face, this film is for you.

Hail the Conquering Hero is one of the last Preston Sturges films I haven't seen and I only plan on seeing one more. Sturges is an extreme talent, able to make slapstick and satire work perfectly next to each other. The movie isn't nearly as good as Sullivan's Travels, The Palm Beach Story, The Lady Eve, and The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, but it's still entirely enjoyable and hilarious. At about the same level of The Great McGinty and Unfaithfully Yours. It's the breakneck pace that makes his films so outstanding. Of course they're ridiculous when you stop to think about them, but you don't have a chance to catch your breath before it gets to another classic line, like the cafe owner's rant about military mementos, so utterly ridiculous that anyone would ever carry that stuff around, but you're laughing hard. And the the mayor dictating his speech to his son and arguing about grammar... man.