Merry (Belated) Xmas

Enchanted & National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Harvey Keitel wears the coolest tie in National Treasure: Book of Secrets. It has little skulls on it, and I imagine it's a subtle message to all of us about the quality of Book of Secrets. I only wish I could have seen the international symbol for POISON before entering the cinema. At some point I realized the plot of Book of Secrets makes no sense—why do “smart” movie characters miss all the obvious plot twists? Although, there was one marvelous moment, a welcome breath of self consciousness, where Justin Bartha's character says (approximately), “Of course someone else is looking for the treasure. It's an axiom of treasure hunting.” I saw the film with my wonderful parents. My mom said, “It's kinda like it should be on T.V., but then I guess they couldn't afford the explosions.” My dad said, “I liked it. Every minute had either a chase scene or a puzzle.” A pleasant new Goofy short shows before the feature.

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Enchanted is better the straighter it's played. Movies where “movie land” invades “real life” do offer some nice possibilities: Who Framed Roger Rabbit explored the visual and The Purple Rose of Cairo had the most to say about cinema and it's relationship to our lives, but Enchanted is best at allowing actors to act like cartoons, and then to lose the naivety of their animated fairyland. By the end of Enchanted, cinema conventions, though tweaked, still win. Amy Adams is as good as everyone says, here and in Charlie Wilson's War.