"The Ten," "Diggers," and "Rush Hour 3."

The Ten- Sketch comedy has a tendency to be hit and miss as it is. Sketch comedy films even more so. "The Ten" (written by Ken Marino and directed by David Wain) is a series of ten sketches connected by being based on one of the Ten Commandments. Tying them together is narrator Jeff Reigert (Paul Rudd) who introduces each story while telling us his own in between. The first sketch starring Adam Brody is great. He plays a young man named Stephen Montgomery making his first ever sky dive. He's so excited that he jumps without his parachute. Stephen survives but he's imbedded so far into the ground that if he is moved he will die. He becomes a national celebrity as a result of this and the media raises him the level of a god. That is until the public gets tired of him. The lesson: "Thou shall have no other gods before Me." Much like the rest of the sketches, the actual commandment is almost an afterthought.
Some of these sketches are absolutely brilliant. "Thou shall not murder" with Marino as a doctor who loves to "goof" is very funny. "Honor thy mother and father" is hilarious and features Oliver Platt as an Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonator. "Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's goods" is an over the top bit of genius starring Liev Schreiber as a man who just has to have a CAT scan machine (you just have to see it) and "Thou shall not steal" with Winona Ryder (I love it!) is bizarre and hilarious. The rest of the sketches along with the links with Rudd are less consistent. "Thou shall not bear false witness" doesn't work terribly well and a few of the other sketches are decent but just go on for too long. As a complete film, "The Ten" isn't great, but enough of the sketches are that this one is definitely worthwhile. It's currently playing in Seattle at the Varsity and the Uptown. 6.5/10.

Diggers- Another film written by and featuring Ken Marino and starring Paul Rudd came out earlier this year. I (along with pretty much everyone else) missed this one during its brief theatrical run, but it's now on DVD and most definitely worth checking out. It's the story of four friends struggling on Long Island in 1976. The friends, all clam-diggers, are played by Rudd, Marino, Ron Eldard, and Josh Hamilton. Hunt (Rudd} has just lost his father and also has to worry about losing his job. Lozo (Marino) has a large family to feed but refuses to give in to the corporate giant South Shell. There isn't much else to set up.
"Diggers" is a film about real people with characters and dialogue that are very believable. It's a very enjoyable dramedy and shows us a side of Paul Rudd that we don't usually see. 8/10.

Rush Hour 3- I just got home from this about 45 minutes ago and so much of it has already disappeared from my memory. Like "Rush Hour 2," it's a fairly enjoyable watch but nothing really special. Chris Tucker is very funny and there is a great car chase through Paris. Jackie Chan seems to be relegated to second banana this time. There's not much else to say about this film. I had a decent time. It's not bad but it's certainly disposable. And for some reason I spent the whole movie thinking that Max von Sydow was Christopher Plummer. Sorry Max. 6/10.