Snatch; National Treasure

Hyperkinetic and fun, 'Snatch' tells the intertwining stories of midlevel thug, an unlicensed boxing promoter, a pawnbroker with a lousy mind for crime, some diamond thieves, and one unintelligible gypsy.

It's cheeky, it's unpredictable, and it's great, anarchic fun. I liked it. I didn't love it, but I liked it.

'National Treasure' is pretty much everything you want in a big-budget action movie. It has lots o' 'splosions, plenty of gunfire, a pretty girl, a car chase, and Nic Cage even swings like Tarzan at one point. It could've used some pirates and some ninjas, but I won't had that against it. 'National Treasure' is also fun, and just the thing for sitting around with your buddies, a pizza, and some beer.

I do, however, have two problems with 'National Treasure': first, I'm tired of seeing Sean Bean play the villain. I mean, I'm happy that this guy's getting work and paying his mortgage, but this is the "Sharp's Rifles" guy, for pete's sake! Somebody cast him in a hero role, already! Second, 'National Treasure' takes a a 'Quiz Show' approach to history. It thinks of history as a collection of interesting trivia, not a dramatic interplay of ideas, spread out over generations. Any history is good history, I suppose, but I'll take the slow development of the Human Race over factoids about who cast the Liberty Bell any time.