Category: movies

The Weekend Roundup

• Max was sick so we spent most of the weekend pummelling popsicles and baby Tylenol Cold into him. He was not a happy camper.

• Him being sick gave us a chance to watch a bunch of movies, which I’ll go into more detail on below and some surprisingly good NBA basketball.

• Now for the movies:
  • Bandits: It had its moments, but overall, it was a disappointment. I’m not sure what I expected because I missed all buzz about it when it came through the theaters, but I expect more from Barry Levinson and Billy Bob. Speaking of Billy Bob…

  • The Man Who Wasn’t There: So, this is what happens when the Coen’s make a film noir. This movie is beautiful, and I completely agree with the Coen’s decision to shoot it in black and white. The smoke, the shadows, everything about this movie had amazing texture and depth. Billy Bob gave a great performance, as did Tony Shalhoub (who should have received an Oscar nomination for his greasy lawyer… amazing). But, for some reason, it was still a disappointment. While it was beautiful, I wasn’t into it the whole time. I found myself looking at my watch, which I’ve never done in another Coen brothers movie. I can’t quite put my finger on it. On one hand, they’ve created a classic film noir, one that automatically ranks in the top 5 all time, yet it was still missing something. Can you make a great film noir and just make a decent movie?

  • The Others: This was the real winner of the weekend. What an amazing film. Forgetting all the hype, it felt like the first time I watched The Sixth Sense. The director did an excellent job of setting the mood from the very beginning, and, while there weren’t a lot of real scary scenes, I was on edge throughout. The ending was perfect, and Nicole Kidman’s performance deserved the Oscar. What a great piece of work. The lighting, atmospherics, acting, everything were spot on. This could not have been done better.

  • Metropolis: Not the old silent movie with Jocasta the lovely robot. This is an Anime film but some guy who’s name I can’t remember that the guys in the video store were watching. I haven’t finished it yet, but so far, it’s beautiful. It’s one of those complexly drawn animated movies I’ve ever seen. The characters and sets are a beautiful mix of cell and digital animation with hand-painted backgrounds. I haven’t finished it yet, but it’s basically what A.I. should have been and wasn’t.

• Summer TV sucks. Almost all the season finale’s are done, and none of the guilty pleasure summer series have started yet (yes, I’m looking at you Big Brother). Thankfully, the NBA Conference Finals have been excellent and worth staying up for.

I used to love the Oscars. I used to watch the whole show and savor every award. I was an Oscar junkie. Now? We watched the first thirty minutes, Six Feet Under, then another half-hour of the show before going to bed. I was unimpressed. With all the class Steve Martin had last year, Whoopie was the complete opposite. She’s just not funny anymore. Time for new blood. I think they should get someone younger, like Jon Stewart, or hey, let’s go out on a limb and get Jack Black to host the Oscar. The opening musical number, that was lacking this year, would be really interesting if Tenacious D did it.

I think I just don’t care that much anymore. I didn’t see most of the movies nominated. I’m so out of the loop. But hey, I think that’s OK. After Tom Cruise’s If we don’t go to see movies, the terrorists have already won speech, maybe I really don’t want to go support them. Anyone for Iron Chef?

Holy crap! (scroll down to the bottom) They’re remaking Barbarella AND turning Knight Rider into a movie? The world is coming to an end. I can smell it, and nothing can turn it back. The polar ice caps are melting, people won’t stop blowing each other up (which, really, when you get down to it isn’t anything new, they’re just doing it a little more frequently now), Liza Minelli got married to an apparently straight guy, and I joined a bowling league. Do you need more proof than that?

Ice age: We took Max to see this movie on Saturday and we enjoyed it way more than he did. He got bored with about twenty minutes left and started walking up and down our row flipping the seats down and watching them spring back up. For a movie that made almost $50 million this weekend, the theater was surprisingly empty (which is the only reason we let him wander – no one to annoy). The movie is really funny, much more so than I thought it would be. The only problem was the lady behind me, who exclaimed “Oh my GAWD!” every time something was ABOUT to happen. Jeez lady, it’s a KID’S movie. The plot’s not so outrageous that it warrants exclamations every two minutes. I bet she wet herself watching

Momento: “Oh my GAWD, it’s backwards!!!”

Zoolander: The rental of the weekend. This was a little odd, and I don’t think hit the mark. It’s funny, and there are some great performances, especially Owen Wilson and Will Farrell, but it kind of falls flat. The premise was really funny, and the cameos were kind of fun, but it’s just OK. Worth renting, but I would have been disappointed if I saw it in the theater. Speaking of disappointment…

Rush Hour 2: Can you tell I wasn’t in the mood to think about the movies I watched this weekend? This movie sucked. It sucked so bad I’m embarrassed for Jackie Chan.

Iron Chef: Unisex Salmon Battle: I bring this up just because every dish made my mouth water. It all looked amazing. If you don’t watch Iron Chef, you should.

Saturday Night Live: Is it just me, or does SNL rise and fall with the talent of the host? This week was great! The Donatella Versace sketch was actually funny this time, Weekend Update was better than it usually is and even the throw-away sketches like the Turkish talk show were very funny. And the “kiss” during Weekend Update had to be the funniest moment of the year.

I’m feeling better. No more nausea, and just a little sleepy from staying up too late last night. This weekend was pretty good in spite of my bout with the shrimp. We rented movies for the first time in several months and had pretty good luck with all of them. If you’ve been visiting this site for a while, you’ll remember that I used to do my weekend movie wrapup, but since we got DirecTV and TiVo, we don’t rent movies very often. This weekend, no one was feeling well, so we broke down and made the trip to the video store. Here’s the wrap-up in chronological order:

• Rockstar: I couldn’t sit through this movie. Marky Mark’s character was too much like Dirk Diggler from Boogie Nights. Earnest, naive and well, dim. The downfall was completely apparent and the only difference between his character in Boogie Nights and this movie was the cheesy ending (I came back in time to see the ending… stupid me). Jason Flemyng did have a nice little part as the closeted frontman though. It was a small part, but he really pulled it off.

• Evolution: I wasn’t expecting this movie to be as funny as it was. If you liked the Sci-Fi comedies of the 80’s (Spaceballs, Darkstar, Ice Pirates), you’ll love this movie. The sci-fi element of the movie is actually kind of interesting, and well, that’s a shock. I figured it would be a vehicle for a bunch of booger jokes. The cast pulls off the comedy well without making it the focus of the movie. They balanced the “Hey, we’re people fighting aliens” with the “Look at me, I’m that guy from the 7-Up commercials being funny!”. Fun movie – and get the DVD. The deleted scenes are actually worth watching.

• American Pie 2: I was surprised. I thought this one was funnier than the original. It’s no great film, but it is funny. Allyson Hannigan was especially good in a much larger part than in the previous flick. Speaking of, Jen’s been watching Buffy almost non-stop for the past few months (thank you, TiVo), and I’ve been impressed with Allyson’s chops. She’s got great comedy instincts while still keeping that innocent redhead vibe. And remember, you’re a special boy. The DVD is great. The outtakes and deleted scenes are worth watching, and the original casting tapes are funny just to see the casts initial impressions of the characters and compare it to the final product.

I guess I should say something about the Super Bowl. We turned on the pre-game stuff at 6, because we thought kick-off was at 6:20. Oh no! We had to watch a bunch of old football players read the Declaration of Independance and then watch a bunch of other non-football patriotic shmaltz for 35 minutes. I can’t imagine anyone sitting through ALL of the pre-game. I was sick of it after five minutes. I’m patriotic, but I don’t need the Declaration of Independance read to me by guys who were probably reading it for the first time. I don’t need everything Hallmark-ized for me. It’s a football game. Once the game started, it was great. The Patriots shut down the Rams like no one has all year. It was amazing to watch. And what happened to the Rams defense? They turned into the crew from last year. It’s like they thought they already had the game won before they stepped on the field and by the time they really started trying in the fourth quarter, they had too far to go and not enough time to get there. Kurt Warner was hurt, and that’s excusable, but it looked like they just weren’t trying very hard. Great game though. Too bad it’s the last real game until next fall.

This is the best news I’ve gotten in a loooo-ooong time. Wallace and Gromit are coming back in twelve one-minute shorts, and the best part is, they’ll all be online for free later this year.

TiVo Weekend Movie Review:

Thanks to TiVo, I watched a couple weird movies this weekend. The first, Jesus’ Son stars Billy Crudup as a Heroin junkie and all-around useless fellow who finds his calling in a “home”. It’s odd, and I should have paid more attention. The movie’s uneven, and probably not really worth watching other than Billy Crudup’s performance, and the scenes with Dennis Hopper and Denis Leary.

I also watched most of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. I saw it when it first came out on video, but I don’t remember it being quite so disturbing. It’s a movie I’ll have to watch in half-hour episodes. But, if you loved the show, you’ll want to see the movie. It’s just plain twisted though, so don’t watch it late at night or without all the lights on (yes, I’m a big chicken).

For a super early teaser, the Star Wars Episode 2 trailer is very well done.

I had a great post about our Pic-couch-nic today, but Blogger ate it. I’ll re-write it all later. Right now, it’s Better Off Dead, which I’ve never seen before. Yes, I know. I’m a deprived little man.

And so he doesn’t get annoyed, I’ll post this great movie reply on MY site:

In response to: “Who’s in charge?”

I reply: “Well, Delmer, I believe it should be someone with the capacity for abstract thought.”

I love that movie… (Oh Brother, Where Art Thou for the uninitiated).