Last 2 movies in the theater...


Lost In Translation -


I really wanted to like this movie a lot. I thought the characters were interesting and I thought their circumstances were interesting. Unfortunately I didn't think the movie went far enough in exploring the characters. This movie is meant to be a character study, but after the initial setup no real exploration was done.


I was left wondering if the characters learned anything from their experience, and would they make any changes in their own lives or was this just a brief interlude in their lives. Actually I do like that ambiguity, I would have just like to have seen a little more character development.


The performances were very good, however, and I did like the "you are there" feel to the movie. At least that's how I felt. Overall I would recommend this movie. I think it is worth seeing.




Once Upon A Time In Mexico -


I can't think of one good thing to say about this movie. It was a huge disappointment. I was a fan of El Mariachi, and I thought Desperado was a fun movie, but this movie is terrible. There is nothing fun about this movie. The attempts at humor are so self-conscious and obvious none of it works. The action sequences are just there for their own sake, so they really just seem pointless and at time gratuitous. I found the story to be very confusing and had a hard time caring about any of it.


In the first two films in this series I thought Rodriguez did a good job of turning a couple of fairly simple and straightforward stories into something fun and interesting. I'm not sure what he was going for here, but a plot line about a coup-de-tat and drug cartels I think goes beyond the scope of what the Mariachi movies should be.


In fact the Mariachi is barely even a character in this. I can only remember him saying a couple lines in the whole thing. Johnny Depp in the real main character in this, and I was never quite sure what side he was on. It made it very hard to get involved with his character. And I have to ask, why is Salma Hayek in this movie? I believe she signed on without reading the script first, so I won't blame her for taking such a thankless role, but her involvement in this is very unfortunate.


Needless to say I can't recommend this movie. It was so boring I almost fell asleep.

Check out my new Saturday Night Live Page.

Reminded...


Yesterday I posted about my shock and sadness over the unexpected death of John Ritter. I did not post about Johnny Cash. This was not because I did not think his death was sad, just that it did not come as the shock Ritter's death did.


I wasn't planning to write about Johnny Cash until I read yesterday's very moving post on Wil Wheaton dot net. In his post he writes about listening to Johnny Cash on a road trip with his parents. I was reminded of how when I was little my grandparents took me camping with them in their motorhome all the time. Every summer we would go somewhere in the motor home and they would always bring their country music tapes, when I was really little it was their 8 tracks. Johnny Cash was one of their favorites, and mine too. Mine at least until I "got to old and 'hip' for that." I was never really hip, but I thought I had to try.


Those trips are some of my fondest memories from childhood and I was glad to be reminded. As I said yesterday It's easy to take what you have or had for granted.

From CNN.COM...
Actor John Ritter dead at 54


***(CNN) -- Actor and comedian John Ritter, who gained stardom in the 1970s sitcom "Three's Company," died of heart failure Thursday night after collapsing on the set of his current TV series. He was 54.***




It's weird how much this came as a shock to me. John Ritter is not an actor I thought about all that often. I didn't watch his new show, or any of the shows he did after Three's Company actually. But I do admit I did enjoy Problem Child. I remember watching Three's Company all the time when I was growing up, and I still catch an occasional rerun on Nick at Night. Recently I saw him on Conan O'Brien.


I remember that my high school English teacher was was friends with him when they went to college together. Ritter's death is a big reminder to me how unfair it is that something so unexpected like this can happen to anyone. Maybe it is another reminder to me that my childhood is gone, and that nothing can be taken for granted.

Finally the September DVD/Video pick of the month is up.


Check it out...

In SNL news....


I read this on CNN.COM.

***•Dustin Diamond
Age: 26.
Tours as a stand-up comedian; auditioning in coming months for regular role on "Saturday Night Live"; recording an album with his band Salty the Pocketknife.

Source: Associated Press***

Yikes!

Swimming Pool...


Yesterday I went and saw Swimming Pool. I have to say I'm surprised it's been getting such good reviews. Then again maybe most of the reviewers are men. I'm sure most male viewers are not complaining about the young woman in the film, walking around in various stages of undress almost all of the time.


What I didn't like about this movie, however, has nothing to do with the sexploitation aspects of it. I didn't like it for the same reasons I didn't like Adaptation. But I will say, at least in Adaptation the manipulation was meant as somewhat of a joke. Swimming Pool is just faux intellectualism.