It's been a bit crazy of late and now that we're on vacation in California for the holidays, I thought I'd do some quick catch-up on movies we've had a chance to see but have not had a chance to review (yet again)
The DaVinci Code -- I don't get the appeal. Maybe the book is much better, but this was long and predictable...two things I hate when it comes to movies. While I do admit to having some fun watching it (mostly making fun of it), it really wasn't worth seeing in the theaters and I'm glad I didn't.
Lucky Number Slevin -- This film falls into the same category as films like and The Usual Suspects and Pulp Fiction. Unlike those films, however, this one plays itself like one big joke that you're in on from the beginning. While a bit more fun than it should have been, mainly because of the amazing cast, its just a piece of fluff that doesn't tread any new ground. At least it keeps moving along in spite of the obviousness of where it is headed.
The Break Up -- Now that Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston have actually broken up, does this movie matter any more? It's cute, but not by much. If you like romantic comedies that don't really wind up being romantic comedies in the end, you won't be too offended by this film. The DVD extras do present some deleted scenes and an alternate ending that would have made the film have a bit more bite to both the romance and the comedy. Why they were dropped is anyone's guess.
American Dreamz -- I may have already reviewed this one (can't remember), but this odd satire of politics and media was probably a great idea on paper (the U.S. President becomes a judge on an American Idol-like show and becomes the target of assassins) but the actual film is a big mess that is barely held together by a strong cast.
Stranger Than Fiction -- Reeks of being an independant film that somehow attracted a big name cast. This odd little film is about a man who hears a voice narrating his life and then discovers he's a character in a book where the author is going to kill him off. But it is wonderfully done. From the script to the acting, this film is not as comical as the commercials may lead you to believe, but it is wonderfully quirky and one of the best films of 2006.
Vanished -- Finishing off with a TV review today...this show started airing on FOX this fall when the new season began. Seven episodes aired in a Monday night timeslot before the show got removed for the Baseball playoffs and then another two aired for November sweeps before FOX pulled the plug entirely. The four remaining episodes of the ordered 13 were streamed online over a four week period. While watching the final episodes was a bit of a pain at times (small screen, frozen streams, glitches and other such crap), it was nice of FOX to at least give "fans" a glimpse of episodes that would have remained unseen in previous seasons. So...did the show get the chance to wrap up the storyline of the kidnapped wife of a prominent Senator? Sort of. While the show did have the balls to kill off the lead character after 7 episodes, they didn't have the time to put together a plausible end that wrapped up everything. We got to see the Sentor's wife escape and rejoin a prior love with whom she had a child. But why she was kidnapped and exactly by whom will forever remain a mystery. It made me long for the days when a network cancelled a show and you never heard from it again. I'll let you know how a few other shows that wrapped up their short seasons via online streaming fared once I get around to them.
Well...I'll post again in a few days with a blog about our trip to California and how we've discovered that Malcolm may be allergic to holidays (since he's thrown up on at least three of them...Halloween, Thanksgiving and Chanukah).
Be seeing you.
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