More Movies

I managed to see some more movies Friday night and I am rather impressed with myself. I have been reading so much I had forgotten the pleasure of watching movies.

Friday's choices were a mixed bag. The first choice was "The Village" by M. Nightb Shyamalan. I was horribly disappointed. After all the hype and all the hoopla, I thought it would be an incredible thriller. Instead, its a badly acted mind-fuck on multiple levels. The mind fuck is horrible in & of itself, but the way all these incredible actors turned into stiff caricatures was the true horror. I mean really! The cast includes such luminaries as Sigourne Weaver, Adrien Brody, William Hurt, Adrien Brody, and several other really good actors. So what happened that they turned into stick people? And the movie wasn't even scary! All the clue's were so obvious that it was impossible to believe the actors. Talk about disappointing.

My second choice was "Meet the Fockers." It was awful, but at least the acting, though over the top, was believable, and I was able to laugh at the movie. I'd rather end a thesis rather than be in any of the situations created in the movie, but at least they were funny and not painfully humiliating. And while I am not fond of humiliation in any form - I'm 1 of the few who found the old Laverne & Shirley show hard to watch - this movie was nothing but a bunch of laughs and sight gags.

I would never recommend either movie to anyone, but I can safely say that they are easy to watch and generally pieces of movie fluff.

Now, for other entertainment news bites. Here at work, I read the recent People & Entertainment magazines. In the June 24th, 2005 edition of Entertainment I have found my only piece of Michael Jackson memorabilia. And I can't even really call it Michael Jackson memorabilia. In the magazine was an article titled" News Notes: The Sideshow has left town." In it, the tag line says it all. "Stephen King thinks the media should be found guilty of covering Michael Jackson's circus of a trail instead of genuine news." In the middle of a (barely) 2 page article, there is a line that sums up a lot of the disgust I feel - "if you tell me that news doesn't belong in Entertainment Weekly, I respond by saying Michael Jackson under a black umbrella doesn't belong on the front page of The New York Times. Another line that says a lot is that, "the media . . . stoked the ratings with constant, trivializing coverage while far more important stories went underreported or completely ignored in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, North Korea, and Washington, D.C." I think I'll make another photocopy to share.

On a happier note, the next installment of the Superman movies is underway & it sounds interesting. Brandon Routh is playing Superman & Kate Bosworth is playing Louis Lane. Lex Luthor will be Kevin Spacey, & all this is from the June 24th/July1, 2005 edition of Entertainment Weekly. The short summary is that this is all about what happens when you come back after disappearing into space for 5 years after saving the world. Should be interesting and at least its a major step forward from those horrid rumors saying that Nicholas Cage was picked to play Superman. That would have been horrible!