i m N s h o

I always like it when my opinions get validated, especially when it happens so quickly after I state them. I just didn't quite expect it to be validated quite this way. Pixar's latest, Cars , opened a couple of weeks ago and was, of course, a huge hit . Millions flocked, more millions were made and everybody left happy 'cause Pixar had done it again. So I was rather surprised, when I finally went to check it out, to find out how safe Cars really was. It's not just the Doc Hollywood storyline (although that doesn't help), but it seemed like the most formulaic and unoriginal of any of Pixar's films. They even sink so low as to embrace that most tired of Disney animation formulas, the music montage. (And not once, but twice! If you stay for the credits, you get a second montage for your viewing "pleasure".) This from the guys that stood their ground when making Toy Story when the Disney suits asked where the songs were. It's not like it's a bad ...

Just figures that the last of May's movies that I get around to seeing was the one I'd like best. Yes, I'd heard all the good reviews , and I wanted to see it… it just took longer to get around to it than any of the others. I've always liked Philip Seymour Hoffman, and his villain here is wonderfully evil. The twists and turns of the plot are convoluted enough for a Mission Impossible film, without veering off into the realm of completely-impossible-to-suspend-disbelief, and the opening teaser is a great start to a movie so wrapped up in masks and questions of identity. It's too bad Tom's eccentricities seem to have smacked this pic around. It's doing okay , especially when you factor in the overseas box office. But then you compare it to the previous two MI movies, and suddenly it's not looking so good.

Gotta love summer movies. After months of scrabbling to find something worth seeing that doesn't entail scouring the art house releases (and the necessary schlep to LA to find an art house theatre), suddenly there's enough out that I'm scrambling to catch them all. Not that everything I'm seeing is great, but they're certainly more appealing than, say RV, or Scary Movie 4 or Failure to Launch (just to pick a few Spring gems). This actually started out as a ridiculously long post, but I soon realized that, at the rate I'm going, I'd never actually finish the damn thing. So I'm going to break it into bite sized bits, starting here: Over the Hedge . The seemingly obligate digital animated feature for May was surprisingly amusing. And, being a sucker for a good sight gag or running joke, there was plenty there to be had (the boomerang bit, for instance, got me every time). There's something about digital animation that seems to have struck a cord with t...

The biggest disappointment so far has been X-Men: The Last Stand . I don't know if we can entirely blame Brett Ratner for this mess, since it sounds like a lot of the principal work was done before he came aboard, but this was such a hack job, I figure why not blame him? (Maybe that's Entertainment Weekly's fault.) My big problem with this one was that it was SO obviously a transition movie. With seemingly dozens of new mutants to fill out the story, it's amazing any of them got screentime. And I hated the way characters that you've followed in the first two films (Mystique and Cyclops for instance) got such short shrift. But, hey, they had to wrap this one up so we can get on to the Wolverine movie, damnit! As for the whole Phoenix storyline, I never followed X-Men in the comics but I hope to hell there was more to that "epic" storyline there than there was here. Her character spent most of the movie standing around looking quizzical/angry and not doing...

Next up was The DaVinci Code . I enjoyed this one a lot, but I understand some of the criticisms as well. (And no, that doesn't include the "it's all true/it's all a lie" debate. It's fiction people… it's not meant to be true. At most, it should be an interesting excercise in "what if", and as such, I think both the movie and the book are successes.) Part of the problem for me, and I assume a lot of the people going to see the movie, is that we all know how it ends. The fun in the story is all the twists and turns and betrayals, never knowing which way the story's going to turn next. If you've read the book, you already know all these things, and Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman were nothing if not dutiful in there faithfulness to the story. (They were probably convinced they'd be lynched if they strayed too far from the source.) The other problem for me were the backstory moments. In the book, somehow, Brown manages to keep the moment...

'Wonderful Life' Tops Inspiring Film List I honestly have never gotten this pic. All I've ever seen is a gleeful embrace of taking the blue pill. A veritable paean to rigid conformity. "That's it, George… give up your dreams and everything you've ever wanted for yourself. Everyone else will be better off for it! Conform, baby, conform!" Inspiring my… foot. Must I point out that the people handing us this modern-day fable were, arguably, all living their dreams? Actors, writers, directors… no one gets into those jobs "just to pay the bills." (Look at this, I'm reduced to actor bashing, a petty pastime I detest, by this movie!) But they're the one's selling us this utopian conformity ideal. I hate It's a Wonderful Life. There, I've said it. Damn, I'm a cynic. Or maybe just incredibly selfish. But at least I'm honest about it.  

Between nü-metal, emo and god only knows what other tedious music trend I've been suffering through the past couple of years, I have lately been pleasantly surprised to find new music on the radio that I'm actually interested in listening to! (Not that it's been all bad—I doubt I've have discovered anything as interesting as The Dresden Dolls if I wasn't bored by everything else I was hearing.) The Raconteurs Jack White finds a bassist! And a few other bandmates and kicks up this cool side project. "Steady, As She Goes" is the track getting airplay right now, but I'm liking every track on this album so far. They also get props for one of the most entertainingly retro websites I've seen. No mouse, please… you're in the land of DOS. She Wants Revenge These guys sound like they got stuck in the Rock of the 80's aisle at the local record store for too long, and would sound right at home fronting for the like of Depeche Mode or the Cure. But t...

Synchronicity fascinates me. I'm always wondering if there's some deeper "meaning" to it, especially when it happens a lot. I tend to get it in waves, where I'll go months without noticing anything, then suddenly there's all these different things happening that just happen to synch up or reflect or seemingly comment on something else that's happened in my life. Very strange, sometimes. The other day, Dani & I were up in LA for an appointment and, rather than face the rush hour ride home, decided to grab a late lunch and a movie. We headed over to the Grove, since it has some of our favorite restaurants, a good theatre and lots of Dani's favorite shopping spots. Killing time between lunch and the movie, I got dragged into Crate and Barrel, where I was subjected to (and asked my opinion on) patio tables, wine glasses, martini glasses, candle holders, candle stands… it was a full-circuit browse of the store. Hanging out in one of the bar ware displa...

(To be honest, it's more that Entertainment Weekly's interviewer, Neil Drumming was unimpressed with Brett Ratner. But let's face it, it's always more fun to be inflammatory.) Entertainment Weekly recently ran this preview of the new X-Men movie. Primarily, it's a profile of Brett Ratner, and all the pressure he's under directing this third film in the franchise. Throughout the article, there are little indications of Drumming's attitude. Lines like "Try as he may… he can't seem to get on the good side of the press these days" and "somehow managing to sound both cocky and earnest" aren't exactly gushing with admiration, although that may be clearer in hindsight. When it really becomes obvious that Drumming was not a fan of Mr. Ratner's is in the closing of the article. The last few paragraphs detail Ratner aggressively navigating an LA parking structure and bursting into traffic… "I'm going to the Mission: Impossible...