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...

What better words to describe 4 days in Vegas? We had moments of each, I think, last week. Ridiculous would be the "security check-in" at Bellagio. I don't spend much time there… way too high on the pretentious meter for me. But there was an Ansel Adams exhibition in their art gallery that Dani wanted to see, so before we left town on Saturday, we stopped by the casino. Driving into the self-park tower, we were stopped at a security checkpoint, where we were asked to open the trunk so they could examine it. The car ahead of us was stopped and "examined" and it took them all of about 2 seconds. Our time was about the same. It almost took longer to stop and pop the trunk open then it did for the officer to "examine" its contents. I'm thinking that, unless terrorists are carrying boxes marked "Danger! Explosives!" that security check's unlikely to accomplish much. La Reve may not be my favorite Cirque style show in Vegas (that would be ...

I signed up for daily news updates from Channel 4 here in LA a while ago, and every once in a while there's something that catches my eye that simply begs to be clicked. (Not that I think Channel 4 provides much in the way of actual NEWS, you know, but they're occasionally entertaining). One recent email had a link to a Pagan Holidays Quiz . And I thought, 'how progressive and open minded!' So I had to click the link and find out what it was all about. Turns out the quiz is pretty well researched and I got stumped several times. (Guess my old neo-Pagan days didn't prep me too well for this one.) But what made me laugh was the intro sentence to the quiz: Religious freedom has always been one of the cornerstones of the United States, and these days it is blossoming more than ever. Just the other day, I was listening to KROQ and they were interviewing some woman from the Westboro Baptist Church (and no, I'm not linking to them, for reasons which should immediately ...

Last fall, Rockstar Games got slammed for their Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas videogame and some hidden code that a modder discovered. Using the code, you could unlock a sex-based minigame, and your character could get some onscreen action. The mod, and the scandal surrounding it, became known as the Hot Coffee mod, since it was triggered when the main character is asked by his girl if he wants to come inside for a cup of coffee. The videogame knee-jerk reactionaries were up in arms, of course! Sex in a videogame! My god, it will corrupt the children! Never mind that this was a Mature rated game already, for ages 17 and over. Never mind that the rest of the game was about car-jacking, drug-dealing and blowing people away in a cartoony version of the LA Gangsta lifestyle, so those children you're so concerned about shouldn't be playing it anyway. And never mind that, in order to see this pixelated little sex game, your child would have to have enough internet savvy that you ca...

All I can say is that, if this is legit, it's pretty much the best thing I've heard coming out of Washington in months. Rove Informs White House He Will Be Indicted Way to go, Karl. I hope they throw the book at you.

That's Hanks, not Cruise. A couple of weeks ago, I heard a discussion about The DaVinci Code , talking about Tom Hanks' hair. Apparently, people are not impressed by Mr. Hanks tonsorial choice for this movie. (Personally, I figure the people upset about this are missing the whole point of going to a movie like this… you go to the DaVinci Code for the story, not simply to see a Tom Hanks movie. He looks like many of my Acting/Writing/Liberal Arts profs at UCI, so I think the hair is perfect for the character.) But the conversation went on to speculate that the film's box office might suffer, thanks to the backlash regarding his hair. An idea I, of course, found absurd. But then there's this little problem… 'Mission: Impossible III' Doesn't Thrill Arguably, this Mission has gotten some of the best reviews of the series, and yet people were not clamoring to see it this past weekend. Somewhat similar to DaVinci Code in this aspect, there's been a lot of tal...

I know I've been bemoaning the fact that, for years now, no one in this country seems to be paying attention, nor actively care, what Bush is doing to this country as President (which is, of course, hyperbole). We're all too busy arguing about the war and bashing each other for obviously lacking in patriotism (funny how both sides of THAT argument make the same claims), or lapses in moral fiber, or whatever. But I'm done wondering about that one for now. Now it's "Is anyone in Congress paying attention?" Bush Defies Hundreds of Laws According to this Boston Globe story, he's got a very simple solution to any conflicts with Congress. He'll just ignore any law he disagrees with, 'cause he's the President. I used to mock him for his apparent stupidity. Then I stopped, since I realized that was a mask for more insidious things. Not that I think he's a very bright man… the most he'll likely get from me is "cunning." But he does ...

Judging from recent box office results , we're all either in the mood for mindless comedy or anything in the horror genre. (In fact, judging from all the horror films that have opened in the past few months, low-budget horror is apparently a license to print money.) Last week was Scary Movie 4 (comedy making fun of horror, so it scores bonus points), this week Silent Hill . Last month, Madea's Family Reunion (for TWO weeks) and Big Momma's House before that. And Hostel kicked off the year in grisly horror fashion. Meanwhile, satire is limping along, with Thank You For Smoking going into wide release (and nobody noticing) and American Dreamz opening in 8th with under $4 mil in ticket sales. And let's not even discuss V for Vendetta which, while not in the satire vein, was arguably in the "challenging preconceptions, try to make you think a little" camp. This was one of the best movies I've seen so far this year, so the fact that it's made less th...

On the drive in to work today, I saw this bumper sticker… "Jesus died for you so he wouldn't have to live without you." Now, aside from the logical disconnect between "died for you" and "live without you", isn't this—I don't know—an incredibly self-centered appeal? "You're so important that Jesus died to save you"? Doesn't that run counter to the whole humility thing that's always been stressed in the sermons I've heard? It being LA, I can understand such an ego-driven appeal, but still, it does seem a little… arrogant.  

White House shake-up touches McClellan, Rove Admittedly, it's not "Karl Rove Resigns," or "Karl Rove Indicted," or "Karl Rove Consigned to the Seventh Cirle of Hell" (all right, so you're never going to see that last one, but I can hope karma works, can't I?). Still, the fact that Karl Rove is no longer handling policy has GOT to be good news, right? We can only hope.  

I got a wild hair this evening and started organizing and cataloging our books. Dani and I, being voracious readers, have enough books to qualify for library status, and keeping track of them is, frankly, impossible. But, since I've found myself re-buying the same books several times recently, I figured it couldn't hurt to at least keep track of the ones on my shelves… the ones I either haven't read or are among my main interests. While digging through the stacks, I came across a few that begged for comment… When I, Robot came out on DVD, the copy I picked up came with a copy of The Illustrated Screenplay , by Harlan Ellison. Yes, I bought the DVD. I actually found the movie entertaining, especially the climactic battle at USR. You just need to keep in mind that the movie bears about as much resemblance to the source material as a James Bond movie does to the book it shares a title with. Of course, the irony here is the thought of Ellison's screenplay being bundled wit...

Is it REALLY just me? I mean, judging by Rotten Tomatoes rating , it sure seems that way. (I do see that Roger Ebert not only doesn't fall for it, but also has some of the same criticisms I have. I always knew he was a good critic.) But seriously… what are they seeing that I'm missing? Or maybe it's what I'm seeing that they're not? (I guess now is the time to shout out SPOILER WARNING!!! If you haven't seen this movie yet, and have any interest in seeing it, go away now . I guarantee I'm going to ruin it for you.) The sad thing is, I was really along for the ride for about the first 100 minutes (give or take). Looks like we've got a good caper film in the works, there's lots of questions as to how they're going to pull it off, what they're actually pulling off, who gets what in the end… everything you'd expect and want from a movie like this. But then we get to that last half hour (give or take). The hostages are freed, the police are t...