Monday, June 05, 2006

Billion Dollar Babies

I have been neglecting my blog lately. Life has been full. Golf season is officially on at the club, and those dudes love to drink. Also, my sister is about to give birth to her second child. I wasn't around for the birth of her first, so this should be interesting. Hopefully, the new kid will be as cool as his or her older sister, pictured above with Alice Cooper when he made an appearance at my sister's radio station.

With the little time I have had for myself, I've seen a few movies. "The DaVinci Code" was pretty good, although I think it completely wasted Tom Hanks. Seriously, I don't think he's ever played a less interesting character. The best thing about the movie was Ian McKellen, who could read a phone book and make it sound intriguing. I only read the first hundred pages of the book, but I correctly guessed who Audrey Tautou's character really was about 1/3 of the way in. Still, it was entertaining in a hokey way. I think Opie missed a golden comedic opportunity when Tom & Audrey pulled up to the intercom at McKellen's chateau. Gandalf asks them three questions before he lets them pass. They really should have referenced the Bridge of Death scene from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" here:

MAGNETO: What is your name?

FORREST GUMP: Robert Langdon, Professor of Symbology at Harvard University.

MAGNETO: What is your quest?

FORREST GUMP: To seek the Holy Grail.

MAGNETO: What is the capital of Assyria?

FORREST GUMP: I don't know that!

(FORREST AND AMELIE ARE FLUNG INTO THE GORGE OF ETERNAL PERIL)


I also caught "Art School Confidential." It started out really well. I recognized many of the characters from my days at NCSA. If it had just been a quirky ensemble comedy, it could have been great. Sadly, it all goes to Hell. The movie turns nihilistic and hugely depressing, and I just wanted it to end.

The only other summer flick I'm really looking forward to is "Nacho Libre." If that turns out to be crap, well... that would just suck.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Seriously. Why did Art School Confidential have to go get all serious when it began with such promise? I was struggling not to make it too obvious that I was obsessively checking my watch after the first hour. If it hadn't gone that messed up route and devoted equal time to each stereotype (where were the hot but insane ballerina chicks, where??)...basically what I am saying is that we could have done better, of course.

Captain Mike said...

You should definitely come see what Boston looks like in the daylight.

Anonymous said...

Free Nachos! Can't wait for Jack's butt shot!

Why why WHY? Tom - so sadly miscast. Should have been george, should have been nonAmelie - so wrong. She didn't even have red hair. Lame. And I haven't even seen it.

Anonymous said...

I was to tired to read but very interested I am conflicted and I have to drop a Kraken. I will try and porous your blog (sounds like log) at a more opportune time. Good on ya mate.