Notes In The Margin

The last two movies that have come from our Blockbuster account have conclusively proved that we would be better off ignoring the well-meaning movie recommendations of our friends.

The first of the two was "Lady In The Water", which was dreadful, inexplicable, and tedious. But then, last night, we saw "Sideways", which was a trainwreck almost from the first. We eventually turned it off when it degenerated into pornography. The conversations about wine were interesting, but incongruous in a story that was almost entirely about fornication and adultery.

So, we've gone through our Blockbuster list again, and dropped all the movies from it that folks have recommended, that we haven't ourselves seen previews. There's only so much time in life, and it's a shame to waste it watching trash.

We tried to watch Ponette this evening, but, finally, about 45 minutes in, we turned it off. We simply couldn't do it. It was just dreadful. It had nothing to recommend it - not plot, or action, or characters. The plot moves like a volkswagen bug in 18 inches of mud. And that's being generous.

I mention all of this so that, if you're the person that recommended it to me, you can pretend it was someone else. 'Cause otherwise, I'm never taking your movie advice again. Ever. Mmkay?

I've been watching a number of classic movies lately.

Due to a ... ahem ... slight clerical oversight, a few years ago, I get an absurd number of cable channels for the ultra-sub-basic price. Attempts to correct this oversight have been met with "What? Are you crazy?!" kinds of responses, do I eventually gave up.

Anyways, two of the channels I get, and just about the only ones I watch, are AMC, where they show classic movies, and USA (or is it TNT? I never can remember), where they show classic-but-newer movies.

So over the last few weeks I've watched "Rebel Without a Cause", and "Cool Hand Luke", both of them for the first time.

Rebel was fascinating - a rebel movie set in a time when rebellion meant rather different things than it does now. I feel like I need to see it again, as I didn't really grasp what it was about. I think that in a time when we're used to much higher body count, and the rebel/hero is almost a cliché, it's hard to recognize the profound bits, even when you're aware that you're missing them.

Cool Hand Luke was a lot of fun. Luke was entertaining in a strange sort of way. Another rebel/hero, bored with life, being destructive because there just wasn't anything interesting going on.

And, of course, I finally heard the original of that phrase that is part of our language and culture - "What we have here is a failure to communicate". There are a lot of these phrases that folks say that are from movies that I've never seen - one of the side effects of growing up an expatriate. That, and all of Saturday Night Live, I suppose.

The big difference with these two movies was just that they were interesting and enjoyable and just good stories, whereas so many of the "you've got to see this" movies that I've put in my Blockbuster movie queue have ended up being a waste of time and postage. Well, you win some, you lose some.

Occasionally I watch a movie so that I can have some context for the movies that folks say they've been watching. So it was, with amazingly low expectations, that I rented and watched Napoleon Dynamite. My expectations dipped even lower when I saw that it was an MTV production. I figured I would be satisfied if there was even a hint of plot or humor.

It appears that my expectations were *far* too high.

I'm completely unable to guess why this movie was such a hit.

On the bright side it had Lazlo Hollyfeld in it.

Last night I watched About Schmidt, which was, I believe, the most depressing movie I've ever seen. For some reason, I thought it was a comedy. IMDB says it's a comedy. This is a lie. The movie is depressing, from the minute it starts. If you've ever wondered if your life was worthwhile, if you make a difference, if the world will be any better because of you ... don't see this movie.

I'm really quite unable to think how anybody found it even remotely funny. Perhaps one has to be young cruel.