You’d think that owning over 300 DVDs means never having to go to the rental store. While it’s true that I don’t usually frequent the rental place, I decided to do this on Friday. I’d finally gotten around to renewing my driver’s license (though not as late this year as last time I renewed) and decided I’d pick up some movies and lo mein on the way back. So, what flicks did I rent this time out?
Thank You for Smoking: I had recently purchased the book at a buy 2 get 1 free sale and enjoyed it. Funny and cynical – my kind of humor. I think they did a nice job with the movie, though there were some bits that I missed from the book. It wound up being the second favorite of the batch that I rented.
A Prairie Home Companion: I’m not sure what I was expecting with this movie, but whatever it was, it wasn’t what I got. It was more fantasy than I was expecting and just wasn’t that funny for me. Oh, there were some funny bits, but it wasn’t funny enough… Or something. My interest in the flick kept waning and I spent some of the time playing with my Robopet and the kitties. (The kitties still haven’t figured out what to make of it.)
Checking Out: I’ve been a Peter Falk fan for many years now, so it surprised me that there was a recent(ish) Peter Falk movie out there that I didn’t know about. Of course, as soon as I saw it in the rental store, I had to rent it. (And yes, I’ll admit, if they had it for sale used, I’d’ve bought it sight unseen.) This movie wound up being my favorite of the batch. Falk is wonderfully eccentric (wow – so unusual for him! 😉 Heh). He plays a man about to turn 90 who invites his family and many friends to a huge birthday bash – which he’ll follow up by killing himself. His three grown kids (all with fun dysfunctional relationships) then have to work together to talk him out of suicide. It was funny, the acting good, and I’ll have to find this used at some point… 🙂
Napoleon Dynamite: Students of mine have been recommending this film for some time, but I’ve only gotten around to renting it. Well, as with Prairie Home Companion, it wasn’t all that funny for me. Yup, it’s happened – what my students find funny is not the same as what I find funny… I’m getting old! 🙂
Snakes on a Plane: OK, so I just couldn’t resist renting this. I knew it was going to be silly & far fetched, but I thought “Samuel L Jackson battling snakes?” and decided “Hell yeah!” This film was more like what I was expecting and it was very silly and quite violent. Will I ever watch it again? Probably not, unless I was with lots of friends and we were taking the piss out of it. But I did enjoy the ridiculous violence and swearing.
Apart from movie watching, I’ve wasted far too much time doing f*** all. Hate when I get into moods like this where a little productivity could go a long way, but I don’t actually do anything productive. Ah well, at least I’ll have clean sheets tonight (doing laundry right now at least).
I told qtrhorserider that you didn’t find Napoleon Dynamite any funnier than we did, and she said that was good to know.
Hate when I get into moods like this where a little productivity could go a long way, but I don’t actually do anything productive. I hate those darn things too, ‘caus then the moment you have to do something and can’t relax any more you look back at the time you wasted and relise all the spiffy things you could’ve been doing. I need to see Snakes On A Plane at some point, ‘caus it has certainly been embraced by internet culture and looks absolutely stupid. I usually like the moview people recommend to me, but most often I’m the one doing the “You must see this movie…NOW” type thing. *flails* why does noone beleive me that the 1980s Donald Sutherland version of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers was brilliant? The title must put people off… Oh well. I’m hereby prodding you to try to see it at some point, for it is much brilliantness and not at all cruddy bodgy Sci Fi as the title suggests. *sigh* Why couldn’t they have called it something like “Mean Seed Pods” or “Funky Camera Angles”.
Prairie Home Companion has a subtle dark humor that I really appreciate. I confess that I feel close to this film because it was filmed in my backyard and I have listened to the radio broadcasts and watched from the audience (and in next to the little house on stage). I also admire Robert Altman and found one shot completely amazing. He follows Keilor and Maya Rudolph from the make-up room to the stage in what appears to be one shot. There is a crane shot through the floor but it is pretty unbelievable. What he does with sound is amazing. Watch the first ten minutes of The Player (also one shot) and go back to PHC. It is good filmmaking in my opinion. I thought the first twenty minutes of Napoleon Dynamite was entertaining but once the characters were introduced, I don’t think they did anything interesting with them. Perhaps it would be funny watched repeatedly under high doses of sugar and caffeine and sleep deprivation.