Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Digging myself out...

Well, a week of vacation during fall premiere season means I came back to a mountain of DVR'd programs waiting for me.  I have been wading my way through those, and will hopefully finish up tonight.  

I found out the Britcom "The IT Crowd" is premiering on IFC tonight, so I am going to give that one a try.  It sounds like it might be right up my alley and was recommended by a friend to boot.

I did catch a few movies while I was out of town.  

Burn After Reading:  
Loved it!  Brad Pitt may have some issues in his personal life, but the dude can act.  I love that he is equally at home being the suave action star, the sexy chick-flick hero, and the affable doofus.  Obviously he opted for doofus in this one, and man it worked.  This is a great story about how things can spiral out of control so easily, as well as how you never really realize just how connected everyone you know is to everyone else you know.  It takes a fairly dark turn about 2/3 of the way through but still manages not to lose any of its humor.  Also, J.K. Simmons may just be one of my heroes.  He can be Skoda or Pope on the serious procedureal shows, but he has no problem turning around doing something off the cuff like Juno or Burn After Reading.  If you like the Big Lebowski, you'll love Burn After Reading.  It's that kind of awesome.

Sex and the City the movie:
Liked it okay.  I am starting to get jaded by the contrivances television and movies come up with to keep couples apart, because apparently they think that's the only interesting type of story for the audiences.  But other than that I did enjoy this film.  It was basically just a long episode of the series.  We got to catch up with our favorite characters, find out what they've been up to, and see where they're going now.  Good stuff.  Probably if you enjoyed the series, you'll like the movie.

Everything Is Illuminated:
Wow.  This is a quirky story about a young Jewish man (played by Elijah Wood, who is incredible in the role) who travels to the Ukraine to try to find the woman that helped his grandfather get to America during WWII.  The plot itself draws from rather serious material, and the events that unfold are also in that vein, but the film manages to still retain a very light and enjoyable tone.  There is so much heart in this movie.  It also gives a very interesting perspective on how the Jews who stayed in Eastern Europe coped (or didn't) with what happened during the war.  It's based on a novel, and I think it's a true story, so I would be curious to read the source material.  History buffs and people who enjoy movies that make them think will probably dig this one.

That's about all I've got for you this week.  

Is anyone else digging the new season of Heroes?  I have now seen the first two (technically 3) episodes and I have to say I kind of feel like it's back.  I know that not everyone is sharing my opinion though, because Looking For Group's creator was expressing his disappointment in a post today.  But I honestly have been pretty pleasantly surprised so far.  Of course, I've also been enjoying Smallville, so I am not entirely sure what that says about me....

'Til next time folks,
C

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