Movie Diary
a) Live Free Or Die Hard
This takes place in D.C. but a lot of it was shot in Baltimore, which was of course a big to-do a couple years ago when they were downtown shooting it. My mother-in-law works in the city court, and I remember her reporting that Bruce Willis used the bathroom in her building; there's actually a whole big traffic scene right at that intersection downtown by the courthouse, which is kinda cool. Anyway this was actually kinda decent, which you can not say about many oh-god-one-more-time fourquels. And even though I've never been much of a fan of Justin Long, it was just refreshing to see someone other than Shia LeBeouf in what I guess at this point we might as well just call the Shia LeBeouf role. It's still weird to see Kevin Smith pop up in random non-Kevin Smith movies, though.
b) Hard Times At Douglass High
Even though I'm well aware of the shortcomings of the Baltimore public school system, it's always an eye-opener to get some real footage and firsthand testimony, and this HBO doc (which was, surprisingly enough, shot even before "The Wire" did their school-themed season) does a pretty good job of getting you good and depressed but also hopeful but also pessimistic, which is pretty much the way topics like this tend to make you feel.
c) The Descent
When J.G. and I were watching horror movies recently and one we got on Netflix, Skinwalkers, turned out to be a dud, we turned to the 'Fearnet' menu on our cable's OnDemand system, and found a much better alternative. I was afraid it would be too much like The Cave, another movie about mysterious underground beasties that we watched two years ago, but it was way better. Part of it was that they really let the settings and the anxiety of the characters set the tone for the first half before anything creepy really showed up, and then didn't let up from the action once it started. I'm glad to hear they're doing a sequel, even if it looks like it's going to have one of those terrible numbers-in-the-middle-of-the-word gimmick titles (The De2cent, ughh).
d) Catch Me If You Can
This was nice, I always wanted to see this. Nothing spectacular but it's good to see all these guys on their game with something not too ambitious but kind of unique and interesting.
e) Pootie Tang
I know this is kind of a cult movie at this point and people love to quote it and stuff, but I hope they all realize that ultimately, it is a pretty crappy little comedy flick and there's a reason it flopped. I mean, maybe I don't get it. But I like lightweight Chris Rock stuff like CB4, which this felt like but not as funny, and I like Louis C.K. but this didn't even seem to have his usual sense of humor in it. In a way I like how absurd it is and the fact that it even got made, but I dunno, it's kinda got one joke and it's not a great joke.
This takes place in D.C. but a lot of it was shot in Baltimore, which was of course a big to-do a couple years ago when they were downtown shooting it. My mother-in-law works in the city court, and I remember her reporting that Bruce Willis used the bathroom in her building; there's actually a whole big traffic scene right at that intersection downtown by the courthouse, which is kinda cool. Anyway this was actually kinda decent, which you can not say about many oh-god-one-more-time fourquels. And even though I've never been much of a fan of Justin Long, it was just refreshing to see someone other than Shia LeBeouf in what I guess at this point we might as well just call the Shia LeBeouf role. It's still weird to see Kevin Smith pop up in random non-Kevin Smith movies, though.
b) Hard Times At Douglass High
Even though I'm well aware of the shortcomings of the Baltimore public school system, it's always an eye-opener to get some real footage and firsthand testimony, and this HBO doc (which was, surprisingly enough, shot even before "The Wire" did their school-themed season) does a pretty good job of getting you good and depressed but also hopeful but also pessimistic, which is pretty much the way topics like this tend to make you feel.
c) The Descent
When J.G. and I were watching horror movies recently and one we got on Netflix, Skinwalkers, turned out to be a dud, we turned to the 'Fearnet' menu on our cable's OnDemand system, and found a much better alternative. I was afraid it would be too much like The Cave, another movie about mysterious underground beasties that we watched two years ago, but it was way better. Part of it was that they really let the settings and the anxiety of the characters set the tone for the first half before anything creepy really showed up, and then didn't let up from the action once it started. I'm glad to hear they're doing a sequel, even if it looks like it's going to have one of those terrible numbers-in-the-middle-of-the-word gimmick titles (The De2cent, ughh).
d) Catch Me If You Can
This was nice, I always wanted to see this. Nothing spectacular but it's good to see all these guys on their game with something not too ambitious but kind of unique and interesting.
e) Pootie Tang
I know this is kind of a cult movie at this point and people love to quote it and stuff, but I hope they all realize that ultimately, it is a pretty crappy little comedy flick and there's a reason it flopped. I mean, maybe I don't get it. But I like lightweight Chris Rock stuff like CB4, which this felt like but not as funny, and I like Louis C.K. but this didn't even seem to have his usual sense of humor in it. In a way I like how absurd it is and the fact that it even got made, but I dunno, it's kinda got one joke and it's not a great joke.
This entry was posted
on Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 4:57 PM.
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Sadatay my biddy.