A Three Movie Day

Friday (my day off) was a truly lazy day. During the course of the day I saw three very different movies.

First, I went down to the AMC 14 Theater and caught "The Lincoln Lawyer" - which was better than I had anticipated. It is a solid little crime thriller with an excellent cast, including many of the supporting actors. It is meticulously plotted, foreshadowed, and pretty flawlessly delivered. If you like that type of movie, I would definitely recommend it.

Second, I came home and watched the musical "Nine" with Daniel Day Lewis, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Judy Dench and Fergie. It was also an excellent movie, though entirely different. My favorite number in the film was Fergie's "Be Italian". (There is a link if you're unfamiliar with the movie, the song, or the artist.)

Then, as I wound down the evening, I ran through the channels to see if there was anything worth watching, one of my personal favorites for a thoroughly enjoyable movie was on - John Travolta and Uma Thurman in "Be Cool". So, I finished up the day laughing and enjoying that movie, including the excellent part played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

I'd recommend any of those three movies without hesitation - all for different reasons, but all worth watching. Then, today (Sunday), I got together with my friends and we all went to see "Sucker Punch". Well, as much as I would like to say that Zack Snyder hit a home run - uh, no can do - there are about thirty minutes of excellent film there (the WWI and the WWII scenes) there rest of it is pretty much a clean miss. There really isn't a plot. There really isn't a theme. Snyder sampled widely for themes and images and unfortunately he sampled...a lot of bad movies. The only thing worst than that is that - if he didn't realize what he was doing, well, that is whole other level of "Bad Movie".

A Rainy Mornings Commentary

I woke this morning to the sound of pouring rain. It was nice to just lay there, snuggled tightly under the comforter, nice and warm, and listen to that liquid hushing sound. We’re bracketed by spring storms here, but the gray, wet, and cold is alleviated by the knowledge that spring is rapidly approaching. Hot Coffee and T.R. were an excellent start to a rainy morning.

One evening last week, as I worked at my computer in the spare bedroom, I could hear the birds singing outside, calling to each other and calling to spring. The trees have not yet blossomed, but they are heavily budded and just waiting for a short run of sunshine to explode in waves of pollen and cascades of color. I am looking forward to the visuals, just not to the pollen.

The commute into work this morning in the rain was kind of serene, except for the moment near Kaiser on Lawrence Expressway where the woman in the Toyota decided to try and share my lane – at the same time I was in it. That was a nice little thrill.

The office is relatively quiet this morning, which is nice, and I am making good progress through my action items list. This is my short week, so it is already half-way over, with the weekend waiting right around the corner.

It should be a nice weekend – Saturday I will socialize with friends and then Sunday a bunch of us are going to get together to go see Zack Snyder’s “Sucker Punch”, which my friends have been anticipating, since they enjoyed “300” and “Watchmen” (or as I like to refer to it – “The Giant Blue Dingus Movie”).

Then, of course, next weekend a bunch of us are going to head up to San Francisco for Wondercon 2011, which should also be a great time. I hope the weather lets up on us, as I recall that last year’s trip to Wondercon was also a rainy affair.