Playing Catchup

February 6, 2002

I’ve been getting a lot of hate-mail lately because I haven’t been updating my webpage. OK, not a lot of mail, but considering that one e-mail represents about 20% of my total readership, it’s significant. Anyway, I’m going to blast through a bunch of topics in one go here, in a small effort to catch up.

The Super Bowl: I’d like to congratulate the New England Patriots for winning the “most exciting Super-Bowl of All Time.” That’s what they’re calling it anyway. Personally, I was just happy to see that smug smile get wiped off of (Rams coach) Mike Martz’s face.

I found most of the commercials a disappointment, but if you feel the need to watch any of them again, IFilm has them all archived. I also found Playmate Fear Factor kind of disappointing too. It was pretty obvious they toned down the show for the ladies. That said, it was still a decent way to spend halftime. I would’ve stuck around for U2, but having seen them perform a gazillion times this year, I gave it a pass. Does anyone think Bono even watchesfootball? I can’t really see him shopping at Target or Best Buy either, home of two U2 exclusive releases. Whatever.

New Eating Obsession:It has become a bit of a new custom for my friend and I to hit up some yakitori. Going to yakitori means sitting at a counter with a large beer and eating several courses of grilled items off of skewers. It’s not unlike dim-sum or tapas, where you’re getting many, many different small little orders. It’s wonderfully simple eating and it encourages lots of sampling and variety. I really wanted to include a link to some kind of definitive guide to Yakitori, but alas, it does not exist.

Movie Run Down
Metropolis – This was supposedly the latest bit of genius animation from the Japanese. Not so fast, buddy. It’s got a fantastic pedigree (Otomo, Tezuka, Rintaro) but the actual film is really shallow and surprisingly, not that beautiful. This movie made me run back to my beloved Studio Ghibli DVDs.

Ali – I really enjoyed this flawed, flawed movie. Will Smith gave a really surprising performance, but I thought the film lacked a certain vitality. I know Mann likes to keep things understated, but I thought everything was a bit too subdued. The only scene that really blew my top was when Ali jogged through the back alleys of Zaire. That’s probably one of the best scenes of the year, but the rest of the movie doesn’t really match up.

The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings – Peter Jackson comes through with one of the more spectacular productions I’ve ever seen. His love for the project really comes through in his detailed visualization of Middle-Earth, and his movie smarts show in his script adaptation. Jackson was able to minimize the books weaknesses and magnify its strengths, and the result is one of the finest adventure films ever made. Really. The only thing bad about this movie is that there are going to be a lot of idiots dressed as Ringwraiths next year at the premiere of The Two Towers.

The Royal Tenenbaums – I enjoyed this movie when I first saw it, but my memory of it grows richer and richer every day. When I think about the movie, I forget its stuttering narrative and just remember all the brilliant, quirky moments that Wes Anderson has gotten so good at creating. Fine acting, writing, direction and music all around. I’m really starting to like Gwyneth Paltrow as an actress, which I never would have thought possible after sitting through Sliding Doors.

Vanilla Sky – Yikes. This was one of the more frustrating films of the year for me (probably second only to A.I.) Most of the movie is actually pretty damned enjoyable, but I found the ending a bit hard to swallow. There are lots of great moments, and a really wonderful soundtrack, but I really, really wanted to tear a hole in the screen at one point. To sum up, “I hated it. I need to see it again.”

That’s enough for now. I’m hoping my next entry will come sooner than later. Oh yeah, and I changed the header graphic. I actually had a whole redesign done, but after an hour of work, I scrapped it because I decided it was ugly. Yeah, go figure.

Posted in Endless Whining, Eratta, Moving Pictures