Sigh.

Another a show I love canceled. I appreciated Flight of the Concords not just for the funny songs they created, but the story lines and the comedy moments were really great.

But I will be fine as long as HBO brings back Big Love. Which it is in January. That one is truly one of my faves. If you are looking for something new to get into, please get these on DVD. When I first started watching this show, I thought my main attraction to it would be the groups of people portrayed-- polygamists, Mormons-- because I find myself empathizing with them and their sometimes outsider status. But like any other good drama, you find yourselves identifying and rooting for these characters in ways that transcend their labels. Isn't that the best kind of entertainment? Bravo. Plus, I love Margene's clothes.

Wednesday's Movie Marathon

This past Thanksgiving weekend my family and I had a movie marathon weekend. First we gorged on movie trailers, which was extremely exciting. Then we spent an hour or so at Blockbuster- the new releases isle. Three movies chosen. The second night we played more trailers off the Movies On Demand menu. One movie chosen. The third night we were in the mood for something spooky, but not gory.
Here are my thoughts, from least favorite to most enjoyable.

FRANKLYN
I have no idea what this movie is about.



It was chosen because it's description in the "On Demand" menu said it was about parallel worlds, which is usually an easy win with me. However, in this case the eerie, dark world (think "Dark City," only not nearly as good)- though beautiful- made absolutely no sense to me until I read the Wikipedia entry about the movie. And then there's Eva Green who's suicidal with an imaginary red-haired twin.







Ryan Phillippe in the evil alter-world. I think it was a drug-induced dillusion, though cannot be certain.











ANGELS AND DEMONS


It was fun, certainly exciting-- albeit heavy-handed in a number of ways (including the initial anti-Vatican messages, book-ended with pro-Christianity sentiment) in that true Hollywood style where nothing's subtle. But it was a fast-paced scavenger hunt through Rome, with lots of cinematic moments. Plus, I still like Tom Hanks. Plus, my parents have a BlueRay DVD player.




THE TAKING OF PELHAM 1 2 3
I'm so glad Denzel swore off love scenes. Sigh.


This was a good movie! As a New Yorker, I find the idea of out-of-control subway cars to be very very scary!
And John Travolta sort of looks like a the long-lost (gay) member of U2. And that's entertaining!






TRICK R' TREAT


This was our scary-movie fix. The movie covers Halloween in suburbia. It's boo-scary and cringing, terrifying fear at once, with a vintage-horror feel. There's teenagers, creepy high school principals, local folklore, zombie kids, and sexy vampires.















THE FALL (BY TARSEM)

Let me just take all the credit up front and let you know that this was MY Blockbuster pick. My family was wary of my choice, but once this movie started, everyone became pulled into this amazingly vivid story.
And it has since become one of my all-time favorite movies.

Click on the movie's name above to watch the trailer.

I am a sucker for spectacle and fantasy and stories within stories. This is all of that-- and it has a plot! And it takes place in 1940s Los Angeles. And it stars Lee Pace (of "Pushing Up Dasies") and when he's the Blue Bandit, he's wearing eye liner and normally I'm not into that kind of thing but my goodness it works here.

It's one of the most beautiful movies I've ever seen, so here are some pictures.

Turn about is fair play

So, HT and I have decided that our role in purchasing presents for our nephew is to spoil him wrotten with presents that annoy his parents. Actually, that's not ENTIRELY true-- we've done well so far at just forcing his dad to fold 4 dozen cardboard bricks and make his mom blow up the giant inflatable bowling set. His first christmas we gave him books, and I'm always a sucker for tot-sized Ralph Lauren clothing. . . but this Christmas, we're pretty sure we're crossing the line towards annoying. I can't say for certain lest his mom or dad venture this way before the 25th, but I'm fairly sure that we're well on our way to being crazy Aunt and UncleTuesday. I'm sure that 5, 10, or 15 years down the road when BigBrotherTuesday is picking out presents for our currently-imaginary little ones or digging up stories from my youth which our children can hold against them, I may regret it. But for now, I find some sort of odd pleasure out of knowing how loud and obnoxious this year's gift will be. I guess sibling rivalries never really die, they just take new forms. :) Love you much, BigBrother.