Saturday, March 29, 2003

I am Spartacus!: Spartacus (duh)

No, I'm not really Spartacus. But I did watch the movie today. Kirk Douglas was very good, but he has a very disturbing chin. When I think of chiseled old actors, I think I have to prefer Burt Lancaster. But the cut-out scene where Crassus (Sir Laurence Olivier) hits on Antoninus (Tony Curtis) by asking whether he likes to eat oysters, snails or both was put back in, which made me happy. Apparently (I learned from reading the production notes) they had to re-dub that scene, and while Curtis is still alive, Olivier was not, so they had Sir Anthony Hopkins read his part. And there's your fascinating but random movie fact for the day. I liked the movie until the ending, which was predictably depressing. Blah.

Sunday, March 23, 2003

"He's cute...you know, for a crazed killer...": American Psycho

Watched 'American Psycho' with Evil Puppetmaster. While I wouldn't necessarily call it "brilliant" I thought it was very good, and not as unsuccessful as Evil Puppetmaster argued. It was a nice satire on yuppie culture. And I personally found Patrick Bateman kind of loveable in that "unpleasant yuppie/psychotic killer" sort of way. It helps, I suppose, that I'd probably pay to watch Christian Bale sit on a box and breathe. However, watching him murder Jared Leto with a really really shiny ax was probably the high point of my day. Psycho killer, yes, but he has GREAT skin and an unerring fashion sense. Is that an equal trade-off? Some would say yes.

Saturday, March 22, 2003

Assweasels!: Dreamcatcher

Went to see Dreamcatcher which was better than I anticipated. It's the first time the movie was better than the Stephen King book (at least that I've seen. I've admittedly never seen The Shining so one never knows.) In fact, the movie made MORE sense than the book, which was odd. I wouldn't see it again; the assweasels--which look like vaginas with teeth--are pretty scary. I thought most of the acting was very good, though Morgan Freeman's eyebrows sure chewed some scenery. And I only hid my face in my companion once--that first ass-weasel was a little bit traumatizing. I went to the bathroom shortly afterward, and have never been so frightened by an automatic flush toilet in my life. But I must admit, the movie was nowhere near as scary as Signs was.

CBR14 #1 - Revenge Body by Rachel Wiley

Cannonball Read #14. Hope springs eternal, I guess.  I have to say that Rachel Wiley is probably my favorite living poet. I've been a fa...