Tag Archives: Amy Adams

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

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night-at-the-museum-2Ok, I admit it… I watched this. I honestly don’t know why. And as I’m writing this about two years after I saw it… I can’t really remember it. It was the kind of thing where halfway through, I wish I could have turned to myself to say “hey, what are you doing? Shouldn’t you be cleaning the crud out of your toenails or something?”. Ya, I probably should have done that instead.

I suppose the only reason you might want to watch this is if you’re just dying to know what happened the characters after the first movie. Ya…

Man of Steel

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man-of-steelI saw this in a theater in Manila. After waiting far too long as the only foreigner in a giant snaking line, I got to the ticket gate and discovered there was assigned seating. This was why the line moved so slowly – each moviegoer weighed their options. I just picked something near the back – I was only looking to kill a couple hours, and didn’t really care. I entered the theater only to realize that the seating diagram was backwards – I’d unknowingly picked a seat right at the front of the theater… this wouldn’t do. So, I did what any good American would – attempted to fix the situation. I got back to the ticket office, explained the problem, and was confronted with confusion – they had no process to fix a seat. “no problem”, I offered, “just sell me another ticket”. I was willing to blow another $5 due to my stupidity. But, they wouldn’t have that… they had to figure something out. After much discussion, and a visit from the manager, I had a new ticket. Wonderful.

So, I got to my seat in the back of the theater, and was settling in… when someone motioned that I was in their seat. No, I said, my seat is “4D”, see? An usher came over. “Oh”, he said, “You’re in 4D on the other side”. Seriously? There were two seats in the theater designated 4D? (and presumably two of every other seat). There are lots of letters and numbers… they couldn’t pick unique combinations for every seat? Oh well, I finally made it to the other 4D… And watched the movie while the person in front of me spent the whole time texting on their phone. This whole fiasco was more entertaining than the actual movie – I can’t remember any of it… but I do remember the absurdity of finding my seat. Maybe they should make a movie about that instead.

The Master

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the-masterWhile I like drama as much as the next person, it’s really hard to watch a movie without any characters I can root for. I was just hoping they went out to sea and sank. While I did get the message pretty clearly – that L. Ron Hubbard was a narcissistic nutcase – I’m not sure this movie added much to the discussion, or left any lasting impression other than “yuk”. And that’s a shame, because it was well-filmed & well-acted.

The Muppets

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Like an old friend, the muppets have arrived at our doorstep to say hello and see whats up. This is a delightful little movie that strikes just the right tone. Yes, its totally corny, and thats kind of the point. Some of the best moments are when the movie breaks that 4th wall (or is it the 5th wall?) and the audience is let in on the joke. The humans play along nicely, the songs are creative, and the muppets are refreshingly not CGI.
One plot point though… We find that Gonzo is the head of a successful plumbing company. The muppets need $10 million to save their theater… It seems the plumbing company had to be worth at least that much. That might have made a good finish – Gonzo suddenly realizing, wait a minute, I have $10 million, then someone else asks why he didnt think of that sooner, and the retort well, it wouldnt have been a very interesting movie…

Julie and Julia

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I have the same complaint that Julia Child had about the blog. It seems more like a gimmick than a real effort at enjoying cooking. The movie was the same way – I enjoyed the Julia bits, but could care less about Julie. The only other redeeming quality was just the concept of the movie – moving back and forth in time. But, everything about the Julie character seemed forced – and the dialog was just dreadful… just there to service the plot, “Gee what should I do? I know, a blog. But what should I write about? Hmmm.. how about cooking”. There have to be a dozen better ways to make the Julie character settle on her choice. She comes across looking like a cartoon.