Monday, April 30, 2007

Back at You on the Last Day of April

So I get home yesterday from my weekend-long house and dog and cat-sitting stint up in Oxford to find my bathroom and part of my bedroom flooded.

Sometime since I left the house on Friday, the toilet overflowed. As our bedroom was unlivable, we went up to the in-laws and spent last night there. Today, our apartment management called up their carpet cleaning people to clean the affected carpets, which has now been done. As of this moment, we await a big fan to help dry the bewetted area. Since we put in our 60-day notice of our "intent to vacate" a week ago, I think the management at J.S. is less inclined to be prompt in their dealings with us.

Anyway, saw a few movies over the weekend.

1.) "The Good Shepherd". Very good. Eric Roth wrote a complex and brilliantly-written script and De Niro, who directed it, turns it into some serious, must-see filmmaking.

2.) "Rocky Balboa". As cries for sympathy for a once-beloved character long past his prime go, this one's surprisingly easy to take. Stallone wrote and directed this unambitious final installment of the Rocky "saga", and it mostly succeeds in its modest, aw-shucks kind of way.

3.) "Deja Vu". From the scathing reviews of this film that accompanied its release last year, I was expecting a flashy but thoroughly awful movie. It's flashy all right (it is directed by Tony Scott), but it's not awful. Actually, I thought it was pretty good, at least as far as crazy Bruckheimer-produced action movies go. Maybe it just goes to show most movies live or die based on expectations. Had I been expecting greatness, I would have been disappointed. But since I was on the look-out for total crap, this movie came out very well. Once you accept the more fantastical elements of its sci-fi premise, which I did without too much difficulty, the plot flows forward logically and Denzel manages to hold the whole thing together. Time travel's hard, and screenwriters Rossio and Marsilii manage its complexities just fine. Good, goofy times.

Isn't "Spider Man 3" this weekend? I'm stoked in theory, but really I'm just glad there's something fun and almost assuredly good (did I just jinx it?) to see at the movies.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad you're back. Is this turning into a weekly blog? Let me down easy if it is, I'll stop checking every day.

Miller Sturtevant said...

No, I've just been slack this past week. I'll try and post up a few more times this week because clicking a link and finding the page unchanged is mighty annoying. I've actually got a pretty interesting story for tomorrow. Or somewhat interesting anyway.

Clay McClane said...

The more ads I see for "Spider-Man 3", the less I want to see it. It's starting to remind me of 'Batman Forever', with its 42 villians. Also - it looks like Mary Jane is dangling from a thread again, just like in the other two movies. I don't have high hopes for this one...

Anonymous said...

I didn't say it was annoying, I meant that I get my hopes up only to be disappointed Tuesday-Friday. As for Spider-Man 3, I could take it or leave it. Seeing as how Shawn will be seeing it in LA with Heath, I'm pretty sure I'll be leaving it. Crane, you want a puppy? You know you do.

blankfist said...

Whoa, whoa, whoa, haters. Don't count Raimi out for his capper to the Spidey trilogy! This one has Venom! That's exciting, no? I mean, yeah sure, Moorhead, er, Topher is playing him, but... STOP HATING!