What's Playing at My House

Lethal Weapon

OK, I just figured out what happened.

Yesterday, I went to Target with the express purpose of buying a cheap movie. It had to be cheap, but it also had to be one I'd want to see again and again. Y'all, they have a lot of movies at Target. I know I read the titles of at least several hundred, and I only looked at Drama, Comedy and New Releases. But it took me to the last section before I found something I wanted to buy. [Don't you hate that kind of mood? When you want to buy something, and there's nothing that you can agree with yourself on?]

They had a DVD for $10 that included all 4 Lethal Weapon movies. Now, I don't think I've seen Lethal Weapon 4 -- I could be wrong, we'll know soon -- and of the 3 I know I've seen, I have always liked LW2 the best. But I figured, hey, $10 for 4 movies, not a bad deal.

Even though LW2 is my favorite, I started at the beginning last night. And was almost immediately freaked out. LW was so much more violent and edgy than I remembered. I was so disturbed by the first half-hour of the movie that I almost stopped it. But then the plot really kicked into gear and I was sucked in.

Just now, I figured out what the deal was. I was checking the case to determine the year the movie was released [1987], and I noticed that the first 3 movies on this DVD are labeled as "Director's Cut." And all 3 of them are not rated.

Well doh. It had a bunch of scenes not in the theatrical release -- which also explains why parts of it didn't feel particularly familiar. I knew it had been a long time since I'd seen it, but I have seen it since '87. Come to find out, I'd never seen this version.

I think they were on to something when they made the final edits for the theatrical release. I'm a little wary of watching LW2 and LW3 off this set, but at least I've now been forewarned. And hopefully LW4 will make it all worthwhile....it's the theatrical release.

Enemy of the State

Man, I love this movie. Love. It.

I've seen it a ton of times, but it's always exciting. I love this part in particular:

[Gene Hackman & Will Smith are racing away from Hackman's warehouse in a car, as the bad guys chase them. In background, warehouse explodes.]

Smith: What is happening??

Hackman: I blew up the building.

Smith: Why?!?!

Hackman: Because you made a phone call!!

So funny.

I've had a run of bad choices lately on Netflix. Hopefully will return shortly with better movies and reviews.

War of the Worlds

I can sum up my thoughts on Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds in just a few sentences.

• Can we all agree that Dakota Fanning, while clearly talented, is the creepiest child actress ever?

• Here's a movie formula for you: Nonstop action + little plot + too much dark lighting = One annoying movie.

• Seriously, the problem here is, it's all shoot 'em up, and you get little to no reason to care about anyone who dies. And only slightly more reason to care about those who live. You will run out of adrenaline before the movie is half done.

• It is now hard for me to watch Tom Cruise without thinking of the media firestorm over his religion. Do we really all care that much? Do we all realize how few Scientologists there are in this world? Do you really think he's more of a threat to your daily life than say, poisonous spiders? I didn't think so.

• To sum up: I've seen better out of much lesser directors than Spielberg. I'm hoping for more the next time out.

Groundhog Day 2: AKA Ladder 49

I rented Ladder 49 with the fondest hopes. I love Joaquin Phoenix [my man was robbed when Phillip Seymour Hoffman took Best Actor in 2006]. I can take Travolta in the right role [nothing will ever, ever beat Saturday Night Fever]. I like firefighter movies. Apparently, you don't get Backdraft every time.

This movie starts out OK. Dude gets trapped in a burning building after rescuing terrified civilian. Then we start with this flashback motif, seeing how Phoenix came to be a firefighter and learned the trade as a rookie on the force. How he met his wife. Had kids. Etc., etc., etc.

Etc., etc., etc.

At 70 minutes, I was ready for the movie to wrap up. I'd had my fun, gotten the adrenaline rush, ready to be done.

This movie lasts 115 minutes.

It's the first movie in a long time I just cut off [somewhere around the 90-minute mark]. It just got to be so repetitive. I have a friend at work who'd seen the whole thing. From what she told me, I'm glad I stopped when I did. It certainly wasn't worth any more of my time.

The Bourne Supremacy

I loved The Bourne Identity and I really expected to like The Bourne Supremacy as well. And the first time I ever saw it, I was so caught up in the nonstop action that I enjoyed myself. So I bought the DVD. Mind you, this was all a couple of years ago, whenver it came out on DVD.

So when I got out the DVD to watch it the other night, I wasn't expecting anything but great times.

This is a movie that doesn't wear well. I suspect if I'd seen it for the second time in a theater, I still would have loved it. And I enjoyed it the first time on DVD. But when you already sort of know what's going to happen, it makes for a different experience.

For those of you not up on the plot, the back story is that Jason Bourne [Matt Damon] is a former black ops guy for the CIA, and he's dropped off the grid, both trying to remember his past [he has a case of amnesia about most of his experiences] and trying to outrun it. Of course, they keep pulling him back in.

Here's what disturbed me about Supremacy the second time around:
* The significant lack of any functional plot
* The fact that the movie basically seems to serve as a vehicle [ha] for the world's longest car chase on film. It rivals OJ. It is vastly more exciting, since it's quite the high-speed crashfest.

So, if you saw The Bourne Identity [I can't believe this movie would make any sense if you didn't], and if you like extreme action and exciting car crashes, see this movie. Otherwise, you can pass and be none the poorer.

However: This movie does the greatest job of ginning up your adrenaline with its soundtrack. It is really well done for the purposes of emotional overkill.

Bonus question: Yes, I guess I am planning to see The Bourne Ultimatum when it comes out.