adrenaline rush

STB and I just finished watching the movie Crank.

Mostly I liked it. The camera work was a little edgy without being obnoxious. There was a definate level of humor to several of the action scenes. There was some creative use with subtitles. It was fun. It moved fast.

The only thing holding back from really enjoying it was the filmakers' treatment of women in the film. Not that it was out-of-the-ordinary for an action movie with a gangster kind of storyline. But the women were mostly only there as pretty decorations, and maybe for sex. Almost the exact same movie could exist without the use of women at all.

I don't always mean to analyze everything against a feminist (or other) perspective - but it tends to just jump right out at me.

I will say, just watching the movie got me kind of keyed up.

23

I saw a sneak preview of The Number 23 last night.

I was anticipating something creepy, something that would make me leave the theatre and see "23" everywhere and be completely creeped out by it.

Instead it was just mediocre. It felt like it wanted really badly to be like Memento. But something about it didn't quite flow as well.

If you break it down into the classic 3 acts -

Act I was a little too long

Act II, which should have succeeded in creeping everyone out, was too short and not creep enough

Act III was entirely too long, and spent too much time "answering questions" that you could easily put together yourself

There were also a few things that didn't quite add up, but were glossed over so you're probably not supposed to care that much, but it bugged me.

When I left the theater, I thought it was an okay movie, but the more I think about it, the more I really don't care for it much.

pop...

Our concert was cancelled last night, due to the weather. The weather had really stopped a couple hours prior to showtime, and the city was slowly trying to deal with the snow (just like every year when we get hit with a snowy blast). Wanting to do something, we decided to hit a movie, and what could be more cliche as a Valentine's Day movie than Music & Lyrics?

The movie was exactly what you expect... a cutesy little contrived but blossoming romance, with creative & other differences causing some friction, but it will all be puppies & roses by the end.

As a bonus, Hugh Grant's character is a hasbeen 80's pop star, from a band called "PoP", who's big hit was called something like "PoP! Goes My Heart", and featured lots of synthesizer and 80s hair. The actors all actually sang for their parts, which was surprisingly perfect for the music. The movie poked good fun at the music business, mimicking and mocking the 80s, but also commenting on the current pop stars. The "pop star" in the film is a combo of Britney, Shakira, and Christina, with weird ideas about music and religion.

STB went out today and bought the movie soundtrack, and is playing it right now. I'm going to have "Pop! Goes My Heart" stuck in my head for a week.