What I did On my Summer Vacation - Movies

It was a busy summer.  And a pretty good one.  So I'll break some of this down into bits to make it a little easier to take on.

As always summer is actually a slow time for me watching movies.  I am working on a couple of series along the way as well.

TV Series -

Lovejoy -  We first started watching these back in the '90's I think when A&E carried them.  Fun little British series about an antiques dealer named Lovejoy (just Lovejoy).  It's fun and lightweight and you might actually learn just a tiny bit about antiques along the way.  This time we got the DVDs in order and have no seen the entire series.  I saw someone refer to Lovejoy as the greatest character you've never heard of.  That's probably pretty true.  Ian McShane played Lovejoy with a fun supporting cast.  There's always a love interest kept just at bay by Lovejoy, his partner "Major" Tinker Dill plus a couple other sidekicks and foils.  Nothing profound but characters you can invest in.  Great weekend viewing when you want to have some fun and have nothing better to do.

The Prisoner - I have no idea how I've gone this long in life without having seen this series.  Another British TV show, one that ran for only 17 episodes.  But it's one of the most talked about series ever.  For many years it was very difficult to find or see so that's my excuse.  The Prisoner is about a strange little village where people are taken to for reasons they don't entirely understand to be controlled by people with plans of their own.  It's very strange and very disturbing to find yourself there.  The story follows a prisoner, known only as "Number 6" (no one has names only numbers), who apparently worked in the intelligence community and resigned angrily.  But no one seems to know WHY he quit and he doesn't want to say.  The show is a long series of games between Number 6 (Patrick McGoohan) and the ever changing cast of Number 2s (among the actors who play this role was Leo McKern.  More than 17 actors filled the role).  It's still to this day bizarre and confusing.  I'd watched about 3 episodes when I realized what it reminded me of.  "Lost", the NBC hit that just ended its run.  A secluded place, run by strange people and no one is quite sure why they are there. There are mysterious symbols like Lost's numbers and this pennyfarthing bicycle for the Prisoner. There's even a mysterious "beast" that enforces discipline (The Smoke Monster on Lost and Rover on The Prisoner).  The parallels are quite striking.  I'm really enjoying the series so far.  It's great to finally add this one to the list of classic programs I've seen.

Movies -

I actually saw one movie in the theaters this summer.

Inception -  The movie has been a good sized hit and gotten pretty good reviews as near as I can tell.  Directed by Christopher Nolan (who has done several other movies I've like Memento, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Prestige) the movie was visually stunning with a great twist at the end.  At least a twist for me since I had forgotten the last level!  DiCaprio, Ellen Page (who I'm really liking) and the cast did a very nice job as well.  There was one nagging problem for me however.  They just vault into the whole concept of the Inception (the ability to manipulate people by entering their dreams) with very little in the way of explanation.  Where did it come from (one throw away line), how was it developed, et cetera?  For me the willing suspension of disbelief was damaged because they posit this whole new technology without establishing any foundation for it.  My theory is this - the closer you are to "reality" the more you need to explain any novel concepts you want to play with in the story.  If you're doing Star Wars you can get away with much closer to a "lick and a promise".  Although I think Star Wars did a lot more exposition setting up their world than Inception does.  And that just left an enormous hole for me.  It's easy to let the action just sweep you along (and to be honest this was another action movie that could have dropped at least one action sequence.  Suppose they needed to justify the 3-D process.  But towards the end I got to the "Yeah, yeah, yeah, BOOM.  Got it.  Can we get back to the plot and the characters for a minute now?" phase again) and forget about it.  That's probably what Nolan wants you to do.  Too bad because it kept this from being a great movie for me.  Very, very good but not what it might have been.

Music and Lyrics - Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore are just wonderful in this lightweight little romantic comedy.  It's fun and funny and totally enjoyable.  Grant plays the less successful half of an '80's pop duo that broke up when his partner went solo and became a big hit. Think Andrew Ridgeley after WHAM! broke up.  He's found a comfortable little niche that doesn't require much from him at all.  Then he gets the chance to write a song for "the next big thing" and needs a lyricist.  Enter Drew Barrymore (who could wander into my life anytime she wants.) and the story is off and running.  I'm sure this one got brushed off by lots of people as a "chick flick" (by the way, that's a really stupid reaction to a movie.  Ranks right up there as one of my ways to determine if you're really serious about movies or are just a poser.)  Great fun and yes, it IS a great date movie.

Casino Royale (2006 version) - Disclaimer.  Read ALL the original Fleming novels and most of the sequels.  Sean Connery has been THE movie bond although Timothy Dalton wasn't bad.  Do NOT be trying to drag Roger Moore or Pierce Brosnan into this equation.  I will just have to beat you down.

So I may have walked into this one with a little bit of a preconceived attitude maybe.

And the movie blew me away.  Extremely faithful to the book (went back and re-read it to be sure).  Daniel Craig is a VERY acceptable Bond for me and they did a wonderful job of updating the franchise just the right way.  No problems with Judy Dench as M, she maintains the character perfectly.  A black Felix Lieter?  Interesting.  I can let the lack of black hair on Craig slide ( a small  irritation), got the cars right, the drinks right, changing from Blackjack to Texas Hold'em makes perfect sense.  The only other irritation was changing the two assignments that earned Bond his 007 designation.  But again a small irritation.  After watching so many awful Bonds in movies that bore NOT THE TINIEST RESEMBLANCE to the original stories when they used the titles or the original concept otherwise this was a breath of fresh air.  I've got Quantum of Solace all lined up in the queue so we'll see if they keep me this happy.

Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle - Talk about walking in with preconceived ideas!  I mean it's doper humor.  Which is a breed of what I call "idiot humor" (Let's see most things by Jim Carrey and Will Ferrell.  Can not abide it.  There are lots of others, mostly folks who don't do it as well as these two.  Which makes those other movies REALLY awful.).  Humor that comes from the main character being an idiot.  Big market for it.  Just doesn't include me.  At the same time I did grow up listening to and loving Cheech and Chong.  So go figure.  In the end, I loved this movie.  The script plays a beautiful balancing act between the doper stuff and, hey HERE'S a novel concept, real characterization.  I actually liked these guys and enjoyed the story.  There's the obligatory juvenile humor moments and bare breasted young women moments but they don't dominate the movie.  It was fun and I would recommend the movie.  Just know that this IS a doper movie.  You have been warned.

Gotta start watching more movies!