And the movies...

OK let's get caught up on the movies of the summer:

Green Lantern - Man, I wanted this movie to be really good.  Green Lantern was always a special favorite of mine among comic book heroes when I was a kid.  And the movie was...good.  Just nothing to get really excited about.  At the moment it's Top 20 for the year in ticket sales but there's still the Christmas rush so if it's lucky it stays in the Top 40.  And that's about right.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2  - Found it completely satisfying.  Well OK, everything except the absolutely ridiculous final shot of the main characters standing hand in hand amidst the ruins and the sunshine at the end of the main action.  The hokey factor shot completely off the scale.  At the moment  the #1 movie of the year and quite likely to stay there.

Source Code - A thriller centered about a man who wakes up and discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train.  I LIKED this movie!  It's not brilliant or a great movie but it's a well done thriller with a twist that still got you involved mentally.  Well worth your time.  Seems like not everyone liked as well as I did as it's only number 33 right now.  Hope it stays in the top 50 for the year.


The Adjustment Bureau - Just ahead of Source Code at #32 and yet somehow a movie I found a bit less satisfying.  The whole thing with hats was just so anachronistic.  I know it was part of the original story and the original story was by Philip K. Dick (and one does not mess with PKD more than one has to) but it just became ludicrous after a while.  Too bad because basically this wasn't a bad idea for a movie and it was nicely done.

Super 8  -  Summer movie.  J.J. Abrams.  Steven Spielberg.  A teenage buddy movie.  This had summer smash written all over it.  And finishing the summer at #15 certainly keeps it out of the flop category but it just never took off.  Which is too bad because I really enjoyed this movie.  My bet is it develops a following as the years go by.

Pirates of the Caribbean - On Stranger Tides - #2 movie of the year.  I had to go back and look to remember what it was about.  I enjoyed it, it was fun but...

Wow, that was it for this summer.  Kinda sad really.  2 movies in the Top 10, 1 more at the Top 15, and 1 more at the Top 20.  To be honest there's not a lot I feel like going out of my way to see on DVD.  I'll probably catch Cars 2, I have ZERO interest in Thor even though it got decent reviews, I would like to catch Capt. America, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Paul and Water for Elephants.  After that maybe Cowboys and Aliens.   That's about it.  The rest will be if it pops up and I've nothing better to do I might give them a shot.  Any recommendations?

Did watch some TV series on DVD that I liked a lot:

Vicar of Dibley - Another great British comedy series.  For those of us who work in the church, especially in historically Anglican churches, this is really funny stuff.  Call it the "WKRP" of church comedies.

Ballykissangel - Great TV series set in a small Irish village.  Wonderful characters and a lot of fun.

Recommend them both.

Caught two on TV yesterday.  "They Died With Their Boots On" (1941) Erroll Flynn and Olivia DeHavilland  in a fairly ridiculous version of the George Armstrong Custer story.  Some fact, lotta legend.  Interesting supporting cast - Anthony Quinn as Crazy Horse, Sidney Greenstreet as General Winfield Scott and Hattie McDaniel playing her usual role.  Not awful but...
and then there was "Sunset Boulevard"  (1950) William Holden and Gloria Swanson.  What to say?  If you love old Hollywood, noir movies, great stories and even better characters you have to watch this movie.  If you claim to love movies and haven't seen this then your credentials are lacking.  A great movie IMO.

Gotta see some more movies!