StumpTown Entertainment

Time to catch up on some entertainment stuff. I’ve seen a bunch of stuff that I feel I must comment on, even though I don’t have time to do full reviews.

In no particular order….

Stranger Than Fiction – I saw this on DVD a couple weeks ago after missing it in the theater. Very good movie. I enjoyed it more and more as it went along and continued liking it even more the more I thought about. I should really try to use the word “more” more. I suppose this is Will Ferrell’s Truman Show, but it is a much better movie and Ferrell is still funny. Maggie Gyllenhal (or however you spell that) stole the show though. I really like her. Just someone who is fun to watch. I think she’s kind of a punk young Meg Ryan. The movie is weird so if you don’t like weird in your movies I’m sad for you, but you shouldn’t bother with this one. It isn’t “Being John Malkovich” weird or “I Heart Huckabees” weird, but it does play fast and loose with reality and provides you no explanation in a sort of Kafkaish way. In fact, it is really pretty Kafka like, just not as harsh as something like The Trial. Dustin Hoffman was just a distraction. Man has he gone down hill. Too bad. I’d love to write a script for him and Pacino and make them play characters that are totally flat and straight just to remind them it is possible. Anyway, you should see Stranger Than Fiction. It is one of the best movies I have seen this year, though admittedly that isn’t saying all that much.

Rocky Balboa – Big shock, it was bad. I know you’re reeling from that news, but it had to be said. I really enjoyed the first 4 Rockys. They were flawed and silly and appealed mostly to those younger than 18, but I was flawed and silly and younger than 18 and so I enjoyed them. There is no such thing as Rocky 5. It never happened. I don’t know why people keep insisting to the contrary. Rocky Balboa was actually fairly well received by critics and fans alike. I have a theory about this (no way). I think they were just cringing so much at the idea that this movie was even made, that they just hoped it wouldn’t be so overwhelmingly embarrassing that it would spoil the whole franchise once and for all. Then when it wasn’t that bad, they all hailed it as worthy of being in the same family as the first movie. Well, it wasn’t as bad as you might expect, but it was still really, really, really bad. Not since “The Mummy” has there been a movie where I found myself asking this much, “was that supposed to be funny?” Stallone has had so much work done that he looks like a creepy wax replica of himself. The characters and plot lines dance between outrageously far fetched, boringly predictable and just inane. The worst thing about it though was how bad the boxing scene was. It was the worst choreographed climactic fight scene I’ve seen in a decade. Just awful. If it weren’t for the fact that I have seen Stallone at plenty of boxing matches, I would swear he had never even seen one. Shamefully unrealistic in every conceivable way. You should not waste your time with this movie.

Just started watching the most recent season of the Sopranos that is currently out on DVD. Great show, but I’m 3 episodes in and already very ready for Tony to get out of the hospital. That whole coma dream sequence sucked the life out of the show. Glad it appears to be coming to an end. By the way, if anyone posts spoilers here about the last season, I’m sending Paulie and his goons to find you.

Watched the first episode of the first season of “The Wire” last night. Tons of people have been raving about the show, but I’ve managed to miss it. Very promising. I liked it a lot. Almost spooky in how real it seemed. Looking forward to filling the Summer TV doldrums with all 3 seasons of The Wire, the 6th season of Sopranos and the 3rd season of Deadwood, just released. Thank goodness HBO started doing TV.

Spiderman 3 deserves a full review, but time doesn’t allow and now I’m over it anyway. But my take is that it is by far the worst of the 3 and was really quite disappointing. Too many villains/storylines and too little wow factor in the battle scenes. Nothing in 3 touched the train or building fight with Doc Oc in the second movie. Great effects and it wasn’t terrible, but not that great.

Shrek 3 – Same as Spiderman. Not awful, just not nearly as good as the first 2. We rewatched part of the first Shrek on cable the other night and it was so good it really showed how far they’ve fallen in the 3rd one. My boys still liked it and it was OK, but a significant step down. The 3rd movie in a trilogy is just so hard to do well. Hope they do better with Bourne Supremacy later this year.

Ok, that’s all I’ve got for now.