As good a place as any

This was a long hiatus. I admit, I apologize, I move on.

How to get the ball rolling? Movies are easy. I saw three that I wouldn't have seen otherwise on the plane back over to Nihon land.

Dukes of Hazard - A stupid movie. A couple of dumb laughs derived from lowest common denominator humor, a poor excuse for a plot, and an effort to generate nostalgia for a product that doesn't hold much significance in my formative years. It might work for some, but not so much for me. My favorite part were all the fun car stunts but I think I would've had more fun watching a regular demolition derby (and that's not really high up on my list either). I'm torn though, because the film does feature one Joe Baker, or if you prefer Mr. Don Baker. I liked him as a character actor even before I saw Mitchell.

"That one movie"* - Y'know, the one where Reese Witherspoon plays the ghost that haunts her really nice apartment? I had to go to the bathroom so I missed the title. I'm not one for chick flicks in general, but I tolerate/enjoy them on a certain level when I actually sit down and watch them. This one doesn't quite cut it. The acting is decent (A wonderful bit part by Jon "Napoleon" Heder) but acting alone can not carry a romantic story. These stories usually feature a relationship that grows from stranger to life partner in a matter of days and for that to be convincing you have to make the characters deep and figure out why this relationship works in the logic of the film. All we get here is a very lame destiny cop out. That's not going to do it for me, sorry.

Oliver Twist - As told by Roman Polanski. I had a very odd experience with this. First off, I'm a sucker for the musical version. I grew up with it and enjoy it despite its shortcomings. Now here's this new version that hardly seems new. If anything it's more boring because you don't get the songs. But then I thought to myself "wait a sec, what are songs doing in Oliver in the first place?" What an odd pick to musicalize. This version reminded me a lot of that old Oliver in its basic style. Maybe that's just because Dickens is so clear in his writing, but in any event, this version did nothing to stick out in my mind. The actors were well picked and did a good job, but they became the characters. It's not Ben Kingsley as Fagin, it's just Fagin. It was just odd watching a new version that didn't seem new.

TTFN

* - "Just Like Heaven" after a quick trip to IMDB.