Movie Boom

Whirlwind movie weekend. Have already seen Fastfood Nation, Borat and new James Bond flick, Casino Royale. Good reviews for all three films created high expectations. Instead, theater has too much of my money. Bummerman has assumed control of the keyboard.

Fastfood Nation: painfully bad. Closest I've ever been to walking out on a film. The celebrity walkons phoned in performances. Script so pathetically bad it was impossible to care about any of the characters. Tip to Richard Linklater... films about "realistic conversations" are fine when the people having the conversations are exceptional people. Waking Life works because the conversations resemble the best college lectures we can remember. Tape works because you have realistic people in extreme circumstances. Taking ordinary people and putting them in ordinary circumstances is BORING. As an ethical vegetarian, I really wanted to like this film. Afterwards, I really wanted my 9 bucks and my two hours back. Worst moments: watching naive, holier-than-thou college students try to plot ecoterrorism.

Borat: laugh out loud funny in several scenes, but uneven and not as fresh (after the first 20 minutes) as episodes of Da Ali G show. Eventually Borat becomes boorish as he seeks out ridiculous reactions only to have people tolerate him until they get sick of his antics... kind of like the audience after a while. Not bad, but I was hoping for something more delightfully evil.

Casino Royale: Steve McQueen as James Bond works better than you might think. Big increase in tough-guy antics and brutal violence over the classically slick and stylish Bond films. This was surprising, but not necessarily bad. Sharper Image gadgetry is replaced by laptop and cell phone product placement. Also surprising that the subplot included a kind of apology/explanation of Bond misogyny. Feminists everywhere can finally relax. Geek annoyance: Poker scenes are veneer thin and tailored to appeal to this generation's fixation with Texas Hold 'Em. Judy Dench was excellent. Jeffrey Wright was wasted. Worth admission for the opening scene alone. Opening credits title song, sung by Chris "I used to be Soundgarden" Cornell (Sorry KM) kinda sucked... or at least didn't fit the mood. Closest of the bunch to living up to the hype though.