Cinemania

3.5/5 stars

This documentary digs into the lives of five cinephiliacs — people obsessed with movies. The people in this group average at least two movies per day (probably more for the ones that don’t have regular jobs). They schedule their films meticulously, factoring in subway times, etc., to maximize the number of films they can see in one day. These are not films at multiplexes, for the most part — these are the older films that film societies and restored movie-houses show, though the occasional trip to a multiplex is not out of the question.

This was not nearly as depressing as American Movie, though I came out wondering what kind of life these people have. I suppose that if this is something that gives them joy, that’s their business, but on the other hand, it seems that they are missing out on so much more in life (like girlfriends/boyfriends, for one thing).

Strangers on a Train

3.5/5 stars

Something like Hitchcock-light. Not quite so shocking/gripping/Hitchcockian as other of his films, but good just the same.

The basic story is that two strangers meet on a train, Bruno has a problem with his father, Guy has a problem with his wife who won’t give him a divorce. Bruno proposes that they could trade murders, then neither murderer would have a motive, thus making it hard to solve. Guy half-heartedly agrees, more to get rid of Bruno than because he takes him seriously. A short while later, Guy’s wife has been murdered, and Bruno starts to push him to take care of his father.

One of my problems with the film was not Hitchcock’s fault. I kept picturing Danny Devito in Throw Mamma from the Train saying “criss cross”. Sigh. Never see a comedic re-make before you see the original.

A Christmas Carol

Another show at the Millenium Stage at the Kennedy Center caught my eye — Charles Williams narrating A Christmas Carol accompanied by Hesperus. Andrew introduced me to Hesperus shortly after we started dating, and I quite enjoy their music, so we decided to go.

The show was quite enjoyable. The story, of course, was abridged to fit into a one-hour time slot, but the abridgement was well done. I did notice that Marley’s speech about his onerous chain had been cut, and Andrew mentioned it later, as it’s his favorite speech in the story. But that didn’t take away from the story much. The music was, as usual, a pleasure to listen to. Occasionally I found that the volume of the music competed with the text a bit too much, but it generally didn’t last very long.

You can check out the performance yourself, since nearly all of the Millenium Stage shows are simulcast on the web and archived.

Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

2.5/5 stars

It’s a good diversion for a Saturday morning, but not much more than that. Bridget Jones continues her neurotic persuit of happiness, this time off the single’s market and in a relationship. That doesn’t make things much easier, mostly due to Bridget’s paranoia. Not bad, not great.

The Day After Tomorrow

2.5/5 stars

Standard end-of-the-world, let’s-ignore-real-science, and how-about-we-create-some-completely-unbelievable-scenarios kind of movie. Not bad, as long as you’re looking for special effects and not looking for a great story. One plus: the NASA scientist was a woman — this is the first movie I can remember where a NASA person was a woman.

Game Night

We had a few friends over tonight for games and dinner. We’d been talking about it for over a year, but with the wedding plans, we just never got around to it. Too bad, because it was a lot of fun, and I hope we make it a regular feature at our place.

Neil arrived first, so Andrew, Neil and I started with a game of “La Strada” — a road building game that we played during the games class we took this summer. Andrew and I had brushed up on it last week, and found that it’s a lot of fun for two players along with being great for more players.

After Stef and Doug arrived, we set up “Carcasonne“, a game we had heard about from the teacher of the games class, but had only played a couple times ourselves. It is a tile-laying game where you build up cities, plains and roads to get points. It, too, is fun for any number of players. Andrew bowed out just before we started because Kendall and Kate arrived. I found that Carcasonne took on a different feel with more players. In the first game we played, the farmers were the most important point-gatherers; however, in a second game with five players, completing a key 17-tile city was the key to the winning score. We haven’t figured out the best strategy for the game, and perhaps there is no “best strategy”.

Finally we played a game of “Munchkin“. We had played last Thanksgiving with Mushi and Jeff, but couldn’t remember the rules, so we muddled through the poorly written instructions. It wasn’t as fun as the others, perhaps because of the myriad exceptions to the rules and confused instructions. We think it might be more fun in subsequent games when we have the game play down.

All in all, though, a very fun evening.

The Santa Clause 2

3/5 stars

Okay, so I’m a sucker for cute romantic comedies. Despite the Christmas back-drop, that’s what this is. The latest Santa Claus discovers that he needs to be married by Christmas in order to continue being Santa. If he has not found a Mrs. Claus, bad things will happen to Christmas.

I liked it. There I said it. Scoff if you want, but I thought it was cute.

Trekkies 2

4/5 stars

We watched Trekkies several years ago, and found it a fun documentary on the “out there” Star Trek fans. Some people complained that it made Trekkers look like freaks, but as someone pointed out in Trekkies 2, a documentary about the average Star Trek fan would be fairly boring.

With Trekkies 2 we look the broader picture of Trekkers across the world. In the first movie, they only looked at US Trekkers, but this one travels to Germany, Brazil, and England. They were even there for the first ever Star Trek convention in Serbia.

There were also a few follow-ups with people from the first film. They caught up with Barbara Adams, who had gone to jury duty in her Federation uniform prior to the first Trekkies. They also talked with Gabriel Köerner, who was a teenager in the first Trekkies, and it was speculated by someone that he would never get sex. He is now married. The extras on the DVD included a fan film by Köerner.

This one can stand by itself. The first Trekkies included more on the history of Trekkers, but that’s not necessary to enjoy the stories of Trekkies abroad.

1971

The year I was born…

Finding Neverland

4/5 stars

Finding Neverland follow J. M. Barrie (played by Johnny Depp) as he develops the script for Peter Pan. This is not the story of Peter Pan, but the story of J. M. Barrie as he befriends four boys and their widowed mother, Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Kate Winslet).

< spoilers >
The film does fall into a sentimental pit when it changes the real life story to have Davies dying just after the play opens to include it in the film. It frankly would have been just as good to show Davies falling ill, but not dying. Hollywood does enjoy a dramic death, I suppose.
</ spoilers >