clock … watching time, the only true currency

Saw Wall•E last night, just a few hours after the rest of the family. With a 94 on Metacritic, Wall•E is in the top 15 of all time so far. Hmmm… maybe I’d heard too many hosannahs before seeing it. Fun film, but not ready to dub it an all-time favorite just yet. After the [...]

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Kung Fu Panda was today’s film. After a sick boy missed Saturday’s outing to see this animated movie, I accompanied him to an early evening showing. The boy hasn’t learned to restrain his reactions, so there was some shouting at the screen, some tears, and some outright laughter. I didn’t enjoy it much, but the [...]

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Update: Netflix reversed the decision, and is keeping Profiles. Good news!
Important starting point for this post: I’m a Netflix customer since November 2000, nearly eight years. Netflix celebrated its 10th anniversary two months ago.
Wednesday’s email announcing the September 1 demise of Profiles landed with a thud, in this household and far beyond. Separate queues and [...]

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A few weeks ago, I stepped inside Costco for the first time in years. I avoid most of the impulse purchases which inflate the bill (exception: dried blueberries, with added sugar… blech). But for less than $10, I couldn’t pass up the bundle of The Pink Panther and The Curse of the Pink Panther on [...]

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Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull earned a Metacritic score of score of 65. I had to see it because Raiders is one of the best movies ever made. And because I find myself sharing the phrase “He chose…poorly” from Last Crusades all too often.
Not much more to say than Roger Ebert [...]

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Marvel ramps up its movie-making arm, and Iron Man is the most recent result. 78 from Metacritic feels spot on, based on what I saw two weeks ago. This is a comic book come to life, in the best way. Fun, funny, and connects the action dots pretty well. I’m not as familiar with Iron [...]

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Two weeks ago in Phoenix, we went to see The Counterfeiters. Winning the Oscar for best foreign language film does help bring a movie some attention, and some needed distribution.
My German is non-existent, so when the film started with the subtitles half off the screen, annoyance started to rise. But the projection corrected, and the [...]

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I’m a sucker for a heist movie. The Bank Job isn’t brilliant, but fun all the same. Jason Statham, mildly known from the Transporter movies, and recognizable from The Italian Job (”Handsome Rob,” the driver), carries the movie through some rough spots, even without all the opportunities for action which mark his previous roles.
I saw [...]

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The dark comedy In Bruges brightened my mood a few weeks ago. Previews highlighted comedy and Colin Farrell as a foul-mouthed lout of a gunman. Both are true, but the comedy is balanced with a sad strain that was unexpected. The balance helped the story.
Regarding the language: I was more bothered by the moments when [...]

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Nothing like a good satire to cleanse the palate. I enjoyed the title sequence almost two years ago. Friday night, I watched Thank You For Smoking. Full bore fun, riding the commercial and political system we have to the (almost logical) extent…this movie doesn’t have a (cough) filter (cough). Metacritic: 71

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