A Twofer Tuesday....

In this case, the last Two Movies I watched:

Idiocracy- I put this on the ol' Netflix queue at Melinda's suggestion, and am so glad I did. I LOVED this movie! For those not familiar with the premise... A regular guy (played by Luke "I am not Owen" Wilson) gets frozen for 500 years as part of an army experiment. The world he wakes up to is one that reflects a disturbing trend in our society: the stupid folks are out-breeding the smart folks. The result after 500 years of this is a world in ruin. Think of an entire distopian big-brother society being run by Beavis and Butthead, and you begin to get the idea. Filled with great sight gags, and the dry yet crude humor of Mike Judge (Office Space, King of the Hill), this movie was frakin awsome. Go rent it and tell me what y'all think.

Legally Blonde 2-Red, White, and Blonde- I was looking forward to this movie way more than I should have been, I think. I know it totally blows the whole macho image thing, but I realy enjoyed the first movie, and thought I would give the second one a try. I am so sorry I did... while Reese Witherspoon was great in the first movie as the girly, idealistic Elle Woods, in this one, her character was so over the top as to be embarrassing. Take my word for this and give it a pass, otherwise you'll just encourage them to make another.

Trek Geek moment: A bad sign

I was reading over on Star Trek.com about the newest Trek movie in production, when I came upon the following quote from J.J. Abrams:

"On the one hand, for people who love Star Trek, the fix that they will get will be really satisfying,'' Abrams said. ''For people who've never seen it or know it vaguely, I think they will enjoy it equally, because the movie does not require you to know anything about Star Trek. I would actually prefer [that] people don't know the series, because I feel like they will come to it with an open mind.''

So, the writer of the only Star Trek that will be available in the forseeable future would prefer that people are completely ignorant of Star Trek. In short, not fans.

I held my tounge when they picked the writer of that god-awful disaster movie wanna-be Armeggeddon for this project. I overlooked that he had also written the syrupy shmaltz that became Forever Young, the only "cryogenic defrostee" movie that threatened to put it's audience to sleep. I could even get past the fact that he was a major writer for the ever-so-confusing Lost. Why? Because he also wrote a chunk of Alias, which obviously had a huge respect for it's fan following.

I smell another "Superman Returns".

All rise for the traditional "Elvis' Birthday pelvis wiggle"...

So, Rob, how was your New Years Eve?

My New Years was fun, but I nearly wound up with pneumonia. I suppose that's what happens to a guy that has a bit of a sniffle who spends a large chunk of the evening loudly belittling his friend's neighbor's fireworks display. We would send up a mortar, they would send up a slightly inferior rocket... followed by me yelling "Is that the best you got? Alright boys, let’s show em how we do things downtown!" at which point my friends, (Dave and Bobby), would send up another round, followed by me screaming "Now thats what I'm talking about!" at the neighbors. Repeat this scene like 30 or 40 times, and keep in mind that I was out there wearing a t-shirt in damp, 40 degree weather (gotta love them Louisiana winters... high 70 degree days, but damp, cold nights)... I suppose it's no surprise that I spent the past week or so mostly in bed, coughing. :(

On the bright side, I had a chance to catch up on my movie watching… one of which is perfect to be reviewing today, on what would be Elvis’ 72^nd birthday- BubbaHoTep.

I originally put this one on the Netflix queue because of its star, Bruce Campbell. He has a tendancy to gravitate toward offbeat projects that I appreciate. Usually, they resemble old school ‘b’ movies in both theme (“The Man with the Screaming Brain” being a great example) and more importantly, humor. BubbaHoTep is no exception. The film takes place in a Texas nursing home, where we meet none other than the king himself… Elvis Arron Presley, who long ago gave up his fame to an Elvis impersonator that died before he could switch back. But all is not well… a soul-sucking mummy is preying upon the elderly, and it’s up to Elvis to stop him with a little assistance from fellow nursing home resident, JFK. This movie takes a while to get going, but is very clever once it gets its legs under it. It really surprised me that I would enjoy a movie with two geriatric heroes, but Campbell’s aging Elvis seeking redemption won me over fairly quickly. Go out and rent it yourself, and let me know what you think.