AdSense is just… I don’t know… cool. It makes sense, it’s not obnoxious, it’s fresh. Unlike me or my little site here.

More quick & dirty movie reviews!

Taking Lives – Blah. Started good, had potential, ended up being rather disappointing. It wasn’t a complete waste of time though…

Citizen Kane – Figured I might as well watch it, it’s one of those ‘great movies of all time’ that almost everyone but me has seen. I actually liked it. I really enjoyed it more listening to Ebert do a commentary on it. It was just impressive to put myself in that time period and realize all the things that Welles did that had never been done before. Almost makes me want to be a film student.

50 First Dates – Cute and very funny. I liked it, so did other people I suggested watch it.

Badder Santa – I thought it was pretty funny. Most people would probably be offended. A drinking, cursing, sex-crazed Santa just seems wrong. I’d put it on the ‘if it’s around watch it, but don’t go out of your way to see it’ list.

Monster’s Ball – Again with Halle Berry… I liked the movie too.

I saw X2 and T3 as well – not really worth mentioning, they’re just fun time-waster movies.

Netflix sure is shitty when you cancel your free trial. I thought I’d at least give them a shot, so I tried them for two weeks. The movies for Netflix and Blockbuster are mailed from Lansing, MI (at least for me) so the shipping times were about the same. Blockbuster is cheaper and you get two free in-store rentals a month – which comes in very handy. The little things too, like with Blockbuster I actually canceled a few days before my free trial was over, and it was effective when my trial was up – I just had to return any movies I had out within 10 days. With Netflix, cancellation is immediate and you have to return any movies out within 7 days. I guess Wal-Mart even has an online rental thingy. I saw that when I canceled Netflix, it mentioned it in its ‘why are you leaving?’ survey. Just seems odd… Wal-Mart. I wonder if they have sweat-shops stuff the movies in envelopes.

Blockbuster sucks, they really do. They’re expensive, the movies are never there, and don’t get me started on the late-fee collections notice! (I’ve actually gotten one of those threatening postcards from them over 46 cents before)
I love Netflix… but not because their service is great. I wouldn’t know. I love them because they came up with a great idea that Blockbuster stole and made slightly better. That’s right, I joined Blockbusters’ online DVD rental deal. I got into it Friday – I stumbled into an invitation to try it or something. It’s cheaper than netflix, and I also get 2 rentals a month from my local store. No late fees, I don’t have to go to the store, I can put a movie in my queue whenever it pops into my head… great stuff. Since I don’t have cable anymore, I’ve been a movie watching fool. Some I’ve seen…

This weekend I went to the Drive-In (my next great business idea is to bring back drive-ins – there’s very few left in America)
Collateral — Not bad. Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx did a great job. Tom Cruise plays a great bad guy – you want to like him by the end of it. I was just disappointed in the writing near the end… it just trailed off, like they said “Welp, better wrap this up” Not sure I can recommend spending $8.50 on it, but at least rent it when it comes out.

The Bourne Supremacy — If you liked the first one, you’ll probably like this one. Maybe not as much as the first, but still decent. Good action, good acting, decent story. One part actually lost me a little, but we’ll blame that on it being the second feature at the drive in, so it was almost 1am by the time it was done.

The Virgin Suicides — Maybe my expectations were too high. I picked this one up (or rather, had this one sent to me) because I loved Sofia Coppala’s Lost in Translation … eh. It was just disturbing, with a few uneasy laughs here and there. Maybe it tried to be profound and failed. I didn’t really get anything out of it.

The Butterfly Effect — See this movie. If you saw it in the theater, you were robbed – go rent it and watch the director’s cut. As much as I can’t stand Ashton Kutcher, I loved this flick. Everything about it was just excellent – story, acting, directing.

Amelie — This was based on a friend’s suggestion, and I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I’ll warn you, it’s French. No translation, you’ll have to read the subtitles. I’m no movie aficionado – just give me a Hollywood blockbuster with shit blowing up and I’m usually happy. (which is why I’m starting to worry about myself – I loved Amelie, I bought Lost in Translation, I stayed awake through Waking Life – none of them had a single explosion) So the thought of me watching a French film?! I actually want to watch it again and not spend the whole movie reading – you miss a lot of the visually stunning scenes. Good stuff, two thumbs up, watch it sometime.

Ok, back to managing my queue… I’ve probably gotten $20 worth of entertainment out of the process on online rental alone. I’m a geek… I can’t help it.

I just did something I swore I would never ever do – I spent $100 on a pair of sunglasses. I’ve never had a $100-anything that I wore… at least not that I paid for. Can I help it I have screwed up priorities?