SMOKE 'EM IF YOU GOT 'EM

 I am so busy bitching about the fact that I haven't seen any movies in a million years that I completely forgot that I saw THANK YOU FOR SMOKING last month.  Does that mean it wasn't very memorable?  Possibly.  It was filled with some great characters, and there were a few truly inspired sequences (the trip to L.A. where Aaron Eckhart meets Rob Lowe's Hollywood exec), but without a coherent story to hold all of those characters together, I thought it ultimately fell a bit flat as satire.

But it was great to see Aaron E. break out of Neil LaBute scary-land and deliver a monstrous performance.  I hope this film opens up a lot of opportunities for him, because he has "gravitas coming out the wazoo," plus one of the most fabulous chins in Hollywood.

As for the women, the always enchanting (and Philly girl) Maria Bello was shamefully underused, and Katie Holmes was pretty annoying/miscast.

Oh, and Robert Duvall turns in a spine-tingling performance as a dying Southern tobacco magnate.

Ultimately, I wouldn't sweat it if you missed in the theaters, but it'll be nice, light and concisely-told fare for the Netflix queue.  (Less is often more.)

WHERE HAVE ALL THE MOVIES GONE??

At present, our Netflix consumption is tied up with Ken Burns' brilliant Civil War series, and the stuff in theaters is CRAP, so there's been shamefully scant cinema intake around here lately. But last weekend we caught a few seconds of a laugh-out-loud terrible Kenneth Branagh film from the mid-90's called THE PROPOSITION. It seemed to be some kind of period piece with K-Bran as a priest mired in a love triangle with Madeleine Stowe and William Hurt, who play an infertile couple who turn to a shady guy for some sperm. Anyway, it was good for a laugh.

Needless to say, I am really looking forward to getting back to the movies, both at home and in the theater. I think I have a date with DONNIE DARKO in the next ten days or so. (For some reason, Mike doesn't want to watch it. Too much teen angst?) Should be nice to kick-start my crush on Jake G.

Lastly, I guess I'll take this opportunity to invite folks to recommend something that might actually be worth seeing out there. At the moment, it is feeling like a long, dry spell.

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers

Okay, for all of you who haven't figured it out yet, I love me a series. I think it's because you get more bang for your buck - more viewing pleasure. Plus, I absolutely love the ensemble cast.

Anyway, I have been watching the 2001 series BAND OF BROTHERS on and off for the past few months. I am a bit late to the game, as I know practically everyone watched this when it was first broadcast on HBO. It's based on the Stephen Ambrose book and is the story Easy Company, a regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. They parachuted in D-day morning, and from there, they participated in many legendary battles, including the Battle of the Bulge.

Each is thrilling, riveting, and exhausting. Some are the tensest hour you'll experience, and that's saying something, considering we all know how this ends. Every episode begins with a few interview clips with the surviving members of the 101st, and there is a variety of writers and directors for the 10 episodes.

The battles are pretty bloody (the 101st had many casualties) and there are a lot of different characters, so you can get slightly overwhelmed, but that's also the beauty of the true ensemble cast. One gets an idea of the whole story, the largeness of the story the author is depicting, and in my case, it often left me in tears. My God, it was fierce. Fave episode: Bastogne.

But it's not that grim all of the time. Beacons of light (and to help you stay rooted) are the excellent Lt. Nixon (Ron Livingston) and Captain Winters (Damian Lewis - more on him in a future post). Their friendship is the thread that is consistent throughout all the episodes, and scenes with them are comforting. A bit of cover from the storm.

Whether you like war movies or not, it doesn't matter. See it.

Opening weekend - what would DaVinci do?

Okay, kids, it's here. After all the trailers, the hype, the protests, the hubbub, the film has finally arrived. It was screened last night in Cannes, and rumour has it that it's getting mixed reviews.

Neverfear, I am going to not rant about Dan Brown in this posting. I am merely asking that if anyone who reads this should see the film this weekend, please let us all know how it is! I imagine it may be pretty hard to build up suspense in this film, as so many already know the big twist.

I have to say, since this book first hit it big, I have been wondering what DaVinci would think of all of this. Would he hate it or love it? Or would he be on the press junket with Ron Howard and crew, talking about his contribution to the film? We'll never know.