Weekends Suck

I've come to dread them, for one reason or another. So, here's, at last, an update!

Watched a few movies, and still haven't managed to finish Madbomb.

First up we have 'Against the Ropes', the latest Meg Ryan film based on the life of the most successful female boxing promoter ever. It marks Charles S. Dutton's directorial debut, and he's always been one of my favorite actors. As for the movie, it's not fantastic, typical sports cliches, but I'm a softie for sports films, so I still enjoyed it alot. Omar Epps out acts Meg Ryan in every scene, and plays the part he's given with relative ease. There are times when Ryan is screaming "I'm still sexy!!!!" with her clothing, which leads me to believe that this and her other recent film were her setting out to prove just that. Still I've seen worse, much worse. Tony Shalob and Tim Daly were good, Tony playing against type, Tim playing into it.

The other film is a classic, 'Indiscreet', with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. Now the two have been paired once before this film, another classic, Hitchcock's 'Notorious' (remade into M:I 2 for those who love trivia), and it's a brilliant film, with both comedy and intrigue. This, however, falls much more in the comedy/romance side of Grant's career. Not that that's bad. Cary Grant may have been the most versatile actor to ever grace the screen, and is definitely one of the most talented. For me his closest rival today would be Tom Hanks, someone who'sproven he can do just about anything. Still, I tend to shy away from the obvious films like this, meant as a "date" film, and not much else. However, a "date" film with these two is better than almost any other type of film you're likely to find. The comedy is certainly there, and Grant never shied away from making a fool of himself, which he does brilliantly in the last half of the film. Bergman is as stunning as ever (well, nothing beats her in Casablanca, but still...) even if she is well past what Hollywood considers prime. (Take notes Ms. Ryan...it is still Ms. Ryan, isn't it?) All in all, a wonderful film.

Next was the Alien DVD set, a.k.a. the first two discs in my Alien Quadrilogy set. Short of "freaking phenomenal" there aren't many words to describe it. Everyone should own this set just because of the extras. Not only do they give you the positive take on the movie, but you get all the negative things that went on behind the scenes, from the studios attempt to screw everyone invloved, to the actors bitchfest with the director, to the SFX guys bitchfest with the director, anything you wanted to know can likely be found here, including the work that inspired the film, paintings by H.R. Giger.

More tomorrow...as well as the fixed links.

-L