it's over. move to somnia.

(prev) i kiss boys (next)

 
Current events: Saw A Beautiful Mind on Friday and any cynicism I'd ever discarded about Hollywood films jockeying for the Academy Awards suddenly came rushing back to me. After the first ten minutes, I was ready to leave. Every, every line of dialogue was written and enunciated as if it were a commanding speech. ("I need to discover something original!")

There was no surprise in discovering the man was delusional. Every plot point was telegraphed, save for the tacking-on of the "and then, 40 years later" Nobel Prize denouement. (Hey, didn't I already suffer through A.I.?) And has there ever in recorded history been a woman as brazen as Jennifer Connelly's character? Sure you root for her, but the "based on a true story" claim has already been pretty laughable without imagining a female student (at Princeton in the 1950s? what?) had that kind of power.

Somebody please explain why Russell Crowe's acting is being hailed and showered with awards. Is it hard to avoid eye contact, mumble, and stare blankly when you're not crying? (Did I accidentally stumble into I Am Sam?) And as for the traveling accent: I'm not an expert on schizophrenia, but I don't recall him having adopted the personalities of a Southern gentleman and Scots highlander. (The "mountain man" accent at least approximated his West Virginia background.)

Now, I had always heard DreamWorks was supposedly a big gun in the special effects department. Great. Fine. Glowing numbers are pretty. Floating people are neat. But how hard is it to put "old makeup" on actors so it doesn't look like a gorilla was let loose in the props department and walloped the actors with putty? When the camera turned to Wifey at the Nobel Prize ceremony, I thought to myself, "Oh my goodness, he went crazy and embalmed Liz Taylor with peanut butter." Even the people behind Romy and Michele's High School Reunion did a better job, and all they had for a budget was twelve bucks and a tub of Crisco.

Bad movie. Big gaps. Laughable emotion. Time wasted.
peachy as always, Mike at 3:02 PM