Weekend Movie Update.

The Notebook was predictable, cheesy, and most unfortunately kind of boring. It was a story that has been told numerous times (several times more interestingly), this time by actors who cannot carry the movie. I know that I am on occasion a Surprise Slut, but I like many utterly predictable romantic movies. I think the difference between The Notebook and other romance movies that I have enjoyed, such as While You Were Sleeping, Last Holiday, and Sweet Home Alabama was how seriously the latter movies did not take themselves. The Notebook was trying so hard to make you cry that they may as well have sent a studio gopher to the theaters to cut onions.

In Hollywoodland, a movie also shown in flashbacks (though much more effectively) I found it to be a refreshing portrayal of one of the most famous unsolved mysteries of all time. It is hard for me to understand the so-so reviews of this movie. It was well written, visually interesting, organized in an interesting manner, and very well acted. Ben Affleck was particularly good. I suppose playing a middle aged over-promoted has-been isn’t a stretch; but I found myself actually swept up into his belief that he could be a star, his wasted charm, his helpless dependence on an older woman, and his sorrow upon realizing he had hit the undesired climax of his life and was on the downsweep. Contrary to most critic’s reviews, I found the personal aspects of the detective’s (Adrian Brody) life added another layer of interest in the story. I wonder if people’s displeasure with the movie was that it didn’t reveal some new theory, or highlight a murder scenario; they left the viewer with no solution to the puzzle. I hope those complainers don’t bother to go see The Black Dahlia.

In other crap-that-I-watch news: I caught a couple of episodes of Eureka, the new comedy on the Sci-Fi Chanel and liked them a great deal. If you’re into silly pseudo-sci-fi I recommend checking it out. Yesterday I started a new British mystery series called Murder in Suburbia and it is also quite nice and available on dvd. I’ve also been watching Scrubs, a show I thought would be juvenile, boring, sit-com garbage; but was actually smart and laugh-out-loud funny (though still deliciously juvenile).

In crap-that-I-read news, I just read Roman Blood, by Steven Saylor and was quite impressed. Check it out especially if you are a Roman history dork. My next read is going to be a two foot pile of comics, followed by The da Vinci Code. Yes, I know that everyone else in the known universe read that a long time ago, but I was evading the hype. Now that I’ve seen the movie and I’m a bit curious about the book, so don’t judge me.