Saturday Night At The Movies

[Chief Rum]

I just thought I would tell you how cool it is to have cable sometimes, even the basic stuff.

I love movies, and I like to have good ones on when I am working at the computer. I know that sounds strange, but my television is near the computer so I can easily see it from my desk. As such, I will regularly spend a good, quiet evening both working on something at the computer and watching movies (yeah, I'm a real partier, eh?).

Last night was a particularly good night. I didn't have anything doing, so I was planning to just get some work done at the computer. The Angels played in the daytime, so they weren't on, and Saturday night regular TV is always shit (especially in the summer).

So I started checking out my movie channels (just the basic stuff, SciFi, F/X, TBS, Bravo, IFC, Encore, etc.) to see if anything good was on. I found "Fast and Furious" on Encore, about halfway through and before all the really cool stuff. Not exactly a movie which requires a brain, but I always loved the utter "cool" of this one, Deisel and Walker pull off a good chemistry bit, and, let's face it, those are some pretty damn tight racing cars and scenes. As pointless as it is, I still always get exhilaration chills from the two of them racing toward the track with the oncoming train. Great stuff. BTW, I discovered for the first time that after all the credits are done on Fast and Furious, they have an extra scene with Diesel driving and his line about the only time he feels free is when he's doing that ten seconds down the road or whatever.

So that ends and I flip channels around. And I see that "American History X" is on IFC, about a half hour in. Now, this movie finds its way on a lot, for some reason, but I rarely stop to watch it. I saw it a long time ago, and really liked it, but it's just not a movie you wait to see again (it's too depressing, like Schindler's List). But there was little else on, and I was in the mood for anything quality, so I left it on. Besides, the opening half hour is just okay--the middle scenes and end are where the real kick is. And once again, I was reminded about how powerful and tragic this movie is, and why didn't Norton get an Oscar for it, and why did Furlong let a huge hit in T2 and critical acclaim in "X" turn into--what the hell is he doing now? Watching almost the whole thing for the first time in years allowed me to re-connect witht he characters again, so that when the end comes, I actually felt quite moved again (despite the fact that I had wandered by the ending and not felt similar emotion probably a dozen times in the past couple years).

So the credits roll on "X", and IFC comes up and says they're about to show "Magnolia." Well, that seems like a good one to stick with. I had heard good things both at rottentomatoes. com and from some of you guys here in our movie threads, so I decided to stick with it. Besides, Cruise is one of my favorite actors (yes, I knew going in it was an ensemble piece, and not a star vehicle for Cruise). Anyway, the beginning was just fascinating, but I got lost a little in the first hour and a half (it's a three-hour film) with all the different story lines. I think the only thing that kept me watching was waiting for the stories to be pulled together. I'm glad that I did. The individual dramas became just captivating near the middle, such that I actually, finally completely turned away from the computer and just watched the movie. And it pretty much continued like that to the end. It turned out to be a great watch, although I'm still trying to figure out the origin and meaning of the film's late "weather". Surprisingly, the different stories weren't really tied together at all, as it turns out, at least no more than thematically.

No more good movies on after that that I saw , but then it was time for bed anyway.

Chief Rum

[VPI97]

Originally posted by Chief Rum
why did Furlong let a huge hit in T2 and critical acclaim in "X" turn into--what the hell is he doing now?

Massive amounts of heroin from what I've heard. I read where he was originally supposed to reprise his role as John Connor in T3, but was kicked out of the movie due to his drug use.