watching movies one cup at a time

It’s a very cliche story: Lone wolf outsider comes into town, thinking he can change things. Big bad evil rich dude “owns the town and everyone in it” and tries to kill/shut down the lone wolf. Explosions, fist fights, smashed glass. Good guy wins, bad rich dude dies. There are whole tv series based on that simple plot line. Road House fits that model perfectly and features Swayze kickin’ some ass. Lotsa violence in this one. Including one badass scene where he literally rips out a dude’s throat. Who does that? Seriously. Ultimate fighting fans should dig this, the rest of us can probably do without the whole ripped-out throat thing.

Well, it is what it is - a b-grade zombie flick loosely based on a video game. I’m not a big fan of any of these movies. They are pretty weak in general. I like the idea of an out-of-control company like the Umbrella Corporation, but we don’t get much insight into them. This film takes place in a future where the whole world has pretty much been taken over by the “T Virus” which kills everything and then reanimates it zombie-style. Milla Jovovich is back as the genetically-enhanced Alice, ready to kick some a** as usual. And really that’s the most fun part - watching Milla do her thing. She pretty much only acts in movies where she can whup on people nowadays so she’s gotten really good at it. High kicks, flipping all over, knives, guns, what’s not to like? The rest of the cast and the story is pretty forgettable. Even as an end-of-the-world scenario it’s so-so. Fun if you want something mindless.

Musicals. When they’re great, they’re really great. And when they suck, they REALLY suck. I never saw Rent on broadway so I don’t have that to compare the movie to. But I couldn’t even get through this movie. It just got so annoying after awhile I gave up. In opera, the entire performance, dialogue and all, is sung and performed as a musical piece. So Rent tries to be that, but in a modern, “hip and edgy” kinda way. Big mistake. Trying to make this thing into a non-stop song was just plain stupid. These people walk from one situation to the next and are just singing nonsense constantly. It’s not like Chicago or Moulin Rouge where they’re singing some of the time. These people are ALWAYS singing. “Going to the bus? Let’s sing about it!” “Like to eat peanuts? How about a song!” “Dying of AIDS? Singing might help!” and after awhile I just felt like saying SHUT UP for 2 frickin’ minutes PLEASE! It maybe, MAYBE, would have been okay if the songs were decent, but the songs were TERRIBLE. Stupid lyrics, boring music, WAY over the top emoting going on. And the story was just plain stupid too. I had high hopes for this movie cuz everyone always raves about it. But like I said, I had to turn it off about half way cuz I could not stand another second of someone constantly singing these crap songs. The only song I did like was the one in the trailer. And that was in the trailer so why did I need to see 2 solid hours of songs that were NOT that one? No thanks.