Eclecticism

I’d actually managed to go through a couple release days without anything catching my eye enough to spend money on — miracles never cease, eh? I’d thought about picking up Hollow Man, but I think I’ll leave that one firmly in the ‘renter’ category. The effects are great, and the first half of the movie is very promising…unfortunately, the second half blows. A lot. It has, however, prompted a very interesting discussion over on the Home Theater Forum, where I hang out from time to time.

After work today I had to go by Suncoast to figure out when I work this weekend, and discovered that I had a paycheck waiting for me. Rock on…but funny, I didn’t have it when I walked out. Instead, here’s what I ended up with:

High Fidelity: John Cusack‘s recent romantic comedy. A good friend of mine and I have had a vague theory for a while that John Cusack is assembling a loose series of films all revolving around the same character (so far, the only stumbling block we’ve found is that the character has different names in each of these films…still, logic has never stopped us before), and we think that High Fidelity just may be the most recent chapter. So far, we’ve got One Crazy Summer (high school), Better Off Dead (high school), Say Anything (high school graduation), Grosse Pointe Blank (10-year reunion), and now High Fidelity (life in the real world post-school).

The Impostors: I saw this one on a whim when it was in the theaters a while back, and walked out thinking that they just don’t make movies like this anymore. It’s a really silly little comedy, and the best word I can come up for it is delightful — which isn’t a word I apply to movies very much these days. Reminds me a lot of classic Marx Brothers type situation comedys…fluff, but thoroughly enjoyable fluff.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream: I’ve been something of an amateur Shakespeare buff for a few years now (ever since Kenneth Branagh released Henry V to the theaters), and this is the latest addition to my so far woefully incomplete collection of Shakespearian adaptations. I’ve counted this among my favorites of Shakespeare’s comedies since I first saw it performed live (in an outdoor theater in Berlin, translated into German, and accompanied by a bevy of attractive young German ladies…ah, the memories…), and this is a beautiful production. Plus, with Kevin Kline, who I find to be an incredible actor, Stanley Tucci, who I’d just seen in The Imposters, and both Michelle Pfeiffer and Calista Flockheart, who are just fun to drool over…can’t go too wrong here!

In any case, that’s it for this batch…was just in a mood to get some slightly lighter fare after the oh-so-comedic batches of discs I’d picked up the last couple times.

Oh, I’d forgotten to mention this — my roommate got me a very cool Christmas present this year: The Hallmark TV Classics Collection, a collection of five made-for-television films. Included in the set are Alice in Wonderland, Cleopatra, Gulliver’s Travels, Merlin, and Noah’s Ark. Of these, I’ve only ever seen half of Merlin, and hadn’t even heard about Noah’s Ark, so I’m really looking forward to diving into this set. So…that’s it for tonight….