Today, I broke down and paid my rent. For February. I had been hoping that something would happen job-wise that would help me, but that hasn't happened. Oh, well...who needs savings?
Also, I am minding my friend Nancy's cat while she and her boyfriend are on vacation. So I treked up the Washington Heights this afternoon. The good part of this is that Nancy has Movies on Demand on her cable, so I got to spend the afternoon watching movies. I really like this whole On Demand idea.
In addition to the latest episode of Sex and the City, I watched one bad movie and one good movie and it shocked the hell out of me which was which. My two picks today were Die Another Day, the latest James Bond adventure and Kevin Smith's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Any guesses?
I'll keep you in suspense a little while longer.
I got a temp job dangled in front of me today and then snatched away. One of the agencies called me and asked if I would be interested in an assignment that was a dollar or so per hour below my usual rate. I, of course, crawled through the phone and asked who I'd have to blow to get the job. But I got a call back a bit later saying that the company was going to use someone who is already working there and that my services would not be necessary. Uh Huh.
Okay...the movies...
I was totally surprised what a stinking piece of shit Die Another Day was. I usually love Bond flicks, but this one was completely Spy Movie By the Numbers. I'd heard that Halle Berry was terrific in it, but I saw nothing extrordinary there. Even Judi Dench was uncharacteristically dour in this edition. Eek.
Here's my prescription for the Bond series...
1) Hugh Jackman. Pierce Brosnan was a good choice and a much better one than Timothy Dalton, but I think we've seen everything he can do with this role and it's time to bring in someone new. Jackman would be perfect and the producers would be lucky to get him.
2) Hire marquee directors to give this series a point of view. I had never heard of Lee Tamahori who directed this movie and an Internet Movie Database search turned up nothing of note on his resume. I realize that the producers need to economize somewhere, but this shouldn't be the place. I'd love to see a Bond flick from James Cameron, Ridley Scott, or even Peter Weir. Or how about one from Spielberg himself? How exciting would that be? Seriously!
Speaking of Directors with points of view, Kevin Smith's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back was a hoot that looks like it was ever so much fun for all involved. Smith creates a wacky universe for his characters and delivers a fun goofy movie that has no pretensions and no agenda other than to entertain.
Smith seems to inspire a sense of fun in his actors. Although Jason Mewes and Smith himself carry most of the movie, there are brilliant cameos by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Biggs, and James Van Der Beek among others.
Whee! I love when I turn on a movie that I'm expecting to be crap and discover that it's actually quite wonderful and fun. I just hate the converse. Or do I mean obverse?
Posted by Jere at February 10, 2004 11:37 PM | TrackBack