Movie Reviews

Nothing like sitting on my comfy couch watching the NASCAR race at the end of a long, rainy day filled with watching movies and eating tasty Mexican food. Our Netflix list has been stagnant for a while, and there was a common need for procrastination, so we tore through a couple movies and a TV episode. So here's what we watched:

The Squid and the Whale - Both JC and I are pursuing Master's degrees at Johns Hopkins, but I think this movie is providing enough motivation for us to NOT get PhDs. Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney play married academic intellectuals who looked like they had kids so they could write a dissertation on just how to screw them up enough. The characters, including the really messed up kids, are all believable, but there's just not much oomph to the story. I've seen my share of lousy family-centered dramas (Before and After especially), and this movie isn't as bad as those. Overall, 3/5 stars, but probably a B- on the bell curve of quirky everyone-acts-like-a-friggin'-child dramas.

Capote - Philip Seymour Hoffman looks about 400 pounds lighter playing Truman Capote in the story of how In Cold Blood ultimately defined and ruined his career and life. This is definitely one of the best biopics I've ever seen, because the story arc doesn't take you from the rise to the inevitable downfall. There are little hints sprinkled all throughout about what ultimately does Capote in (alcoholism, jealousy, arrogance), but all 110 minutes of the film (not short in my book, Rick) are intently focused on Capote traveling to Kansas, doing research for his book, and ultimately showing how the events cripple him personally and creatively. Very well done film, except for one thing...The background music is intolerable, doing light strokes of the piano any time some type of serious moment came about. Movie gets 4/5 stars, because the piano drove me so mad as to deny this great film a perfect score.

Huff - We're an HBO family, but are starting to get curious about some of the original programming that Showtime is putting out there. We got the first disc containing the first three episodes of Huff, starring Hank Azaria (Moe and Chief Wiggum on The Simpsons). The titular Huff is a psychologist with suicidal patients, an overbearing mother, a drugged-out playboy for a lawyer/best friend...what am I forgetting...oh yeah, and a hhhhot wife. Considering we've only watched three episodes, I can't speak to very many plot points, but the acting is awesome and the dialogue is great (even though the mother can be a tad ridiculous from time to time). To date, 5/5 stars for the series.