Random Recordings of Mental Meanderings

Lately, I’ve been watching movies. Some are good, some are bad. Some are just awful. Here’s a snapshot of a few of them:

Jumper

Now, here’s a movie that appealed to me, from seeing the commercials. A sci-fi thriller involving people who can transport themselves instantaneously around the world. A theif being chased by a retired cop. Hot chicks. A winner, right?

Wrong.

Wrong wrong wrong.

If there was ever a movie that should never have been sent to the theater, this is it. Very little violence, some sexual innuendo with no nudity, and a few “bad” words. This should have been released on the SciFi Channel, for all it did not have. There was almost no character development, and I half expected Samuel L. Jackson to shout out “I want all these mother-fucking Jumpers off my mother-fucking planet!” The humor in that would have made the movie. Unfortunately, he didn’t.

Another disappointment: Diane Lane as the mother of David Rice, the main character. You only see her in about 3 scenes, only to find out in the end that she left him so she wouldn’t kill him. Sort of an anti-oedipal thing, or more like that woman who flipped out several years ago, put her kids into the car and drove them into a lake. But overall, you know absolutely nothing about her.

There is only one redeeming thing about this movie: Rachel Bilson. Quite the looker. Having never watched the O.C., I never saw her before, but she is pretty hot. She sort of reminds me of a young Julia Roberts. If I ever watch it again, it would be just to see her.

The Eye

Speaking of hot chicks, here’s Jessica Alba. I’ll do dinner and drinks with her any time. And this movie was pretty good, despite the negative critical reviews.

Maybe my impression of it was affected by the fact that I used to play violin, and had an affinity for the lead character. Maybe it’s because I had to watch it in bits and pieces over the course of a week, so the suspense played itself out over a longer period of time. Maybe the addition of Parker Posey, the Indie Queen, did something for me. Or maybe it was Fernanda Romero, the up and coming hottie. Perhaps Rachel Ticotin of “Total Recall” and “Con Air” fame got me. I’m not sure, but four hot chicks in a movie will always get my attention.

It’s a remake of a 2002 Hong Kong thriller, about a classical violinist who gets new eyes via a transplant, and freaks out from biological memory. She sees dead people, and keeps seeing the number 105 and burning people. The end is suspenseful and worth it, overall. She sees the significance of the number 105, and why she keeps seeing burning people, and saves the day (of course – if it wasn’t for predictability half of the movies today wouldn’t be watched). Still, I liked it.

Other films

Right now, I’m watching Beowulf. I will be watching 300, 10,000 BC, No Country for Old Men, The Count of Monte Cristo, Sicko, and The Golden Compass. Hopefully, I won’t be disappointed by any of them.

Disclaimer: I realize that I did not go in depth that much with descriptions of these two movies. You want to know more about them? Watch them yourself. I’m not going to synopsize in detail the movies for you.