Academy Shorts, and drive-in movies...

I spent Saturday (March 6Th) downtown at the Warren watching the Academy shorts program, a tradition now for I don't know how many years, were you get to see the nominated (Animated Short, Live Action Short, and Documentary (short subject)) entries from each category. I was only able to pick the Documentary short this year ("Music by Prudence"), neither my choice for animated "A Matter of Loaf or Death", or live action "Miracle Fish" won. All in all though it was a pretty good year at least the documentaries didn't put me to sleep. :)

My niece was staying with us that weekend so after getting home from the shorts we went out to eat, then ran some errands. On a whim (since we were on the south end of town anyway) we went by the drive-in, and found that they were open doing $10 car load nights. We settled on screen 1 which was The Spy Next Door, The Tooth Fairy, and Twilight: New Moon, mainly because my daughter and niece didn't want to see the shows on the other screen.

I knew we wouldn't stay for Twilight sequel because no one had seen the first one, and I was leery about The Tooth Fairy because I had read some pretty bad reviews. I was pleased when The Spy Next Door turned out to be a Jackie Chan film that I evidently had never heard of, and ended up being okay. Sure it was a little on the campy side, and Mr. Chan isn't getting any younger, but overall a watchable comedy with a side of chop-chop thrown in.

I actually enjoyed The Tooth Fairy. I don't know if it's because I had such low expectations from all the bad reviews, but it was actually pretty good. I like the Rock in comedic roles (I seem to remember liking Game Plan also...), sure it's not going to win any awards, but I liked it.

I went back this last Saturday to catch the features on the other screen, it was a little cooler out this time. I had already seen Sherlock Holmes, but both Cop Out and Book of Eli were new to me. Cop Out is directed by Kevin Smith (Clerks, Chasing Amy, etc...) apparently to show he can do a major 'studio' film. I always enjoy Bruce Willis, but I'm not a fan of Tracy Morgan and judging form the reviews I've seen he was the weak link. Cop Out has some decent action comedy going on, but seemed a little to over the top to me. There are other 'buddy cop' movies that are far superior to this one (most of the Lethal Weapon movies, 48 hours, Beverly Hills Cop) it's okay, but that's about it. Lucky for me, I didn't pay much to see it.

Book of Eli on the other hand was worth staying up till 2:30 am for. I had seen the previews, but was thinking it was a post-apocalyptic action thriller. I had visions of Mad Max and a movie version of Fallout 3 (which I was playing when I saw the first trailer...). Turns out that it was almost a post-apocalypse parable in tone. There are a few bloody (*gory*) action sequences, and even though they happen so quick, I can see why it got an R rating. Overall it was a good movie, and except for maybe one scene I don't feel that they beat me over the head with the message. I could definitely see myself picking up the blu-ray when it comes out to watch it again.