Some Quick Thoughts and Reviews

Hello all. Time to get back for work for us city employees. The time of the year from January 1st to March 5th is my favourite time of the year. We get so many holidays this time of the year. Let's see the holiday festivities obviously kick off with New Years, then MLK, Lincoln's Birthday (WooT to the Land of Lincoln) Presidents Day, and finally Pulaski Day! I struggle to recall the last time I had to work a 5 day work week. (I know you all feel sorry for me.)

So this weekend I took some of my down time and chose to be semi-constructive with it. I watched a few movies, played a lot of WoW (LvL 20 Baby!) and played a game of basketball.

So here are a few short reviews for you.

The Notorious Betty Page - I honestly can't say that I liked this movie. It had a lot of problems. Not all together bad mind you, but certainly not great. The film stars Gretchen Moll in the title role. As Ms. Page Gretchen Moll certainly looks and performs the part quite well. Especially in terms of looks. Actual footage of Betty Page shown under the credits would be difficult to differentiate from scenes featuring Ms. Moll. The issue that I have with the film is more structure and content. The movie is very good looking. However, after watching the film I honestly felt like I knew little more about who or what Betty Page was then I did before watching the movie, and I didn't know much about her to begin with. The movie felt like it was missing scenes. Characters would often interact in ways that based on the information presented to us in the film are confusing. take for example a scene where Betty and a boyfriend from her acting class attend a party where Betty is mobbed by admiring fans of her photos. The boyfriend is taken by surprise that his girlfriend has such an "interesting" occupation. He seams just as surprised about what Betty does with her free time as I was that he didn't know. Especially because at no point is any indication given that he doesn't know about this. Little miscues like that abound in this film. Another issue that I had with the movie, was that at the start of the film great care is taken to show two very traumatic events in Betty's life. It is implied that she was the victim of molestation from her father, and also sexually assaulted by a group of men in her home town. Good character building moments to be sure. Unfortunately, nothing more is ever mentioned about these events, nor do we ever see that these events went on to shape her personality in any way. Through out the movie Betty's character is pretty much a one note character. She smiles, takes her pictures and acts like a little Southern Gal. When taking a character with as much potential interest as Betty Page, one would hope to find a movie telling the story of a woman that would should be interested in getting know more about. The problem with this movie is that even after watching it, I am still interested in knowing more about her. Not however, because I found her story engrossing, but because I don't think that I actually learned anything from the movie.

School for Scoundrels - I enjoyed this movie. Staring Billy Bob Thorton and Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) this is one of those weird crude Bill Bob Thorton movies that actually manages to be quite up lifting. The basic plot is that Jon Heder's character is a loser, he wants the girl next door. So he enroles in a class taught by Billy Bob Thorton to learn to be more self confident and get what he wants. Complications arise when Billy Bob tries to woo the object of Jon Heder's affection and war breaks out between the two. Jon Heder and Billy Bob are both great in this movie. Bill Bob does his smarmy creepy bastard routine perfectly, and Jon counters with his geeky nerd bit. The two play off each other very well. I found myself constantly amused and entertained. I would certainly recommend this movie.

Well, that's all for now. Enjoy.

HAPPY TUESDAY!