(no subject)
So.
Yesterday was my birthday, and all told it was pretty uneventful, but fun: I woke up in Kirksville, went to work, drove to Saint Louis in the company of Emily's friend Melissa and dropped her off at Tower Grove Park. Then I took a nap (because I have been getting shockingly little sleep recently) and went to dinner with my parents at Pho Grand, and afterwards went and saw Get Smart with Kenny, Sean, and Zach.
Overall this was surprisingly funny, and it echoed the TV show in most of the right ways. I hadn't actually seen any of Steve Carell's movies before this and I was pleasantly surprised. They managed to make Maxwell Smart into an awkward, bumbling guy without making him simply stupid or incompetent, and there are a number of places in the film where Max is legitimately seen to be, well, a pretty damn good spy- which is refreshing, considering that so many comedies take the easy way out of making their main character into a stupid ass. Max is endearingly awkward, and actually a pretty well realized character. Obviously he's kind of a caricature as well, but that's to be expected, really...
There are a few jokes that fit into my "c'mon, really?" camp (one including vomit* and the other including the highly improbably scenario that Max ripped the ass out of his pants and didn't notice) which detracts from the movie, but overall it was one of the better comedies I've seen in a long time. And the nods to the old TV show are generally spot-on; the first time Max says "Missed it by that much," people clapped. (Also there's a subplot about how Max used to be really overweight that kind of bothered me, but fat people will always be one of the subgroups it's alright to make fun of, I think... It's the kind of thing I developed pretty thick skin about long ago.)
*The vomit joke was odd, because I actually really liked the set-up of the joke. Basically the Chief turns to Max and says "How did you get from Washington to Los Angeles so quickly?" The camera cuts to Max in a jet fighter, puking into the air sickness bag (and spilling some of the vomit to the camera, which honestly just looked like bad jambalaya to me), implying that Max had impulsively stolen/commandeered a fighter jet to get to LA in time, and then it cuts back to Max, who says simply "...It's not important." The quick cut to the ill-conceived plan and then back to Max denying the whole thing is a good set-up, and frankly if it had just been Max vomiting into a bag I might have been okay with it... But the whole "spill it out at the audience" thing was too much, and didn't add to the joke at all. It was just pandering to the scatologically inclined, and, well, I hate that kind of humor...
I wouldn't go so far as to say that YOU MUST GO SEE THIS MOVIE, but it's a fun time and you'll probably enjoy it if your instincts tell you that you might. Also Dwayne Johnson's role as Agent 23 is pretty priceless.
Today I went to Emily's wedding, which was lovely, simple, and short- things all of life's rituals should be. I'm man enough to admit I cried at the musical selection, a woman singing the John Lennon song that was redone with the other Beatles for the Anthology called "Real Love." It's a song that I found myself singing the day after I first kissed Megan, so it has kind of special meaning to me. The reception was also fun and indulged both my introverted, analytical side and my wild-eyed manic extroverted side. Plus they had a really good band playing, and I got to see most of my good friends from home.
On the not so good side, I have added gin to the list of alcoholic beverages that are disgusting. Thus far every alcoholic beverage is on that list except for, appropriately, mead and Guiness.
I'm sleepy and smell bad, so I'm going to bathe and go to bed.
-E
Yesterday was my birthday, and all told it was pretty uneventful, but fun: I woke up in Kirksville, went to work, drove to Saint Louis in the company of Emily's friend Melissa and dropped her off at Tower Grove Park. Then I took a nap (because I have been getting shockingly little sleep recently) and went to dinner with my parents at Pho Grand, and afterwards went and saw Get Smart with Kenny, Sean, and Zach.
Overall this was surprisingly funny, and it echoed the TV show in most of the right ways. I hadn't actually seen any of Steve Carell's movies before this and I was pleasantly surprised. They managed to make Maxwell Smart into an awkward, bumbling guy without making him simply stupid or incompetent, and there are a number of places in the film where Max is legitimately seen to be, well, a pretty damn good spy- which is refreshing, considering that so many comedies take the easy way out of making their main character into a stupid ass. Max is endearingly awkward, and actually a pretty well realized character. Obviously he's kind of a caricature as well, but that's to be expected, really...
There are a few jokes that fit into my "c'mon, really?" camp (one including vomit* and the other including the highly improbably scenario that Max ripped the ass out of his pants and didn't notice) which detracts from the movie, but overall it was one of the better comedies I've seen in a long time. And the nods to the old TV show are generally spot-on; the first time Max says "Missed it by that much," people clapped. (Also there's a subplot about how Max used to be really overweight that kind of bothered me, but fat people will always be one of the subgroups it's alright to make fun of, I think... It's the kind of thing I developed pretty thick skin about long ago.)
*The vomit joke was odd, because I actually really liked the set-up of the joke. Basically the Chief turns to Max and says "How did you get from Washington to Los Angeles so quickly?" The camera cuts to Max in a jet fighter, puking into the air sickness bag (and spilling some of the vomit to the camera, which honestly just looked like bad jambalaya to me), implying that Max had impulsively stolen/commandeered a fighter jet to get to LA in time, and then it cuts back to Max, who says simply "...It's not important." The quick cut to the ill-conceived plan and then back to Max denying the whole thing is a good set-up, and frankly if it had just been Max vomiting into a bag I might have been okay with it... But the whole "spill it out at the audience" thing was too much, and didn't add to the joke at all. It was just pandering to the scatologically inclined, and, well, I hate that kind of humor...
I wouldn't go so far as to say that YOU MUST GO SEE THIS MOVIE, but it's a fun time and you'll probably enjoy it if your instincts tell you that you might. Also Dwayne Johnson's role as Agent 23 is pretty priceless.
Today I went to Emily's wedding, which was lovely, simple, and short- things all of life's rituals should be. I'm man enough to admit I cried at the musical selection, a woman singing the John Lennon song that was redone with the other Beatles for the Anthology called "Real Love." It's a song that I found myself singing the day after I first kissed Megan, so it has kind of special meaning to me. The reception was also fun and indulged both my introverted, analytical side and my wild-eyed manic extroverted side. Plus they had a really good band playing, and I got to see most of my good friends from home.
On the not so good side, I have added gin to the list of alcoholic beverages that are disgusting. Thus far every alcoholic beverage is on that list except for, appropriately, mead and Guiness.
I'm sleepy and smell bad, so I'm going to bathe and go to bed.
-E