A Recounting of Events
So my birthday was Saturday (April 8th), and so I have quite a bit of stuff that happened this weekend. First on Friday, Nina and I went out for a nice meal followed by a movie.
Inside Man (2006)
Denzel and Clive both offer solid leading roles. The heist (once you know the details) is clever and the cinematography is well-placed. The overall theme of the movie, that is who has power and how people barter for more, is an interesting premise. That's not to say, though, that it's all peaches and cream. The movie drags at a slow pace, and so jarringly switches genres; from the "Action Flick" (when the cops are on screen, lots of fast-paced talking, preparation of guns, beat-downs, etc); to the "Heist Movie" (when villains are on screen, slowly going through meticulous details); and finally, and most oddly, to a wannabe "Film Noir" (whenever Denzel's girlfriend appears on screen, and the language turns salty and unrealistic with jazz in the background).
And while I'm on the subject of Denzel's girlfriend character, what does that chick do all day? As far as we could tell on the movie, she sits at home in her underwear, calling her boyfriend asking him to come home with complete disregard to the fact that he's a fucking hostage negotiator. Also, the movie ends about four or five different times. You know how, when a movie wraps up, your brain mentally says "the end" and you prepare yourself for the fade-out? That just kept happening. The essence of goodness is there, but it had enough wrong with it to drag it down to merely "average" for me. This Spike Lee joint isn't satisfying.
Score: **
Anyway, Saturday we went around to a few spots in Pennsylvania with some friends of mine, and saw a play at my old college called "Noises Off." I had never heard of it, but it was the funniest play I've seen; essentially a comedy of errors and play-within-a-play. The first scene consists of the director telling the actors where they're screwing up during a dress rehearsal; the second is an actual performance, as seen from backstage; and the third is seeing the performance one final time, but with factors screwing everything up. If you see that it's playing at some community theatre, go for it.
Finally Sunday, we ate lunch with Nina's parents and went to the sketchy area of town known as the 9:30 Club in DC, for the Neko Case concert. Great performance. I'm at a loss for words here, but it was an excellent show, and I have no clue how such a small woman can have a voice that powerful. She was also touring with Martha Wainwright, who I've never heard of, but she was a pretty good opener, and she came out to sing backup on one of Neko's songs. Case hit all the songs I was hoping to hear (along with a few I hadn't heard, obviously), and ended on "John Saw That Number" for the encore, which was probably about as strong a finish as anyone could've requested.
Oh, also, I got birthday loot in there. I'll have to make an update about that sometime, but I might just wait until I can see my parents and then do it all at once.
Inside Man (2006)
Denzel and Clive both offer solid leading roles. The heist (once you know the details) is clever and the cinematography is well-placed. The overall theme of the movie, that is who has power and how people barter for more, is an interesting premise. That's not to say, though, that it's all peaches and cream. The movie drags at a slow pace, and so jarringly switches genres; from the "Action Flick" (when the cops are on screen, lots of fast-paced talking, preparation of guns, beat-downs, etc); to the "Heist Movie" (when villains are on screen, slowly going through meticulous details); and finally, and most oddly, to a wannabe "Film Noir" (whenever Denzel's girlfriend appears on screen, and the language turns salty and unrealistic with jazz in the background).
And while I'm on the subject of Denzel's girlfriend character, what does that chick do all day? As far as we could tell on the movie, she sits at home in her underwear, calling her boyfriend asking him to come home with complete disregard to the fact that he's a fucking hostage negotiator. Also, the movie ends about four or five different times. You know how, when a movie wraps up, your brain mentally says "the end" and you prepare yourself for the fade-out? That just kept happening. The essence of goodness is there, but it had enough wrong with it to drag it down to merely "average" for me. This Spike Lee joint isn't satisfying.
Score: **
Anyway, Saturday we went around to a few spots in Pennsylvania with some friends of mine, and saw a play at my old college called "Noises Off." I had never heard of it, but it was the funniest play I've seen; essentially a comedy of errors and play-within-a-play. The first scene consists of the director telling the actors where they're screwing up during a dress rehearsal; the second is an actual performance, as seen from backstage; and the third is seeing the performance one final time, but with factors screwing everything up. If you see that it's playing at some community theatre, go for it.
Finally Sunday, we ate lunch with Nina's parents and went to the sketchy area of town known as the 9:30 Club in DC, for the Neko Case concert. Great performance. I'm at a loss for words here, but it was an excellent show, and I have no clue how such a small woman can have a voice that powerful. She was also touring with Martha Wainwright, who I've never heard of, but she was a pretty good opener, and she came out to sing backup on one of Neko's songs. Case hit all the songs I was hoping to hear (along with a few I hadn't heard, obviously), and ended on "John Saw That Number" for the encore, which was probably about as strong a finish as anyone could've requested.
Oh, also, I got birthday loot in there. I'll have to make an update about that sometime, but I might just wait until I can see my parents and then do it all at once.