Yesterday

I meant to attend an ANSWER meeting yesterday to hear their point of view and probably start an argument. ANSWER is this super left wing organization who organizes a lot of the anti-war, anti-globalization protests. From what I gather by their emails, they support bringing all the troops home from Iraq to Korea. I find their positions are preposterous, but I was interested in listening to their POV and reporting on the blog....

However, instead I got stuck at the Grove yesterday watching movie after movie to get my money's worth from a matinee - 8.75. Isn't that outrageous? They've raised the price on Fri and Sat night to 12.50. Tack on the $2 parking and you're looking at $15 a pop for a movie on Sat night. A family of 4 - $60. Yipes! Nowadays you can got to ballgames for cheaper than that - unless you buy food, of course. But the same goes for movies - $4 for a small popcorn (which could feed a family)...I'm full with three handfuls, to be honest.

Anyhow, I saw Troy, part of Van Helsing, and Supersize Me. I was surprised how much I liked Troy - I think I went in with the right attitude: who cares summer fun...and I remembered how much I liked the various characters from the Iliad. Achilles the nut, Odysseus the smart and admirable leader, Hektor the family man and reluctant and capable warrier, Paris the wuss, Agamemnon the greedy. I was reminded of reading Homer freshman year in college and got into parts of the story. I will say, the Orlando Bloom and unknown Helen were by far the worst elements of the movie - frightfully uncharismatic and unconvincing as lovers and of capable of starting a war.

But I was also reminded how much I don't really care for historical epics -which are almost always a let down. They nearly all try to take themselves too seriously and fail. One exception for me was Braveheart, which I really liked, because of the plot surprises and Sophie Marceau (aye, mama!). So Troy, from a genre I don't really care for and from the low expectations, ended up being worth about the $4.50 I paid for it.

On another note, there seems to be a few actors who have found a place as actors in historical or fantastical stories - Orlando Bloom, who seems only able to do so, Sean Bean, Brian Cox. Also, was that huge guy at the beginning Stone Cold Steve Austin???

Supersize Me was quite good. A funny look at a guy who ate nothing but McDonalds for a month. The politics of food has become a big to-do lately with the popularity of Fast Food Nation and the buzz regarding the Atkins diet. The crazy stuff that happens to his body from eating McDonalds - putting himself at risk of liver damage, heart damage, etc, was pretty disgusting, but not completely unexpected. The movie made me want to eat better, but didn't leave me with any ill feelings towards McDonalds. I still think lawsuits aimed at Fast Food companies are silly, despite the problem with obesity in this country. I think we are on the right track in that education and more emphasis on exercise is the ultimately the solution - not forms of litigation.

Interesting note: McDonalds got rid of Supersize as a result of the movie. I never ordered supersize anyway...

And Van Helsing, from what I saw, was pretty damn stupid. Hugh Jackman was particularly bad at delivering his lines with any ooommph.