Short Bus Musings

Slim picking at the RedBox this week, but a nice guy behind me in line looking over my shoulder (I hate that) noticed that I was looking at the description for “The Invasion” and said it was good. It looked like it had a 50/50 chance at being decent, and though I’m not sure I would trust the guy’s judgment, I made that my selection.

I take a moment to get the other review out of the way – “I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry”, staring Adam Sandler and Kevin James. I like both these guys, but we maxed out at 3 gay jokes and turned it off. Terrible and boring – skip it.

So now our Feature Presentation.

“The Invasion”, staring Nichole Kidman and Daniel Craig, is based on the classic story of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (either 1954, or 1978), although it skips the pod stuff and rather goes for a super virus thingy that attaches itself to the space shuttle for a crash landing. Upon reaching earth, it infects, and then when people go to sleep, it takes over. The trick here – don’t fall asleep. When people wake up, they look the same, they feel the same, but show no emotion and want everyone else to be the same way. Pretty cool and creepy, and they move and attack a little like zombies, other than when they catch you they don’t bite, they barf on you. (Luckily there weren’t too many scenes of that.) I wonder how much they had to pay Nichole for that?

Social commentary is blatant, maybe you shouldn’t wish for a world with peace and no conflicts whatsoever. Movie was good, acting was fine, it is worth a rental for sure. Check it out.

Carla posted this at her site but it is so cool I must post here too!!

See the Trailer

Went out to try and catch a movie the other night - Jean picked “Hairspray” much to my dismay, but had the time wrong so when we got there it had started a half hour earlier. So we rolled to the Cineplex to see what was playing. Asked the people in line what they were going to see, and they suggested Martian Child.

Martian Child stars John Cusack as a science fiction writer who has lost his wife a couple of years prior, and is considering the adoption of a child. The boy however, thinks he is from Mars and makes his way around the adoption agency in a cardboard box. (Luckily the box doesn’t stay through the whole movie. In trying to connect to the boy Cusack is also dealing with his own childhood scars.

I really liked the show - it wasn’t earth shaking or totally tear jerking, but was a good story and was well acted. Check it out if you are not in the mood for something action packed.

My Rating: Full Ticket Price

After looking forward to this movie all spring, I finally got a chance to see it this past weekend on one of the last screens it was showing on. Transformers was a fantastic fun ride that kept me in my seat for the entire 2 1/2 hours (yeah - it is a little long) and made me giddy as a school boy. I must admit that I am horribly biased for this one since I am a fan of the cartoon version that played in the 80’s, but I went in with high expectations and wasn’t disappointed. From the first shot of one of them changing from car to robot, I was hooked. They even worked in the trademark transform sound from the original. The story was fine but the effects were even better, and I was glad that I saw it on the big screen. My only complaint was that some of the action was shot (sorry, created) at such a close up view that sometimes you couldn’t tell which robot was which. I will for sure be picking this one up on DVD when it comes out next month.

$$$ Rating Worth: Full Theater Ticket Price*

*(I rate movies as to how much you should pay to see them. Ratings include: Full Ticket Price, Matinee, Dollar Theater, Rent it, I want my money back.)