out of my element

on thursday i saw m:i:iii at the dollar theater. i loved it. absolutely loved it. i composed an enthusiastic entry on it as i sat there, enjoying the two and a half hour rollercoaster ride [by myself, sadly, but that didn't hamper things much]; and then i never got around to writing. on friday afternoon, my roommate and i went to x-men 3 at the aforementioned theater. while not as good as the previous day's cinema or superman returns, it was nevertheless a fun one to enjoy. and between these two rather kickin' sequals and the long previews for pirates 2 before both movies, i'm getting quite excited to see johnny depp prance around in his eyeliner and boots again... [i haven't seen the first one since we were shooting nappy d.... i should buy it....]

tonight i suggested we watch 'hero', as a friend curiously looked at the box sitting on the floor below the dvd racks. people were up for it, but during this morning's stake activity, buzz of 'the ballad of will ferrel the race car driver' stirred, and when the mantle of leadership fell upon me, i sacrificed what i wanted for the desires of the others and suggested we go see 'the legend of bobby ricky'.
besides, with all of my artsy foreign black and white movies that i have, perhaps i could use a good will ferrell movie. i like to laugh.

as i write this, i pause to reflect on the anomaly of the situation: there have been several movies i've wanted to see this summer, nearly all of them being largely well-received blockbusters and general good fun popcorn movies, and all of them i have waited to see until they got to movies 8, where i can more easily afford them [and 'prairie home companion' is slated to be there soon; rest assured, i am watching the schedules for the week it comes, for it will be one week only]. yet i somehow paid full price on a saturday night to see the newest will ferrell movie.
huh?

do not get me wrong, this situation had several things going for it: i generally like will ferrell; i can't recall the last movie of his i saw [if any], but he has made me laugh before, and since hometeaching his counsin last summer i'm a little more sympathetic to him. and, as anyone who watched me dance the 'time warp' in front of the class during sharon's 'intro to film theory' will recall, the environment is itself part of the movie experience.

being someone who was more interested to see robert altman's new movie this summer than just about anything else, this was not my usual crowd around me tonight. but that's kind of fun. the dudes giving each other high-fives after the action movie previews made it feel more like an amusement park, and that added to the experience. even the guy right in front of me, with his arm around his girlfriend, yelling out attempted quick wit quips that fell silent didn't bother me the slightest [now, those kids in front of me on the opening night of 'return of the king', that was a different story for a different posting].

the movie? it's a star vehicle. the conversation i just had with mark was rather interesting. i didn't laugh at much, and remember general crude humor and abrasive language, but the amount that i remember and that he remember vary somewhat. he states it was a lot worse than i remembered it being. count that as a blessing, he says.
i think i will.
cardboard plot that does its utilitarian supporting job, stock characters in a standard snl veteran movie, and nascar humor that mocks the culture without alienating those who do worship it. there were a few lines i found genuinely funny, but i could not remember a one as we walked out of the theater. [conversely, we quoted 'royal tennenbaums' for over a month after having seen it only once].
never did the theater erupt or even burst into laughter. the closing credits held the theater full for a few more minutes as the above the line names flashed by, showing out-takes and bloopers that elicited an actual laugh from me.

in light of the combination of this sort of movie and a group of friends who had never been to the movies with me before, i did not stay for the entirety of the credits. i was curious to hear what my friends thought, since this was more of their style. as they met me at the bottom of the stairs, apologies came forth along with affirmations of the overabundant vulgarities and, worst of all, the overriding lack of funniness.

so maybe it wasn't me.

as phil dropped us off, i reminded him that, the next time i say 'let's watch 'hero' tonight', let's watch 'hero' that night.

this week alone, i have added to my dvd library 'schindler's list', 'the house of flying daggers', 'adaptation', and 'sense and sensibility', all for less than the price of tonight's ticket. on my dvr i have 'apocalypse now', 'the conversation', 'the last samurai', 'erin brockovich', 'a night at the opera', and 'raging bull'.

true it is, that a fool and his money are soon parted.