We saw Eragon last night. The 15 y.o. mirrored my feelings when she said it was lame and the lead wasn't even that cute (she said if he'd been cuter/more buff with more shirtlessness, she would have liked it better). The director is overly attached to the flying, overhead shot with sweeping music and there were several times when Jeremy Irons used a phrase or tone that immediately made me only able to see Scar from the Lion King. The 10 y.o. liked it, but he loves going to the movies no matter what we see. My brother, who is visiting from England went with us, thanked us for saving him a 45 minute drive to the movie theater nearest his house because he probably would have seen it, and been disappointed that he drove all that way for a so-so movie.

ChiKat was just up here for the evening, and she suggested going out to see a movie. When I asked her which one, she mentioned Eragon, but I told her about the two reviews I'd read of it that called it one of the worst films of the year (as well as mentioned the complete ripoff of Star Wars and other fantasy films).

So, I looked up the listings for the bargain theater (which is much closer than the first-run theaters anyway) and we decided on A Good Year, the romantic comedy with Russell Crowe as the Type-A businessman who inherits the Province vineyard and rundown house and grounds of his Uncle Henry (something that happens much more often in the movies than it does in real life, I suspect). A fluffy film with no pretentions of grandeur, it does its job very well--delivers an entertaining romantic comedy with beautiful scenery, decent performances with good chemistry by most everyone involved, and has a fun French pop score that I wouldn't mind buying. Definitely worth the $2 ticket (and one I would have paid to see in the first-run theater, so worth more than just $2).

We just saw Blood Diamond.

It was an odd mixture of typical action movie running-unhurt-through-hails-of-bullets stuff, beautifully true little moments of reality, and earnest political speechifying which is almost Sorkinian in its preachiness. Hounsou and DiCaprio are both incredibly good. Hearing DiCaprio's Afrikaaner accent in the preview was laughable, but in the context of the film it worked. I forgot it was him after a few minutes and he disappeared completely into the character.

Hmm. I can get Hounsou and dragons, I can get Hounsou and earnestness.

So far dragons win--is there shirtlessness we can use to break the tie?

I saw INLAND EMPIRE yesterday, and it comes exactly as "advertised": 3 hours of Laura Dern wandering around in stream-of-unconsciousness David Lynch weirdness. Definitely the most out there thing he's done since ERASERHEAD (seriously - LOST HIGHWAY and MULLHOLAND DRIVE look positively coherent by comparison). Not quite sure what I think still, but it's an experience. Also, the end credit sequence is the single most joyous thing I've seen in a David Lynch movie (not that there's a lot of competition).

However, if Lynch has truly abandoned film for video, he really, REALLY needs to think about moving up to high-def.

Why isn't degree of shirtlessness part of the ratings system? How do those movie people expect us to make informed choices without that knowledge?

Oh, there is plenty of shirtlessness for both DiCaprio and Hounsou. Some of it involving glistening with sweat.

DH and I are on our way to see Eragon right now. I have no idea why -- I think it's mostly out of spite that the studio made sure to schedule all the press screenings too last minute for anyone to actually attend. And partially we want to get the most use out of our AMC pass before it expires at the end of the year. And the theatre's in the same direction as the party we're going to later.

I just watched Beyond Borders and I can't believe this is bothering me--when she first leaves to stalk Clive Owen's character, has she already had a child? I thought she was newly-wed when he stormed the party, and that she left soon after her inspiration.

I've been skimming reviews (because I want people to agree with me that it was awful), and they seem to think she left a kid behind. It's not a big point, just one I read differently.

Aaaaaaaand, Eragon kind of sucked, but in an entertaining way. I don't think I'd recommend anyone paying $10 to see it, but if you've ever been a 15 year old boy reading Anne McCaffrey and thought "This would be SO AWESOME if it were about ME!" then this is the movie for you.

It's also fun to play the "identify the movie this shot was lifted from" game. Peter Jackson and George Lucas should be getting their royalty checks in the mail any day now...