Cinema notes

I've been too busy with work to post a lot and I've fallen a bit behind in mentioning books and movies and things. I hadn't realized how far behind it was until I sat down and compiled a list of what it was I've watched and read that I haven't posted about.

Turns out I've watched fully five films and finished four books. I'll sum up a few of each after the jump and only dedicate full posts to a couple of each.

Break on through!

I watched three movies that were utterly forgettable. From Paris With Love, Iron Man 2, and State of Play. None of these movies would have been worth the cost of seeing them in the theater or even renting them. I'm glad I got them from the library instead of wasting Netflix time on them even.

From Paris was a plodding psuedo-action-thriller with excessive violence, trite dialogue, obvious plot twists and showcased every facet of John Travolta's mediocrity. What was the last good movie this guy made? (Oh, yeah. Get Shorty... 16 years ago. In fact, it was the only good movie he ever made.) Now, granted, not all the movies he's been in have sucked because he was in them, but he does serve as handy canary in a pinch.

State of Play was a stupid movie that was supposed to show us:

1) Those clean-cut conservative folks in Washington are really scummy trolls (okay, sometimes true)
2) The real heroes of democracy are professional journalists (bwahahahaha!)
3) Former soldiers are either evil, evil men or complete psychotics (sure they are /sarcasm)
4) And that conspiracies are for realz!!!!11! (Oookaaaay.....)

If you spend your spare time on Democratic Underground, this is the movie for you. (Grabbing the link, I found that it was apparently a remake of a British mini-series of the same name.)

Iron Man 2 was American mecha with better animation. (Yes, it pains me deeply to have to link to Wikipedia. Thank you for your concern.)

Two of the books I read were Parker novels, The Rare Coin Score and The Green Eagle Score. (Yes, I'm getting tired of that naming convention also; two more to go.) Neither stands out a great deal. The pattern continues of having every single one of Parker's jobs go awry. (I think The Outfit, the second book, was the last time he actually carried off the job in question the way he intended.)

I'm not sure yet if Westlake is trying to develop his character a little or not, but Parker picks up a dame during the course of the first book and she's still around as his main squeeze in the second. Since he was betrayed by his late wife in the first novel, it remains to be seen if this will be a recurring character.

The books are still nothing more than a light diversion if you enjoy crime fiction; I certainly don't think one needs to have the series on your shelf, but if you disagree it appears that The University of Chicago Press is reissuing the series in paperback. Also, apparently there is another movie remake in the works for next year.