Another Movie Weekend
This has been a summer for movie watching for me, many of them films I've been looking forward to. I've seen Sex in the City, Iron Man, The Hulk, The Fall, Wall*E, the new Indiana Jones film, and this weekend's selections: Mama Mia! and Hellboy II.
Mama Mia! is bad. It is badly danced, the two real romantic leads (Meryl Streep & Pierce Brosnan) can't really sing their parts, and the story is just plain silly. But I guarantee if you go to see this movie you won't be able to wipe the silly grin off your face. Streep throws herself into this role and does a great job even though many of the songs are too much for her limited vocal range. (If they keep it soft and high, she does very well, but drop into her chest voice and you're listening to her croak through the song.) Pierce Brosnan cannot sing at all, something that is evident not just from the noises emitting from his mouth but also from the strain on his face as he's squeezing them out. But you have sympathy for the guy and wonder at his willingness to play a role so ripe for ridicule. In the end, you still wish you were the one kissing him and not Streep. The best scene in the whole movie is The Dancing Queen sequence, which starts as a bedroom dress up and act silly scene and ends with all the women in town dancing down to the docks and jumping into the harbor. Particularly fun is seeing an older woman collecting wood who throwns down her load to join the ladies dancing singing "OH YEAH!"
Hellboy II is very good, and I'd probably be singing it's praises if I hadn't seen Mama Mia! the night before. It's not as fun as Mama Mia!, but as is to be expected from Guillermo del Toro, the graphics are beautiful. The little commercials on USA and Spike TV give you an idea of the humor of the film (and I say BRAVO to the folks who came up with this ad campaign idea!). The story is touching and funny and action packed. Not as great as the first Hellboy (what sequel is as good as the original?) but certainly is a worthy Part II to the story of Hellboy. And the scene where Red and Abe get drunk and sing Barry Manilow is just hilarious!
As for the rest of the weekend, I had ballet for the first time since the end of May. I'm not sore, but apparently I've already started with the bad habits. Oy, is it gonna be bad when I have to take all of September off (and already have August off) to prepare for the 3 Day! I also led a training walk of 10 miles on Sunday morning. Goodness it was hot, but folks seemed to really like the trail and I may be able to schedule more like this. It's a shame the trail doesn't have more hills on it, but I'd rather make sure folks aren't getting too much sun than worry about varying the terrain.
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