At The Movies

Allow me to veer off one recently acquired characteristic for a few moments ( For surely, the sweet taste of revenge is quite addicting and could become part of my makeup permanently).

Since watching television is no longer an essential part of any day, thanks to my friend and author Barry Eisler, I’m not readily attuned to the latest mind-sucking-alleged-entertainment spewing forth from the screens in everyone’s living room.

Every once in a while, however, I do get the chance to observe a few films at the local theatre. Here lately, I've even seen a few in Jeff’s den (a little knife twisting for a previous blog). Ooh den, like lair, like lion – better stop now before I begin drifting.

My son, Jeremy, took me to see Ocean 13 last weekend and Shrek The Third last night at the two-dollar theatre down the street. Not intending to ruin the experience for the future viewers of these features, mentioning a few of the exceptional, visual pleasures these movies have to offer couldn’t hurt.

If you are familiar with the Ocean trilogy, then you know that the first episode – Ocean 11, like the other two – is a payback-heist. Ocean 12 brings back “one” of the characters from the original film, hence the “12”. Ocean 13 brings back yet another, hence the “13”.

Andy Garcia’s role in the third addition to these multi-million-dollar-big-screen yarns is truly extraordinary. It compliments his previous appearance in 12 rather nicely. But, the “cherry on top” has to be Al Pacino.

Al Pacino is the bad guy. He sticks it too Elliot Gould, one of the pack, and in turn they plan a heist at Pacino’s gambling casino in Vegas. What more does one need to say? Not much.

If you haven’t seen it – get off your ass and go rent it. You won’t be sorry.

Next, let us take a small peek at Shrek The Third. Realizing that parents take their uncontrollable little brats to this cartoon-film, even though the gist of the story couldn’t possibly be understood by their underdeveloped minds, it is still well worth the price of an admission ticket.

Unless you are familiar with the 007 films, the “Live and Let Die” song sung by Paul McCartney and Wings sequence wouldn’t have you busting a gut. The same holds true for the gingerbread man’s appearances in the movie. After being broken, he is spread out on a cookie sheet being pieced back together – the next scene shows him running through a field in slow motion with the sound effects from the Six Million Dollar Man playing in the back ground. That was fucking hilarious. And as if that wasn’t enough, during one of the “scarier” scenes (not really), the gingerbread man “shit” a gumdrop out of his ass. That was all I could take – I lost it. Having to run to the bathroom – something I never do at a theatre – I returned to my seat regretfully aware that what I had missed in those lost five minutes might have been worth sticking to my seat. The entire film was filled with an abundance of comical undertones, irony, and sarcasm.

Thank you, Jeremy. I am looking forward to next week.