Two words: Movie Marathon. I am especially proud of how many I squeezed in, though not particularly so about the selection per se.
From Paris with Love: One of the best movies currently around. Presumably brand new, as it is still being advertised on US TV. Travolta shines, Rhys Myers... nyah. Ok, a decent performance. Luc Besson rocks. The first action sequence was so good, I had to rewind to watch it over. Travolta has, as the trailer says, not been this good since Pulp Fiction. Possibly better, for I always felt Pulp Fiction was a bit more hype than it was good. The bit where he talks about his reputation for liking a Royal with Mac - nice touch. I strongly recommend this movie, for the guys at least.
Sherlock Holmes: Despite my reservations about Robert Downey Junior, this turned out to be a good caper of a movie. Largely because Downey succeeds in making a caricature of Holmes, previously always portrayed too smart, gentlemanly and perhaps even stiff - this portrayal of a more dubious Holmes is refreshing and cathartic. On his fours with comical expressions that only vaguely reminded me of howler monkeys - hilarious. The Guy RItchie touch is obvious. Rachel McAdams is absolutely delicious.
La Gran Final: A European-made movie about the attempts by three groups - one each in the Altai, the Niger and the Amazon - to watch the football World Cup Finals on TV. Felt almost like a documentary, but I believe it was completely fictional. The Mongolian bits and those in the desert with Tuaregs made me want to quit my job, as usual. The cast's portrayal of remote peoples and their casual, un-self conscious attitudes swung between "they're so good" and "are they being patronizing"? But a good movie.
Edge of Darkness: No, this is not a movie about loony Mel Gibson's current state of mind. He is actually pretty good as a deadpan cop throughout the movie. Maybe his increasing mental imbalance is the perfect foil for this role. But not a bad movie at all.
Sarumaru / Saru Lock: A bit of a Japanese action comedy that started out very promising but fizzled out. But of course it was worth watching for all the cute girls, especially the gym scenes, and for the comical facial expressions of the young cast, completely the opposite of real and imagined demeanors of Japanese people. The starting scene was so promising, when the cop friend describes his friend, the protagonist, a "sex starved idiot". You'd think a beginning like that could only get better.
And the best of the lot was...
RTT / Day off: A riotous French action / comemdy. Aaah, the French. It always comes back here. A not-so-hot man in pursuit of his ex-fiance, in cahoots with a hot, sexy thief. The great thing about the French is that they are so non-judgmental. The man never gets angry with his ex-fiance, even knowing she cheated on him. The man himself is far from hot, but eventually beds the hot thief. As for the hot thief, you are of course left rooting (also lusting) for her, against the cops, who, as usual, are the duds.
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