This weekend in movies

This weekend seemed to be a weekend for movies. This, of course, is an ok thing in my book. There's nothing quite like a movie for being able to just lose yourself (and the stresses currently plaguing you) in another story. Unless it's a book. Books are better than movies. Unless it's written by Dan Brown. Seriously. The man chose to write about controversial topics because he's canny and knew that otherwise he would probably never get published. And that if he did get published, the only way he'd get close to anything having to do with the New York Times would be to do the crossword puzzle. And given his mastery of the English language, I don't think he'd be able to actually finish that.

I am not one to give up on books. I hate to admit defeat and not finish something, but I'm *this* close with Angels & Drudgery. Cause wow. I don't just throw around the b-word, but this book is boring. Langdon has to be one of the flattest characters since the ones in Flatland. And even some of them were more interesting. The only possibly redeeming factor is that the chapters are maybe 2 pages long, on average, so you feel like you're making progress. (Even if, in reality, at the end of the chapter the plot has not advanced further than it was sixteen chapters ago. All that's happened is you've flown around in various space planes and helicopters and listened to Langon prattle incessantly about how smart and wonderful he is while trying to give backstory in thinly veiled dialogue that just barely avoids the "As you know, Bill..." classification.) I have skipped ahead to the end and read the final chapters because I was hoping against hope that it would be so interesting that I'd want to know how he got there. Unfortunately this is not the case, so I think I will be trashing this. Unless someone wants it. Cause it's just not going on my bookshelf.

That said, we saw X-Men the third on Friday. Wow. What a great movie. I was skeptical because the 2nd one, in my opinion, sucked eggs. I loved the first one and had high expectations for the 2nd. Probably because of said expectations I was disappointed. However, that seems to have worked in my favor because I had much lower expectations for the 3rd and I was pleasantly surprised. Many highlights - though the top of the list has to include all the wonderful shots of Hugh. Ah Hugh. *happy sigh* Sorry. Um, the plot moved (it actually had a plot as opposed to just another "bridge between the first and third movies" plot that so many middle movies employ), the characters developed. Well, Rogue didn't develop all that much, she pretty much had no part. Which Paquin seems to be a bit annoyed by as well if you read some of the interviews with her, Halle Berry and the chick who plays Jane. Maybe they'll find a use for her if they do another movie (since they set it up so there could be a 4th) - though seriously, what purpose does her mutation serve? (if there are any comic book readers who can clue me in as to how she serves a purpose - if she does - in the comics, I'd be appreciative.) This isn't a very helpful review, I realize that, but I don't know what more to say other than "I liked it." Which I did. I'd give it a solid 4 Popcorn Tubs out of 5.

We also watched Batman Begins, which has been sitting on the DVR for a little while now. I was pleasantly surprised with how well I like it - in fact, it may well be my favorite of the Batman movies, despite having Katie "I can't act either, honey" Cruise, er Holmes, in it. I thought Christian Bale did an awesome job as Bruce Wayne and frankly, I enjoyed the backstory. And Liam Neeson did, as always, a fantastic job. And Morgan Freeman was great. As was Michael Caine. I think the whole cast seemed to gel together well and provide a more cohesive experience than any of the other Batman movies. (Though I did like Batman Forever with Val Kilmer - and hey, it had another of Tom Cruise's women in it - maybe that'll be a new tradition, though that may mean for the next 11 years (if she's smart, at least) our only option will be Katie. Bleh.) There were a lot of funny lines - and I enjoyed the "Didn't you get the memo?" lines, whether they intended to harken back to Office Space or not. This one may have been better in my estimation due to lack of expectation as well, but even so it gets a good solid 4 Popcorn Tubs out of 5.