movie reviews

Lady in the Water
M. Night's movies so far have been known for the unexpected twists near the end. The main character spent the movie dead, the hero's friend is the villain, the village is in the middle of a wildlife refuge, etc. In this one they have to try to convince you there's a twist in the commercial because there isn't one in the movie. So the twist is that there isn't one.
Still, it was a good movie. Bryce Dallas Howard's legs did a wonderful job. The basic plot is that there's a race of aquatic muses that come to Earth on occasion to inspire humans to be better people. This happens just often enough for there to be some old folk tales/bedtime stories about them. Besides the water nymph there are a cast of supporting characters that help her get home each time. So in the story the groundskeeper has to figure out who is filling those roles this time while protecting the nymph from the monsters until the other monsters can show up to protect her.

I won't get it on DVD, but it's still worth seeing.
------------
Clerks II

If you haven't seen the original you can still see this one and understand what's going on, but if you haven't seen the original you're probably not the sort who would enjoy this movie.
The original was a low budget, black and while movie that was set almost entirely in a real quick-e-mart and filmed after closing. The subject matter was the guy who worked the counter, the guy who was supposed to be working the counter at the video store next door, and the characters around them. It was dialog heavy and launched the career of writer/director Kevin Smith.
This movie picks up ten years later and focusses on most of the same characters plus a few. It's still dialog heavy and gives much the same feel as the original, but has a bigger budget and more sets. There some bit parts played by people whose careers were launched by being in other Kevin Smith movies.

I won't get it on DVD, but I'm glad I saw it. Both this and the original Clerks were movies that my parents might enjoy and you might enjoy, but you wouldn't enjoy seeing it together.

I need to see "An Evening with Kevin Smith." Kevin can be hired to come give a talks. I saw him in Emporia, KS back on election night 2000. His talks are great. "An Evening with Kevin Smith" is about 5 hours of clips from his various talks. Here's one about his work on one of the failed attempts at Superman V. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgYhLIThTvk