DilettanteVille

Twilight of My Misery

dilettanteville — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 04:13:41 +0000

I was reading Entertainment Weekly last week and I didn’t get one of the cultural references in a joke. I decided it was time to catch up on the current major cultural phenomenon around. Yes, I am watching the Twilight films.

Last week I waded through the first film, Twilight. Tonight it’s New Moon. I don’t think I’m the intended audience for this vat of wimpy moodiness.

At least there are werewolves to lighten the mood. Plus we get Michael Sheen, an actor that I love. He plays Volturi, the leader of vampires. Why do all vampire leaders come across so decadently? I’d love to see a jolly fat one.

I will not be standing in line to see the upcoming Eclipse. I might eventually get around seeing it on DVD when I’m needing some snooze time.

Schultz Fire Today

dilettanteville — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 04:40:46 +0000

We had a scary afternoon in Flagstaff. We heard that the firefighters had a handle on the Schultz Fire, but around 1:00PM a huge plume of smoke roiled above the Dry Lake Hills north of town. It looked like things were out of control.

Photo of Schultz Fire by Dan Stoffel

We all felt quite happy when hearing that it was all due to a planned burnout operation.

The fire is now 40% contained. That is some lovely news!

From Paris With Love review

dilettanteville — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 04:11:16 +0000

John Travolta playing a crazy kind of super-duper agent allows From Paris With Love to have a few fun moments. Here’s the review.

The Night for Knight and Day?

dilettanteville — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 02:00:25 +0000

Do I go see Knight and Day tonight or wait until this weekend? Or do I even want to see it at all? Romance, action, comedy – I love ‘em all, but how many of these action-comedies actually deliver all three? It’s been sparse pickings lately.

Must decide soon. Maybe I’ll go see it…maybe not. Hmmm….

Update: I did go see it. Was it an excellent film? No. Was it still enjoyable? Yes. The movie managed to keep me entertained. If I had to write a review, which I don’t, I’d give it a “B” or possibly a “B-” (give me a night to sleep on it and I would come up with a firm decision on the grade).

When in Rome review

dilettanteville — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 04:37:31 +0000

Here’s another one of my reviews that I’m finally getting around to posting. I seemed to get stuck with all of the romantic comedies to review. Now I like rom-coms, but I’m finding it harder and harder to like ALL of them. Poor When in Rome. It came out after a long chain of mediocre rom-coms. It didn’t stand a chance. Here’s my review.

Fires Around Here

dilettanteville — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 04:27:33 +0000

It’s been crazy in Flagstaff the last few days. Two fires have hit us, coming close enough to cause evacuations. None have hit near where I live, but it does make for a case of the jitters where you pay attention to any alerts to new fires in the area.

The Hardy Fire that started on Saturday is in good shape. The firefighters took care of it enough to have the evacuees affected by that fire able to return home. Now we’re dealing with the Schultz Pass Fire. This thing has grown to 10,000 acres and has caused evacuations in northeastern Flagstaff. One of my co-workers is stuck in a Motel 8 waiting for the all clear to return home.

Good firefighters and lots of support from all around Arizona are helping beat back this fire, but it looks like it will take some time to contain the whole thing.

I’m telling you, it’s just crazy time around here.

Toy Story 3 Did Not Disappoint

dilettanteville — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 20:23:01 +0000

I took a long lunch yesterday to go see Toy Story 3. I tried to hit the 11:00 film, but it was sold out by the time I got there. That meant that if I wanted to see it yesterday when it would be less crowded I had to go to the noon showing that was in 3D. Dang.

I don’t think I see much in 3D with my regular vision (I have a lazy eye), so I have no desire to give myself a headache trying to see things on screen do their 3D magic. Luckily for me, Toy Story 3 did not give me any headache. Nope, I ended up with a big smile and traces of a few tears. Yes, the Pixar folks know how to make me cry.

That doesn’t mean that I didn’t laugh. There are plenty of jokes, especially surrounding that well-dressed doll, Ken. There are also plenty of intense moments that had me nervous for the gang of likable toys. It’s another grand chance to see the Pixar folks come up with another charmer of a movie.

Extraordinary Measures review

dilettanteville — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 20:09:14 +0000

A decent cast can’t help raise this film to more than another “disease of the week” TV movie status. Here’s my review.

Leap Year review

dilettanteville — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 19:53:59 +0000

Here’s another review that I have not yet posted. Sweet, but also the usual frustrating romantic comedy, Leap Year has its good points, but settles for the usual rom-com tropes. Here’s my review.

Nine review

dilettanteville — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 05:05:47 +0000

Here’s an old review I haven’t posted. I do like musicals and found Nine entertaining, but it wasn’t quite as good as I wanted it to be. Here’s my review.