Odds and Ends

Wow! I didn't realize how long its been since I've last blogged at my own site. I've been busy blogging at TPM for Obama. I'm excited that he's won, that it's over, at least the primary that is...

Things are just heating up for the general, but I'm more relaxed by his prospects against McCain than against Hillary.

Tim Russert died. I was listening (ashamedly) to Sean Hannity when the news broke. I was just driving in my car reflecting on the movie I had watched, when out of the background noise of Sean demagoguing this or that issue he dropped the Russert Bomb. Sunday's won't be the same.

Speaking of the movie: The Happening--it's another M. Night Shyamalan dud. It lacked the sort of stomach crunching moment of What The Fuck that's at the heart of his other interesting flicks: Bruce Willis is a "dead man walking"-- The Village actually takes place in modern times... It's most similar to the movie Signs which is really the story of a dysfunctional family coming to terms with loss backdropped against a hostile alien invasion. Unlike Signs,
The Happening has bad actor chemistry between the leads. The main female character was about as wooden as Pinocchio, and her so-called relationship with Wahlberg was as frigid as a Frigidaire. There was a moment of genuine warmth at the end when she stood outside the front stoop to welcome Walhberg home with the news that she was knocked up. But that one winsome moment didn't erase all the sickly celluloid that preceded it.

Bad casting aside, the plot sucked too. We are lead to believe that plants are attacking people in the same manner that tobacco plants attract wasps to kill off infesting caterpillars, or something. This isn't such a bad concept since the plot develops along the idea that these sentient plants are attacking large groups of people only. Except when they're not. Like when they "release the hounds" or in this case some neurotoxin, against an old lady, who despite being crazy, tends to love her plants. There just isn't any rhyme or reason to the attacks, except a loathing of human beings in general. This plot line is going along as background noise to the broken relationship between Wahlberg and the ice queen, which ends with her getting knocked up, as I said. Alls well that ends well, I guess. I could have waited for DVD for this one, though.