October 19, 2000

Some Babbling Commentary and Two Good Movies
   by saratojo <eagle_02@sprynet.com>

$8, $9. (See previous articles) Yeah, it's expensive. But it's only $5.50 non-peak. (It's nice being a student.) And concession prices are certainly outrageous, but you don't HAVE to eat expensive popcorn during a movie. I don't even eat cheap popcorn while I'm watching a movie on television. And let's face it, television also pretty much sucks. It's weird how they keep increasing the number of cable channels available (there are over 100 here) but it is still pretty hard to find anything worth watching. In our apartment (with four college students) the tv is ALWAYS on; no one is ever actually watching it.

So anyway, recently I have gone to see two movies, pretty much scratching and screaming that I didn't want to go. I had seen the tv ads for "Meet the Parents" and didn't much care to see Robert De Niro giving lie detector tests. And another movie about a rock band travelling the country ("Almost Famous") seemed like it could add little to the endless true band stories they show on MTV.

Well, was I wrong or what! "Meet the Parents" kept me laughing from the start to the finish. Plus it's cute and it tugs at your heart. De Niro doesn't have funny lines (mostly) but HE is funny just the same. His performance is one of his best (and he sure has lots). All the characters are perfectly cast. The story is a bit unbelievable but fun and is anything really unbelievable anymore? You can read about the basic story in lots of reviews, so I won't bother repeating it here. This is a movie to put on your "MUST SEE" list. Don't wait for the video.

"Almost Famous" is about a 70's rock group travelling the country with all the usual groupies and a young teenager who has managed to land the job of covering the tour for "Rolling Stone" magazine. Sound like another unbelievable premise? This story is actually true. The music isn't bad. The acting is excellent.

But what makes this movie special is Kate Hudson as the head groupie. She is awesome, and I cannot wait to see some of her other movies. I hadn't seen her before, and I didn't know until after the movie that she is Goldie Hawn's daughter. This is a movie I wouldn't mind seeing again just to watch her performance even more closely. She is going to be one BIG star, and I would rate her performance here as Academy Award material.

And now I have to get back to my mundane life of studying and hanging out on IRC.

Published: October 19, 2000
Editor: robin