air ugh

smashed into the next-to-middle seat of a boeing 777, it is at least a small consolation that you have not one, but seven choices of films to watch during the 9+ hour flight from sfo to paris. granted, you don’t really want to try and watch any epic movies on a two inch lcd screen, but it’s nice to have the choice.

i opted for the house of sand and fog, which was a little heavy-handed, but still really great. fantastic acting, and a story that you kept thinking wouldn’t get any more depressing, but still does. and boy is that jennifer connelly nice to look at. although, does every movie she’s in nowadays has one or more scenes where she’s all nekkid? not that i’m complaining.

questionable fact from her imdb bio: The character “Veronica” in heathers (1989) was originally written with her in mind, but she turned the role down. does this mean that she would have later been picked up for celebrity shoplifting?

and then, just when you’ve think you’ve already seen the on a plane, you’re subjected to something like paycheck, starring j-lo-less ben affleck and a suddenly awkward uma thurman. in theory it sounds promising, given a philip k. dick novel and john woo direction, but in reality, i can’t recall a more inane and senseless movie, perhaps because after viewing the first quarter of it, i was trying to forget that movies even existed. i managed to go to sleep through half of it, and then woke up to find that the last quarter was not even just as bad, but actually worse. how can uma, who looked so good and stylish in kill bill, come off as ungainly and ridiculous as a unbelievable biologist (which means she grows plants and plays with a weather-controlling remote). and we already know that ben is a hopelessly bad actor.

the real question is, what the hell happened to john woo? when was the last time he put out a good movie? has he even done a good movie in the states? i guess we’re back to face/off? wow, it maybe even makes me rethink those hong kong classics: maybe the killer was only great because we couldn’t tell that the acting was bad, not understanding cantonese? can someone who speaks cantonese confirm or deny this?

Posted at May 19, 2004 1:02 AM