Slacking at the bit (rentals & remorse)

Lately, I've been perma-exhausted in the worst way, and I don't even know why. Maybe it's all the lack of sleep. But you know, I would sleep more if I wasn't so busy. I'd be less busy if I didn't have a job. In a crumbling economy, however, the ability to work isn't something over which one should openly fret. It's distasteful. Almost as distasteful as me consistently konking out on the couch while watching TV nearly every evening. What to do to cure this state of accidental-comatose...caffeine? Coffee does tend to make a day pass more quickly. So do movie rentals.

Last week was grand, saw a small number of great flicks. First up, however, I finally--finally--gave up my quest to watch SUPERSTAR. I've more or less seen the movie, in bits in pieces, over the last ten years of my life, but about a month ago, I decided I wanted to, at long last, watch the whole kit-n-kaboodle in one clean squat. Unfortunately...exhaustion swept in. I've tried watching SUPERSTAR, in the last month, about four times. I'm done trying. My tivo is done holding onto it, too. DELETE. I trust it's funny, and you know what? I got the gist. "Sexually nervous girl with a crush on the school dance-jock actually ends up falling for a misfit, stuttering bad boy." YAY.

I also begrudgingly deleted MR. WOODCOCK from my tivo bin (is there a name for that, really? bin? queue? menu? list? or just always, obligatorily "tivo," tout court?). Sorry, Sean William Scott. Billy Thornton. Susan Sarandon. I tried.

Now, onto what I actually did see.

In preparation for the super-fun of TAKEN, I had a hankering to watch some Liam Neeson. Caught the under-the-radar action-comedy GUN SHY (2000), which was quirky and satisfying. In it, Liam plays an undercover cop who witnesses a horrifying gangster coup while he's on duty and hence needs a bit of counseling to coax him to revisit his role as bad guy mediator. Co-stars Sandra Bullock, looking lovelier than usual, and Oliver Platt, playing a guy named Fulvio...which is neat. It was weird, a little unfocused, but witty, and it made for a nice character study.

GUN SHY
plot: A plea for gun control.
thought: When does Bullock get TAKEN?
in five: 3/5
shoot 'em up, wuss: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0171356/

Next up was another throw back: Steven Soderbergh's SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE. I didn't realise how far back I was throwing, however--I'd actually been under the impression that SLV was rather recently released, though now I don't know why. The minute James Spader came on the screen, I was like, "Wait, what?" But I still was figuring it for late nineties--until I saw Peter Gallagher. Ok. He's aged well, but this was not Gallagher from "The OC." Clearly, I should have caught the time period from the shoulder pads on Andie MacDowell, but forgive me. Despite its 1989 release, the film feels incredibly modern. The dialogue in SLV is amazing, and the deliberate pacing drew me in remarkably--slow, without a hint of lassitude. Spader's character is not as "realised" as I would like, but I basically forgive it, thanks to the cohesion of every other moment.

SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE
plot: Videotapes and lies about sex
thought: No, really, that's about it.
in five: 4/5
tape it: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098724/

Heading in a different direction, thematically (but in the same direction, temporally), I scaled back to 1988 next with BIG, the Tom Hanks starrer that I can't believe I haven't seen until now. It's adorable--and so is David Moscow, who plays Tom Hanks' character's childhood self, the young Josh. I just looked up Moscow to see where he's been all these years since (and what he looks like now, natch), because in BIG, he looked every bit like Kirk Cameron, and I seriously saw him and had a JGL-in-Holy-Matrimony moment...but I guess something went awry, because history has proven me wrong. The world hasn't seen much of Moscow since, well, NEWSIES and that short-lived but kinda funny show on the WB, "Zoe, Duncan, Jack & Jane." Well, at least the world finished off okay--we still got Tom Hanks.

BIG
plot: Boy wishes to be big!
thought: Has sex with a woman!
in five: 4/5
they grow up so fast: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094737/

So...in the title of this post, I also promised remorse. I was being melodramatic, perhaps. I do have a bit of remorse--I still haven't written about my visit to ONE SUNSET, where I enjoyed the chef's tasting menu and reached a moderate level of food bliss, nor have I talked about LITERATI CAFE, my new favorite lunch stop on the west side--close to work and delicious, both of which recommend it to my palate. Cheap soups, too. Furthermore, I have yet to discuss my thoughts on TAKEN (loved it), or start posting recipes, a dream I've been toying with for some time now. I cook more these days (thanks, Recession), and I like to experiment. Sometimes I pass...other times, I kinda fail. But listen, don't let anyone tell you not to try.

Voila, there it is, my remorse. I want to write these things, but not sure if I really will. REMORSE! Well, if I don't end up doing it, I've already (sort of) apologised here, so...deal with it, Cate Blanchett. We'll be in touch.