I'm back after the long weekend. Got to see a few movies and do some fun things over the birthday weekend. I saw War of the Worlds, Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Bewitched over the weekend. I'll start talking about them now along with my view of Sunday's Entourage.
War of the Worlds: After seeing this movie I still have to say that Batman Begins is so far the best movie of the summer season. I liked War of the Worlds, however I did not think it was as good as the other Spielberg/Cruise collaboration, Minority Report. There were a lot of lucky coincidences going on in War of the Worlds (plane crashes into ex-wife's house, but the van is okay; oh, and there is a path going perfectly out of where the plane landed as well as other things), but when you walk into a summer movie you really have to turn your brain off in order to fully enjoy it. This movie was good summer fun with a total thud at the end. The ending could have been done better and more could have been explained. Many people call this type of ending a "Spielberg Ending" simply because it is a happy ending, but I think he could have still made a happy ending AND explained a few things or had more of a reaction once the endpoint was reached.
Score: *** out of ****
Mr. and Mrs. Smith: This was an alright movie, but wasn't great. Pitt was in Ocean's Eleven (forget about Twelve, that movie sucked rocks) mode in this movie. He had some good and funny dialogue and Jolie was there purely for eye candy. This movie had another ending that just kind of landed with a thud. I mean, are they still being sought out for a hit or what?
Score: ** out of ****
Bewitched: I love the television show even though it was on before my time. I liked Nicole Kidman in the movie, but it just seemed to move at a slow pace and I managed to fall asleep when Kidman shows Ferrell that she is a witch. Ferrell was in good form, but watching him here just made me long to watch Old School or Elf over this movie. It was gutsy to go in a different direction with this remake and I think it could have been better had Ferrell not been put into full comedy mode when matched up against as good of a dramatic actress as Nicole Kidman. Ferrell needs something good soon, I didn't like Anchorman either and haven't seen Kicking and Screaming as of yet.
Score: * 1/2 out of ****
Entourage: The lone TV show in my wrapup. Once again this show was excellent. It seems Vince is now running out of cash given that his acceptance into James Cameron's Aquaman as the lead is in limbo. Vince sits down with Eric and Ari and tells them to get something done or he'll find someone who can. They go with different angles. Eric contacts Cameron's office and reaches Emily (Samaire Armstrong), Ari's old assistant. Ari goes after Dana Gordon a little more personally. He and his wife show up to pick up their kid and his wife is all happy he's taking an interest. Then he sees Dana and he drops the kid in his wife's hands and goes after her. He sets up an appointment with Cameron and Vince. Queen's Boulevard, the indie flick Vince is in, needs some loop work done with Vince and Eric sets it up so that Cameron can see the movie and finalize his choice. Ari calls Eric and tells him the ball is in his court. Eric goes to see the director of the indie and he says Cameron can see it at Sundance just like everyone else, which puts Vince and Aquaman more into limbo than before. Should be interesting...