This Back And Forth Is Getting Tiring

I'm back home ahead of schedule! Hooray! But I have to go back this weekend! Boo! But I get to pick up this week's comics on Wednesday now! Hooray! And that's all I've got for that. Try to close on a high note.

Feeling a tad addled from lack of sleep (again?! Will I ever get my clock back on schedule?), I'm going to forgo the book post I had plan for awhile (probably until I'm back on the road), and discuss two more movies I watched that I hadn't seen before. It really is nice to have a friend with an extensive DVD collection, just as it's nice for him to have a friend always willing to be the designated driver (that'd be me).

Talladega Nights: I may be a tad fuzzy on this, since we were watching it at 2 in the morning and Alex had noisy, drunken guests show up part way through, so I missed some of the jokes, I think. That, after said noisy guests left, lead Alex and I to ponder how it is the two of us can talk throughout the movie and still hear and follow everything, but when it was just one of the guests talking, we couldn't hear anything. We concluded we've learned to talk around the dialogue, rather than over it.

Anyway, Ferrell really enjoys playing these clueless guys that follow their own blind and dumb drummer. Or maybe he hates playing them, but keeps doing it because it gifts him with a fat wallet. Could be either way, I suppose. I enjoyed Gary Cole as Ricky Bobby's 'miserable, transient' father, and the interaction between Ricky and Cal, especially once Ricky has decided he hates Cal, except he keeps forgetting when Cal offers to come by to visit in whichever vehicle Ricky misses the most. The stuff about "phantom fire" got tedious after awhile, and I'm thinking I had to miss some of the development of the subplot with the "bookish, yet hot" secretary, because she seemed to appear out of nowhere late in the movie (I know she'd been in the movie earlier, but not that significantly). Personally, I blame the noisy guest (really, there was only one of them being noisy). Or Alex' dog. But not the meatloaf, that was good stuff. Where the hell was I?

I'm trying to decide though, would this movie qualify as a satire? It seems to be making fun of aspects NASCAR culture (the endorsements, for example), as well as some of the broader cliches of sports (winning is all that counts/if you aren't first, you're last and the bit with the interviews of "famous" people in the crowd), but I'm not sure whether that tone was consistent enough to qualify. Like I said, I was distracted during the viewing.

Just Friends: I have no idea why I chose to watch this to pass time until Alex managed to wake up (I'm also not sure why we always agree to meet at his house at 10, when he's never awake at that point). I suppose this movie would have fit in well with that whole discussion about the "nice guys" that was making the rounds several months back, since that seemed to be the whole point. A couple of things about the movie. It's interesting that at times, I found it painful to watch Chris character make a fool of himself in his attempts to woo his idol of affection, but I didn't have any difficulties watching Ricky Bobby act the fool. Maybe because he was more oblivious to what was happening, while Chris seemed aware that everything he was trying was failing miserably.

Secondly, I found it kind of odd that Chris and Jamie (hopefully that doesn't surprise you) could wind up together given his drunken outburst at her place of business, which culminated in her punching his lights out, and someone being happy they got to throw Reynolds into the snow while saying 'And stay out!' I did laugh at the guy being happy about that, though I don't think he said it forcefully enough. He's been waiting years to say it, he really ought to have sold it more. And I've wandered off-topic again. What I was getting at was, was Chris actually a nice guy, ever? Did he legitimately care about Jamie, or was it always about getting in bed with her? I like to think he was a nice guy, back in school, but allowed dissatisfaction with how things turned out to make him bitter over the years, which finally spilled out there in the bar, when he started calling her a tease. I'm less certain how much of that good person (has less negative connotations associated with it than "nice guy", don't you think?) is left, but there were moments when it showed through (his concern about sex potentially ruining their friendship being one part). I couldn't really recommend this one, not that I actually recommended Talladega Nights either, but I figure you're more likely to have seen that already if you were going to.

The Village: I know, I've already watched this movie, and discussed it multiple times, but there are certain scenes I like, so I keep rewatching those (usually while trying unsuccessfully to get Alex up and moving). I've been trying to figure out, at the end, when Noah attacks Ivy in the woods, what's his intent? Is he actually trying to hurt her, angry over her liking Lucius, or is he still just playing a game?

Must sleep now.