J and I did our usual run down Ocean Beach. Dark when we started, and a little foggy.
4 miles, at a decent clip. I definitely run faster here than in Austin.
Another great chat q J, and another funny story from his work.
Dr. Strangelove
Thursday night at the Castro theater. E. picked me up and we grabbed a quick slice of Marcello’s before the movie.
I’d never seen it before–oh man, so so funny.
And yes, I’ll confess that I didn’t figure out that Peter O’Toole was playing 3 roles. It great to go into a movie knowing nothing about it, and enjoy it absolutely fresh.
Great print, too.
Shaun of the Dead
Brilliantly funny zombie romantic comedy.
It was very skillfully written and put together. The script and the visuals both demonstrate some pleasing symmetry.
Saw the at the draft house north in Austin. Saturday October 2nd.
Starting books, not finishing them
I’ve gotten started on 3 books right now:
Sky Captain and the World Of Tomorrow
I really wanted to see this, and now I have.
A much better movie than RE2, but strangely, you leave the theater a little empty. I think because it intentionally harks back to a simpler time for the movies, and it’s a straight Sci-Fi serial reel, that it feels a little thin. Still, it’s beautiful, fun, and funny.
Jude Law, Gwen Paltrow are great. And I thought Jolie’s character was fabulous and fun. I wanted more of her.
AMC 1000, 1145pm show.
Running – Cloudy Ocean Beach
Did a run on Saturday on Ocean beach with Jay, around noon. Really cloudy, nice for a run.
I kept on wanting to speed up, and my pace was uneven. I ran faster than usual, but didn’t really hit a stride the whole time. When Jay took off, I couldn’t find the median between his pace, and a notch faster than our warmup pace. So I kept speeding up/ slowing down. Still, a decently quick 4 miles.
Jay told a funny story about inappropriate co-worker comments that had me laughing for a long block.
Later today I bought a timex ironman watch. So i’ll be posting distance/running times from now on.
Chinatown
It was pretty awesome to see a young slim Jack Nicholson, suave and confident, in a great role.
I was impressed by the pacing of the movie. A good script — the plot propelling you right along.
I came to watch after soccer and dropped off to sleep somewhere, for just a few minutes, I think.
My favorite scene right now might be Jack N. slapping Faye Dunaway around. Pretty unforgettable.
also, movies where a main character goes around in a bandage are cool.
September 22, 2004
Castro Theater, 935pm
Resident Evil: Apocalypse
it’s interesting that there are so many ways to make a bad movie.
this is a movie that you expect to be bad, even terrible, and you leave the theater feeling disappointed that it exceeded, somehow, impossibly low expectations.
RE2 is actually bad because it expects nothing of its audience, and we don’t exceed it’s impossibly low expectations.
that said, I would be lying if I didn’t say I enjoyed it.
it occurs to me now that there wasn’t a lot of pure CG. Most of it was real, and that makes it more convincing than CG epics like Van Helsing.
The structure is simple but effective. Careful plot rationing means that the audience has something to chew on as they leave the theater.
September 19, 2004.
Coronet Theater, 945pm.
Innocence
Ok, this is a great movie. I’m still processing it but I urge you to go see it.
I’ll write more about it later. I thought this interview with the director on Midnight Eye was pretty interesting.
Tennis
Played Tennis with Paul.
We warmed up, and played one set. My serving is abysmal. Still, it’s fun.
I gotta get him to go out every week.
I’m just as bad as before, but now I’m slower. Definitely a case of the mind being quicker than the feet.
Afterwards, yummy King of Thai, and then I was sore the rest of the day.