Let me preface this post by saying that Head Honcho handles the queue and he's the one who gets the emails from Netflix that alert him to what's coming in the mail so every little red envelope is a total mystery to me. Little surprises in my mailbox!
I Love Netflix!
Okay...so what I find interesting is what three discs we have at any given time. Sometimes they're three in the same series, like a whole bunch of Sopranos or LOST. But other times, it's random documentaries like "No End in Sight" (excellent!) and an animated kids flick like "Ratatouille" (overrated!). So this week, we had "Mr. Brooks" and "Disturbia." Both are thrillers, kind of similar in that you don't really know what's going on, who's the bad guy, who's the not-quite-bad guy, and both had fantastically promising casts.
I have to place "Mr. Brooks" in the "What a Waste of Talent" category of films and give it an honorable mention for "Screenplay That Could Have Gone to Many Cool Places But Went To None." Oh, how I wanted to like this movie! I love Costner and Hurt and I kind of wanted to see Dane Cook get smacked in the face. What happened, Bruce A. Evans, Mr. Director? There were so many opportunities to make this a cool serial killer movie - the "killing gene" that gets passed down from father to daughter, the cop who would be a killer herself if she wasn't a cop, the killer who takes on a protege. All of those are great ideas, don't you think? None of them were fleshed out.
"Disturbia," though, gets placed in the "Next John Cusack" category and gets an exceptional mention for the delicate balance it maintains between sweet teen love story and Hitchcockian thriller. Yes, this movie steals from the late master and director of "Rear Window" but it also takes a bit from John Hughes. And the talent! First of all, you should know I have an unrequited crush on David Morse who is one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood and in my fantasy life, I AM Carrie Anne Moss, so that's how high my expectations were for this film. Still, I was not disappointed. Shia LaBoeuf is poised to be another Cusack, easily, and I am really looking forward to seeing him in the next Indy.
And now we have the Super Bowl to plan for. More accurately, we have the Super Bowl commercials to prepare for because we really don't watch the game.
Your Hollywood connection,
Leigh
