Sex and the City

When I lived in California, I didn’t have cable. So I didn’t follow and actually couldn’t watch Sex and the City. Then one day, my friend Amy introduced me to the show. I was instantly hooked. I went and bought the DVDs of all the prior seasons and watched them back-to-back. We’d often get together in her house for dinner and watch the show together.

Sex and the City

Since the show ended four years ago, I’ve gotten my fix by catching late-night reruns on TBS. When I found out that the movie was coming out, Amy and I had to go see the movie the day it was released of course.

So 4PM on Friday found us in a packed theater in the heart of New York city with 440 women and 10 men. As the previews ended, Amy cracked open the champagne she’d smuggled into the theater - just in time for the huge cheer that went up for the movie.

The movie catches up with the fab four three to four (ten?) years after the last episode of the show. Everyone is older and firmly ensconced in the relationship we left them in four years ago. Oh - everyone is also much, much thinner. Almost gaunt. What’s up with that??

Anyway, coming back to the movie - Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) is happy with Mr. Big (Chris Noth), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) is in status-quo with husband Steve (David Eigenberg), kid and nanny, Charlotte (Kristin Davis) is hanging with Harry (Evan Handler) and Lily (their adopted daughter) and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) is, unbelievably, still with (and faithful to) the hottie, Smith (Jason Lewis). All the favorite non-central characters like Sanford, Anthony and Enid are also back where we expect them to be.

Of course, we need to see some drama with all of them and we do - all centered around Big and Carrie’s wedding. Happy-happy goes to sad-sad to let’s-deal-with-this to I’m-happy-alone to… well, I’m not going to tell you where it goes to, but you get the picture.

The movie is like one long, long, long (2 hours 20 minutes??) episode of the show. It has all the glamor - the dresses and shoes are as fabulous as ever, the drama, the sex and the city that lovers of the show would expect. The jokes are still funny, the characters are still kooky and the margaritas are still consumed by the gallon.

Of course, there are elements which I didn’t love - Louise from St. Louis is a bit too earnest and she’s been primarily put in the movie to fulfill one dramatic duty. Some of the lines sound corny, trite and a bit forced. But overall, the theater laughed, sighed and aww-ed right on cue.

The key to enjoying the movie is to understand what to expect from it. It is not Gandhi. It is not The Lives of Others. It is a funny, quirky, girls-night-out film that you go see with your girlfriends to have a good time. It is a fond remembrance of the show that was, a nice little visit with the characters with whom we are on first-name basis.

If you loved the show,  you will enjoy the movie. So all you Sex and the City fans - head out and have a great time. As Carrie would type into her now-updated Mac - Isn’t catching up with old friends the best way a girl can spend the evening? Absolutely it is!

_{Photo rights: Craig Blankenhorn/New Line Cinema}

Aww(ful) Indy…

One word captures Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - terrible. No, I am not going to couch it. It was really that bad.

I wanted to like it. I really did. On the day it released, I bought my tickets and went for the 11PM show. All I wanted was Indy - the Indy of old. The adventure, the incredible stunts, the light romance, the crazy traps he falls into, the theme music pumping in critical scenes - ta-ta-tuh-taaa, taaa-ta-taaa, ta-ta-tuh-taaa, ta-ta-tuh-tuh-tuh¹. Basically, a good, rollicking, low-brow action flick.

But in one fell swoop, Messrs Lucas and Spielberg not only destroyed my fond hopes, but cast a huge dent in the Indy franchise too.

Where to start?

The story was the primary issue. While all the Indy films have somewhat reality-defying feel to them, this one was over the top. The basic premise is… er… ridiculous. The rest of the plot just seems to be kludged together. Stick in a random native here, put in a random errant truck there. Enough action for this scene? Great, move on. To be fair, there were a couple of touches of traditional Indy - a jeep-fighting sequence, the ant attack and a waterfall sequence that harkened back to the other three installments. But there was too much that felt “forced”.

The acting was another issue. Yes, Indy and co. have always been somewhat corny. But this was over-the-top corny. It was puke-inducing corny. Most of the film is spent with Indy looking at fellow adventurer Mutt Williams (Shia LeBeouf) with an “Aww, I am so proud of you” expression. And Shia LeBeouf cannot act. Cannot. Act. At. All. Cate Blanchett as the baddie was fine. Not good, not bad. Fine.

Oh, and I didn’t even get my heart-pumping action set to the theme song. There was one scene early in the movie where it all came together, but that was it.

Sequels (or in this case, installments) are money spinners. They are banking on an established brand name. And that’s fine. But don’t cut corners on the story or the acting to get my $11. At least pretend to try to earn it.

I walked out disappointed. I thought “Maybe I enjoyed the other Indiana Jones movies because I was much younger when I watched them.” But then I realized, no, that’s not it at all. This one is just plain bad.

1. If you think of the tune in your head, my lettering makes sense. Really [back]

Piracy PSA

This is the best Piracy PSA evah. Maybe you have to have watched Superbad to find it funny though…

Goldfrapp’s Happiness Video

This is a very, very cool video. Kudos to director Dougal Wilson.

This video seems like it is one single take. But it isn’t.

How many cuts can you find?

And if you like the song, here are the lyrics -

Join our group and you will find
Harmony and peace of mind
Make it better
We’re here to welcome you

We’re all on a journey to
finding the real inner you
Make it better
We’re here to welcome you

Time
Stops too when
You’ve lost love
Happiness
How do you get to be
Happiness
How you get to find love
Real love

Floating in the magic world
Donate all your money
We’ll make it better(Make it better)
We’re here to welcome you

We can see your trouble soon
Give us all your money
We’ll make it better (Make it better)
we’re here to welcome you

Time
Stops too when
You’ve lost love love
Happiness
How’d you get to be
Happiness
How’d you get to find love
Real love

We’ll be swimming in the sea
Of wisdom and sereniy
Make it better

Happiness
How’d you get to be
Happiness
How’d you get to find love
Real love