Weekend movies

Not too thrilled with my entertainment this weekend.

I watched Prince of Persia with the boys and was pretty disappointed. It's well-made and Jake is terrific of course and the princess kicks ass. But, my word, there's a lot of killing. I didn't expect that at all. Swords through the throat, spears, arrows. I thought there would be a lot more adventure and a lot less death. Not my favorite movie of the year for sure.

I plowed through The Hunger Games, reading every night and at the beach. I liked the book a lot until I got to the end. It just wasn't what I expected. Meredith had said it has "political" aspects, but not really - at the very beginning, it tells a little about how the post-apocalyptic world is organized, but that's about it. And I thought there were distinctive hints about rebellion early in the book, but they never materialize. We meet Katniss, she fights in the games, she wins, of course, and the book ends. Huh? That's it? I thought it was pretty brutal, which you would expect, I suppose, but I thought there would be more "there" there. And what's with the love triangle? In the beginning, it's very clear that Katniss does not consider Gale romantically at all, but by the end it's all "what will Gale think of all that kissing?" Huh? I mean, it's not for me to say how the book goes along, but I felt like it contained a fair amount of sleight of hand that I didn't really appreciate. I was all hot to read the sequel until I got to the end, and then I felt a little used and abused and I'm not sure I want to bother. Very frustrating, because I've started about 5 books before this one that I didn't finish because they just weren't interesting. This one was super interesting, but I felt cheated at the end.

The high point of the weekend was probably The Accidental Husband, which is a deeply flawed Uma Thurman vehicle, but which had a few really great scenes that made it rather memorable. Jeffrey Dean Morgan is sexy as hell and should do a LOT more romantic comedies.

I also watched Julie Johnson (from 2001), with Lili Taylor as a frustrated NJ housewife who takes charge of her life with mixed results. Lili is terrific as always, and Courtney Love does a fine job as her friend Clare. I liked it a lot and I'm glad I saw it, though I'm not sure it will really stick with me.