Butterfly Cauldron

I added Bubba Ho-Tep to my Blockbuster que because it promised to be quirky and starred the divine Bruce Campbell. I'm not certain the man is capable of giving a bad performance and yes, I am a fan.

I was expecting somewhat typical Bruce fare -- humorous, quirky, sometimes downright bizarre. What I got instead was a meditation on the horrors of growing old, being abandoned and having regrets.

So, all in all, not exactly a laugh riot.

Campbell plays Elvis, who is not dead as we all believe but is instead living in a nursing home in Texas. He's cranky, he's depressed, he's alone and he's really obsessed with his penis. (And the growth thereon.) The film itself is contained completely within the halls of the nursing home, stark and depressing. Residents wander about, steal from others, drop dead and all without much fuss or notice. Elvis' roommate dies and his daughter, who hasn't been around since she checked her father in three years earlier shows up. She hasn't been to see her father because she was busy. In fact, throughout the entire film, there are no visitors, except for the boys from the funeral home who show up to collect the bodies and cart them away.

As I said, it's not a laugh riot.

There are some genuinely funny moments. The mummy at the heart of the movie, who is living on the souls of the nursing home residents, is dressed in cowboy boots and hat. He steals souls by sucking them out the ass. He leaves dirty hieroglyphs in the bathroom. There's a giant Egyptian beetle (Yeah yeah, they have a name. I just can't remember it at the moment.) that keeps getting mistaken for a cockroach -- but maybe you have to be from the deep south to understand how funny that is. Hell, we have bugs that big around here anyway, so why not?

But overall, it's a depressing flick, even if the good guys win in the end. (Was that a spoiler?Oops.) It's a good movie, but not something to watch if you're wanting to be cheered up.

Next Up: The Amazing Adventures of Two Girls in Love or The 24th Day or Brokeback Mountain. I have all three of those in my possession at the moment. I'm sure I'll be watching one of them in the next day or so.

Labels: fun, movie

Apparently, I'm a pretty easy-to-please movie goer. Because I've been reading reviews that Pirates 3 was crap and hard to follow, and yet I found it funny and insanely easy to follow. Hrm.

So...Pirates! I've got a group of friends I go to movies and lunch with every few weeks. it's fun. So, Saturday it was Pirates day. I really liked this movie. I didn't find it hard to follow at all. I didn't find all that the 'backstabs' unexpected or the intro too long. The special effects were awesome and the dialogue was really funny.

And Elizabeth seriously kicked ass. Finally. Unlike the last two movies, I don't think she had a single moment of "female" wimpiness in the whole flick. There was none of this "I have to save Elizabeth' crap this time around. Because everyone finally figured out she could take care of herself. Yay.

Oh, also -- don't piss off a Goddess! Idiots. Why is there a giant whirlpool suddenly appearing? Because you pissed off a Goddess. Why is there suddenly rain? See: Goddess, pissed off.

There were some awesome scenes. The return of the Dutchman with her new captain. The end of the poor, poor Endeavor. The series of scenes of them getting into Davy Jones Locker. Awesome.

And yes, it's a long movie, but I didn't really notice how long it was. So, that's good. Unlike Spiderman 3, when I noticed it was long. It doesn't feel long, because there's constant action. You get an explanation for how Barbosa is back from the dead. Everything seems to get resolved, but there's still open the possiblity of another movie. For part of the crew, anyway. Although, I don't think there needs to be another one. It's a nice enough ending as it is.

So, go see it. It's a good popcorn movie, although it won't make you think or change the world. But what do you want? It's got Johnny Deep. And Orlando Bloom actually looks like an adult with dark hair. Plus -- Elizabeth kicks ass. Seriously.

Labels: fun, movie