DVDs

When I'm broke, I rent DVDs and stay home to watch them over the weekend.

Over the past 2 months, I've caught quite a few flicks at the cinema. Honestly, most of them were quite disappointing. 'Pirates Of The Carribean: Dead Man's Chest' (Where was the fun factor? They took themselves way too seriously this time round. This is a popcorn flick. Not an introspective flick about wars, famines, etc.), 'Superman Returns' (I thought it'd stink. It stunk a little but not that bad.), 'Nacho Libre' (Great concept! Low on laughs. Hot looking nun though!) and 'How Much Do You Love Me?' (The only thing I love more than Monica Bellucci is a naked Monica Bellucci. Even that can't save the show. It was overtly absurd though I read somewhere it's supposed to be a sex satire. Hey, what do I know?)

So, I was very much pleasantly surprised at how all the 3 DVDs I rented turned out to be pretty good. In order of viewing:

1) Hellboy
I watched this when it came out (2004? 2005?). It still holds up to repeat viewing. In fact, I think I enjoyed it more the 2nd time round. Great show, great fun. Ditto 'Pirates Of The Carribean: Curse Of The Black Pearl'.

2) The Cooler
Always wanted to catch this in the past. William H. Macy does his forlorn "I'm-a-perennial-loser" schtick yet again. But he does it damn well. Great support from Maria Bello and the excellent Alec Baldwin as the film's heavy. You don't usually associate Alec Baldwin's acting with excellence in the past. Heh. But he's really good in this one. This one's about a guy (Macy) who is so down on his luck that he acts as a casino's 'cooler' to make casino guests to lose their luck at the tables. Until he falls in love with one of the waitresses (Bello). His boss (Baldwin) refuses to let "the best cooler in the business" leave him.

3) Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
The best one amongst the 3! The movie is hilarious! Directed by Shane Black who wrote the original 'Lethal Weapon' flick. It stars frequent drug addict Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer and Michelle Monaghan (who was in the last 'Mission: Impossible' flick). Basically, it's about a petty thief (Downey Jr.) is brought to Los Angeles for an unlikely audition and finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation, along with his high school dream girl (Monaghan) and a detective (Kilmer) who has been training him for his upcoming role. Robert Downey Jr. has always been brilliant and reliable as an actor, whether dramatic or comic. The chemistry between him and Val Kilmer is great. Val Kilmer delivers an amazing performance in his role as Gay Perry, the, well, gay detective. You could probably forgive him for the piece of turd also known as 'Batman Forever'. Michelle Monaghan has struck me as pretty bland and nothing really impressive or interesting in 'M-I:3'. However, in 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang', she was irrepressibly cute and was rather credible in her role. Quite a perky character as the show develops. And that's not all which is perky for her as well. Hurhurhur...