Movie Weekend

The Happening wasn't very happening. It was horrible. Don't even bother going to see it. The acting seemed forced, which is disappointing because I really like Mark Wahlberg - The Italian Job, Zooey Deschanel - Tin Man, and John Leguizamo - To Wong Foo. The script didn't seem to flow - you know, like real conversations would never sound like that. And the plot? SPOILER ALERT - I think it was a 91-minute political statement on how we're destroying the planet - and believe me, it felt longer than 91 minutes. Not that I don't want to be eco-friendly, I do, but I think this was a little extreme. For someone who had such promising movies, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs, his last few movies have fallen short. And I'm really not sure why it's being hyped as "his first rated R movie." Jeff made the point - before Amanda and I saw it - that is was probably so bad that this was the only way to get people to see it. So, in addition to having forced acting and a silly plot, it was really gross, too. So, don't waste your time OR your money.

Kung Fu Panda was great. I LOVE Jack Black - School of Rock, Nacho Libre, and The Holiday - how can I pick just one movie to reference him? In the first 5 minutes I was entertained by Jack Black's use of the words "Legendary" and "Awesomeness." Whether these were intentional references to How I Met Your Mother or not, I can never hear those two words again without thinking of Barney Stinson. Although there wasn't an earth-shattering, existential statement, there was witty dialog (as with most animated movies today, a lot of it was directed towards adults, not children - not that it was bad, most kids just wouldn't understand it), a good message, and awesome animated kung fu scenes. The thousands of children sitting by me seemed to enjoy it, so if you have kids - take them.