It's Curtains for Showtime...

I went to return some videos (as Patrick Bateman would say) and found that my longtime movie Mecca, Showtime Video, had closed its doors. My family and I had been renting movies there for a good 15 years or more. Various Showtime locations around the state had been closing down, and my local store seemed to be one of the last bastions against the Blockbusters of the world. Online rental services such as Netflix may have eroded business as well. The last three movies I rented were I Heart Huckabees, Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle, and Election (didn't get around to even watching that one; reviews of the first two coming soon). So here's to you local video store, from VHS to DVD, you did your best to entertain me.

Cinderella Cats

ESPN.com - Jokester Brennan has another game left to coach
Dateline: Friday March, 18, 2005
In what may be the single most exciting basketball game I have ever seen as a Vermonter, 13th seed UVM upset Big East Champion (and 2003 NCAA Tournament winner) Syracuse, the No. 4 seed, in overtime. Germain Mopa Njila, a transplant from the Cameroon, stepped up and netted a career high 20 points, outshining scoring leader Taylor Coppenrath. Point guard T.J. Sorentine hit a 3-pointer "from the parking lot" (as the television color commentators put it) in the closing minutes to secure the victory. Exiting coach Tom Brennan will be honored with a Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor called "Tom Brennan's Retiremint."

Ray ***

Ray the Movie: Jamie Foxx is Ray Charles
I rented Ray on DVD. This is the second of the movies that I've seen that were nominated for Best Picture, and while I don't think it tops Million Dollar Baby, I can definitely see why Jamie Foxx won Best Actor. He is a dead ringer for Ray Charles in this movie. Foxx went to school on a piano scholarship, so he was able to perform the 96 musical cues in the film, and even contributed vocals on a couple.

The movie is quite long, about 2 hrs 30 min. For first time viewers of the DVD, I do not recommend watching the Extended Version. I tried and only made it 15 minutes into the film before switching to the Theatrical cut. Extra footage is not edited into the film, the DVD just automatically jumps to deleted scenes then back to the movie. This can get confusing. Deleted scenes can be viewed seperately on Disc 2.

The Shield Gets Close

The fourth season of The Shield starts up Tuesday March 15th on FX. Glenn Close joins the cast. I saw her shove an empty water bottle in her mouth on The Tonight Show. Strange broad. 

Be Cool *1/2

Be Cool Official Site
The movie starts with a self referential joke about sequels, and after a few minutes you'll wish the filmmakers followed Chili Palmer's advice -- don't do sequels. To be fair, the book the movie is based on was itself a cash-in for author Elmore Leonard, who penned the sequel after the success of the film adapatation of Get Shorty. While the novel was entertaining, the film directed by F Gary Gray (Friday, The Italian Job) falls flat. The same jokes are recycled, the wonderfully groovey theme by Greyboy All Stars is replaced by a weak or at times non-existent score, and the pace just seems to drag amidst lackluster dialogue. The only saving grace is Vince Vaughan as b-boy spoof Raji who is good for a few laughs among all the tired hip hop cliches. Uma Thurman and Christinia Milian light up the screen, but their characters are little more than window dressing. While Barry Sonnenfeld's Get Shorty hit all the right notes when it came to the movie biz, Be Cool's take on the music industry is tone deaf.

Jef Raskin - Letters to Dad

Jef Raskin - Letters to Dad
There was an "in memorium" link on Google's site about this guy. Out of curiousity I checked it out, and turns out he created the Apple Macintosh, click & drag, and more. On the site above there are listings of his published and unpublished works, including these amusing emails from Jesus to God. Sounds like Mr. Raskin was a pretty interesting chap.