Welcome back....

...to me blogging. Yes, I know we tried this before, and it was slightly pitiful. But now I'm back with a renewed sense of purpose and well, to be honest, a little more time on my hands.

So, why Matinee Monday? Well, 'cause that's what I did today. I hit up my local theatre and saw two matinees. Green Hornet and The Fighter. Who did I see these flicks with, no one, well, that's not true, there were other people in the theatre with me, just none that were with me. How about you? Are you a person that routinely misses out on seeing a movie that you want to because no one you know wants to see it, or maybe you're like me and relatively new to a city and don't have that many 'movie friends' yet? Do you really let this stop you from seeing movies?! REALLY!?! Why?! I often see movies by myself, and think about it, why not? Sure, when the trailers are rolling you can say to your friend, "That looks great, we should go when it comes out!" or "There's no chance in HELL I'll be seeing that" but other than that you sit and watch the big screen. Now, don't get me wrong, I love seeing movies with friends, but I just don't let the lack of one stop me from seeing a movie.

Now, two quick reviews of the movies I saw today.

#1 Green Hornet at 1:35. I was the only person in the theatre until about 12 minutes before the show started, I was super excited at the possibility of a private screening, but I was foiled!

Anyways, what to say about this movie? It was what you might expect of an action-packed comedy, or maybe it was more a comedic action movie, but either way it was maybe not the best way to spend $15.50. ['cause it was in G-D 3D] The cast was good, Seth Rogen was funny, Jay Chou as well. Christoph Waltz, fresh off his Oscar win for Inglourious Basterds, was, perhaps unwittingly, hilarious as the neurotic baddie with the unpronounceable name.

I could see what they were trying to do, poke fun at the comic book/action genre, but I think the thing that didn't quite make this a great movie was the lack of really great characters. The reason we love, well, I don't know about 'we', but the reason I love comic book movies are the characters. I mean, sure the movie may be called Iron Man, but if it weren't for Tony Stark [and Robert Downey Jr.'s great portrayal of him] it would be pretty boring. Although, Green Hornet wasn't boring, hard to be with all the car chases, explosions and fight scenes; it lacked heart. Without that heart it just fell a little short for me.

#2 The Fighter. I don't think there's any way I could have seen two more different movies. The Fighter was fantastic. Where my first matinee lacked character and heart The Fighter was made up for it in spades. The performances by all the actors were just amazing. After seeing Christian Bale and Melissa Leo win Golden Globes for this movie last night I was a little apprehensive, 'cause I hate it when awards are won and then I watch the movie and end up disappointed. Definitely not the case with this movie. Christian Bale is heartbreakingly great at the crack-addicted, yet family golden boy, Dicky Eckart and whole heartedly deserved his award. As kinetic and chatty as Dicky was, Mark Wahlberg's Micky Ward was perfectly reserved. I like Mark Wahlberg more and more these days, and his quiet performance was the perfect opposite to Bale's. There was a little clip of the real Dicky and Micky at the end of the movie, and it was both fascinating and telling. These two brothers were happy to get their story out there and the actors playing them sure did their homework.

One last thing, this is a 'based on a true story' movie that I'd never heard of the true story before, but I definitely will be googling it tonight.

That's about it for my first post back in the blogosphere, and with many more to come [I hope! Fingers crossed!] I'll be back later this week with a quick rundown of the trailers for my matinees, and trust me, there were PLENTY.