Nice weekend

Interesting, and very busy, weekend last week.

Friday we were able to make it out for dinner and a movie. Saturday I got to play Ultimate for a number of hours (we lost the tournament in the finals, though); got some movies from my in-laws, who flew in from Hong Kong; and watch the Caps craptacular game. And Sunday we were able to sneak out to catch a Cirque du Soleil show (Quidam).

I thought the Friday movie was going to be Clooney's new one, The Descendents. But when my wife saw a review, and figured out the plot, she wasn't sure she was up to it. So instead we went to see Puss in Boots, which I'd preferred (incidentally, this is the second month in a row where the decent choices were frightfully limited. Seriously, it was that or Happy Feet Two (well, I might have looked into The Immortals, but didn't see it when I was looking). Regardless, that ain't much. The only plus is that we saw trailers for several more that look good: Hugo, Arthur Christmas, and, especially, The Pirates! Band of Misfits. The latter looks absolutely hilarious).

So, Puss in Boots. And we didn't bring the kids? Yeah, we didn't (one of them might be old enough). What did I think? Funny, but not as outrageously as I expected (the sense of humor was not similar to Shrek). Some of the tongue-in-cheek, "look like a major saga" stuff didn't work (for me, at least). Other than that? Pretty good. The double-cross was a little bit overdone, and I didn't understand why the commander was giving the egg a pass for his part. But those were the only weaknesses.

Banderas' Puss is very good, as is Hayek's kitty, and Galifianackis' Dumpty isn't too bad (though I'd argue he was coming from a position of weakness, script-wise). The overall story outline is a little uneven; some parts are very good, while others are a bit weak (my wife almost fell asleep at one point), but I thought it was pretty good in toto. Was it worth seeing in 3D? Probably not. I think very little was added to this one (and several of the trailers were particularly obnoxious about 3D effects).

I guess the important question is, will I buy it when it comes out? I'm leaning towards not, although we'll see.

The other bit of amusement about going, though, was that it was the opening night for the new Twilight movie (whatever the heck it's called; vampires that sparkle don't get me remotely curious). I was a little surprised, looking at the lines on the way in and out. There were more teenage girls than any other single demographic, but the line didn't overwhelmingly consist of them, like I would have guessed.

Why did I mention the movies from my in-laws? Well, they generally bring Hong Kong releases (they completed my Wong Kar-Wai collection on this trip, for instance, and have brought many other titles as well), but also brought the HK DVD release of Karigurashi no Arietty, Miyazaki's latest (although he only did production and story work, not direction, this time). I finally watched that tonight, although I'll talk about it separately.

Finally, Quidam. I've seen Cirque du Soleil live a couple of times before (Dralion and La Nouba), and caught a couple of their movies. Generally, they manage to blow my mind. (Incidentally, at the last movie we saw, they were talking about a "Week of Cirque" in Vegas next month. I loved the idea, but there was no way to make it happen. If they do it again next year, I might try.) This one was very good, and I do remember thinking, with not much left, that they hadn't yet managed to blow my mind, when the solo lady on the swing managed to do so. But this was definitely not as good as the other shows I'd seen. That isn't to say that I wouldn't see it again, given the opportunity, but it definitely would not be the top of the list. Still, Cirque is an amazing group that doesn't rest on their laurels.