movie update

DVR / on demand / netflix streaming movies last weekend:

• heaven can wait: movie from my childhood, i was glad to see that it holds up pretty well. warren beatty is pulled to heaven sooner than planned, and just before playing in the super bowl; he finagles with mr jordan (james mason, playing god for real, this time) to let him get in a substitute body in order to play. in the meantime, he foils a murder plot (by the hilarious charles grodin and dyan cannon) against his substitute host, and falls in love with julie christie. cute. LOVE the theme from this one, written by david grusin. definitely a recommendation.

• dim sum funeral: i have no idea why i selected this, and it was terrible. terrible and awful. terrible and awful and horrible. no redeeming quality whatsoever. avoid at all costs.
  
  
• harold & kumar escape from guantanimo bay: had its funny moments, and didn't vary far from the first movie (what i remember of it, anyway). it's mostly stupid, of course, but that is sort of the point. a recommendation.
  
  
• rachel got married: so much talk about this when it came out, and deservedly so. for my taste, a little too much emphasis on the wedding itself (i mean, seriously, they must have had half an hour of the ceremony and reception). recovering addict stories are always (necessarily) uncomfortable, but as ugly as several characters' actions may have been, this telling was totally believable and engaging. definitely a recommendation.
  
  
• ciao: a little off-beat, but "nice" movie about two guys who have suddenly lost a friend and (potential) partner. i get what they were trying to convey with so many shots of the main character quietly staring into space, but there was too much of that. still, the connection between the three of them seemed real. as we watched the two survivors review a video left behind by mark, the deceased, the husband mentioned that mark didn't seem worth all the pain these two were going through because of him. the husband is right; the telling of mark's character should have matched the portrayal of him in that short scene. and, for the lead character's mostly wooden portrayal, his breakdown scene was well-timed, and really stood out. a sort-of recommendation.