Long time, no post, huh? Been busy...or maybe not in the mood, not sure which...:-) Anyway, enough about me, first thing: I watched The Last Samurai about 2 or 3 years behind everybody else. I must admit, in lieu of Tom Cruise going what appears to be mental lately, I've slipped off his band wagon a bit...the whole Matt Lauer, Brooke Shields thing didn't really work for me. HOWEVER, anybody who knows me at all knows I have an amazing power of forgiveness, and thus is the same with Tom Cruise. I actually think The Last Samurai is possibly the best work he's ever done...if nothing else it's one of the deepest charactors he's ever played. If you've never seen this, give it a watch, it's really good.
On the thumbs down category? 8 Below. That damned Disney...they've been pretty good about not ripping your guts out through your tear ducts with tragic animal stories as of late, but this one sure went back to the old Ol' Yeller, Bambi days of yore. Okay, I must admit, I watched the whole movie and it was very well done, but the STORY, oh my GOD!!!! That's a KIDS story? Come ON! If you haven't seen it, the gist is this scientist guide in Antarctica has a team of 8 sled dogs he is very, very attached to. Circumstances occur that mean the humans have to fly out without the dogs, however with intentions to come back and get them within 24 hours before the storms set in. Since they don't want them to run off, they crank their collars down so they can't get loose and leave them on the chain. Well, of course circumstances work out as such that they can't go back and get them, and the poor frost bitten guide has to live with the fact his dogs are most likely starving to death on a tether in Anarctica with no hope of making it in for 6 months. Not good. Poor guy tries to get back and can't...for several months.
In the meantime, we know that 7 of the 8 got off the chain, however, the old dog gave up and willed himself to die alone in the snow. Another of the 7 falls off a cliff and dies, and the female gets wounded but still lives. Is that brutal enough for you yet? LOL! I snuffled and bawled all the way through it, horrified by several different angles of this story.
Okay, in the end he gets the 6 back before the female dies as well and it's a happy cheerful ending...with the exception of the dead dog frozen in the snow from months previously...that's sort of a buzz kill, but other than THAT it's happy. Geez...I repeat, that's a KIDS movie? Okay...I guess that's why I don't have any kids, because I don't get it. If you want to cry until your guts hurt, well, 8 Below is your movie...if not, leave that one on the shelf and go for Cars instead. :-)
Last thing, Grey's Anatomy sure is everything the buzz makes it out to be. Again my Netflix subscription pays off in my ability to slog through the entire series of DVD just in time to pick up Season 3 on network. Great charactor relationships, great soundtrack and yes, lots and lots of man candy...lots of it. I will have to admit that although I remember Patrick Dempsey as the dork in Can't Buy Me Love, he nonetheless does it for me as McDreamy...and McSteamy isn't hard on the eyes either...not at all.
And, see ya for now!
