0 for 2 with online DVD rentals Jul03 '04

I went ahead and purchased a monthly subscription with NetFlix. I was weighing my options not too long ago, and I finally decided to go through with it. It seems like it will be a great service.

The other day I received my first set of DVDs. You can only keep three DVDs out at a time. My first three were Catch Me If You Can, Phonebooth, and Seabiscuit.

So far, I’ve watched Catch Me If You Can and Phonebooth. Both were lame.

So I’m 0 for 2 with online DVD rentals so far (As if this is some important stat). Really, it’s not an important stat at all, and it has nothing to do with the NetFlix service itself. I could very well have rented these two movies from a video store, and the same lame results would have happened. But by signing up with NetFlix, it seems like I’m starting fresh with my DVD viewing. Yeah, something like that.

Anyway, onto the movies themselves...

Catch me if you don’t get bored

Catch Me If You Can was lame because it was just plain boring, with the occasional scatter of good actors, in the wrong roles.

For those who haven’t seen Catch Me If You Can, the movie is centered around a talented young man (Leonardo DiCaprio), who is able to create near–perfect counterfeit checks – which are so close to the appearance of REAL checks, he ends up getting away with millions of dollars in fraud, all the while posing as a lawyer, doctor, pilot, and more. The movie is a true story, based in 60’s – back when Pan American Airlines "owned the skies."

The movie reminded me so much of The Talented Mr. Ripley, I almost cringed at similar scenes.

In the movie, the FBI was after this guy the whole time. And what better actor to have as the lead FBI guy, than Tom Hanks! (That was sarcasm) Really, why did they pick him for that role? He does not have that "tough guy" persona, yet this was the role he was playing. Tom Hanks is obviously a great actor, but he did’t fit in this movie. The role required him to be "overly serious," and "lacking a sense of humor." To me, that is not Tom Hanks at all.

Phonebooth... what a title

Phonebooth was equally lame. I have to admit, though – it provided a small adrenaline rush. I did appreciate that, but "all in all," it’s not worth a purchase.

I feel I must explain each movie before I critique it. It’s only natural, because some readers may not have seen the movies I am talking about.

Phonebooth has a simple plot. A well–known publicist (Colin Farrell) is (supposedly) cheating on his wife (very lame reasons), and a sniper holds him hostage inside the lone remaining New York phonebooth. The sniper is on the phone with him the whole time, telling him not to hang up, lest he begin taking lives of the people that Stu (the publicist) is close to.

What I found to be really disturing was the fact that this sniper was making the publicist repent his sins and inhumanity. Better yet, the sniper, via the phone, wanted Stu to call his wife and tell her that he is cheating on her. (Somehow the sniper knew all these details) Apparently this sniper shoots down people who have done selfish things, such as money laundering, cheating, etc. And this sniper justifies his killing because of the bad things the victims did.

The sniper ends up getting caught in the end, and Stu makes it out alive.

Also, Katie Holmes had a grammy–winning performance (sarcasm) as the girl that Stu had been calling, and apparently cheating on – but only because he had mere thoughts of having sex with her. And like I said, somehow the sniper knew this. He knew Stu’s thoughts. Are you laughing yet?

I honestly believe this movie took a week to shoot (pardun the pun). I can’t imagine a movie that contains only a single setting to have taken longer than five days to fully record.

And that’s probably the same amount of time it spent in theatres.

Seabiscuit, please save me

After two lame movies, I am hoping for redemption. I am hoping Tobey can save me.

Although, with the brilliance of Spider Man 2 still in my head (no sarcasm at all), I feel I will be thinking of that during the whole movie.

In any case, Seabiscuit has to be better than those other two.

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