3 things for monday

These things been in my head.

1: A conversation I overheard in a quiet 6:55 a.m. university locker room. Two fairly soft-spoken college kids were having a conversation while they got dressed to work out.

GUY 1: As I was driving over here, I pulled up beside this mustang.
GUY 2: Yeah?
GUY 1: Yeah. When the light changed, I just smoked him.
GUY 2: Heh.
GUY 1: Something about mustangs just makes you…
GUY 2: Angry?
GUY 1: Angry.

2: X-Files: I Want To Believe

Let’s cut to the chase. This movie was disappointing. I chalk it up to the directors losing their focus. Instead of making a movie about the unknown, about a desperate quest for truth, about paranoia and a struggle for individual freedom… they made a movie about squeezing bucks from an aging X-Files audience. You see the difference? The eye of the tiger, man. They does not has it. Maybe my guesses about the reasons are off, but the movie was a big letdown, in any case. Entertaining enough to watch, but not twice. Also, I got bored in the middle and did some filing. There were moments when the shameless manipulation of Scully & Mulder’s relationship almost burst into smouldering lukewarmity, but it was so contrived that it hurt my head.

3. Mirror Mask

Now this movie was awesome. Just perfectly delightful. Sure, some of the acting (especially Valentine) was clunky at times, but not too clunky, and the overall impact was very strong with me. It feels sort of like what Tim Burton might have grown into, if he hadn’t gotten stuck in kiddie-goth, 20 years ago. It’s a lovely young adult movie, but there’s enough visual delight to keep adults (or me, anyway) fascinated. Plus, the plot avoids the hackneyed after-school-special  riffs that must be constantly tempting creators of these kinds of movies. Well, it’s lovely. You should see it.