Jan 07 2009
Moooovies
Not a ton of posting lately. A mix of ‘I’m too busy’ and ‘I have nothing going on’. The 2008-9 Holiday Cocktail Season is over. I’d like to say that with the snow days, it went exceptionally well. Moving on though…
I’m hearing and reading of others who are hitting the trainers right around now. For me at least, I’m in the pre-base or early base or whatever you want to call it where you just ride for a while with a couple intervals of moderate effort. Nothing big. Enough to break a sweat but not enough to feel it hours or days later.
Most of the shorter efforts I’ll just pop in a spinervals and go with it. For the longer ones, I need something different. Don’t get me wrong, I like Coach Troy, but a hour’s my limit. Anything over an hour needs a movie or something like that.
So what makes a good movie to ride to? An action flick is good, sci-fi would be a close second. With noisy trainers, something with limited amounts of down-time or soft dialog. A relatively obvious plot would help. Basically, I’d like to not think about the fact that I’m on a trainer but I don’t want to get too lost or else I’ll end up soft-pedaling.
So here is the inaugural trainer movie review….
Wanted. With Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman and James McAvoy (2008)
Run time: 1:45 (warm-up, 2 x 30 min x 10 min rest, and cool down)Interest: B+
Pace: B+ Dialog: B- Overall: B+
Didn’t this go straight to DVD?
Without question, I’m immediately hesitant of any Angelina Jolie flick. At least quality-wise. But this had gotten decent reviews on the Oregonian so I thought I’d give it a try. I was surprised at how decent it was. Pretty graphic in terms of bullets coming out of people’s heads at slow motion but let’s remember that with the the lesser half of Brangelina here, the movie is squarely aimed at the 16-28 crowd (older guys know better).
Not too much dialog and the plot was fairly easy to follow with what little talking there was. Consistent action. Think of it as a Rocky meets Empire Strikes Back where Rocky finds out that he’s Apollo Creed’s illegitimate son, unknowingly kills him with his new left hook, and then needs to hunt down Mickey (who neglected to tell him) at the early bird special at Denny’s. Yeah, it’s like that.
Anyway, the bottom line is that the 1:45 went by pretty quickly and I never really found myself looking for the clock. I was entertained, no doubt. That was a big part of the appeal.
So that’s about it. I’ve got a bunch of other movies on hold at the library and will review as I get them & ride. So far, I’ve got a mix of old & new action/sci-fi, martial arts (always a favorite), and James Bond (I’m a little skeptical).
“Didn’t this go straight to DVD?”
Um… no. It was 15 on the list of top grossing movies at cinemas in the US for 2008 and made $342,256,854 world wide (according to BoxOfficeMojo.com)
I was kidding…mostly. I hardly ever heard of it though. A few trailers in the first couple weeks it came out and then nothing.
However, looking at that list – pretty good company down there: 10,000 BC, Chronicles of Narnia. The fact that it got thoroughly thumped by Mamma Mia! should speak volumes.
If by “Older guys know better” you mean that once this Brad Pitt thing ends I have a good shot. Then I am right with you brother.
Well, it’s more like with pre-Brangelina, we had the Brad Pitt that did 12 monkeys, Seven, and Fight Club. Post-Brangelina, we’ve got Benjamin Button. Not a good trend.
For you it might turn competitive swimming into something like shopping at Bed, Bath and Beyond.