The 2011 Summer Screen Review (Part IV)

Okay, there's no way this will make me appear cool, but I did see Glee: The 3D Concert Movie with Sonya. A combination of stage footage, improvised backstage shenanigans by the cast (in role as their Gleeful characters), and fan stories and interviews, it was an enjoyable enough afternoon at the movies. There was some lip syncing, some singing, and lots of dancing and hey, that can be reasonably happy-making, right?

Out of the proverbial frying pan and into the metaphoric fire, I watched the original A Nightmare on Elm Street, which I picked up in a cheap bin. I'd seen it sometime in the 90s, but remembered little (and wasn't really that impressed at that time), but thought I'd give it another go-round, expecting to be amused rather than frightened. My expectations were met. There's really nothing very scary about the movie, to be honest, but Wes Craven does create a few nice images (particularly the face in the wall). Wow, though, Heather Langenkamp wasn't much of an actor, was she? Perhaps she's improved since then...

Still think it's curious and inappropriate that the 80s saw a whole whack of Freddy Kruger toys and children's costumes...

In June I was given the gift of Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season One. For some reason, I had semi-actively avoided watching this show for a decade or so. Little did I know what I was missing! If Seinfeld and Britain's The Office were put into a blender and set to blend, you might get Curb Your Enthusiasm. Social awkwardness and everyday irritants abound. Thanks, Sean!

In the more classic television vein, I also finished watching Benson: The Complete First Season. I watched this show all the time back when it was on and was pleasantly surprised to find it still enjoyable today. I'd completely forgotten that Rene Auberjonois didn't arrive until the second season. Can't lie, I preferred him to Taylor (his equivalent in the first season). Other little unexpected tidbits? I looked up Inga Swenson (who played Krauss) on YouTube and who knew that she was a cutie back in her young days as a performer in Broadway musicals? Also, it occurred to me that Benson and I might be cut from the same sarcastic cloth.

Have you noticed how often I watch things I found in the cheap bin? Exit Speed was another such pick. I bought it because it starred Lea Thompson (of Caroline in the City, Back to the Future fame and Howard the Duck infamy). Very clearly direct-to-video fare, it wasn't as bad as I'd expected. There's not much story here (bus passengers have a run-in with a trick-riding biker gang that apparently like to pick violent fights at random and end up holed up in a junk yard trying to keep the bikers at bay) but it moves along nicely, the stock characters at least have things to do, and the filmmakers have no qualms about killing off significant characters. Having cast stunt performers as most of the bikers, the filmmakers also decided to make the villains wordless. Brilliant? Of course not. Enjoyable enough for a mindless action romp? Sure.

Oh, and I recognized one of the actors, but couldn't figure out from where. He won the Tony Award for his work on Broadway as Billy's father in Billy Elliot. Go figure.

Finally (and then I'll be caught up on the Summer Screen Review, just in time for its finale), I sat down to watch Catfish, after having it in wait for a couple of months. Billed as "The Real Facebook Movie", it's a documentary following a young man and his developing online friendships and relationship with members of a family halfway across the country. Curiously fascinating and with more moments of pathos than I expected, it certainly isn't the "thriller" that promotional materials made it appear, but that's actually a good thing, in the end.

As of this moment, that's the Summer Screen Review up-to-date! If I've missed anything (or watch something tonight), I'll wrap it up tomorrow, because it's Labour Day in a few hours!