Cinematic Musings - With TiVo recording fantastic new summer material like Road Rules, American Idol and The Anna Nicole Show (plus new-to-me reruns of Scrubs), I haven't had much of an occasion to rent movies lately. But, Friday night, Kevin decided he wanted to stay in and we'd already cleared the hard drive of everything that looked remotely interesting. So, for the first time since moving nearly 8 months ago, we rented a movie. Our choice: the charming Amélie. While the pacing and editing seemed to be a little off (no need for it to run over 2 hours), the movie more than made up for it with its distinctive art direction and use of color and set dressing. There was a very cohesive theme to each place the camera took us, really adding to the idealized, mystical Paris Amélie inhabits. The movie reminded me, stylistically, of Run Lola Run with its quick camera cuts and humorous take on absurd situations. As long as you're in the mood for subtitles and willing to believe in unbelievable coincidences, Amélie is an enjoyable little distraction.

After seeing Amélie, Kevin and I decided we wanted to see a small, quiet, period piece...a costume drama in the Merchant/Ivory spirit, filled with turn-of-the-century European charm. Well, not really, but a lot of XXX does take place in Prague. To review the plot would be completely irrevelant; it something to do with a maverick spy (and eXtreme athlete) named Xander Cage trying to stop the end of the world. Call it a lovesong to Bond flicks, with tattoos and an anti-smoking message(!). However, the flashes of Vin Diesel's hot body more than make up for those plot holes. The one thing they might want to beef up for XXX2 would be Vin's attempts at showing his romantic side. In this movie, his on-screen kisses with Asia Argento generated zero heat. Wonder if our friends at Datalounge are on to something? The other useless plot point for me whether or not Xander had been killed while trying to save the world. I don't think anyone was doubting that Vin's character was going to survive at the end. Hello, we all know that he's signed for a sequel already! And judging by this week's box office seems like public is up for more. With a reported $10 million paycheck and an executive producer credit, Vin Diesel's got to have the smartest agent in Hollywood.

Finally, we had Not Another Teen Movie on in the background while making dinner this evening. Overall, it was dreadful, save for a few laughs from a Molly Ringwald cameo (and I've even seen most of the titles in the Freddie Prinze, Jr. oeuvre Teen was mocking). However, the movie did have one standout, the delicious Chris Evans. His face is cute, but it's the surprisingly hot body, shown in a Varsity Blues-inspired whipped cream bikini, that made me take note. A little digging shows that our boy seems to have been working out. He was even featured in an A&F Quarterly. I'll be keeping my eye out for this one.