chiming in

No, I haven't seen Episode II yet, Lloyd. I plan on seeing it -- eventually. I'd like to see it in the theater, because it will almost certainly be better on the big screen. I'm easily swept up into the hype. Harry Potter caught me; so did Spiderman. And, I mean, neither movie was perfect. Harry Potter, for all its hype, fell behind Lord of the Rings when it came to the awards, but it was still a really enjoyable movie. Spiderman had its moments of stupidity, but all in all, the thrill of the movie made up for it.

So it was a bit of defiance against my preppy, hype-swept-up inner-self that sent me to the theater this weekend to see a movie that wasn't Episode II Part of my rationale was that everybody else in the movie-going world would be out watching Attack of the Clones, so the theater would be empty for the new Hugh Grant movie.

Claudia and I went to the Alamo Drafthouse North to see it, and were surprised to see that the theater was almost completely full. Granted, the theater is smaller than the ones you'd find at Tinseltown or one of the huge multiplexes like that, but Hugh Grant is a bit like a dry wine, and a bit of dry wine makes it easier to watch him, too. At any rate, from the crowd, it looked as though there were other refugees from studio marketing hype.

And the verdict was that About a Boy was a nice enough movie -- in that heartwarming kind of way. It deals with topics like depression in a way that isn't seen terribly often in films, but it also pegs the depressed character in a sort of raving lunatic role. And she -is- a raving lunatic, in a sweet hippy sort of way, but maybe that shouldn't be coupled with depression in the way she's perceived.

Attack of the Clones? It'll have to wait until the theaters clear out a bit. Claudia and I are going to see Mr. Sinus Theater's version of that Britney Spears flick Crossroads next weekend.