Entertainment Round-up in brief

Saw “WALL-e” and “Wanted” this weekend.

“Wanted” was based on a really smart, twisted, violent comic book by Mark Millar and artist J. G. Jones. The movie’s producers kept in most of the twisted and violent elements, but were apparently not as concerned with the “smart” aspects. I promised brevity, so I’ll cut right to my beef. In the comic, the evil society that recruits the Everyman office drone is made up of super-villains – capes, masks, superpowers, everyone knows the drill. The movie scrubbed that whole concept, and the bad guys are just some secret cabal led by Morgan Freeman. Big fucking deal. Since they have no super powers in this treatment, their ability to fire bullets that curve through space is beyond far-fetched. One would clearly need a super-power to do that, so the movie doesn’t support the weight of its own tortured logic.

That said, on its own merits, it’s a great summer smash-‘em-up movie. Angelina Jolie is having a lot of fun and even shares a quick shot of her chiseled, nekkid physique (getting out of a tub, wet, no less) with her grateful fanboy fan base. Crazy-ass stunts and some computer effects that would have been amazing if they weren’t already used first and better in “The Matrix” and “Running Scared.” Two thumbs up for genre fans, one-and-a-half for hard-core fanboys.

“WALL-e” I’m liking better and better as I think about it. Mostly it was The Boy’s first movie, so I was kinda keeping an eye out for toddler trouble that never occurred (unless you count the part where there was a quiet moment in the film and The Boy announced to the theater, “I have a hammer!”). He was most excellently behaved throughout, even the roughly third of the film he spent on my lap. He had a hammer, but he didn’t use it. Would that I had demonstrated such restraint at his age.

Pixar films are never less than good; I’d put this one between the “Toy Story” films (great) and “The Incredibles” (PERFECTION!). The filmmakers never give anything away with trite exposition – the story just starts and trusts its audience to keep up with it. The eponymous star of the film is an antiquated, R2D2-sized trash-compacting robot left pursuing his never-ending task on a ruined and wrecked earth sometime in the future. The whole first half-hour is mostly without spoken dialogue. And once human characters are introduced, the hilarity truly, honestly does ensue. Great fun. Recommended for all.

On the DVD pile (which always gets out of control when I’m depressed, and I’ve been nothing but since losing Woody)…

Man, I blazed through the first season of “NYPD Blue” in no time at all. It was one of those that I ‘watch’ while I work, but since I was already familiar with the characters and storylines, I figured it would be ideal for working. Which it was, but it was also just great freakin’ television. Not dated as much as I thought it would be – it was never a show about its tech anyhow. In a couple of years, the first season of “24” will look laughably quaint in its use of its cutting-edge technology; by setting their show in a run-down, pre-antiquated POS squad room, “NYPD” has a relatively timeless quality to it. Only characters like the trendy-dressing, big-haired desk gal seem dated. Everyone else might as well have walked in from a 1950s film noir.

Season 2 is on its way from amazon for $20. I don’t need every season, just these two and the one where Jimmy Smits’ character dies.

“Rockford Files” season 5, “WKRP” season 1, “Homicide” season 3, “Martin and Lewis Colgate Comedy Hour”s from the 50s, of course more “Banacek;” the entire run of “Vengeance Unlimited” that I bought off some guy on the ebay, “Femme Nikita” season 3, “Dragnet,” that “Holocaust” miniseries from the 70s… and that’s just off the top of my head. Oh yeah, the series-set of “The Addams Family” that I got at Costco for $25. And all the Max Fleischer “Superman” cartoons and “Johnny Cash Show”s that I keep handy for watching with The Boy…

…it could be time to start thinking about another dog or I’m going to Depression us into the poor house.