What do you do when its hot, humid, and rainy in Northern Virginia ? You stay home and watch movies, and that’s exactly what we did this weekend.
The weekend’s selection started out on a pretty bad note. On Friday night, we ended up watching, for some reason, Bill Cosby in Ghost Dad, which was being run on one of our local stations. The premise basically is that Cosby is a single dad who dies, or at least appears to, in a car accident, and comes back as a ghost trying to help his children. The rules on when he can and cannot be seen or heard seem to change half-way through the movie, as do the rules on what he can and cannot pass through. Run, don’t walk, away from the television if you ever see this stinker on.
Saturday’s fare was much better. On the new side, we saw Eight Below, a Disney movie about a team of sled dogs left behind during an Antarctic blizzard and their story of survival. The film is based on a true story and was really pretty enjoyable for a G-Rated Disney flick. On the old side, we watched Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which was as funny as I remembered (though I’m not sure if I’d ever actually seen the whole movie all the way through before) and much better than last week’s Matthew Broderick offering.
On Sunday, we watched two more movies. The first was Firewall, a thriller starring Harrison Ford as a bank official who is forced to cooperate with a bank robber after his family is kidnapped. As you can imagine, Ford does not stand for this situation and we see him giving as good as he gets on many occasions. There is even a MacGyver moment as Ford’s character uses the scanner element from a fax machine, an iPod (borrowed from his daughter), and a few batteries to capture information off a computer screen. Obviously, this one isn’t based on a true story.
Our final movie of the weekend was Tristan & Isolde, the story of two star-crossed lovers that was said to be the inspiration for Romeo & Juliet. The movie takes place in Dark Ages Britain as the various tribes of the island struggle to unite against the Irish. Tristan is a warrior hero who will eventually become second in line to the soon-to-be-established British throne, Isolde is an Irish Princess who rescues Tristan after he is left for dead and then becomes the prize in a tournament among the British tribes. Tristan wins the tournament for his leader, Lord Mark, only to discover that the woman he loves will now become the wife of the man who saved his life as a child. There is some violence, but not more than you’d expect for a movie that takes place after the fall of the Roman Empire.
So, the verdict for this weekend is:
Eight Below — definately worth seeing
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off — still as funny as it was in the 80’s and much better than listening to Matthew Broderick sing about wanting to be a producer.
Tristan & Isolde — also worth seeing, especially since the story moves quickly.
Firewall — a decent thriller, but if you want to see Harrison Ford kick ass, rent Air Force One.
Ghost Dad — avoid this movie like the plague that it is
