First of all, may I just say how much we lurve the PVR? LURVE IT!!!

Ahem.

We’ve watched three movies so far this weekend, and they’re three pretty wide-ranging choices. The only way the weekend could get more diverse is if I finally popped in the copy of Jules et Jim that’s been sitting by the TV for a month. But here’s what we have seen:

• Trees Lounge (imdb | rotten tomatoes), another one that I’ve meant to rent since university, got buried at the bottom of my zip list and sent to me pretty much at random. It’s Steve Buscemi from top to bottom…written, directed and starred. It didn’t have a movie plot so much as it recounted a story, like a collection of Raymond Carver stories about the same guy strung together into a screenplay. I found myself feeling actively indifferent about Buscemi’s character, which I suppose in itself is an accomplishment on his part.
• I went to see Doom (imdb | rotten tomatoes) in spite of the bad ratings because I used to play the game. My wife went to see it because she has a thing for The Rock. Really, it was just shit. I wish that, just once, they’d abandon any thoughts of crafting a terrible plot and giving characters shallow backgrounds and dreaming up some absurd scientific explanation for what’s gone wrong. Instead of all that, just show 90 minutes of non-stop mayhem. Seriously. Give the guys their chainsaws and BFGs and shotguns and send the baddies at them. Let the tension (which was completely non-existent here) rule the day, like it did in the game. Tension + large guns + gore = happy fans. But hey, they have my money, so what do they care? By the way, it was obvious that the majority of yesterday’s audience were hardcore gamers reliving their youth, as most lacked any social graces that would indicate daily exposure to humans.
• I thought Bubba Ho-Tep (imdb | rotten tomatoes) was hilarious. My wife…not so much. But c’mon, how could you not love the premise? Any movie featuring Elvis, old and in a nursing home, teaming up with an old black man who thinks he’s JFK to fight a re-animated Egyptian mummy dressed as a cowboy just has to be good. I thought it was hilarious, with just enough ridiculous over-the-topness to remind you that the cast is in on the joke. If you like satire & zombie movies, this one’s a pretty good bet. “But what do I care? I got a growth on my pecker.” Hee hee hee. I’m twelve.