Chazography

Ever since heading off to school, I haven’t been a frequent moviegoer, but this weekend I actually managed to make it to two! Much to my chagrin, both of them were excellent! I’ll start first with Thank You For Smoking.

I didn’t know quite what to expect when I went to this movie, but I was definitely pleasantly surprised. The “protagonist” (Nick Naylor) is the lead spokesman for “Big Tobacco”. He is the “Sultan of Spin”. The king of bullshit. In short, he is the ultimate politician. Of course, I guess one would have to be incredibly good at circular rhetoric and speaking out one’s arse in order to lead a public relations campaign for an industry whose product is a direct cause of lung cancer. How do you defend a product whose prolonged use may lead to the customer’s ultimate demise? An even better question is, “How do you spin for a ‘Big Tobacco’ while still remaining a role model to your 12-yr old son?” You’ll just have to see the movie to find out. However, I will give you a nice slice of dialoge to whet your whistle…

Jeff Megall: Sony has a futuristic sci-fi movie they’re looking to make.
Nick Naylor: Cigarettes in space?
Jeff Megall: It’s the final frontier, Nick.
Nick Naylor: But wouldn’t they blow up in an all oxygen environment?
Jeff Megall: Probably. But it’s an easy fix. One line of dialogue. ‘Thank God we invented the… you know, whatever device.’

The second movie seen this weekend is Failure To Launch. I wasn’t expecting to like this movie so much, but given I don’t mind chick flicks, I figured it couldn’t be too bad. Yes, I know. I’m a dude, and I like chick flicks! However, I’ve admitted it, and that is the first step towards recovery.

As it turns out, I really enjoyed this movie. The characters were memorable and funny, and I found myself constantly engrossed in the plot (even if it is rather light-hearted and stupid). For those who don’t know, the movie is about male in his thirties who still lives at home and his parents’ attempt to get him to spread his wings and move out. To facilitate his move out of the nest, they hire a woman who specializes in getting older men who still live at home to move out by pretending to date them. Whether it was the main character’s father turning his son’s old room into a “naked room” or the protagonist himself getting bitten by a handful of peaceful woodland creatures, I found myself constantly laughing. I must warn that bird lovers and those still living at home may find this movie to be somewhat disturbing, but as for the rest of you, I don’t think you’ll regret going to see this movie.

To those looking for movies, each of these movies gets my personal seal of approval. Too bad I don’t have an official seal of approval just yet.