Mike Hodnick's Blog

Nikki and I watched a few movies this weekend. We used to go see a movie every weekend. Now we might watch a new movie a few times a year. I really miss seeing new movies and enjoyed watching a few this weekend.

Friday night we watched The Informant!. It’s a Matt Damon show, so was almost a default choice to watch. However, I thought it was a little tough to watch. It may have been partly due to Damon’s character (Mark Whitacre) and partly due to how they told the story in the movie. You never really knew where Whitacre stood and what was going on until near the end. Now, I love twists, but this wasn’t a twist. The plot just kind of kept you in the dark for a while. As a result, Whitacre’s actions were annoying and uncomfortable rather than funny. If I were to see this movie a second time, I’d probably enjoy it more knowing what Whitacre was up to. I guess I wish Damon’s character had developed more quickly in the film.

Saturday night we watched The Boat That Rocked (a.k.a. “Pirate Radio”). Phillip Seymour Hoffman is in it - so I expected something good. From our “on demand” menu this movie looked more serious than it actually was. Instead of serious drama, there was comedy. The movie is about pirate radio in the UK - a radio station illegally broadcasting British rock and roll from a ship anchored off the coast. The main plot isn’t too much to get excited about (UK government tries to stop the rogue radio station!) but there are enough sub-plots going on with the boat’s eight immoral DJ’s and their rock-star lives to keep you engaged. At the end of the film I was disappointed but I woke up the next morning realizing I enjoyed it.

We capped off the weekend on Sunday night by watching a full-screen version of Napoleon Dynamite. So many great moments in that one.

Also on our list this weekend was Inglorious Basterds and The Hurt Locker. We’ll get to those :)