Just a quick update to let you know that you can read my full review of Norbit and also now read the transcript of my interview with Katherine Paterson, author of Bridge to Terabithia.

As promised, I attended a screening of the new Eddie Murphy movie Norbit tonight. I would describe the experience as being very much like a soldier falling on a grenade to save the lives of his squad mates. I have seen the movie now, and there is no reason under the sun for you to ever have to do the same.

No really, avoid this one like the plague. This may be the worst movie I have ever had to sit through. Years from now, I will still be telling myself while exiting a bad movie, “Well, at least it wasn’t as bad as Norbit.”

You have been warned… the full review will be available Friday at Past The Popcorn.

This week I screened “Because I Said So” the new comedy starting Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore. Frankly, I didn’t like it. But that might have been because it’s really, truly a “chick flick.” Had I seen it with a chick, I might have liked it more. But I went with my editor, a big hairy guy. Not the same at all. You can read the full review here.

My interview with Katherine Paterson, author of “Bridge to Terabithia” went great. I’ve got it recorded, I want to try to post a snippet of the audio here this weekend. The text of the interview will be published next Friday. I’m scheduled the screen the movie for review on Saturday the 10th and I’m really looking forward to it now!

I’m scheduled to screen “Norbit” the new movie starring Eddie Murphy this week also. Not sure how that one will go. He’s hit or miss with me, though I think he’s a talented comedic actor. Guess we’ll see on that one!

Wooh, not much posting for the last week (ok, no posting for the last week… cut me some slack!) Busy, busy, busy! Mostly good busy though.

Though I’d share my newest hobby with you… flying r/c helicopters. My friend Mike and I picked up a pair of Blade CX helicopters back around Christmas time. We’ve been trying to get together every Friday at lunch to fly in a large conference room at Mike’s work site. These things are a blast!  The photo here is Mike flying his, mine looks almost identical so you get the idea. They are about as long as your forearm and run off a battery pack.  We’ve managed to crunch a few rotor blades so far and had to repair a few other odds and ends.  Lots of fun though! I plan to try to shoot a little video here soon, so watch for that!

This weekend is a “daddy/daughter” weekend.  Lindsey is over by herself and we’ve been having fun. The big activity for the weekend is getting her new computer setup to take home.  Matt and I just built a new one for him, so we’re taking a few parts we had on hand and some new stuff and building a custom one for Lindsey.  She picked out a case online and it’s a very nice blue color that almost matches my car and motorcycle!

Today we went out to dinner and a movie. She wanted seafood so we went to “Newport Bay,” a fairly decent chain restaurant. Prior to that we caught a showing of “Arthur and the Invisibles” that Shephard recommended to me. We both loved it, a great movie I thought at both the adult and child level. Not surprising though as I am a fan of the director, Luc Besson.

Speaking of movies, I attended a screening of “Smokin’ Aces” this week. I liked it, you can read my review at Past The Popcorn. This week I’ll be reviewing “Because I Said So” on Tuesday and on Thursday I’m interviewing Katherine Paterson, author of “Bridge to Terabithia” in preparation for the release of the movie based on the book later in February. Whew, shaping up to be another busy week…

This week’s screening was Alpha Dog, a raw, gritty film based on real-life events. I have to confess, it wasn’t what I expected. The film features amazing performances by all of the leading actors, but the subject matter and brutal realism may make it hard to watch. Opens this weekend.

Read my full review at Past The Popcorn

Uhg, my brain is full… so you get a brain dump today!  Fortunately, this was the last day of work for me this year.  I’m taking vacation tomorrow and then my company is on break until January 2nd. I still have a fairly busy schedule, but most of it is social activities with friends and my kids.

I’m working on a new movie review tonight.  I caught a screening of The Good Shepherd yesterday. I found it fascinating.  This is no light weight piece of entertainment but rather an intellectually challenging look at how the CIA came to be.  Based in part on fact, with characters that are composites of actual people. If you are into history and political intrique, you might enjoy it.  Brace yourself though, it weighs in at nearly 3 hours and you will find no fight sequences or car chases… this one is purely character driven.

Back to time off… hopefully tomorrow I’ll actually get my Christmas cards and mix CDs in the mail.  Talk about putting it off until the last minute… sheesh! I still have to pick up a few stocking stuffers too… I might try to do that early tomorrow when hopefully most people are at work… and I’m not! Mwwaahhaahhhaaa…

Did I mention there is half a carrot cake in the kitchen beckoning me… calling me… seducing me… followed me home from a holiday luncheon today…

I leave you now with a Christmas song… I may swap music daily for the next week or so and run through some of my favorite seasonal tunes.

I had an opportunity to catch a screening of Eragon this evening.  I was looking forward to seeing this one. It’s based on the book of the same name.  I really enjoyed it, although honestly I don’t think it will do that well at the box office or with critics in general. Fans of the book might like it, but may take issue with deviations from the source material. Fans of Tolkien and LOTR will probably dismiss it as fluff by comparison.

Frankly, that’s one of the things I liked about it. I don’t mind being challenged by a movie in general, but sometimes I just want good old escapism.  A simple story. Clear delineation between good and evil. Swords and magic.  And oh yes, dragons please!

I hate to say it, but my zeal for this movie is directly related to the meme I did yesterday. As much as I like to pretend otherwise, I guess I do tend to look at the world through the eyes of an innocent and yeah, maybe rainbows and unicorns are involved.  And dragons. Lots of dragons.

The movie opens Friday.  My review will “go to press” on Friday also.  You’ll find it with my other scribblings in the author archive at “Past The Popcorn” which is the site I’m writing for these days.

To tie this in with a music update, this particular track was written by Jem for the movie.  It plays along with another track by Avril Lavigne during the closing credits.  I liked it… and did I mention that I like dragons?