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I tried to watch the movie Stakeout (1987). I kept getting interrupted by the children in my neighborhood, but I did see the opening scene or two.

Richard Dreyfuss and Emilio Estevez play police detectives and they are chasing a criminal on the docks near some body of water. In the second or third scene Richard’s character has the suspect covered when Emilio’s character pulls up in a forklift and breaks the line of sight to the criminal.

During the this first part o f the movie I keep waiting for Richard’s character to ask Emilio’s character what he was doing on the forklift. Forklifts are not generally faster than people and starting one often requires specialized knowledge (like knowing the location of the safety interlock switch). It is very unlikely that the forklift would have aided in the arrest.

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I might be dating myself some, but I have liked smart people on TV and in the movies. I remember Dexter from The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and I really liked John Doe in John Doe. I love to watch anything having to do with a smart hero. Now, I have never been one for memorizing facts, like John Doe did. I don’t view the knowledge of trivia as a gauge to how smart someone is. IQ tests are biased toward white males from English speaking countries. Many other intelligence tests test test-taking skills or memory not intelligence. To me, an exceptionally intelligent person has a superior ability to solve problems. That means the top sales person in your office might be the smartest guy there. The same is true for a typical company CEO. These folks spend much of their days solving problems. (more…)

I want to see a horror movie where the most likely victim turns out to be the least likely to die. I can picture it now. Everything was fine at the ranch until teens began to die. It was obvious that the killers were choosing their victims alphebetically. Fred, the third victim, died Tuesday. Katy’s next. Katy’s got a gun. Watch as seventeen mass murderers fall one at a time. Sure they killed her friends, but this fourteen year old draws the line at her chocolate chip cookies. Look Kruger, you’re next and Katy is itching to try her new flamethrower.

I don’t like trilogies all that much, but I just have to see all the movies in a series. The third movie is guaranteed to be worse than one or both of the others. I’m sure the people involved are doing their best, but my expectations are usually low and I’m am not often proved wrong. I’m not a great fan of the X-Men. I remember them from Saturday morning cartoons, but I liked the Fantastic Four and Spider-man better. I like comic book characters, but I never really collected comic books. My favorite plots involve an underdog who finds he has (or is) something special and saves the day. Individual X-Men are like that I suppose. I liked X-Men 3. It’s a good movie and it is better than the first two movies. I left the theatre hoping for a fourth movie. The main plot was as expected, but many of the sub plots were unexpected. Even the parts I knew were coming were done well. It was well worth the two buck price.

I liked The DaVinci Code. It had enough suspense and humor to be enjoyable. I didn’t read the book. My little sister did and called me to ask some questions about Mary Magdelin and the Holy Grail. I won’t spoil the plot for those of you who want to it. It was extremely difficult to separate fact from fiction. If yours is a simple faith. A faith in which you have accepted Christianity without investigation, through family tradition for example, this movie could make you question that faith. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Many people investigate their faith and become stronger believers. If your faith is based on careful investigation, this is all old hat. The legends circulating the history of the early Christian Church are numerous. It is impossible to separate fact and fiction. On my path from Christianity, I did detailed reasearch on the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Bible and Messianic Law. If you would like to do more research on your faith I can probably supply a reading list. You’ll need a library card, some spare time, a lot of patience and some persistence.

Over the Hedge was a very fun movie. It didn’t start the way I thought it might. A hungry racoon is trying to get a bag of chips out of a vending machine. Next thing you know he’s hatching a scheme to steal food from a new subdivision with the aid of some foragers. I was probably in the mood for a laugh and that affected my experience, but others movie goers seem to enjoy it as well. Oh, and I think the kids were amused.