Movie Night: Underdogs and Mafioso.

Eastern Promises- I can't quite put my finger on why I liked this movie. At times it was slow and not much happened, but the fight scenes were definitely brutal (the russian bath scene definitely lives up to the hype) and the end was rewarding. I highly recommend.

Rocket Science- I wanted to enjoy the movie and I think I even enjoyed the movie for the first half hour. The Wonder Years/Winnie the Pooh-esque voice over. The smarter and more clever than humanly possible debate student; rooting for the awkward stuttering lead character with a backpack full of notebooks (which we rarely see him utilize, except to drag it around). In the end, the movie just wasn't rewarding enough. All of the adults seemed kookie and a bit oversexed. All the young people were weird enough to have rolls in Napolean Dynamite, which I personally didn't think was that much of a film in the first place. While I appreciated the point of the movie, which didn't give lead character Hal Hefner the miracle, overcoming the odds transformation that a lot of Hollywood movies might have, I still felt set up for disappointment every time he competed (and lost) a debate tournament. But in case you felt you didn't catch the lesson, Ginny hits you over the head with it near the end, stopping mid-debate to tell Hal how she improved the quality of his life by making him more of a fighter.

Mr. Brooks- Don't. Even. Get. Me. Started.
GARBAGE.