Well, I’ve arrived in Japan. Traveling for work is always fun. I showed up at the airport and while waiting to get on the plane 3 others coworkers showed up as well. One of them a good friend, and expierenced traveller, so once again going to a foriegn country was really easy.
The plane ride was the usual 11 hours in a confined space. The food didn’t suck so much though, which was nice. But the real pleasure of international travel is the movies. No longer are you required to crane your head to see the screen at the front of your section. Now, you get a nice in-seat personal video system and and can choose which movies you want to watch. United’s system is kind of basic but it’s still nice to have 6 movies and a few TV shows to choose from. Since my laptop battery only lasts 2 hours and it was just recalled on Tuesday, I opted not work on the plane. It was a tough decision but I don’t shy away from those big calls – I’m a “Decider” (when my wife lets me) ;). So, since I usually get to see 5-6 movies a year, having to sit and watch 4 shows in a row was kind of a nice torture. Here’s the breakdown:
1) The Great Debaters (Denzel Washington). – This was a great movie. I was expecting the typical feel good underdog kind of thing that’s just right when you’ve been up since 5am but it was actually a really good movie. Not only a great story and acting but the characters were all really well developed and had a lot of depth. My only regret was that it wasn’t longer. There was so much more to the life of the characters in this small Texas town that I really wanted to see more of each one. It did the movie good though to keep that on the periphery and focus on the story. But still I wish this movie had been 4 hours instead of 2 – that also would have made the flight go faster!
2. National Treasure 2: Book of Something or Other. Why didn’t Nicholas Cage get cast as the new James Bond instead of Daniel Craig? Just go watch this movie and you’ll know why. Still, it was an “entertaining romp” to paraphrase Roeper (At The Movies reviewer). and was a good popcorn flick. If only I’d remembered to pack my microwave. Helen Mirren (spl?) was fun though but she needed more screen time.
3. Walk Hard – The Dewey Cox Story – This was a Judd Aptow farce making fun of the recent singer-biopics and it was really funny. Maybe it was the punchiness of sitting in the same seat for the last 7 hours but it was nice to not have to concentrate on a plot. This movie just lampooned every concievable “classic” scene from a bio-pic and while there were a few misses typical of these movies, in general it worked really well and I chuckled to myself for a good 90 minutes.
4. Enchanted – If you are a romantic / Disney-Princess loving person you have to see this movie. If you’re not (and you know who you are Josh) then don’t. This is the movie where a cartoon “Cinderella” character is brought to real life by the wicked step-mother Queen. While the movie was simple and formulaic it was still very well done and cute. I loved the fact that the main character kept breaking into song and all these real rats and pigeons would show up and all the other people in the movie would freak out. I am actually thinking about letting Leina see it but I worry she’ll try to get chipmunks to help her clean her room. My only complaint was Patrick Dempsey (spl?). The man was just blah. Really nothing there. I don’t see what everyone likes about him. He really doesn’t do anything for me? I was reallly hoping for some McSteamy but I didn’t see it. Maybe I should start watching Grey’s Anatomy?
So there’s a breakdown of the movies seen on my flight over. Thankfully I get to pick 4 different movies on the way back. It almost makes air travel worth it 😉