At the Movies

With the weekend heat wave in full force, Michael and I kept cool by taking in two movies over the weekend. First up was the new Woody Allen picture, "Scoop." Even though the trailer looked horrendous, I had to go because I still see all of Woody's films in the theater -- a tradition that dates back to going to the drive-in to see "Bananas" in 1971 (I believe we had to leave before it even ended though because my brother Terence had an ear ache).

Much to my surprise, the film wasn't half-bad. It's one part "Manhattan Murder Mystery" with a dash of "Alice" (dead people are main characters in the film again) with lots of old-school nebbish, nervous Woody throughout. The story has some pacing problems (it's not that it's too long, it just lacks momentum at times) and Scarlett Johansson has a hard time delivering some of Woody's more cerebral one-liners, but all in all -- and keep in mind we now rate Woody Allen movies on an entirely different scale than how we used to -- it's an entertaining little film. And watching barrel-chested Hugh Jackman shirtless for 90 minutes isn't exactly torture.

The trailer for "Another Gay Movie," on the other hand, made it look hysterical. And although it fails to sustain that level throughout, it's a funny and entertaining homo send-up of the "American Pie" franchise, with a sprinkle of "The Edge of Seventeen" thrown in for good measure. Campy, raunchy and full of cameos from every "gay celebrity" from the past 10 years, I really had a good time.