Movies

Because of the three-day mail holiday (yes, I'm still bitter), I sent off three Netflix discs in one envelope today—and won't likely see a replacement until Friday at the earliest, possibly Saturday. Here's what went back:

• The latest installment of "The Sopranos" - Season 6 hasn't been too terribly exciting or interesting yet. But I do enjoy it, regardless.
• "Word Play" - This is a paean to Will Shortz and The New York Times crossword puzzle. If you're a wordie, you'll enjoy it, although it wasn't mind-blowing. Celebrity crossword addicts (Jon Stewart, Bill Clinton, etc.) are featured, as well as the contestants in the annual tournament. As with "Word Wars" (see my review here), you get to know these people; unlike that film, though, these are people you can imagine wanting to know. (P.S. I have in my possession a typed and signed postcard from Will Shortz. When he first took over the reins from Eugene T. Maleska, I wrote him a letter saying that the Sunday puzzle had gotten, um, too easy, particularly because all the pop culture references. He responded that he was getting just as many letters complaining that the Sunday puzzle had gotten too hard, particularly because of all the pop culture references. There you go.)
  
• "Shaun of the Dead" - I'm embarrassed to say that I was nervous about seeing this because I thought it would be really scary. (It would be even more embarrassing to report that I had a bad dream last night after viewing this, so let's just assume that the two were unrelated.) Shaun and his mates are a bunch of pub rats who fail to notice, until it's almost too late, that London has been taken over by flesh-eating zombies. But it's not scary! Really! It's funny!

Comments

[scott]

I absolutely adored Shaun of the Dead!

[Karan]

We liked Shaun of the Dead so much we bought it!

[TwoBusy]

As a good friend of mine said, if you see only one zombie romantic comedy this year, make it "Shaun of the Dead."

[di]

My friend got me Word Play but I haven't watched it yet. If you haven't read Crossworld, it's great. Here's the link to my review:
http://dibookblogetc.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/08/crossworld.html