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So this weekend, so far, has been one of watching movies and whatnot at home. And it got me thinking about one movie I missed...on purpose. I toured the role playing zone in Second Life but I never sat in the theater to watch I am Legend. And this, summed up by an MSNBC columnist, is why:

The death of a dog is the most toxic of emotional Kryptonite. Sure, I’m fairly helpless when it comes to nostalgic baseball catches between fathers and sons, but the real damage is done by movies like “The Incredible Journey” and “Benji.”

As you are no doubt aware, in the film, Will Smith’s character is one of the last humans alive on Earth. His solitude is leavened by one thing: man’s best friend. His German shepherd — Samantha or “Sam,” for short — is his only pal and rides shotgun with him wherever he goes, head happily struck out the window, tongue flapping in the wind.

But in protecting her owner — no, partner — Sam is bitten by a hairless zombie. (There’s an ad for an invisible fence.) Despite Mr. Smith’s best efforts, she quickly contracts the rabies-like disease that has decimated the planet. When our hero is forced to strangle his only friend with his bare hands, he can’t even stand to watch her death, gazing helplessly away. And, oh Lord, ditto for me. Read more...

We went to the company showing of Fox's The Simpsons Movie, and actually it was better than I expected. Not a kid's cartoon movie, but really kind of a treat for the show's original fans - who are now grown and have children of their own. The original series, still running, premiered in 1989 - back when the Dow hovered below 3000 and Daniel Radcliffe had just entered the world. Speaking of mister Harry Potter, the husband and I also made a date with the Order of the Phoenix - which I also enjoyed. You could tell it was a "builder" movie...meant to span the gap and create the underpinnings for future installments. But I still thought that it held its own.

A new CG animated feature film from 20th Century Fox Animation, the makers of the 'Ice Age' films, based on the beloved book, first published in 1954, by Ted Geisel, who wrote under the pen name Dr. Seuss. 'Horton Hears a Who' is about an imaginative elephant who hears a cry for help coming from a tiny speck of dust floating through the air. Suspecting there may be life on that speck and despite a surrounding community which thinks he has lost his mind, Horton is determined to help. Watch the trailer | Read more...

Now that we're on the other side of the summer movie season, I imagine that the pace of interesting films will slow (to rebuild at year's end). I want to see the Stardust movie next. While it has been compared to the "new" Princess Bride, it may take some convincing if I don't want to see it alone. :) My take is that although series movies may have their own appeal, it would be refreshing to watch something totally new - not based on a television series or a toy, not a remake or a sequel. That's a rare thing these days. From a consumer's standpoint, tickets are so expensive that, emotionally and financially, it's hard to take a chance on a fresh concept.

Here's a question: the price for Spamalot and Mamma Mia! (both on Broadway) aren't the same, so why are the prices for Transformers and The Simpsons Movie identical? Maybe if they charged proportionally, folks would be more inclined to watch a greater variety of films...to invest in the less expensive story over the more expensive "everyone's watching it" rumbler. I suppose I'm not the only one to ask that question. The cost of movies, though, makes me divide up what I want to see...and how I see it: this movie is "pay-per-view" worthy, that movie is worth seeing in the theater. And I just miss out on foreign, independent, and documentary films altogether. Sad.