This past weekend, Amy and I made our annual pilgrimage to the desert (specifically the Palm Springs environs) to visit family. And visit we did: Along with Dad and Regina (who live out there during the colder parts of the year), we got to see Uncle Arny and Aunt Carol (bottom two photos), visiting from the Seattle area; and lunched with desert inhabitants Tod and Wendy Goldberg (top), in the process giving Tod a framing device for one of his insightful blog posts delving into the psychology of readers of Parade Magazine.
What else does one do in the desert? Why, one watches movies! I managed to catch two cable flicks with Dad, along with a theatrical release with the whole family:
-- DONNIE DARKO: One of those movies that everyone would think I'd have caught when it came out, instead of on cable six years later. An entertaining film, but one that fails to live up to its premise. The journey is much more satisfying than the destination.
-- PHFFT!: A screwball comedy from 1954, with Jack Lemmon and Judy Holiday as a formerly married couple struggling futilely to keep their divorce alive. One of the few American movies to be named after a vowel-less sound effect. The only other one I can think of is SSSSSS, which starred a pre-Galactica Dirk Benedict.
-- AMAZING GRACE: The theatrical film. The story of abolitionist MP William Wilberforce. Nicely acted and filmed, if a little too earnest for its own good. I wonder if star Ioan Gruffudd -- who has also played Horatio Hornblower and Reed Richards -- has a proviso in his contract requiring that he play heroes with alliterative names.
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