Movies & Miscellany

I'm sure y'all were anxiously awaiting word about some more good movies, (I know I was!) and now the wait is over.

I caught "Blood Diamond" about a week ago. Or more accurately, it caught me. The last such provocative film of that nature I saw was "Hotel Rwanda." I'm quite curious whether holiday sales of engangement rings were off/down after that film came out, because I don't see how anybody could look at diamonds the same way again after that.
As ever, Djimon Hounsou is amazing. Nobody does righteous anger like that man. Nobody. On top of which, Leonardo DiCaprio is starting to put his personal copyright on the conflicted character. First he was fabulous in "The Departed." Now this. He'll have no problems luring me into a theater again.

My next guilty pleasure was "The Pursuit of Happyness." I heard the real-life story behind it talked up so much by my sister and one of our Christmas Day guests who had both seen Oprah's show on the subject, I wanted to rush out and see it right then, but that proved impossible. Nevertheless, it was worth the wait. Will Smith's son is quite the little scene-stealer and you're left marveling at little miracles like a $5 bill. It would be fine by me if this hard-luck-meets-hard-work story became required watching for at-risk teens everywhere. I heard it's based on a book, which I am now going to have to track down. Anyone out there know if "Fortune" or any other financial magazine did a "Where are they now?" story on father and son?

I'm hoping I might luck out and be able to catch a sneak peek of "Letters from Iwo Jima" next week, but we'll have to see how that pans out ... Stay tuned.

Oh, and in a plea to my few faithful readers, I have a fun movie-related assignment coming up and I need your help! If you have even the teensiest tidbit of news about a movie star's possible ties to the area, or know good sources that are a wealth of that kind of trivia, please, please, email me at the Messenger (rdewey@mpnewspapers.com) to fill me in. For example, most folks around here know that last year's Oscar winner, Phillip Seymour Hoffman ("Capote") grew up in Fairport, and that director Frank Capra stopped in Seneca Falls once or twice way back when for a haircut and may have used the town as inspiration for Bedford Falls in "It's a Wonderful Life." But not everyone knows Lauren Holly ("Sabrina," "What Women Want") was from Geneva, Bill Pullman ("Independence Day," "While You Were Sleeping," "Newsies") was from Hornell, or that Taye Diggs ("How Stella Got Her Groove Back") supposedly went to School of the Arts in Rochester. Those are the kinds of goodies I'm itching to report, but I'm looking for facts I can confirm such as which year so-and-so graduated high school locally from relatives, former neighbors, teachers, McDonalds co-workers, what-have-you. Thanks in advance for sending me great tips and leads!

In lake-related news, cute little roofs are going up on the newly-walled dock "huts" scattered here and there along the water at Canandaigua's Lagoon Park. Kudos to city parks and rec and the development planners that are clearly determined to hit that one out of the park. Gentlemen, I am quite impressed.

Is it just me, or is the weather weirding out on us here? Nonstop rain? In January? From what I hear, a number of fruit farmers are really worried the plants that are supposed to be dormant this time of year are going to "wake up" prematurely, just in time for a late frost, blizzard or something similar to kill them off. While it's certainly easier to commute than is typical this time of year, I love my sweet cherries and grapes and various and sundry berries of all sorts, and I'd prefer not to have to pay $10.79 a pound for them come summer.

On the athletic front, running is proving to be the easy part in prepping for a 5K this spring. Calculating the figures on the treadmill such that I'll have any kind of reasonable training goal in terms of pacing? Not so much. Math and I just don't jive. (Sigh.)

Well, at least I can take myself out to a good movie as reward.