So here's an update on the last blog.
On Friday night Valerie and I left Tessa with her grandparents and had a date. The plan was to go out to eat and then see the band Cracker at Blueberry Hill. For dinner we decided to go to the Timber Creek Grill, one of our favorite spots here in our part of town. They are advertised as a bar and grill, but it's probably more bar. The decor is all cabin like, which we love as it reminds us of the Smoky Mountains. The bar is located dead center with tables around the sides. It does tend to get a little smoke filled sometimes which is why we don't bring the girl. Menu wise the selection is limited, but it's really good. There are sandwiches, chicken, fish, and even steaks and pork chops to go along with your standard appetizer bar food. A unique place, and recommended if you're in the O'Fallon area.
After dinner we took the 50 min. drive to Blueberry Hill (a cool bar recommended if you're in the U. City area) to catch the Cracker show. I've always been kind of a casual fan of the band, I really liked their first two releases but have just kind of checked in periodically since then. Cracker are yet another band I like that fly just under the radar for most folks. If you're unfamiliar I would suggest checking out their debut self titled CD, also the Greatest Hits
Redux or the new record Sunrise In The Land Of Milk And Honey which has Patterson Hood on it. Anyhoo, in a move much unlike me I didn't buy tickets in advance and the show sold out. Good for the band, good for the club, bad for me. I really don't know why I didn't pick them up, I'm usually one of those guys who has tickets 3 weeks before a show at minimum.
So I was a little bummed out, but decided to try and save the evening. We walked down to the Tivoli theater but nothing was playing that interested us. After a brief stop at Vintage Vinyl (a cool record store and recommended if you still purchase hard media), we drove to the Creve
Coeur cinema to see if we could catch a late show there. Turns out we could, and at 10:45 we saw X-Men Origins:Wolverine.
My review: I liked it. There are a lot of haters on the web, but then there always are, and most of them probably think comics are real, so whatever. The bottom line is it entertained me. The flaws were not in what was on screen so much as what was off. I'll try not to throw out any spoilers here, so bear with me. Since we all know a lot of Wolverine's story, what with the claws and all, I believe they spent too much time on that stuff. The most interesting part was the relationship between Logan and his brother Victor, but I don't think it was explored enough. Apparently they were in every war ever for centuries and that merely takes up the credit sequence. Coulda used a little more of that stuff and the childhood years. Also, at one point Logan is taken in by an old couple he just met. I'd like to know exactly why, and a little more of their story too. The old man kept mentioning his son, so was the son dead, did Logan look like him or something, or are the couple just too nice, what's the deal? Also, why does every comic movie have to go one step too far and challenge my suspension of disbelief? I mean, I can buy into a lot but the location of the island was stupid. I'm not a fan of X-Men comics (though I really like the movies) but I hope it wasn't lifted directly from the source. Also, the segments during and following the end credits aren't worth staying around for.
Still, having said that, the action was good, the acting was good for the style movie, and I thought most of the effects were pretty good. So if you want a fun movie and a good way to kill an hour or two you should see it. If you expect too much or are looking for the next Dark Knight you might want to wait for cable or see something else. Or maybe just put down the comics and go outside for a while. Trust me, natural light won't hurt you. Much.
So that was my Friday. Saturday I went to work, today the lawnmower officially died, and now, as usually happens after blogging I am off to bed.
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