dan (dghugo.com) borrowed us his mom’s car so we went out to century city to eat some cheap pasta and watch a movie. i also bought few kilos of energy drinks and gels and adidas adizero was on sale. dan criticized that we should explore more fine restaurants around the stellenbosch area but to be honest im super bored of fancy restaurants, i feel like sitting in a pile of shit and eating mcdonalds. i lost faith in fine dinning and i think its super overrated, especially here in south africa, but that is another story.

we ended up watching pride and glory (imdb.com) in nu metro.

gavin o’connor, the director, made sure that every single second of the movie is over dramatized.

this could work if we were in 1960s but nowdays i think it does not cut it. maybe it did not cut it (funny phrase) even back then.

i was watching the movie and i imagined how i would have down-dramatized it and how it might end up as a good movie. gavin did not miss on a single chance to make anything less than a super sentimental everything movie. he has all the elements there: big funeral, cancer victim, kids, christmas, family dinner, engagement, brothers, sacrifice, loyalty… i think he should have made maybe fifty movies about each of these sentimental themes instead of making one so overcrowded.

anyway, movie is far from art, made from start to finish to sell to the masses but in a cheesy not-really-making-it way.

i recommend something like madagascar two which is designed but much more professionally and really works – has just enough of jokes, action, sentimentality as i need (or you might need if you have the same taste). pride and glory is clumsy and tries to be too many things and ends up as too much wannabe.

maybe michael bay is not to be the worst director of all times after all – if gavin o’connor continues down this line i’m sure he could contest for the crown of (undercover) kitsch.

although it is hard to beat pearl harbor… however pearl harbor is deliberately designed, michael bay does it on purpuse and he just wants to sell product placement (in pearl harbor case: military).

gavin… i do not know what he wants – appeal to imaginary “housewife” stereotype of 60s?

do not see this movie – super boring!

nevertheless we had a great birthday evening.