As some of you might have noticed from my Tweet on the subject, we saw Hellboy 2 Friday night…

…and boy were we PISSED.

You wait four years for a sequel to a movie you really enjoyed, and instead of a story, you get needlessly elaborate CGI creations. Interesting to look at, sure, but at the expense of every other aspect of the film? Seems the studio should be asking some questions…

It wasn’t just us disappointed…the entire theater was near silent for nearly the entire film. I counted three times when I heard any sort of a chuckle or exclamation from anyone. In a nearly 2 hour movie.

This is the same writer/director who did the original Hellboy, so I have to assume something has just come loose in his brain since Pan’s Labyrinth…the rave reviews for the visuals in that film made him think that was all we were looking for, perhaps…which surely does not bode well for The Hobbit films. The Hellboy characters deserve much better treatment, and they sure didn’t get it.

Last weekend we saw Get Smart, and did not stop laughing the entire time. Steve Carell is still Steve Carell (see airplane lavatory scene for an example), but he is capable of also being someone else (ie. ACTING), unlike others we could mention (*coff* Ben Stiller, who only ever plays that one angry, clueless guy), and did a fine job as a Maxwell Smart who was both inept and ept at the same time. I remember very little of the television show, but Husband assures me this is faithful to the Smart character. He may have appeared hapless but things always fell out in his favor in the end.

Anne Hathaway is, for lack of a more original word, luminous. The camera adores her, and she had the opportunity to Sydney Bristow her way through several scenes, with slinky dresses, hooker wigs, and do-me make-up. Dwayne Johnson is likewise appealing, just as amiable and likeable as hell. He seems like the kind of guy you’d like to have over for dinner. Which virtually guarantees he is an abandoner of kittens.*

Speaking of kittens, it is five days and counting to vacation time, and seeing our kids for the first time in nearly four weeks! I miss them to the point that I’ve started making kitten slideshows with silly little captions to amuse them long distance, like this one.

The little buggers are growing fast, and making chasing a string into an art form. This shot of Hermes still makes me laugh til I snort. One kitten is often funny, but two are endlessly hysterical.

*That is a JOKE, people.