I guess I should post something about LOTR Viewing #27, since I expect to go to #28 tonight. However, given that I'm now going on my own (Shelagh can't make it) and it's a Friday night, we'll see if I have the nerve to sit by myself at The Vic! I'm a big girl. I can do it. Especially if I get there when the doors open and sit way down in the front...

Anyway, the crowd last Thursday night was MUCH less rowdy than the previous time I'd gone--no loud snickering at the slashy bits (although you could still *just* make out the occasional isolated giggle) or inappropriate laughter at all, although we still had the rousing cheers for the death of Lurtz. I have to say, MY group was probably the loudest one there last week!

Spent last night watching "The Brothers McMullen" -- on DVD. Twice. I got a trial membership in Netflix, which I'll probably keep for a couple of months, and immediately started in on the Ed Burns films. I was *so* taken with "Ash Wednesday" that I figured I had to see everything else he'd done. McMullen was the first in more ways than I knew--not just first movie (other than student films), as producer/director, but also as an actor, which was NOT where he originally intended his career to go. Watched the movie straight through the first time, then with the commentary turned on--which was, of course, Ed rambling on for about 90 minutes, practically nonstop. They really shouldn't make the guys do this, since most of the time one person (even the producer/director/writer/actor) cannot keep saying interesting things throughout the entire movie. Ed was no exception. I didn't get *really* bored, but if I had $1 for every time he said "low budget film"--I could MAKE a low budget film.

It was fun to find out a few things about the movie, like that the McMullen house was Ed's childhood home, which has since been sold, and is now memorialized for future generations by this movie; and Ed also points out the many continuity errors in the movie, which was shot over a period of 8 months, but in only 12 full shooting days plus 6 partial days. So hair changes length and color, clothes are reworn by different characters, the same few cars are used several times, etc. I liked the movie a lot, and the acting was better than I expected for all non-SAG actors. Haven't decided yet if I want to buy the DVD, but it was definitely worth seeing.