This has not been an easy week for reviewing movies.
On Monday, as I drove from my apartment to catch a screening of “We Are Marshall” (opening next week), a BMW smashed into me and totaled my car. Nobody was hurt, but I missed the movie.
Then last night, I arrived at the Lloyd Center Cinemas for a screening of “Eragon,” only to find that the theater was without electricity. A very windy and rainy storm had hit Portland and had knocked out their power. Unfortunately, “Eragon” requires electricity to be exhibited — it is not a gas-powered movie — and so the screening was off.
So I killed time elsewhere for a while before returning home to finish my other reviews and complete the print and podcast versions of “In the Dark.” I get home and discover the entire section of North Portland where I live is without power. About 2,600 customers, according to the automated message on Portland General Electric’s hotline. I couldn’t write the reviews (no computer, and not enough candlelight to write them longhand), couldn’t finish “In the Dark,” couldn’t watch TV, couldn’t do ANYTHING. I finally walked to a bar & grill down the street that still had power, where I ate a hamburger and read a book. They had wi-fi, but even if I’d used my laptop, it would have been to no avail, as everything I needed was on my desktop. I went to bed at about midnight, and the power came back on around 2, I think.
All of the above is why:
– The reviews of “The Pursuit of Happyness” and “Charlotte’s Web” were late in being posted.
– “In the Dark” was late in being e-mailed to you.
– There is no “Eragon” review. I plan to catch it this afternoon and post a review this weekend. (Also, just so you know, I haven’t heard a single good thing about it. Not that this will prevent me from seeing it with an open mind, only that if you MUST run out and watch it today, you might think twice about it.)
– There is no “In the Dark” podcast this week. I got up early this morning to finish everything, but there just isn’t time to do a podcast, as I have to leave shortly for a press screening and hopefully an “Eragon.”
It is funny to realize that even in 2006, we are still subject to the whims of nature, and to BMWs.
