The Hitman's Bodyguard!

Raen, Omaha and I went out to see The Hitman's Bodyguard. I have no idea what the critics are whining about.

It would seem that the critics, with whom Rotten Tomatoes are tracking about 39% approval for this movie, don't like it very much. They don't like that it's an action/comedy full of comic banter while the villain is a mass-murdering genocidal monster, or that the plot is a thin buddy/roadtrip between Samuel L. Jackson (the hitman) and Ryan Reynolds (the bodyguard).

The plot is basically this: Jackson has to get from London to the Hague to testify against a genocidal dictator, and Interpol has to get him there. The dictator (played by Gary Oldman in high form) has the most elite assassins in the world, and they have to stop Jackson from testifying. Interpol is compromised, and one intrepid and honest agent pulls in a wildcard: her ex-boyfriend, a down-and-out bodyguard "who's a complete idiot at just about everything except keeping people alive."

It's a banter movie. It's a hangout film. One critic complained that "This is a generic action thriller. Only fans of Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds will be interested." Well, duh. Who doesn't love Samuel L. Jackson, a man who, as Reynolds says in one monologue, "Singlehandledly ruined the word 'motherfucker?'"

There's also a common complaint that the "chemistry" between Jackson and Reynolds is weak. Maybe so if you were hoping for the kind of cryptohomoerotic mannerbund bullshit that passes for male-male bonding in some movies these days. Instead we get two guys trying very hard to keep each other alive and do the right thing; their focus is not on each other but on the task at hand, a task which involves dodging lots of sinister villains crashing cars and firing guns.

It's a fun movie. All three of us agreed it was great. Not fantastic, not a masterpiece, but definitely worth the two hours and ten bucks-a-ticket price tag. We won't have these actors forever, especially not in their current form. Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds both have character and public persona, and fans who love them for those qualities, and letting those two loose on a sound stage was a brilliant idea.

Idina Menzel, Live!

Raen and I went out to Marymoor Park last night for an outdoor concert with Idina Menzel. Menzel opened one of her songs (the one from Rent) with "If you're a straight guy who don't know who I am or what I'm about to sing, and who probably got dragged here by your friends and didn't have time to google for me..." So, if you don't know who Idina Menzel is, Menzel's huge break was playing Maureen from Rent, she was the original actress playing the title character Elphaba in Wicked (for which she won a Tony), and if nothing else everyone on the planet has heard her as the voice of Elsa from Frozen.

The evening was delightfully warm with just enough of a breeze. There was one star visible in the night sky at first, and my best guess is that it was Vega, 25 light years away.

The concert was a collection of hits from all three shows, plus a few covers (including Led Zepplin's Black Dog and the Beatle's Dear Prudence), as well as songs from her latest album, which, er, um...

... let's just say that it's somewhat embarrassing to hear someone thrashing out her anger and sadness with her ex onstage. Because, to be honest, that's what a lot of those songs were about. Cake is about how she's found a better man than her ex, I Do is a rant about how marriage can suck in general, and Perfect Story is an apology to her young son about how fucked up life can become. (On the other hand, her opening song Queen of Swords was pretty rockin' and sounds like something she should duet with a very angry Stevie Nicks.) Even Raen picked up on that theme. I know you're supposed to take the pain life gives you and make art out of it, but sometimes an artist can be just a little too obvious about it, ne?

The band behind her was pretty damned good, with her backup singer and cellist and the violin player. Menzel worked really hard to get the audience to appreciate the band, and she named them all time and again, to make sure we appreciated them as much as she did.

Naturally, of course, the finale of the night was the hit from Frozen, Let It Go. She invited dozens of small children, all dressed in Tiffany blue dresses and t-shirts, and had several of them sing the third stanza, over and over. I now officially feel sorry for every kindergarten teacher who had to survive the winter of 2013.

It was fun.