Underwhelmed x2

Masterpiece Theatre: Mansfield Park

Sunday night we watched Mansfield Park (2007) -- and yes, my anticipation was not due to any great love of Austen. It was due to my Billie Piper thing -- And I was as the blog title suggests, underwhelmed. It was ok. Nothing to rush out and purchase if you missed it (now on DVD!) The pacing was odd as was the character development. I haven't read the novel (only Austen I have read is Emma which I liked -- too many picnics, though) so I do't know if this is a novel or script problem, but I'm leaning toward the latter. Billie was great :-)

And last night we watched (finally, we've had it for three weeks) "Freedomland"...NOT to  be confused with "Wonderland" another underwhelming movie we watched earlier this month (Wonderland is the story of a coked-up ex-pornstar who participates in a murder & Freedomland is the story of a sexed-up former cokehead who participates in a murder...). So in Freedomland, Julianne Moore and Samuel L Jackson were very good, but again the script sucked. It failed to explain why two police departments seem to both have jurisdiction over "the projects." It had a couple whackin'-you-over-the-head moments drenched in visual symbolism that make your brain hurt...and a shark hop or two...HOWEVER Moore, as I said, did good work unlike "Next" where you could practically see the phone in her hand she was usin to phone it in.

Maybe we shoulda just watched "Shoot Em Up" again. :-)