"...it's root, root, root...

...for the CUBBIES!..."

was heard loud and clear the last four days at RFK. The Cubs were in town for a series against the Nationals, taking three out of four. I went to the first three, including having seats six rows behind the Nats dugout on July 4th. "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" wasn't written about or for the Cubs, but Cubs fans feel that it's still our song because Harry Caray sang it at Wrigley Field for so many years. So when the line comes around, we drown out whoever the home team is. It helps that the Cubs have fans pretty much everywhere.

Devil Wears Prada was good, but I can't say I liked it too much. Meryl Streep was very good, Stanley Tucci good, but Anne Hathaway's acting didn't match the quality of the part. I thought the part of the assistant was well thought out and well written, but I just couldn't get attached to her. Whatshisface from "Entourage" plays the boyfriend. I've seen a couple of episodes, and everybody on it annoys me, so I don't watch.

My Neighbor Totoro is an animated movie from Japan about a big furry thing that makes friends with two young girls. It's nice. It's pleasant. It's very well put together. And of course, it's got a great Japanese title, "Tonari no Totoro". I liked it.

Over the weekend I watched The Last King of Scotland, which got Forest Whitaker an Oscar. He was very, very good. Jovial, cunning, wild, intelligent, all over the place. He did a great job of being a presence on screen whenever he was on. Somewhat jokingly, I sometimes tell people that one of my life's goals is to avoid going to Africa. So I really liked this quote:

Is there anything that you have done that is good, Nicholas? You came to Africa to play the white man. But we aren't a game. We're real. This room is real. Your death will be the first real thing that has happened to you.

If I went to Africa, that's all I'd be doing, playing the white man. I wouldn't do any real good. They're much better off without me sticking my nose in.

I didn't remember seeing James McAvoy before, but IMDB says he was Mr. Tumnus, and now it rings a bell. He was good.

Smokin' Aces. "Oh, that's such a good movie!" someone said to me the other day. "No it isn't." I don't think it's actually bad, though. I thought it would be good for three or four minutes, then bad for five, and it just went on like that the whole way through.

Jeremy Piven, I hear, is very good in "Entourage". I believe it. I didn't like him much here, though. I can see him being good in a role where he engages other people energetically on a consistent basis, but that doesn't happen here. He may have been miscast or just misused.

Andy Garcia's a good actor, but his character (and his phoney-baloney accent, wherever it was supposed to be from) was terrible.

Apparently there's a rapper named Common who I've never heard of. He was okay as the target's bodyguard. Alicia Keys (who I have heard of) was better.

I was very happy to see the guy who played Buliwyf in The Thirteenth Warrior cast as the Swede. I like that guy. Which brings us to my favorite and least favorite performances in the movie:

Jason Bateman (favorite) and Ryan Reynolds (not favorite). Bateman's character is sort of a pathetic loser, and he just oozed losing patheticness the entire time he was on screen. I loved him. On the other hand, Reynolds is supposed to be the tough guy hero. I don't think he can play tough. Yeah, he's got muscles. Maybe he's tough in real life. But on screen, I just can't buy it. And if you don't let him drop an f-bomb, then he may as well not say anything at all. I think he'd have been better as one of the killers, rather than an FBI agent. It's like they got his role mixed up with Ben Affleck's. They'd have been better off reversed, though Affleck wasn't bad as the bondsman.

I really liked Stranger Than Fiction, so I'll give it its own post.