Yesterday I vegged out in front of the TV and watched two movies: Apollo 13 and Igby Goes Down.

Apollo 13 is a great movie, but everyone knows that by now. What really struck me was how, even though I lived through the events and even though I’ve seen the movie a few times, I still get totally caught up and find myself perched on the edge of my seat, tense as can be. Seems to me that says volumes about Ron Howard’s abilities as a film maker. If for some reason you haven’t seen it, make a point to do so.

Igby Goes Down on the other hand… well, I did like it, but if the lead character was supposed to be garnering my sympathy, well, I didn’t get that. I find it hard to feel for a bratty trust-fund kid who has issues with his parents. Growing up in The Hamptons, I just hung out with too many of these kids during my late teen summers. I mean, yeah he has problems, but so does everyone else, y’know? At least he’s got people handing him cash every 5 minutes so he isn’t going to starve.

But maybe I’m reading too much into it. Watch it as a dark comedy and its fairly entertaining. Everyone in it is a caricature, but they’re all played pretty well, in my very amateur opinion. I especially liked Jeff Goldblum as “D.H.” since I’ve not often seen him in a role like this one and he was pretty good.

[Disclaimer for all the above: I am no student of film. I don’t really take movies all that seriously. So this is just the opinions of an average joe…]