Dialing-up the hotel movies

I don’t subscribe to the premium channels my cable provider offers. Traveling allows me to catch up on a few movies and shows running on premium cable channels offered by the hotels.

This week I finally saw Munich and A History of Violence. Munich was OK.

I was mesmerized from beginning to end by A History of Violence even though it did not start playing until 2:45 in the morning and I was very tired. Well-crafted stories containing well-done stylized violence scenes always entertain me. The cheerleader fantasy oral sex scene and the violent fuck on the staircase scenes held my attention.

I saw a good slasher movie, the name of which I do not recall. Several northern college kids drive into a southern town inhabited by ghosts of townspeople massacred by Yankees during the civil war. The revenge the ghosts take upon the students, although gruesome, was nicely stylized and staged.

I saw Brick, a sort of high school gangster murder mystery. The high school student male protagonist was very cool and tough. The narrative had enough twists, turns, and violence to keep me awake from late night until early morning.

I saw the last episode of The Sopranos. Since I had only seen about two previous episodes and those the first year of the series, I had no emotional reaction. I thought the scene where the SUV backed over the mobster who had just been shot and killed at the gas station was mega-awesome. He lies on the ground as his SUV rolls backward towards him. Just as the rear tire reaches his head, the camera focuses on the bystanders watching the scene, you hear a loud crack as if the SUV had run over a coconut, and see the freaked-out reaction of the crowd.

I also saw the opening episode of the new series John from Cincinnati. It was quirky enough to grab my attention. Too bad I won’t be seeing any of the next episodes anytime soon, for I do not plan on buying premium stations anytime soon.

After thought: How could I forget? I also saw V Is for Vendetta. It was OK in the sense it held my interest most of the way through. Once again, I saw it in the late night hours while fighting off sleep.