Cinematic nonsense

What to do when it's too hot and your body is acclimated to a northern clime? Why, go to the movies, of course! And that's just what I did over the past weekend. Having long since gotten over my pirate phase, here's what I saw:

Wordplay - yeah, I know, a dorky movie about dorks. But hey, I like crossword puzzles. And though I could probably out-crossword any of you, I would be obliterated by the (get this) competitive crossword puzzlers profiled in the movie. People who can complete a standard weekday puzzle in two minutes. If I'm wide awake and it's an easy puzzle, I can do it in 4 1/2 to 5 minutes. Anyways. I very much enjoyed this movie, but it is about one of my favorite leisure activities. Golfers probably love movies about golf, which, like the sport itself, would put me to sleep in the air-conditioned comfort of a theater.

Superman Returns - another comic book movie. But this one was much more character-driven, and, dare I say it, more dramatic than most others. I'm pretty glad that Hollywood waited until now to make this movie. If they had cranked out a Superman flick ten years ago like they had initially planned it would have sucked. I have one minor quibble - they cast an embryo to play Lois Lane. Still, a good summer movie with some drama (and most of it was played fairly straight).

And finally, a retro screening at the Eastman House's Dryden theater of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (KHAAAAAN!!!). This was preceded by the original series episode "Space Seed," which introduced us to Khan as played by a younger, even more virile (if that's possible - and it is) Ricardo Montalban. Some trivia was thrown out to introduce this film - apparently the director had to reshoot many of Shatner's scenes to get them to where he was, uh, shall we say, more subtle. However, the director also told Montalban to "never show your top." Yeah. I'd love to see a rough cut of that one.