While "The Departed" (see yesterday's post) suffered from comparison to the source materials, three older movies that I have finally seen this year suffered when compared to their reputations. Those three are "Alien", "Stripes" and "Office Space". In the case of "Alien", it's hard to be too shocked when you've heard about the most gruesome death (namely, John Hurt's) and know that only one character survives the beast's wrath. Still, it was a beautiful thing to watch, and was satisfying in ways much better than cheap thrills could be - not that I'm against cheap thrills. (Hell, if it weren't for cheap thrills, I think I'd be leading a pretty thrill-free life.) As for "Stripes", this may be blasphemy, but it just wasn't funny. Maybe when I was a teenager I would have found this humorous, but I'm a little past that point now. And I have nothing against dumb comedy - among my favorite movies of the last few years are "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" and "Dodgeball", which now that I think about it are both actually pretty clever - okay, maybe I don't like dumb comedies, and "Stripes" is pretty dumb. Still, John Candy, God rest his flabby soul, was his usual brilliant self, and there were a good number of naked women, so I can't say my two hours in front of the telly were totally wasted.

And then there is "Office Space", which I thought was a good movie, clever and subversive and very knowing. It just wasn't the life-changing event I was prepared for. If you don't think cinema can change your life, talk to someone who got laid after his girl spent an evening swooning during "Titanic". I didn't expect to get laid after "Office Space" - although it would have been nice - but I didn't expect the bland nothingness I felt either. It was a good time at the movies - no more, no less. Or maybe it was Jennifer Aniston's fault. The girl can't act, although at least she was still cute then. But it isn't nearly enough to justify her casting. Gary Cole, on the other hand, continues to prove that he can do no wrong.