i tend to hate everything

Last evening Gina and I sat down to take in The Sweet Hereafter, a movie which seemed to be universally loved by critics. It was not universally loved by Gina and myself.

Perhaps I have some sort of chip on my shoulder, but it seems as though any time small town life is portrayed on the big screen, it's all wrong. Small towns are painted either as quaint and charming, or humble and hopeless. And while I'll agree that small towns definitely have those elements, they don't contain them in any larger quantity than larger towns or cities.

So while the film is painted as "the way the tragedy diminishes rather than enhances the town's sense of community", it seemed to me more like another take on the wickedness of lawyers and how they can take small town rubes.

A wasted couple of hours, I guess.

I should have spent the time finishing up Season 1 of HBO's The Wire, another show loved by critics (and everyone else), and met with apathy by my critical eye. It's not that The Wire is a bad show, it's just that it's not as good as the hype (and few things are).

Given the choice, I'd rather watch Deadwood, another HBO show, where I'm drawn to the characters and actually interested in how things will turn out. Sure, I've learned a lot about criminal investigation and drug running from The Wire, but as it turns out I really don't care.

I'd be interested to hear your opinion on the shows, if you have one.