Business trip + movie logjam = smorgasbord of posts

I can hear the clamor ... "Where has the Movievangelist been? I'm adrfit ... rudderless ... more lost than Jessica Simpson in a game of 'Clue.' For god's sake ... help!" Forgive me, my children. Duty called earlier this week -- someone has to organize the annual meeting of Michael Ironside Fans of America -- and this humble site suffered. As penance, I offer this quick rundown of multiple recently-viewed movies:

Yeah, but in Martinique there's no difference between May and December: "To Have and Have Not"
Rumor had it this was not only a classic but the movie in which Bogey -- Bogie? I never remember -- and Bacall fell in love, and I buy it even if he's 25 years her senior. I've come to appreciate Humphrey Bogart as someone who can get away with a lot of great lines despite being less than a looker. He's pretty good here as a fishing boat captain who gets sucked into WWII intrigue in the Caribbean, and while the story isn't as brisk as it could be, the performances kept me interested. Compared with the previously-blogged "The Big Sleep," Lauren Bacall is pretty tempting here, even before delivering her signature line: "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... blow." Well, allrightythen.

Please stop them before they get to "CHiPs": "Starsky & Hutch"
Actually, this little vanity project isn't so bad, if only because Stiller is too talented to totally suck, and Owen Wilson's weird nose is oddly riveting. Throw in Vince Vaughn as the goofy villain (vs. trying to be scary for real in crap like "Domestic Disturbance"), Jason Bateman putting another notch in his comeback belt (along with "Dodgeball" and the hilarious "Arrested Development"), and a cameo by Will Ferrell ("This is gonna get kinda weird... Two dragons"), and this movie is very watchable. Good? Whoa, let's not get carried away. But definitely watchable. And c'mon, toward the end, where you have Vaughn doing another turn at the microphone (a la "Old School") and Stiller/Starsky doing Maury Finkle, how can you not laugh? C'mon ... do it. DO it. DO it.

No, I said you had a nice bod, not pod: "Body Snatchers"
You'll recall my post on the original "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" not long ago. Lo and behold, the most recent version (1993) was on not long after that, so I was obliged to watch -- I had seen parts before -- and compare the two. No question the story loses a little when you take out the whole Red Menace thing from the '50s. Some updates were OK -- the main character is a teenage girl, and the takeover by pod people is on a military base -- and pretty much everyone in the cast does a decent job. Still, why have R. Lee "Sound off like you got a pair!" Ermey in the cast if he's not going to yell, scream and generally destroy people? And don't think just because you throw a little full-frontal of Meg Tilly's body double at me that I'm going to give this a high grade. I mean ... she's a pod person, man.