Not better than the average movie

There are no cinemas in Cambodia. Incredible. There are small places that show bootleg DVDs of Hollywood movies or badly dubbed Korean comedies, but there is no Western-style cinema officially showing first-run movies. I work until 7:30 or 8:00 every night. Most movie screenings start at 7:00. Do the math.

My plan to get rich here is to open a big Western-style cinema. The young folks here crave anything "modern", which is not necessarily the same as "Western". When I ride home from work it's full of rich kids hanging out -- at KFC. I dated a fashion model here -- honest -- and the first time we met it was at KFC.

The key to a successful cinema, then, would be to have a cafe/bar where the trendy young folks with money to spend could see and be seen. Heck, I wonder if anyone would actually watch the movie. All I need is a million dollars or so to get started...

One thing I looked forward to going home was going to a real, American movie theater. I was especially geeked to see the new "Tron" movie. The original wasn't quite "Star Wars" but it still had a profound effect on me when I saw it in 1982 (five years after SW). It was waaaayyyyy ahead of its time.

So of course the first movie I saw back in the US was the "Citizen Kane" of the new millenium ... um ... "Yogi Bear"?

It wasn't high on my list of movies to see. In fact, I would say it was high on my list of movies to not see. I took my sister's kids to see it to get them out of the house for a couple hours on Christmas Eve so she could "get the house ready for Santa".

I know the movie looks bad but trust me, it was much, much worse. It was in 3D so the cost of three tickets was more than most Cambodians make in a month, but the 3D was clearly done as an afterthought. Not very 3D-ish. Definitely not "Avatar". However, the kids loved it, and that's really all that matters.



I was flabbergasted to discover that the voice of Boo-Boo was done by Justin Timberlake. Between that and the Facebook movie he's having a quite a year. I always lumped him in with all the other boy band douchebags but now he's actually a guy I'd like to have a beer with. My opinion of him first changed, of course, when he did this.

I also saw "127 Hours". Lily loved it. I thought it was OK. Director Danny Boyle found the perfect subject for his gimmicky style in "Slumdog Millionaire", but I've never been a big fan. As for "Tron: Legacy"? Never saw it. Couldn't convince any of my sci-fi geek friends to go. And then I just ran out of time.

Did I mention I saw Yogi?