This past weekend, we watched “The Astronaut Farmer,” starring Billy Bob Thornton and Virginia Madsen’s chest. It was harmless enough, a feel-good tale of chasing your dreams despite the fact that you’re very obviously insane and probably a danger to those around you.

Two items of note:

1. Virginia Madsen is still hot, and I’m as enamored of her today as I was when she first graced my brain (and nether regions) while watching “Electric Dreams” (which was soon supplanted by the shower scene in “Creator”).

2. What was up with the MLK Jr. assassination conspiracy crap tucked into a throwaway line in a men’s room? Billy Bob’s crazy farmer, after being told by his lawyer that there’s no threat against him from the government, says something like “I don’t know. I hear they’re pretty good at assassinating people with dreams.”

   Pardon me, but WTF? Maybe I’m interpreting that incorrectly.

   Next time let’s just have Alicia Keys jump out and sing a song about how the white man created gangsta rap to keep a poor, black brother down.

   Hell, she can do a duet with Jeremiah Wright while she’s at it.

That said, sure, rent it. Whatever. It’s not going to wow you, might make you smile here and there, and - yes, Santa Claus, there is Virginia.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 28th, 2008 at 10:36 pm and is filed under Movies and Music and Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.