This weekend I rented a couple of DVDs from my local Blockbuster - my apologies to anyone who boycotts the establishment, but I rent infrequently and it's literally a two-minute walk from my front door. I rented three discs, The Producers, XXX: State of the Union, and Kung Fu Hustle. An odd combination? Sure, but I had just seen"The Producers" on Broadway a few weeks ago and was very curious how close the musical and the movie are....very!

And then there were the other two rentals, which were both surprisingly entertaining. (I think we'll have full reviews of the discs, so I'm just tossing out some quick thoughts here.) First, XXX: State of the Union is a huge improvement over the original with Vin Diesel. Ice Cube makes a believable action hero, and the action sequences are pretty fun. It's a preposterous plot, but it has an interesting and new twist or two.

But the biggest joy was in Kung Fu Hustle. I had given thought to catching this one in the theaters but obviously passed. Wow, this movie was outrageously fun. What a great combination of kung fu, wire fu, Looney Tunes action, and innumerable homages to other films. This one is a definite rental, and a safe blind buy (excellent video and awesome audio)! It's good to see there's still some interesting ideas (albeit "borrowed") left in movies. Please give this one a spin; you'll like it.