For the Weekend: Far from Love

Ok, so I already gave you a good suggestion with "The Princess Bride" for the romantics out there actually wanting to celebrate all things Valentine's this weekend.  Now I'd like to suggest a little bit of viewing this weekend for those of us who want to stay as far away from love as possible over the next few days.

First off, I submit the AMC channel for your viewing pleasure.  Sure, you have to put up with commercials and some editing for content, but they are showing films as far from love stories as you can get all weekend long.  Starting tonight at 5pm with "Pulp Fiction," AMC spends the next few days showing more stories of action and violence than love, including movies like "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," "Kelly's Heroes," "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," "Goodfellas," and "The Godfather."  With the exception of "The Whole Nine Yards" on Sunday morning, with its love premise playing such a key role in the comedic violence, you are pretty much set for a weekend void of sappy love to ruin it.

Now, if you're in the mood for a more laughable loveless approach, I recommend "Ghostbusters" and its sequel, now available for free on Hulu.com.  Who's going to be thinking about that silly holiday when you're laughing at Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, Rick Moranis, Annie Potts, and Ernie Hudson trying to survive New York City and all its ghosts.  Sure, there's the romance between Sigourney Weaver and Bill Murray in both films, but luckily there is nothing gooey about it.  It's a love story for the cynic in all of us.  Yes, they get their happy ending, but first Sigourney gets turned into a dog, so...who really wants to go through that?  And you can visualize blowing up all those heart-shaped boxes of sugary sweets when the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man gets blown to smithereens.  I say that's a great way to be as anti-love Sunday as possible.

So, if you need to vent about those big V-Day pressures or expectations of the world, check out AMC or Hulu this weekend.  But whatever your take is on Valentine's Day, I hope it is wonderful no matter what you do.  Have a great weekend, and I'll see you Monday.

(Post-tidbit:  Bill Murray recently said he would be happy to return for "Ghostbusters III"...as long as he got to play the ghost.)