Bono, Church Bells and Bomb Squads

While I was in Boston this past weekend for a wedding (of a certain contributor to a certain movie blog), a Saturday morning walk turned into a scene out of Blown Away. As I headed past the Common, I discovered that the bomb squad had cordoned off a large area of the street - just like in the 1994 thriller starring Tommy Lee Jones as an Irish serial bomber seeking revenge against Jeff Bridges' police instructor. It was amazing to see the actual Boston Bomb Squad in action. It was unclear whether the suspected bomb was just an abandoned briefcase on the sidewalk or what, but when I spotted a guy wearing a padded suit (I took a photo, left) I knew this was the real deal. Suddenly several police officers put their hands up to cover their ears, so I decided it'd be wise to do the same. I couldn't see the explosion from my vantage point -- I'm sure the Bomb Squad had encased the package to shield the crowd of onlookers from any nasty surprises -- but the boom echoed down the street.

As if this strange real-life homage to Blown Away weren't enough, I later remembered that the movie also featured Boston's Catholic Churches (like the one in which the ceremony took place) and U2 music (which accompanied the bride and groom's first dance).

All we were missing was Tommy Lee Jones (who's alma mater, Harvard, just so happened to be the site of the rehearsal dinner and reception) singing along to Bono's lyrics...

Scene from Blown Away featuring U2's "With or Without You"

Scene from Blown Away featuring U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"

A few more photos I snapped on Tremont Street:

Welcome to Peanut Butter & Movies!

Thank you for visiting our movie forum! On behalf of my co-blogger B, we would like to welcome you, tell you a little bit about who we are, and explain the purpose of this site.

First off, a quick introduction: We both grew up on the outskirts of Boston, we're both big baseball fans, and we've been known to frequent a bar on the corner of Bow and Arrow Streets. (Yes, I'm sure by now you've figured out B's true identity, so I'll come clean: it's Ben Affleck.)

Yet despite our similar backgrounds, we often find ourselves on opposite sides of the fence: liberal/conservative, Yankees/Red Sox, Bloods/Crips. If there's one topic that never fails to provoke a P vs. B debate, it's movies.

In the interest of full disclosure, neither of us majored in Film Studies in college, nor do we have any professional experience in film production. Besides a lifetime subscription to Entertainment Weekly and a three-month summer class at Boston University in '01 entitled "The Modern Blockbuster," I have no training in the art of film criticism. But if Dawson's Creek has taught me anything, it's that people love movies because we get to sit together in a dark theater, watching the same story unfold on the big screen, and yet we each take something different away from this common experience. It is in this vein that we present to you: "Peanut Butter & Movies."