The past few months have been incredibly busy with teaching, grad school/portfolio, and pregnancy. The summer has brought a welcome respite from such a stressful situation, but I find myself quite bored. I have nothing to look forward to - no job to prepare or fuss about. The only thing I have to do is grow a child. While it can be thrilling, it is not necessarily an occupation (much less an occupation that makes money).
So, I have watched a lot of World Cup soccer and movies - and so here present my thoughts on what I have seen.
Wives and Daughters
I actually watched this as I started my professional portfolio. I tend to distract myself when I have something to do that I particularly do not want to accomplish (tasks that seem boring or pointless fall into this category). I was playing around on Amazon when I discovered this series based on the novel by Elizabeth Gaskell.
It was WONDERFUL - really well developed characters and a not too virtuous protagonist. It is the story of a country widower who falls in love (lust?) with a social climber. His daughter is the one to suffer at the hands of this selfish woman and her gorgeous but spoiled daughter. It will keep you wanting MORE!!! The plot is engaging and has some unpredictable points - a good amount of foreshadowing, but not the outcome one would anticipate.
If you like really well done Jane Austen novel adaptations, you will enjoy this series. I watched it on YouTube with French subtitles, but I understand it also streams on Netflix.
Iron Man
I am aware that Iron Man 2 recently showed in theaters, but I had yet to see Iron Man (the first). My uncle in Texas lent me many videos from his bachelor DVD collection and this film as one of them. It came highly recommended by my friend Megan C. and I trust her taste.
I was not at all disappointed. Robert Downey Jr. ranks among some of the first male movie stars that I liked as a kid. He has retained that wonderful deadpan delivery and is hilarious in this film as well as clever. He has definite super-hero swagger, but no so much so that you become annoyed with him. The plot is pretty darn amazing and, though it is easy to predict who the villain is (hint - usually the lack of hair gives it way), keeps one very engaged in the characters and situations. I also like that Gwyneth Paltrow was the cool assistant and Jeff Bridges was pretty awesome too. If you are looking for a decent action picture to watch and get lost in, Iron Man is your movie.
Up
I was REALLY upset that Fantastic Mr. Fox did not win the Oscar for best animated feature. I mean REALLY upset - as I have mentioned before, it is probably one of the best children's films have seen in a long while. I could not believe that Up won with a movie like Fantastic Mr. Fox in the SAME category!!!
Then I watched Up with my mother and cried three times in the first twenty minutes.
Stupid #$U#$(&&* hormones.
Anyhow, it was really interesting and VERY well crafted! I like how the little guy sticks it to the man who is trying to over run a cute town with high rise condos (and yes, I do live in one, but it was built in the 70's so I don't feel as if our little nest in Seattle is bringing about the demise of Western civilization). All of the characters were REALLY well developed, just with mannerisms and sayings, one felt like they understood who these people were.
There was INCREDIBLY well written dialog and the animation was mind-blowing. The only thing I did not appreciate was all of the high flying action at the end - it was TOO REALISTIC and I had to shut my eyes and ask my mom when it was over!
My mother on the other hand, did not appreciate the film AT ALL. She felt like it was billed as a children's film and addressed issues that children did not need to know about (such as infertility). I am for full disclosure and I want my little one to know that the world is not rosy and that people will NOT always be nice. I don't want to create paranoia in my child, but I also want him or her to know that adults will not always treat children nicely simply because they are children and that their peers may sometimes hurt them (which is NOT ok but not a cause for retaliation) but ultimately they can learn from the experience.
I was pleased with the film, appreciate it (not to the same extent that I love Fantastic Mr. Fox), and I admit that Up deserved the Academy award.
Secret of Kells
I saw this film with my friend Renee yesterday and we both left the theatre thinking "WTF was that??? Thank goodness we only paid $3!"
Secret of Kells is a film commissioned by the Irish, French, and (oddly enough) Belgian government to present the story behind the Book of Kells. The ancient artifact is fairly well known and film is BEAUTIFULLY animated - but the characters are not at all developed and plot centers around surviving several viking attacks.
What I found fascinating was the ties the film gave to St. Aidan and St. Brendan. Though I do not know enough about these two saints, I suppose they could have contributed to the Book of Kells. I was not aware prior to the film of their connection, but I suppose it makes sense.
Or it doesn't and Aidan and Brendan were just common Irish names that the writer chose to use. The Aidan in this film was from Iona, which sounded right for the saint and Brendan had several encounters with this wood sprite/wolf which also seemed correct for the saint (I seem to remember something about St. Brendan and a wolf...).
The film was also nominated for an Oscar, but though beautiful, it was not well written or planned. There was a kid in the the theater who had Turrets Syndrome who kept asking if the film was over - and I completely empathized with his outburst!
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
The most interesting aspect of this film was that I discovered that my husband has NEVER seen an Indiana Jones film before! Seriously! How can one go their whole life and NOT see Indiana Jones?!
The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was my hubby's first exposure to the series and he was engaged in all the action sequences (as he frequently is mostly to laugh at how outrageous they are). I enjoyed Cate Blanchet and thought she was awesome - she knew her character to be a campy caricature of a Cold War Era officer and just threw herself into the roll.
Overall - meh. The Last Crusade was MUCH better and this seemed like a half-hearted effort on the part of everyone involved in the film. The plot was ridiculous and it just had too many nods to prior films (not that this bothered my husband at all, but I did have to explain why I was laughing so hard at points).
Knocked Up
Hahahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
This movie is really hilarious to watch when your pregnant and feeling like you are no longer in control of anything. This movie makes you think "at least I don't have to put up with this #$#@".
Judd Apatow is the director and he really needs a good editor for his films - someone who will tell him to shut the #$#&* up and just tell the story. I saw "Funny People" and that went on for far too long and Knocked Up suffers the same treatment.
The characters are interesting, the plot is well crafted, but it takes FAR too long to get from point A to point B. While I am all for creating conflict to progress a plot, too much of a good thing can destroy the overall story.
Still, this movie is hilarious and I especially like the pregnancy sex scene - it is WAY more realistic than what is presented in the Pregnancy Bible (which I write about here). I also like the line where it is obvious the two main characters are doing a walk of shame and a dad says to his little girl (who he is holding) "never do what they did."
And she replies "I'm gonna do it." (She's about 3 years old)
Then dad says "Uh oh, someone's getting home-schooled."
HAHAHAHAHA!!!
Or when the main characters are in a fight and the dude says "I know this is just your hormones talking and I would like to say '!#$&#$& hormones, you #$#*#$& suck!'"
Hee!!! I feel like that every day!
Well, that wraps it up for now. I need to now get my hands on Iron Man 2....
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