Million Dollar Baby - Ok, I understand why it got all the Oscar noms, and I can see why people would like it... But If it weren't for Morgan Freedman, I would have turned it off about 30 minutes in. It wasn't that I thought it was bad, I just couldn't connect to this movie. I had a really hard time paying attention or even caring about the story. I personally didn't get the emotional "punch" it was suppose to give - I just didn't care.
Ring 2 - Also, it was Ok. Visually it was still a cool movie, like the first, but it lacks the suspence the first did. It doesn't really answer any more questions. The story is just kinda there. Glad I rented it.
The Wedding Date - It was cute. Nothing earth-shattering (come on it is a chick flick), but enjoyable.
I am looking forward to seeing In Her Shoes. I LOVED the book. Now if I could just cure my desire to avoid Cameron Diaz movies... Maybe this will do it.
Watched Prozac Nation which was pretty good. It wasn't what I expected and I was a little disappointed, but I love Christina Ricci so I didn't care. I really want to read some of the books that that girl has written. A long time ago it was suggested by my teacher that I read her stuff because she thought I'd relate to it... I definately related but am glad my prozac days are over! (and i hope to **** they never come back!)
Went and saw "A History of Violence" this week. It was pretty interesting. I'll be honest and say I didn't love it, however my hubby and brother in law sure did. It's a bit slow to start, and it's definately a great idea - of a life of duality. A bit predictible and graphic sexually and violently. But in a good way.
Can't remember if I mentioned Serenity. It was awesome. Totally loved it. Probably not for those who didn't actually watch the show though. I was definately thrilled with it.
I am probably going to see Elizabethtown by myself this Monday. No one wants to go with me, bad reviews. But I'm stubborn, and I always love movies with bad reviews.
We're going to see Serenity again tomorrow Last week we got to see Mirrormask (the new Neil Gaiman flick) It was just stunning. Totally amazing. Words really can't describe the Dave McKean painting come to life aspect of it.
Last night we went to Kamikaze Girls. I went expecting something fun and crazy, but it was really a great movie all around.
I saw Serenity. I had not watch the series but I was interested in the movie. OMG, I loved it. Scary, funny, thrilling. I was suprised how much I liked it. Now we are going to NetFlix the show (although my friends tell me the movie was more awesome )
We also so the Wallace & Gromitt movie. The Cute Boyfriend is a huge fan. It was very cute (but I could have waited for it to come out on DVD).
Went to see the Fog this past Friday - pretty good remake of the original. The only thing I didn't like was the Stevie Wayne character - the actress put on this weird husky voice in what seemed to be an poor imitation of the actress in the original film (Adrienne Barbeau) - it did not come across at all and got annoying after a while.
Wah! Mirrormask has not been released here yet and I will definitely see that when it hits town. I would also like to see "A History of Violence" . I'm also looking forward to the next Harry Potter installment
Elizabethtown was good. I'm sad it got such bad reviews, and I actually heard people in the theater talking about how boring they thought it was. After watching it, it did remind me a little bit of Garden State too. Only I didn't really like gardenstate and I thought this one was wonderful. For me it was a movie to make you feel like you should be spending more time enjoying life and less time feeling bad about it. There were a couple of instances that reminded me of Harold and Maude (i know that seems weird) and as usual, Cameron Crowe is master at building a movie around a great soundtrack.
Watched Kinsey last night. It was very good. I really like Liam Neason anyway - and this was no exception. Hubby enjoyed it very much as well.
Jessica - I think you'll still like Firefly. It's a good show, they just didn't get it right when they played it on TV - all out of order and confusing. I loved that they were able to get everyone from the show to do the movie, I don't think it would have been right if they had to replace any of the actors. I am crossing my fingers that they will bring back the show now ... but we'll see.
I haven't seen the Wallace and Gromit newie yet. Wasn't it sad that the warehouse the archive was stored in went up in flames? I said to my friend on the day we should have had a 1 minute silence - oh and a hunk of Wensleydale cheese!
Of course Nick Park and co were ok about it - on the day they heard it had done well in USA then then heard the sad news and of course were upset but remarked that putting things in perspective (all the news in Asia and the Katrina thing) it was not so bad.
They seem to be hexed - what with the time they left the Wallace and Gromit figures in a taxi (this si so British!) but got em back though.
I watched a well know DVD called Cathy come home. This was in the 60's in England. It is a harrowing account of a couple and their kids trying to find somewhere to live. A week after seeing the doc, Shelter came into being (a housing charity). It made me angry to hear some of the rubbish that came out of people's mouths at the time.
Slums were pulled down but they hadn't finished building the new housing. So many families got split up because of that. The housing they were "promised" was then not given to them when it was built because they had searched elsewhere (doh!). Any families in council homes who were overcrowded were visited and told they had too many people there. The couple in the doc (actors) had to keep moving and went to a caravan site only to be moved on, then a tent, then had to be split up with the woman and kids in a hostel and the man on his own (which of course still happens).
In the end she ran off with the kids, got as far as the train station as had her kids removed by social services.
Throughout the doc you heard from people actually living in those sorts of places. They all lived in one room of the slum housing because these had all been "jerry built" as we say for anything crap - obviously put up quick after the war and was crumbling. They could not get upstairs and everything was falling down. Rats and bugs were everywhere. Funnily enough I was walking through around the Brick End area of East London a couple of years ago and saw loads of crumbling houses still.
I saw Walk The Line over the weekend, and it was really done well. It is a 2+ hour movie, and feels like it. However, the actors are great, and it is a very well done film. I didn't know a whole lot about Johnny Cash or June Carter, so I don't know how close it is, but I enjoyed it.
I also watched War of the Worlds. It is OK. I saw it before, and didn't like it any better the second time around. I also watched Kingdom of Heaven. Actually I saw the first bit, slept through the middle and watched the end. It was OK, but a little too violent for me.
Hi, all... I sort of introduced myself on the November Chat thread, so I'm just going to jump in here and ask if anyone has any favorite holiday-type movies. I'll confess to enjoying the heck out of White Christmas with Danny Kaye, der Bingster, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen. It's such a sweet, funny farce. And the 1951 version of Scrooge with Alastair Sim is my favorite adaptation of A Christmas Carol. The scene where he wakes up on Christmas morning and tries to convince his maid that he's not crazy is just priceless. I also get a major kick out of Trading Places, maybe because it's set in Philadelphia!
My favorite Christmas movie is the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol starring Alistair Sim
Other faves are the Charlie Brown Christmas and the Ref with Dennis Leary - hysterical movie with a bumbling thief taking refuge with a dysfunctional family at Christmas.
Mauvais, have you ever seen Denis Leary's TV show, Rescue Me? It's one of the few things on TV that I watch. It's on the FX channel. He's a firefighter who fights as many personal demons as actual fires. Very gritty and real and shockingly funny. Also very intelligent, and it doesn't let you relax with it. It's in hiatus right now, but should be coming back in January. I think Leary can be brilliant.