A Day Off

Well, I had to take a day off from movie watching today...yesterday I lost a dear friend, our beloved dog Jedi. We came home yesterday afternoon to find that she had died while we were gone. We aren't sure what happened, but I am guessing it was a heart attack or something like that. She was around 13-14 years old, and was very loved. She was the most patient and loving dog I could ever hope to have. We had a rough night last night, and the day today wasn't much better, so I decided to have a few days of mourning..so to honor my good friend Jedi...I am going to take a few days of quiet reflection.

If Lucy Fell (1996)

This is almost a cheat, because I saw this movie years ago...but I hardly remembered the storyline, so I decided I should be able to count it if I watched it again. Eric Schaeffer....my man... I love this guy, in kind of a perverse sort of way. He is strange...he seems to write himself into these movies in almost the same character all the time. Average guy, experience massive unrequited love for some model woman. And interestingly enough..he always gets her at some point, which I can totally see, because his bizarre confidence makes him extremely attractive to me. I think this is the best part about him. In any case, this was a good one, He and Lucy (sarah Jessica Parker) have a suicide pact if they don't find true love by the time of her 30th birthday..they will jump off the Brooklyn Bridge. Ben Stiller has a minor role as a bizarre artist (the kind of role I hate him in), and Elle McPherson plays the model that Joe (eric Schaeffers character) is in love with...I thought this was a great movie, stood the test of time for me, I clearly still like it. I wish he would do more, he is really interesting.

Pipe Dreams (2003?)

I have to double check on the year for this one. I thought this was a pretty cute movie. Not bad for a free rental...I am not particularly fond of the main guy in this Martin Donovan, for some reason he kind of creeps me out. However, I love Mary Louise Parker and she was great as always. The movie wasn't spectacular, like I wouldn't recommend someone to run out and rent it, but if its ever on and you are bored, its not a complete waste of time. It did get me to thinking about my behavior, and attitude towards service people (plumbers, waitresses, etc...)I think that was the most I got out of the movie. I think it will make me more likely to look them in the face, make eye contact, acknowledge them as people. Not that I am big on eye contact in general, but this movie made me realize I need to work on that aspect of myself.

Fathers and Sons (2005)

This was a waste of time for the most part. There were some geniunely good moments, but they were few and far between. This was slow, depressing, everything that Squid and the Whale was not. I hate to compare the two, but it seems almost fitting, both of them dwelled on these dysfunctional families...only this one, was just such a drag. I thought it looked good by the DVD box, but it was just long, slow, and boring. Bradley Whitford, who I adore, was underused, his storyline was just like a long Hallmark commercial, I swear I kept waiting for that moment, when he is handed a crisp white envelope with the Hallmark logo on the back....it was just so forced. Then I had to watch in agony while Clea Duvall goes to bed with...ick, I can't even say it....Frasers Dad....I mean come on, John Mahoney??? Their little 5 minute conversation was such a turn on that she would jump into bed with a sad elderly gentleman?? Didn't make sense to me...not even close to being realistic, and I have an open mind as far as age goes...but this was just absurd. Okay, I have rambled enough...pass this one by..its not worth the nearly two hours you will put into it.

The Squid and the Whale (2005)

Ah...finally. I have been waiting and waiting to see this movie. I should have made it a priority during Oscar season, but I didn't bother since it wasn't nominated for anything besides screenplay. I loved it. I really loved it. I thought it was such an awesome portrait of an dysfunctional family. The characters were all pretty messed up, and sometimes it was hard to get past that, and really look beneath the bizarre behaviors, and see the truth beneath it all...but other times, the truth was just sitting there, right out in the open. It was really an honest movie, I guess thats the best way to put it. I thought the characters were so rich, and the screenplay was so awesome. I think it got cheated this year. I thought it was one of the best movies I have seen from last year. Jeff Daniels was just amazing. I think this was definetly one of the best performances in his career. Laura Linney, incredible as always...and both kids were just amazing. Jesse Eisenberg especially. Bubs and I were talking about how the whole movie was one long bathroom scene...(for those who know what that means...if not...well, watch the movie and see if you can figure it out)especially all of Walts scenes. Good, good movie.

Elephant (2004)

I had such mixed feelings about this movie, that I know I have to see it again to understand what I really think about it. I guess I am not sure how I feel about Gus Van Sant in general, but this movie stood out to me as possibly a real piece of art, not just another strange movie of his. This movie reminded me a bit of Slacker, in that the characters all sort of blend together, some scenes replay and the focus is on a different character that was in the same scene. The movie is clearly based pretty obviously on the Columbine shootings, and I thought the final scene in the movie was just stunning. I sat for awhile after watching it and couldn't decide if I was disgusted that I spent the time watching this movie, and that it was really disturbing.....or, did I really think it was just an amazing film by a serious artist. I have to see it again to be sure. This movie is definetly not for everybody...its pretty bizarre, either way.

Danny Deckchair (2003)

awwwww, what a sweet movie. I really liked this, thanks Jo!!! I thought it was such a nice movie....bordering on the typical "chick flick" movie mentality, yet it was not too cheesy that most guys would get annoyed with it. Rhys Ifans (spelled probably wayyyyy wrong) was almost too Neanderthal-like ( I know, I know...not a real word) for me in the beginning, I thought I was going to hate it, and never get attached to him. But he grew on me, and once he shaved and got a hair cut, he was downright adorable! I am glad I took the time to check this one out. Makes up for some of the junk I have seen lately!

Open Water (2003)

Ick...this movie actually made me physically ill to watch. Two divers get left behind by a tour boat, and they try to stay alive in shark infested water...I won't kill the ending for anyone who actually wants to watch this movie, but I know that I barely made it through, and found the whole thing just plain freaky. The camera shakes around a lot, of course, since its all in the open ocean, and that makes you almost feel seasick....then the sharks swimming all around is enough to freak anybody out. Of course the characters bickering, whining and crying (rightly so of course...) just starts to grate on your nerves, until pretty soon, you are just counting the minutes waiting for this nightmare to end!!! It was beautiful though, the ocean, the shots of the sky, with all the white fluffy clouds, the sunset over the ocean, with nothing else around. That part wasn't so bad, but over all, I was sorry I actually attempted to watch this. It seriously freaked me out.

Love, Ludlow (2005)

I thought this was interesting. I love David Eigenberg ( I think thats spelled right), I fell in love with him on Sex and the City, and I kept waiting for him to something again other than voice work in Garfield, and guest spots on TV shows that I don't watch! This was a sweet, little movie that was clearly based on a play, I would have known that, even if I hadn't read it, because the movie definetly didn't feel "right" as a movie. I enjoyed it, but I thought the whole time that it would have made a better play, and lo and behold, in the credits I see that it started out that way. The bonus part about this though was Brenden Sexton III, playing the bi-polar brother of this lonely girl (played unfortunately by Alicia Goranson, who used to play Becky Connor on Roseanne...I thought she was pretty bad in this role...and would have enjoyed the movie much better with someone else playing her part). This guy is great...I really really thought he was amazing. I remembered him right away from a small role in Empire Records, and now that I have seen this, I am going to check out some other movies, and hope he had some good roles. I am looking forward to his career taking off, which I am hoping it does, because he is truly talented. This movie was cute, not sure if I would recommend it, but it was nice.

Curious George (2005)

I totally forgot to blog this one a few weeks ago, after we saw it. So I am using it now! I thought this movie was very sweet. I definetly think it was aimed for small children, though I thought it was cute, and I didn't get bored....I could have rented it and been pretty satisfied without spending theater prices on it. My son loved it, and it kept his attention, which is always a plus...but I don't know if I would see it on my own if I didn't take my kid to it! The music was great though, and that monkey was completely adorable! So I give it a thumbs up either way...

Hide and Seek (2005)

I am misrepresenting when I actually watched this movie, which is technically cheating I suppose...but I watched it a few weeks ago, and just didn't blog about it because I was in the heat of Oscar season. So, okay, I watched this movie. I expected to at least like it a little, because I love Robert DeNiro, and I really think that Dakota Fanning is amazing. I think she is by far, the best child actor I have seen since...I can't even tell you when. She is never going to annoy me, I am sure of this. So, I start to watch the movie...she is spectacular, the plot is good, its moving along, I am getting freaked out in scenes, the film is doing all the things good horror/thrillers do....I start second guessing what I think is going on....good stuff. Then we get to the ending.....awful...just awful. Not really predictible, just stupid. I thought it ruined what could have been an excellent movie. This is the third time in the past few years that I have watched a horrot type movie, enjoyed it up to the end, then had the end be so terrible, that it cancels out the good parts and left me with a crappy movie. This one was like that, The Skeleton Key was like that, and Identity (with John Cusack)was like that. Those movies were really good, and then they blew it with a stupid plot twist. I am all about plot twists, surprise endings like The Sixth Sense, or The Others....those were very well done. These three movies were just trying too hard to do that, and they ended up weakening the plot. I thought because of how bad the ending was...this movie was a waste of my time.

Zathura (2005

I really loved this movie. I thought I would hate it, since "someone" told me it was awful...I decided again to take Stephs advice and check it out. I loved it, I mean really loved it...like run out and buy it kind of loved it. I thought it was just a good story. I have never read the book, though I loved Jumanji and Polar Express....I thought the movie for Jumanji was okay, but not my favorite...this I loved...maybe because I love Jon Favreau so much, and I think that this was done just as well as Elf was. I thought that the plot was good, the kids were great in it, and the effects were pretty darn cool. I thought it was a fun ride for sure, and I loved the small twist at the end. I mean, it was on the basic side of the "moral tale" type thing. But I thought it had a lot of great moments. I was even more excited to hear the end title song by Paul Simon..I never realized how much ending credit songs can change your opinion of a movie, or of the song...like this song doesn't exactly match up with the movie...yet at the same time, it will probably always remind me of the movie. I am glad I took the chance and watched this one.

Flight Plan (2005)

This is usually not my kind of movie. I had mentioned it to Bubs because I have decided that one of my new crushes is Peter Sarsgaard, and he was in it, so I told him I wouldn't mind watching it. I wasn't thrilled when that was what he picked out at the video store the other night, being that there were several other movies I would have rathers seen. I actually ended up liking it far more than I thought I would. The plot was interesting enough, a woman loses her child on an airplane in flight, all sorts of chaos insues....its one of those movies that you start to question what is actually happening, and surprisingly it was not as predictible as I thought ( though I did figure it out before it was over) everyone did a spectacular job, and I actually felt Jodie Fosters panic during the movie, I was on the edge of my seat. Its always nice to see Sean Bean too, he played the captain, and is always captivating when he is on screen. I thought this was most definetly worth renting. I was afraid at first that it would just feed my fear of flying, but it actually seemed to lessen it a bit. Don't get all crazy, I still have no intention of stepping foot on a plane, but it didn't seem nearly as bad as I often think it is going to be!

The Shaggy Dog (2006)

I took my 6 year old to see this today. He really enjoyed it. I thought it was okay. Amusing enough, but I could have rented it and been equally amused. Tim Allen is a funny guy, he is pretty personable, and movies with him are usually at least amusing. Robert Downey Jr. was actually really good in this, (not that he is ever not good) but it was probably his character that made the movie as tolerable as it was. I don't think I would see it again. Most kids I would say would be entertained, but adults might get bored. I did. Oh, but the dog...absolutely adorable.

The Ice Harvest (2005)

Thank God this movie was as short as it was...I couldn't stand another minute of it. I don't know what the heck John Cusack is thinking lately, but I thought this was another bad one. I thought it looked decent from the preview, but now I sure am glad I didn't see it at the movies and waste my money. The only saving grace it had was Oliver Platt, who is always amusing, no matter the role. I thought this was just trashy, too many trashy characters, strippers, mob bosses, people killing their wives, just nasty. I am not against violence or dark comedies, if they are done well, but this was just pretty bad. It reminded me a bit of L.A. Confidential, if you took out the talented actors, the plot, etc...sort of one of those old style movies, but with all new blood, guts, and strippers. I guess its obvious that I just didn't like it. Part of it could be my mood, I just found out that something I really loved got thrown in the garbage, something irreplacable to me, so maybe on a better day, I would have found some of this amusing, but today I thought it was a waste of my hour and 24 minutes.

Nine Lives (2005)

I am still not sure how I felt about this movie. On one hand, I really loved it, I loved the rich female characters, I loved the way that somehow everything was connected, which I feel very strongly about, I loved the concept of 9 little vignettes, etc....however, on the other hand, I hated how each one seemed cut short. Some were worse than others, but I felt incomplete on at least half of them. I need more from a story, I guess thats why short stories aren't really my thing, and this movie was like a bunch of short stories strung together. I thought Holly Hunter was fabulous, I miss her being in movies more often, she is truly talented. I also thought Sissy Spacek was especially good, but I always like her too. I guess I wanted it to be a bit more like Playing By Heart, or maybe even Crash, where I feel like things were resolved, and still be connected in small ways. This was good, but not as good as I had hoped.

Proof (2005)

I really liked this movie. We saw the play in New York, and I enjoyed that as well, but I have to admit...I prefer Gwyneth Paltrow to Mary Louise Parker. So, I think I liked the movie more. I thought it translated well to film. It was still an interesting story, which is bizarre, since much of the movie is really about mathematics, which I hate...Anthony Hopkins was awesome in this movie, and was another prime example of how fast he really talks...seriously, that guy is a speed talker, I thought I talked fast, but he is really a super fast talker! Jake Gyllenhall again, awww....isn't he adorable?? I sometimes forget how much I used to love him, this is the perfect movie to remind me. I thought it was done really well, and I am really happy I finally got to see it. I love movies that come from theatre, they have a different kind of flow for me, something about the dialogue just always sounds better in a movie that comes from a play. I thought this was really a good one.

Rent (2005)

I have been wanting to see this for so long. We tried to see it on Broadway when we were in New York but of course it was sold out...(interestingly enough, we ended up seeing Proof instead, which I have to watch for tomorrows blog) Then when it started traveling, it was downtown at some point, and missed it again. So I decided to just see the movie instead. I thought it was awesome. I know that most of the original broadway cast were in the movie as well, with a few adjustments. I thought this play (movie) was brilliant. I actually can't picture it as a stage play since it worked so well in movie format for me. The music was incredible. The plot was amazing, it reminded me of how quickly we have let AIDS fall to the back burner as far as things that America finds worth discussing or worrying about, and I think that is so sad. I really enjoyed this movie and I think I will probably end up buying it. I found myself singing "Seasons of Love" ever since I was done watching it. What a fantastic song!

Jarhead (2005)

Okay, so I was kind of glad I didn't see this at the movies, though I wanted to at the time. It wasn't "my" kind of movie. Though I did find it very interesting. I thought it was filmed incredibly, the way it was shot, the colors, the fires in the desert. It truly made me feel (uncomfortably so) that i was really there. However, it just reminded me of how crazy war really is. I can't imagine anyone that goes through that kind of situation, ever comes out unchanged. I know that just watching it, made me feel crazy. Some of the scenes were just really out there, with a manic like feeling. It was done really well. Jamie Foxx was especially good as his role as the Staff Sargeant. My favorite guy was surpisingly not Jake Gyllenhall (which was the reason I wanted to see this movie) but instead, was Peter Saarsgard (spelling??) I am thinking he really transforms for his roles. Even though he can't do much to change his apperance....he never seems the same to me. He is really very talented and it made me want to run out and start renting movies of his that I haven't seen yet. Overall, if you can handle war type movies, I thought this was one of the better ones I have seen. It makes you kind of uneasy when you see how "important" the oil really is over there, how important it is to "us" as americans. It definetly made me want to go out and buy a hybrid. There was a scene when they were in the desert and a horse comes wandering over to Jake Gyllenhalls character, and the animal was just slick with oil covering him...and it was just so sad and such an amazing scene. Very telling. So I guess it was worth watching.

Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005)

Wow. I thought this movie was very interesting. It had some bizarre scenes, some of which I found along the disturbing side, though I would be interested to know what the writer had in mind when she wrote them. But for the most part, I found this movie to be very touching, very simple, and very real. I love movies that seem to be about the way everyone is connected to each other, in very simple ways. I loved the main woman in this movie, I thought she was beautiful, and her character was very unique. It reminded me a bit of a Todd Solandz movie (bubba noticed that too) in the way that the characters a bit on the quirky side, and even a bit disturbing in parts....but thats reality. I think we are all a bit quirky and a maybe a bit disturbing. I thought it was interesting, and I thank Roger Ebert (as if I know him personally) for reviewing this movie a few months ago, and giving it such an interesting review I thought I had better try to see it. I thought it was definetly worth watching.

78th Annual Academy Awards (2006)

ah...all the excitement is over. Now I can start planning my year for next years Oscar movie options. Hopefully I will do better at seeing nominated films than I did this year. This years ceremony was uneventful. I think the awards were pretty evenly distributed amongst the nominated movies...Brokeback won a few, with Ang Lee getting the coveted Best Director Oscar, the screenplay got the win (though I wanted Capote to win that one) and the score, which I was sooooo happy about. I truly loved the music in that movie. Philip Seymour Hoffman won, which was the only thing I felt really confident about winning, and the only thing I had my heart set on. I was so happy that he won that one, and he was adorable as always. Reese Witherspoon won for Best Actress, which I was hoping for, even though a win by Felicity Huffman wouldn't have made me unhappy either, even though I didn't see the movie, it looks good, and she looks incredible. I had a moment of sadness when Joaquin Phoenix didn't win. Even though I didn't really want him to win, he was so good, and I think any other year he would have taken that award home. I am sure he will have plenty of chances, he is always so wonderful in anything he does. Best picture was kind of surprising, though not disappointing. Crash, that came out of nowhere. I love to see movies like that win...not only was it a good movie, but it clearly didn't aspire to be out there just to get nominated, it was released way earlier in the year, the buzz had kind of died down by Oscar season, and it didn't get a whole lot of acting nominations (only Matt Dillon was recognized) but here it comes from behind to destroy the front runner, Brokeback Mountain. I thought it was exciting that they won instead of the predictibility of Brokeback taking it home. Jon Stewart did a great job, granted, he was no Billy Crystal, but I thought he held his own. I liked the little film clip montages too, even though there seemed to be too many of them, they were all good. And I of course, loved the fact that they brought up the importance of going to the movies so often. I can't imagine my life without going to the movies, watching on DVD is just not the same, and it never will be for me. I hope the box office has a better year!

Almost Famous (?)

I guess I used this as a last minute cheat, I have seen this movie a million times. I used it for the Philip Seymour Hoffman factor...one of my favorite roles of his for sure. Lester Bangs was a classic for me. By far one of my favorite characters in what was a fantatic movie for me. I could probably recite it, for how many times I have seen it. It was when I fell in love with Kate Hudson, and when I learned to love Billy Crudup. Of course all the love is for Cameron Crowe, my guy. I have nothing more to say about this, since its the day before Oscar day and we have to party.

Capote (2005)

This was another repeat viewing for me. I really enjoyed it the first time. I thought it was interesting, and followed up by reading some biographical information about Truman Capote. Doing so, made this time even more interesting to me. I understood more, the relationship between Capote and Harper Lee,(played by Catherine Keener, who is just fabulous). It even made me understand more about what a strange little man he really was. I really think this is one of the best movies ever made about writing. The most amazing part of this movie, to me, was the performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman. He just seriously became Truman Capote. I thought it was haunting, dark, yet sadly amusing in parts. I loved how you could just totally see the difference in this man, from the start of writing the book, when he was so confident, arrogant, and so nonchalante about the entire thing. You could see that he found it interesting, what the murders did to this small Kansas town, but you could also see that he didn't truly "care" about it. By the end, you could see that he was almost broken by the whole experience. And though his arrogance never really went away, it was always "about Truman" it was clear that he had been profoundly affected by the relationship he had forged with one of the murderers. Even during the scenes were he was so coldly talking about how "tortured" he was by all of this, ignoring the fact that their lives were the ones hanging in the balance....you could see that he truly was tortured, and not just because it was delaying his book, but because he was so greatly affected by this entire experience. I thought this movie was fantastic.

brokeback mountain (2005) part 2

This is my second viewing, but I am actually counting it as my first, since the experience this time was so vastly different, it was like watching a different movie. I liked it the first time. I thought it was well made, beautiful, etc...however, the crowd was so immature that I couldn't play close attention to the actual story. This time, I found the story so beautiful and tragic, that I know I could see it again and again. I thought that Heath Ledger did such an amazing job. Everyone did, for that matter. I was so touched by their sad relationship. I found the scenery to be just stunning this time, and the scenes with them under that huge open sky were just visually amazing. I think its sad that there are people that will never see it because of the subject matter. How sad to miss such a tragic love story.

Pride and Prejudice (2005)

Even though February is over, I thought I would try to maintain my Oscar mood until Sunday night. (which, I am taking off by the way....Far too much activity that day watching Oscar stuff to watch a movie too, I will just review the show instead) Okay, so Pride and Prejudice. I was one of those people...You know, the ones who watched the preview early last year and thought....ick...Mr. Darcy played by someone other than Colin Firth, really...What is the point??? But I was so wrong.....really, really wrong. I don't even know this guys name, but I am seriously in love with him. Now, I know, its really Mr. Darcy I am in love with....always have been. This guy really played him well. And Keira Knightly, playing my absolute favorite literary heroine of all time, was incredible. I wasn't a huge fan of Jennifer Ehle's interpretation of Elizabeth Bennet...but Keira Knightly got it right. I thought her performance was perfect. I will buy this movie and watch it again and again. I firmly believe it to be one of the most romantic stories of all time. Jane Austen really knew how to write women, her main female characters are always so brilliant, and beautiful at the same time. This film adaptation of this story was no exception. It was beautiful, far surpassing the original BBC mini-series version in its beauty (well, of course, except for missing the wonderful, incredibly sexy scene of Colin Firth swimming and his wet white billowy shirt...but I digress)the landscape was beautiful, costumes were perfect, and I thought it was absolutely awesome! Now I have to dig through my book bins to dig out this classic to read again right away.