BUUUT I have to mention that I took this break to watch a bajillion films:
Harold and Maude: AWESOME! I really enjoyed it. And also, for a reason that I can't pinpoint completely, it reminds me of a very dark The Graduate.... just in tone. I think it's from the silences and the soundtrack.
Star Trek: Super awesome! I was so impressed because they offered so much information while not seeming jam packed. I've never seen anything about Star Trek before but I wasn't confused at all... and it was still REALLY funny! And it wasn't impossible to understand. And, even though I can't make this exact judgement, it's VERY impressive when you can please existing fans... especially trekkies who seem to be pioneers of the obsessive audience.
Frost/Nixon: It was good but I wasn't THAT riveted or impressed. Maybe it was because I lost the gravity of what Nixon did... because what is tapping into the democratic committee when George Bush tapped into everyone? Although, considering the story that they were trying to do... which involves a lot of sitting and reading things and being angry... and then talking on camera, I guess they did alright. It just doesn't have that much going on to me. I honestly think it would have been better if Frost was a more dynamic guy. But he just seemed blah to me. And I was confused about the purpose of the girl in the story. I would have nominated Wall-e way before this for best picture...
Made of Honor: Obviously it was awful. Although saying that proves that I wasn't totally unbiased. It was exactly My Best Friend's Wedding except the ending... and without Rupert Everett who likely made that movie... AND I HATED the ending of this one. Maybe I was being picky, but I imagined submitting that in my screenwriting class, which obviously is NOT full of script geniuses... but I thought that if we workshopped that script, everyone would be like "Wtf is with that ending? Why did you stick that there? For that lame fucking joke? You just ruined all the catharsis of the film!" Maybe I'm being harsh...
Also, we need some better leading ladies. And in order to get the really good ones, we need to see some scripts that aren't romantic comedies for the sake of being romantic comedies. This wasn't fooling anyone. I only get so upset because once in a while, all you want to watch is a romantic comedy... but the whole genre is being made a fool by all of these SUPER shitty ones!
Same goes with slapstick comedies.
If Lucy Fell- Sometimes I like to watch movies with major actors that I've never heard of because I KNOW they're going to be pretty shitty. This one is a 1995 Sarah Jessica Parker film with a little bit of Ben Stiller and Elle Macpherson about two plutonic friends who are quirky who live together and decide to kill themselves if they don't find people to be in love with in a month. It ends exactly the way you think it would. Although it was better than it sounds from my description. Don't worry about watching it... but I WOULD recommend picking out random movies to watch and treasure. Also, Scarlett Johanson was in it and she was like 12. It just made me feel like SJP was super old... Not that I care that much. I still like her.
Pride and Prejudice (Kiera Knightly version): It could have been a mood but I was EXTREMELY annoyed with the camera work. It kept doing those tracking shots where they follow a character and then it grabs another character and follows them... and those shots are pretty great for quickly looking seeing what's going on in a room and what other people are doing... and I do really like them sometimes. But they KEPT doing it and I kept getting dizzy from it. And then I just thought they were being pretentious about it. And then I saw everyone as doing this heavily choreographed dance around the room and it became less natural for me. I'm POSITIVE I was being crazy picky on that... but I couldn't help it. I almost never notice the camera so much.
Also, it was less real because everything was SO grandiose that it seemed more like a fairy tale than a real story. Like her looking off a cliff in a totally deserted place. Or that huge palace. It seemed like a Cinderella situation instead of a Jane Austen one... but I guess Pride and Prejudice is like... the official most romantic story and if you're going to make anything sweepingly and unrealistically fantastical, I guess it should be this film. They definitely got the style across.
I didn't hate the acting or anything.... although on a personal level, I find it difficult to enjoy some Jane Austen stories because they are so sorry for themselves, even the protagonist, Elizabeth, and yet they have so many servants that don't even get to be characters. Even though I try to accept it as the times, I have a hard time feeling as sorry for them as I feel the story wants us to be. Although I do really like Emma and Sense and Sensibility...
Also, I felt like the VERY ending was hot, but the part right before where they were asking the father for permission was drawn out too long considering we KNOW for a FACT that he's going to approve.
27 Dresses: Also pretty poor but NOT as bad as Made of Honor. In this case, it had a little more plot and Kathrine Heigl and James Marsden were much more convincing... and the like... one time they kissed after this drunken "Bennie and the Jets" scene... it was very hot. I'd probably watch it again if it was on TV... which I would probably NOT do with Made of Honor. It's a shame because I really like Patrick Dempsey... but I kind of like him better in the late 80s when he's the tiny little underdog boy... instead of the hot one.
And I already mentioned them but...
Grey Gardens (the HBO version): Amazing! It's the perfect supplement to the documentary because it really nicely explains exactly what happened.. and without being on the nose about it, you really get the mindset and relationship between the mother and the daughter. Also, knowing how their lives turned out is very relieving... I was far less depressed than when I just watched the documentary. AND Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange were FANTASTIC!!! They nailed it!
P.S. I Love You: I LOVED it. It was NOT a romantic comedy for the sake of it. Plus, I did NOT know Gerard Butler was so dreamy! He's like... a beefier (in a HOT way) version of James McAvoy. And Hilary Swank is such a chameleon. How can she be in the Karate Kid 2, Boys Don't Cry AND P.S. I Love You?! And I'm sure she was also genius in Million Dollar Baby. And actually, Gerard Butler is an even bigger chameleon. How can he be the phantom in Phantom of the Opera, that guy in 300 AND the dream man in P.S. I Love You??!! Amazing. You know who is NOT a chameleon? Lisa Kudrow (also in the movie), who always plays the same character... but she does it so brilliantly... that I don't even mind at ALL!
And also... I got new pants! Mission complete.
And we got to see Natalya's new place... and her brother's chinchillas, which seem like super cool pets!
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