Red (2010)

I have no clue why this is getting lukewarm reviews. In what world do you give a movie in which Helen Mirren saunters around in a white fur coat with an automatic weapon, in which Bruce Willis simply steps out of a spinning car to shoot a guy, in which John Malcovich carries around a stuffed pig and accosts people, and in which Mary-Louise Parker and Morgan Freeman are utterly charming a lukewarm review?

It's a funny, amusingly action packed little love story of a movie.

The Young Victoria (2009)

My only complaint is that I would have liked the movie to have more of Victoria and Albert's relationship. I loved them together and the end was heart-wrenching so I can only imagine there was more to their love story. Beautiful movie with great acting and an interesting look at how Victoria came to be Queen.

Easy A (2010)

Fun, campy, 80s referencing, update to the teen high school drama genre. Emma Stone is cute and hilarious. The story is cute and hilarious. All in all, yep, cute and hilarious (while dealing with some very real issues of bullying, teen sex, etc.) How can I not love a movie that includes a scene combining John Cusack with the iconic boom box and Patrick Dempsey on the lawn mower?

Watchmen (2009)

I will admit that I don't think I was in the mood to watch this film but it didn't help get me in the mood either. I've not read the graphic novel and have only limited knowledge of this world. I found the movie too insular. It operated much too much within itself without explaining enough to get me involved. I was lost at 15 minutes in and basically gave up understanding what was happening and surfed the internet while J watched. Maybe I'll give it another try now that I have some base knowledge. Maybe.

I Married a Witch (1942)

I'm fairly certain that I've seen at least parts of this film before. I only remembered scenes, not the plot as a whole--but that's not usual for my memory. Anyway, this is an odd little Halloween appropriate film with Veronica Lake as a witch who at first wants to get even but falls in love with her target. A tad madcap, a tad absurd, totally watchable.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen (2010)

I've got quite the backlog of posts to write!

I finished this book way after the Rumpus Book Club One-Off Franzen Group had it's chat with Franzen but I'm happy that I attended the chat anyway and that I took my time with the book. One, it's ginormous and, two, it's genius and deserves the time spent on it.


Franzen may well be the "Great American Author" of our time; chick lit authors be damned. Sorry, you can hate him all you like but the man is an incredible author from the most basic word choice and sentence structure to the larger picture of character development and plot to the much larger grasp of American society. I've not read a contemporary female author who does the same. Give me one and I'll read her because Franzen is one of the best authors to read and I wish there were more like him.

Freedom takes a look at politics, ecological concerns, the war, 9/11, family life, depression, rock music, drug use, racism, marriage, the arts, money, and on and on and on. But it's not an "issues" book. Franzen doesn't give an answer to any of these problems. He doesn't preach and he doesn't make examining these concerns easy. None of the characters are people you'd want to have over to dinner (unless you're a glutton for punishment) and you certainly don't want to be friends with any of them. But Franzen makes these characters real and relatable and incredibly readable.

This is one of those books where I breathed a sigh of relief that it was over but I immediately missed being in the throes of reading it.

Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)

Perhaps the most amusing thing about this film is that there was a remake in 1989 that stars Loni Anderson in Barbara Stanwyck's role.Regardless, this is a quiet suspense thriller with a dark sense of humor. It's a little melodramatic but that goes with 1948 and the subject matter.

The Last Station (2009)

I don't know if I like this film. I liked the acting. I liked the settings. The plot was just fine. But smush 'em all together and *eh.* And I'm not sure what made it only *eh.*

All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost by Lan Samantha Chang (2010)

This was the Rumpus Book Club's September selection. I *tried* to finish it before the chat but didn't quite make it and didn't feel well once the chat rolled around. I did finish it in 2-3 sittings, though. It's an easy read in terms of actual sentence structure but a tad difficult in that I found none of the characters likable at all. Even the less outright obnoxious characters were not likable.

It's the story of a MFA poetry student and his life afterward. What is done well is the depiction of graduate school. I wasn't in a MFA program but I was in an English grad department that included an MFA. Sounded about right to me.But the main character annoyed me to no end and is definitely one of the more self-involved characters I've ever read.

That's not to say I didn't like the book. I did, very much, which is quite a feat by the author to make me like a book that contains no character I like.

Designing Woman (1957)

Lauren Bacall and Gregory Peck. Mmmhmmm.

Apparently this was the first movie Bacall did after Bogart died which makes it a little sad but Bacall and Peck are well-matched for humorous sparring and physical comedy in fun he-said/she-said confusion.

King Kong (1933)

J and I are being King Kong and Anne Darrow for Halloween and somehow I've missed this King Kong. I've seen Peter Jackson's version, though, so I'd really basically seen this one since the two are so similar. Anyway, I was paying attention for costume ideas more so than film-watching (esp. since the plot is exactly the same) but, interestingly, it holds up in a weird, outdated special effects way so that was fun.

The Town (2010)

I've got some catching up to do!

This film is very watchable. Ben Affleck works out just fine, I can ignore Don Draper's floppy hair, and Blake Lively can actually act! Jeremy Renner is, well, Jeremy Renner but that fits in here. But then the end gets a tad *ick* saccharine with a voiceover that needs to just be chopped.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)

Or, Mujeres al borde de un ataque de nervios. THIS is the movie I watched in college for a Spanish class that I liked but couldn't remember the title. I *thought* it was Like Water for Chocolate but then I watched that movie again (I thought it was again at least--it was actually for the first time) and, while I like the movie a great deal, I'm extraordinarily happy that I didn't have to watch that one in a language lab of a small college at 18.

Regardless, it's fun to see how well Women holds up and what are now anachronisms. The situational comedy works wonderfully but a lot of it is centered on a land-line phone and missing phone calls. Nevertheless, it's one of my favorite Almodovar films (the other being Volver). Also amusing is Antoinio Banderas less than a decade into his career at 28 and playing not sexy at all.

Get Low (2010)

And I topped off my 31st birthday day with a movie about a hermit throwing his own funeral in the 1930s. Makes total sense, right? When it involves Robert Duvall (especially Robert Duvall explaining his relationship with Sissy Spacek as "We had a go") and Bill Murray (especially Bill Murray as a funeral home director with the driest humor ever), it makes more than total sense. The movie has many many moments of a few of the funniest lines ever as well as some honest-to-god brilliantly-accomplished pathos. I hope there are Oscar nods galore and an awesome dvd.

Machete (2010)

I rang in the wee hours of my 31st birthday in the middle of this movie on Friday night/Saturday morning and I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm a sucker for faux-chauvinistic movies and kitschy blood/gore. What exactly is more kitschy than Lindsay Lohan in a nun's habit? A lot, actually, and it's all in the film. I can only hope for more and more and more films in the Grindhouse genre because I love it.

Also seen:

I'm also blogging over at Docs on Film for a 1001 Movies Project. First up was Umberto D; spoiler: not a favorable review :)

Inception (2010)--2nd theater viewing

Nolan is a smart smart smart filmmaker. We watched this one again late one night because we could and this time around I paid attention to a few small details that had been brought to my attention by some review or another. Somewhere someone pointed out that DiCaprio only wears his wedding ring in the dreams and this proved something or another that's not particularly relevant here. What is relevant that upon second viewing when I knew the plot (because unlike others, I didn't think it particularly difficult to grasp), I could pay attention to things like whether DiCaprio had on the ring. What's interesting to me is that not only is the continuity fantastic--you never see the ring on DiCaprio when he's not in a dream--but that Nolan, and thus DiCaprio, carefully play with whether you can see the ring. Yes, you only see the ring in the dreams but in some dreams DiCaprio's hand is purposefully obfuscated. His left hand is under a table or he's only using his right or the ring finger on the left hand isn't visible. So you can't run with the ring theory entirely but the ring is obviously a trope to be paid attention to. Nolan is smart and clever and careful enough to give us an inkling of a thread to pull but he won't allow that thread to unravel the movie or give us any answers. Impressive.

Bringing Up Baby (1938)

I don't know how I managed to not see this movie until now especially with all the movies I've seen from this era and with these two actors. Fun, quick, witty, screwball comedy with two of the best actors to ever be on film. If we're going to re-release films to the theater, we should start with this one; not others (ahem, Avatar).

Men Who Stare at Goats (2009)

I love George Clooney. Who else would make this movie? Who else COULD make this movie?

And, tee hee, Ewan McGregor is a Jedi.

Absurd, highly enjoyable movie with great actors being great actors.

The American (2010)

We saw this one on Wed--the mid-week opening for the movie. I love love love George Clooney but goodness this was not what I expected. It was so very quiet--in terms of actual sound and in terms of action. Not much happens and it takes a long time for that little bit to happen. There is actually more action on the poster (Clooney running with a gun) than there is in much of the film. I don't dislike it for that reason but I was caught off guard by it. But, I am also not sure I like the film either.

Cover Girl (1944)

I watched this one the other week when my back was out--love Netflix streaming on my laptop! It's a cute Singin' in the Rain sort of movie with Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly. And a small role for Eve Arden (by the way, have you seen the new actor pages on imdb--just clicked over the check the name and, yeah, a tad confused!). I don't actually have too much to say about this one--it's ok but not spectacular.

Scott Pilgrim (2010)

We saw this on Saturday, after seeing Step Up 3D on Friday--that means two movies in two nights that each had a character named Natalie. And, Anna Kendrick was in Scott Pilgrim and she, of course, earned an Oscar Supporting Actress nod for her Natalie in Up in the Air. That's altogether too many Natalies.

Anyway, disconcerting character names aside, Scott Pilgrim is a cute movie. I thought the "bam" "wack" graphics might get a little trite after the first few uses but they worked out just fine and I liked the video game indicators (lives, levels, etc.). Those things ended up being quirky and fun but not totally distracting.

What was distracting? Ramona's hair. I'm not even talking about the color. I'm talking about the incredibly bad cut, including but not limited to the bangs. Really. They took a super cute actress and made her beyond homely.

Step Up 3D (2010)

I hate 3D. Just putting that out there. I have a hard time seeing it because of specific eye concerns I have. It gives me a headache. The glasses are a constant heavy, ill-fitting reminder of the fact that you're watching a movie instead of allowing you to lose yourself. And, more than the physical impositions, 3D is often poorly implemented and is a detriment rather than a useful part of the art. When 3D lost it's kitsch, it all went downhill.

So, when I say this, it means a lot: thank you Adam Shankman and Jon Chu for actually using 3D to magnificent effect and for giving it its kitsch back. By far, this movie is the best use of 3D I've seen.

This is, of course, a cheesy dance movie with the typical cheesy dance movie plot and I am enamored of cheesy dance movies but this one also has favorite dancers from So You Think You Can Dance to bolster my love.

My two favorite scenes are the pre-battle mini-battles. The dust and water routines were visually stunning and a fantastic use of the 3D. But a close third is the part of the final battle with the itty bitty dancers. Cuteness.

The only minus? The love interest, Natalie. First, I hate when my name is used in a film. I'm sure there are lots of Johns out there scoffing at my dislike but still. Second, how old is she supposed to be? According to imdb, she's 27. But, Jesus, if her face doesn't look like she's 40 around the mouth and eyes. 3D was not kind to her. And third, the jump-off-the-stage-into-Patrick-Swayze's-arms moment to prove that you are brave, a super dancer, and can win it all? The equivalent move was mediocre--as in I've seen it on SYTYCD and didn't think anything of it and there are better, trickier moves in the movie prior to that moment--and her participation, much less that move, didn't do anything to help the group win it all. They already had the win-the-battle-plan worked out.

Anyway, my only sadness will be when it's not in theaters and I'll have to watch it in 2D because I refuse to have to wear glasses to watch TV in my house.

The Other Guys (2010)

I loved loved loved the previews for this movie. Loved.

Overall, the movie as a whole was funny enough but certainly not as funny as the preview. There are fantastic moments that I can't exactly post here without spoiler alerts and, well, I just don't feel like that today. But those fantastic moments are sometimes whacked over the head with the campy overacting and repetition of jokes that might be funny one time (or fifteen hundred because they're in the preview) but don't actually work to gel the movie in their repetition. What worked for this movie were the one-off moments and jokes and, luckily, there are just enough of those to get you through with a satisfying movie experience.

But, I'll also add the point that I'm not an Adam McKay et al. fan. I liked Talladega Nights (mainly because it was about most of the people I went to high school with--seriously, it was filmed within a half hour of my parents' home) but I did not like Anchorman and would have had to be bound and gagged to see Step Brothers. So, the humor may be lost on me.

Gilead (2004) by Marilynne Robinson

Good God. This book, which won the 2005 Pulitzer and the 2004 National Book Critics Circle Award, is a quiet heartbreaker.

The book is a fictional epistolary autobiography of a dying preacher whose son (aged only 7) will go most of his life without his father and, thus, the preacher/father is writing this book to the son. So, we start there, and Robinson manages to keep the reader engaged (even a heathen like me who'd rather not have long conversations about God, even with a book) and interested with sub-plots but the real wallop comes at the end when, suddenly and unexpectedly, you miss the old man, and painfully so. Robinson's story worms it's way into your heart without you knowing and makes itself at home quietly until you're struck by the smallest but most profound moment of the novel, and then the preacher is gone.

There are long conversations about God, yes, but those are magnanimous and inclusive. But what really got me was this old man's musings on his very young son and his friend's adult son. One instance I remember in particular is an paragraph or so about how the boy is spending the night at a friend's house and the preacher missed him dearly. Tiny moments like that are woven seamlessly with the history of the family, retrospection about sermons past, a little family drama involving an old friend, and the introspection about death and leaving behind a young family.

I'm going to have to get my hands on Robinson's Housekeeping and Home soon. Very soon. Well, as soon as I recover.

Salt (2010)

Hmpf. It's a strange thing to walk out of a movie and know exactly what is wrong with it and how to fix it without much thought.

Salt isn't terrible and it was entertaining but it has a lot of easily resolved faults.

Fair warning: spoilery things below













The chief problem with the film is that it doesn't really allow any doubt at all. We know from the beginning who is good, who is bad, and what's going to happen. To allow the reader to have doubt, these things needed to happen:

1. Delete all of the flashback scenes. They tell the audience that Salt is likable and sympathetic and likely to do anything for her husband. There is not enough Salt is bad early enough in the movie to counteract the fact that we know she's going to look for her husband. Deleting those scenes allows the viewer to question whether she actually loved the man. Or, conversely, add in some scenes where she's a bad ass and killing people without remorse or something. But, she'd also have to deck her husband in a scene, too. So, yeah, delete them.

2. I LOVE Chiwetel Ejiofor and wish he were in more movies and this comment has absolutely nothing to do with is performance. His character needs to be deleted. His doubt about Salt at the cathedral eliminates any and all minuscule doubt that Salt is a good guy. I understand that he's needed to set up the possibility of sequels but get over it and do it another way. OR, novelty!, don't set up sequels before polishing this script.

3. LOVE Liev Schreiber but he's often the good guy who is really a bad guy so casting him tells the audience that he's the bad guy. And, when we already know that Salt is not the bad guy, the options are limited to, well, Schreiber's Winter.

4. Delete the fragment of a scene in which Salt extracts the spider venom. We've seen the spider and we can make the tiny miniature leap when the time comes but there is no way in hell a Russian and American trained spy takes the time to extract spider venom without having a very specific use for it.

The other huge problem: relevance. I'll be 31 in a little over a month and people my age are the youngest of those to even remotely understand any sort of Russian threat. Now, bad Russians poison spies horribly but cowardly and the Russian spies we catch are a tad incompetent and just get sent home. Conclusion: Russians aren't scary anymore and you're losing a lot of a movie audience for an action thriller if you're eliminating the under-30 crowd. Actually, go with the beginning of the film: North Korean bad guys are super scary right now.

The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010)

Hello, geekiness! This time brought to you with more links! Exciting.

Loved it!

I will admit that I had my doubts going in about this movie. I mean Nic Cage can make some pretty, um, well, interesting choices and he was at the helm of this one from the beginning. And who thought a live-action movie based on the Mickey sequence from Fantasia was going to work out? Last time anyone screwed with Fantasia it was, er, well, let's go with interesting again, shall we?

But this was a solid, plays by the rules it sets for itself, "Enchanted for boys" (as J put it). Nic Cage was fab and deliciously wacky in what I hope is a turn for the positive in his career--although I seriously want to know where he got that hat after being released from the urn. And could they have found a cuter, geekier child than Jay Baruchel? (Yes, I know he's only actually 3 years younger than I am but he was playing 7 years younger than that so he's a child for this post). I also have to mention my love of the uber absurd Criss Angel/David Blaine character, Drake Stone--played by the fun Toby Kebbell who I hope keeps getting parts in movies I'm interested in (because, RocknRolla? He was fun but the movie--not so much). The bulldog, meanwhile, was seriously underused.

While we're talking cast, I always love Alfred Molina as a villain and am beyond thrilled to see he has a host of projects upcoming beyond the move to TV. I love me some Law & Order reruns but what has Jeff Goldblum done since joining the cast? (a big fat not a damned thing is what)

Something I hate that I didn't love? Ian McShane's narration. *Sigh* (He's making up for it, though).

I also could have done without the intro. scenes especially since all of that history is explained again later and if I wanted to see a movie with the historical vibe, I wouldn't choose a modern-day sorcerer movie. And, thinking about it, I might have chosen a different witch/sorcerer/bad guy to replace the Salem child witch, Abigail Williams. She just wasn't all that interesting, especially when Sun-Lok got a dragon.

But, overall, the plot was solid and I loved the mix of science and magic (as did my bestest Tracy) and the cute love story times two. And all of that makes up for the easily forgotten intro. with narration. And the end quickly erases any "eh" feelings about the witchy child.

Inception (2010)

Forgive the blog break--I went on vacation for a week! And, surprisingly, we only saw one movie. Luckily, J and I convinced our fellow vacationers that Inception was the infinitely better choice over The Last Airbender.

So, if you're one of those people who are avoiding any and everything until you see it: it was great; see it; stop reading now.

And, if you're ok with spoilery chit chat about it: scroll down a bit and we'll chat.


















Christopher Nolan may be a mad genius. I don't actually know if he's mad but it seems he'd have to be to have Memento, both Batmans, and Inception spring from his head. But, Inception. Wow.

The casting was brilliant. DiCaprio didn't bug me the way he can sometimes. Page was excellent in what may be (finally!) a good transition away from Juno. Gordon-Levitt just keeps getting better and better and ended up being one of my favorite characters (um, hello, cool weightless hotel hall fight scene!). Cotillard was perfect and I love the Piaf references. Watantabe? Who doesn't love him? And THANK YOU Christopher Nolan for continuing to employ Cillian Murphy in things I can watch! And, um, Tom Hardy is my new favorite person. Then add on Berenger and Cain? Yeah, good, solid cast. And no one thought it necessary to upstage one another. Way to play nicely :)

Now, the tricksy plot. This film could have been a train wreck of ginormous proportions. It could be worse than The Last Airbender**. But it's not. It's a well written script that makes an incredibly complicated narrative structure simple for the viewer (thank you set designers and costumers for your help in that matter, too). Now, did I know the moment DiCaprio said inception was possible that he'd tried it on his wife. Yes. Did I care that I knew? No. And that's the trick. I don't know how to do it since I'm not a creative writer of any sort but I know that's one of the trickiest things to do: to allow the viewer to know a specific part of the ending without losing that viewer or making that viewer angry at the laziness of the writer. Nolan also managed to weave together two plots (the extraction and the mad woman in the dream basement) without compromising either.

The film is also just gorgeous. The worlds for each dream level are distinct but not distracting. The costuming and make-up works effortlessly (except Page's strange bun in the hotel scenes--that wasn't working for me at all).

A few specifics I can think of off the top of my head:

I LOVED the tie the dreaming people together like balloons and put them in the elevator solution. Way to be simple and effective.

I needed a little more exposition about Eames pulling out the big gun and saying "Dream bigger" because if he can pull that out of nowhere, why couldn't they have an armored van/truck, and, if he didn't pull it out of nowhere, I need to know so I'm not asking about armored vehicles.

Speaking of, the van falling into the water *may* have continuity issues?

Putting Mal in the basement instead of the attic was a nice touch.

Was the top spinning at the end a little infuriating? Yes. A little predictable? Yes. Perfect? Yes.




Shall we challenge Althelas to a post with her opinions? Yes, I think we shall ;)



**No, you didn't miss a post. I haven't seen and most likely will never see The Last Airbender. I simply like to make fun of Shamalamdingdong's movies as much as possible because they suck and he's given way too much credit for his twisty b.s.

"Jumping Jacks" from The Surf Guru by Doug Dorst

Hmmmm. Now we have something interesting.

Here Dorst may be at his best. This two and a half page story is contained, well-written, and engulfs the reader. Dorst manages to have the language pull and push the reader into emotions felt by the main character without much set-up which is quite the feat.

But, then I don't quite follow the penultimate paragraph so I'm knocked out of the story by having to re-read a few times. And I still don't quite get it. I have a few theories but none are supported entirely by the text. While having theories about what happens is great and I'm not advocating an obvious text, that one paragraph just doesn't fit with the rest. It's a bulwark in an otherwise fast-paced, emotionally charged narrative and because of it the story is derailed.

"Vikings" from The Surf Guru by Doug Dorst

Sigh. The one bad story one good one bad one good roller coaster is getting a little tiresome but at least "Vikings" is going in the good column.

This one, again, reads true. Dorst isn't trying on a foreign narrative voice--and I mean that in most senses of the word "foreign"--and he isn't trying out a formatting contrivance. When he just writes, he does it well. Again, I was allowed to mingle with these characters; I was allowed to read without being tossed out of the narrative. Because of that I was allowed to feel something at the end. That is the point, after all.

I am curious, though, if Dorst knows the star closing pitcher for the Yankees is nicknamed "Mo." FYI: We're a Yankees household with our littlest cat named "Mo" for same said pitcher.

"La Fiesta de San Humberto el Menor" from The Surf Guru by Doug Dorst

On the first page of this story I wrote, "poor narrative voice--stiff." And that continues.

Apparently this story was inspired by a song, "Paradise," written by Alejandro Escoveda. I can't find this song or mention of this song online.

Regardless, the narrative voice is off. It sounds as if Dorst is trying to imitate an Hispanic author. But he fails in an almost Speedy Gonzales sort of way. Because the narrative voice rings flat and basically stereotypical, the rest of the story does as well. The son is reduced to a monkey and the daughter's redemption rings false if not impossible. The entire things reads almost like a minstrel show unfortunately.

And here I thought the stories were getting better . . .

"Dinaburg's Cake" from The Surf Guru by Doug Dorst

Or, how many times can Nat use the word "obsession" in one post?

Now we have something interesting. This story is miles more honest and drew me in immediately. There are no headings to kick me out of the narrative and I was allowed to engage with the characters and the plot.

What makes this one intriguing is the validation of the mother's obsessions by the daughter that the mother deems peculiarly obsessed. The mother, of course, never equates the obsessions and never understands that the obsessive behavior is rooted in the same things. This story also left the reader with something to ponder--not something missing but an interest in the characters that would naturally produce questions. I wonder if the validation of the obsession(s) quell the obsession(s) (probably not) or feed and produce more obsession(s). And, what happens to the non-OCD men in their lives? The end of the story leaves the men (and boy) in a situation that is bound to have consequences for the ladies. But what and how severe are they?

Sigh. If only this were a novel.

"The Surf Guru" from The Surf Guru by Doug Dorst (2010)

"The Surf Guru" is, obviously, the title story of Dorst's collection The Surf Guru but it is also the first story. The story is ok but could have used some simple editing. The headings within the story are useless, get in the way, and seem to be used in the way a college freshman would use headings in a research paper to meet a page requirement so his/her grade won't be docked (yeah, I teach college composition). Without those headings, the story would instantaneously be a more nuanced, subtle narrative with a little more heart. As it is, with those headings, the information about the Surf Guru seems clipped, lacking in depth and feeling, and as if I were reading headlines with a few preview lines from my feed reader and it seems just that--information--rather than narrative.

I have to say, this wasn't a promising start to the collection. I'm not a huge fan of short stories--they just aren't my genre and they require so much more to be well-done that it is glaringly obvious when something is of kilter. And too often something is amazingly off kilter. Plus, once I've read the story, I feel finished. I don't feel anything else drawing me in to read more of the book unless the stories are connected and then, really, that feels more like a novel than a collection anyway. So, we'll see about the rest of this book . . .

And We're Live . . .

Look for a few posts later today/tomorrow about the first few stories from Doug Dorst's The Surf Guru--the July selection of the Rumpus Book Club.

Adventureland (2009)

This movie just felt wrong to me.

It didn't feel like 1987. The dialogue was off. The costuming wasn't right. For the most part, the movie looked like now--a few people have decided the 80s were cool and are wearing bizarre clothes. But, overall, the main characters didn't fit into the era.

That James had just graduated from college felt off. I guessed he'd just graduated from high school before there were suggestions otherwise.

The relationships felt forced.

I was happy to get to see Ryan Reynolds, though.

Hotel for Dogs (2009)

Dogs! Lots and lots of dogs! I totally want to OWN the Hotel for Dogs. Except I don't want to offer services for other people's dogs. I want all of the dogs to be mine and, ok, my friends' dogs, too.

This one is cute enough. It's meant for children and is written as such and the child actors act as such. The adult cast is great and complements the children well without overpowering them or obviously out-acting them which can be a hard balance to strike

Did I mention the dogs?

Meanwhile, this was based on a novel written by Lois Duncan? I read a lot of Lois Duncan when I was young but it was all horror.

And, finally, there were lots and lots of dogs. Including a bulldog that I want to live at my house where I shall have a whole pack of stubby legged dogs.

A Chorus Line (1985)

How could I forget that I watched this the other week?

So, yeah, I think I needed to watch it closer to 1985 except not because I turned 6 just 3 months before the film was released . . . . so . . . . .yeah.

It's just really dated and watching it for the first time in 25 years after it was made is an experience from the costumes to the topics to the singing . . .

CoCo before Chanel (2009)

Why did no one tell me this movie is in French? It's extraordinarily difficult to catch up on blogging while having to read subtitles :)

It's fine. Too long. Too slow. Too frugal with Audrey Tatou's talent and quirk. Much much too frugal with the fashion. I understand that it is about her life before Chanel but still. The allure of CoCo Chanel IS Chanel. All we get of Chanel is a few line of text at the end that are choppy and poorly written, even for end text and even considering a possible French to English translation.

Wendy and Lucy (2008)

This post will contain spoilers.

First, I was afraid Lucy, the dog, would die in the first five minutes. Then I was afraid she'd live.

Wendy is an entirely unsympathetic character. The film does no work toward making the viewer feel her plight. We don't know why she's trying to find work in Alaska. We don't know anything about her past. We don't know anything about her other than she has a hard time keeping hold of her dog. I was, therefore, entirely unsympathetic at her arrest for attempting to steal a single can of Alpo. Wendy has a little over $500--the film makes a point of showing us her ledger--and one can of dog food will maybe feed a dog that size for a day. Meanwhile, her arrest cost her more than several bags of dog food and made me think her a moron. I was worried for Lucy but I did not care that Wendy did not have her. Instead I thought that whatever fate had befallen Lucy had to be better than someone who is clearly inept--she was, afterall tied outside the store and most likely could not have gotten away by herself so the whole Lucy-is-in-a-foster-home-surprise was not a surprise. Neither was Wendy leaving her there.

Waste of my time.

Man on Wire (2008)

Charming. Phillipe Petit is an entirely charming little man. It's incredibly easy to see how he managed to get so many people willing to help in his schemes even when they were beyond illegal and death defying. I do wish they'd told us what he's done since the World Trade Center walk but, I suppose that's what the internet is for.

Oscar and Lucinda (1997)

Cate Blanchett and Raph Fiennes? Yes, sir.

I've not read the book--never read any Carey, shamefully--but I think I'll put it on my list now. The film is gorgeous and the narrative moves along and opens beautifully in a fairy tale sort of way. The end? Sigh. It's fitting and moving and ultimately perfect but I'd love to change it.

RocknRolla (2008)

What? A movie should not have to be stopped 19 minutes in so J. can explain it to me. I'm not dim.

And what happened to Thandie Newton?

Citrus County by John Brandon (2010) AND the Rumpus Book Club

The Rumpus has a new book club. As mentioned earlier, I'm a sucker for hard copy books and an even bigger sucker for getting things in the mail and, perhaps, a bigger sucker for ARCs. So, of course, I joined immediately. Who doesn't want to read a new book and get to chat with the author?

Citrus County is a McSweeney's so, of course it's a gorgeous jacket-less book and the content is none too bad either. Brandon follows two children and a teacher through a tragedy while deftly making that tragedy remain in the background as opposed to overtaking the narrative like an 11 o'clock news story. The book feels like a soda bottle shaken and ready to explode but the cap is never taken off. Upon finishing the book, that feels a tad unsatisfying. What's the point of shaking a soda bottle if not to see the eruption? But, after leaving the book sit awhile, it makes sense and is ultimately the more challenging and honest approach. That 11 o'clock news story will fade, the damage to the individuals will not.

Up next: Doug Dorst's story collection, Surf Guru

A-Team (2010)

Somehow I missed the fact that George Peppard was Hannibal. I watched "The A-Team" on TV as a child and in my 20s Breakfast at Tiffany's became one of my favorite movies but the connection wasn't made until I saw a write-up on the movie . . .

Regardless, the movie was delightful. The actors were all well chosen for their parts and managed to both pay heed to the original without being constrained entirely so as to make the movie stiff. The plot was typical of the show but updated and, yes of course, more explosive.

Day for Night by Frederick Reiken (2010)

I have a serious weakness for hard cover books. It started during my dissertation writing when I wanted to read anything other than those I needed to. I piled up shiny hard covers rather than read another dusty, moldy, ugly book on terrorism from the library. While the buying spree abated after graduation, I still love a hardcover and sometimes find myself buying brand new books just because they are brand new. Occasionally, this pays off.

Day for Night could have been a grand disaster. Each chapter greets the reader with a new narrator, telling his or her story. While those stories are connected and contribute to the whole of the novel, they are not just turns in a linear narrative. Reiken manages to take each person's story and make it individual to that character while weaving a sophisticated, intriguing narrative. The flow of the novel as a whole is effortless as is each chapter and each character.

The highest praise I can give it: at the end I wished for more chapters, not because the end was lacking but because I was invested in these people and their lives.

Killers (2010)

I don't think this movie is brilliant. I probably never need see it again. BUT, I am baffled by the negative reviews. It's not bad. It's not even close to bad. It's a rom com. It's not any worse for women than any other movie. It's not an action movie, people, get over it. Most of the bad reviews simply refused to take the movie at face value. Take it for what it is--a rom com that happens to have some guns--and it's an average movie.

Shrek Ever After (2010)

See: all other Shrek movies

Iron Man 2 (2010)

I *love* the first Iron Man and went into this one with high expectations. I love Robert Downey Jr. and was on board with swapping out the personally creepy Terrence Howard for Don Cheadle. I'm not normally a fan of Scarlett Johansson but I was willing to give her a shot.

I enjoyed the film but it's not as much as I would have liked it to be.

First, I HATE when there are scenes in previews that are not in the movie. Downey jumping off the building saying "You complete me" was ALL over the previews but not in the film.

Second, if I can come up with a solution to the problem, it needs to be addressed and explained why it won't work otherwise I assume you're dumb and didn't think of it. Slight spoiler--if Scarlett can reboot War Machine, why can't she just reboot the bad robots? At least make her try and not quite get it done.

Third, Paltrow needs to stop walking as if she actually has a stick up her ass. I'm a fan of her but, Jesus, pencil skirts do not do that on their own--ask Scarlett.

Fourth, I'm gonna need some of those Buddha lamps he has in his workshop.

Robin Hood (2010)

Up front, I'm not the biggest Russel Crowe fan. I don't dislike him but I don't love him and rush out to see his films. In a pinch, I can't think of a movie of his I love. A few I can't stand--like Gladiator (which is important to note for this Scott/Crowe re-pairing)--but none I love. I do, however, adore Cate Blanchett. I'll be her when I grow up (shush, we're going to ignore that she's only 10 years older than me).

But, I adore Robin Hood. The Disney version is a favorite as is the Kevin Costner film (yeah, revel in that--you won't get me to say I like much Costner has done) and, um, yeah, Men in Tights rocks.

So, those are my biases. This film wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. But, when I go to a movie titled Robin Hood, I want to see a movie about Robin Hood, not a movie about how Robin Longstride became Robin Hood. We get very few precious moments at the very very end of Robin Hood.

If I can get past that, and the questionable historical poetic license taken, I can't quite get past the overly ambitious geography of the film. It tries to cover too much ground--literally--and quickly gets overwhelming.

And, while Mark Strong is super fun, Godfrey could have been cut as well as his entire subplot and that would have cleaned up the geography problem and tightened the plot.

More or less, eh. Could have been better. Could have been a lot worse.

Fame (2009)

I'm a sucker for dance movies. Most of them are bad. Most of them have the same plot. Same characters. Etc. All of that is ok with me. Because I love dance movies. I'll excuse them almost anything really.

ALMOST anything. What I can't excuse? Little to no dancing. I'm not going to compare this remake to the original because I'm not sure I've ever seen it and if I did it was over 20 years ago. But I can and will compare it to the genre. This film lacked dancing in general but also lacked the minimum requirement of character development, lacked interesting music, lacked dynamic performances (from dancers, singers, actors . . . even the seasoned actors playing teachers). Even in the realm of bad movies, this one is inexcusable. The flimsy love story is thinner than the pop tartlette of the week's sheer knickers. The professional growth story is beyond irony. And the coming into one's talent and owning one's identity story is worse than stereotypical and damned close to demeaning.

I was left with a strong desire for the mailperson to take away the disc immediately and bring me Center Stage.

The Keep by Jennifer Egan (2006)

I don't remember where I'd heard about this book. But, in Barnes and Noble looking for a book to take on the plane from LA to NC, I settled on this one. A story about a woman in a keep sounds fun, right?

No.

First, the narrator is off. We get through a few pages before we get to a physical description of him. I've never ever been so at odds with an author about what the main character looks like. Never.

Second, the narrative is split between that at the castle (and, thus, the keep) and a male prisoner who is ostensibly writing the castle narrative. Contrived? Anyone? It's also pretty clear who the prisoner is in relation to the castle story. From the beginning. And this split narrative is not savvy--it's only real result is preventing the reader from being invested in either narrative.

Third, the prisoner is writing the castle story as part of an in-prison writing program. The writing teacher praises the prisoner's writing unabashedly. So, Egan has written in a character who will praise her writing. Lovely.

Fourth, the woman in the keep. Not so big a part. Not all that interesting.

Fifth, the climax. Ha! Not so much.

Sixth, the most honest part of the book? The last chapter which is from the p.o.v. of the female writing teacher. Yeah.

Maybe this is a good book club book for those who don't so much read books. Maybe. I don't know because I read books and this one just isn't up to snuff.

Mata Hari (1931)

b.o.r.i.n.g.

Didn't even finish it.

Don't think I ever will.

Duplicity (2009)

Well, at least it wasn't The International.

Kick Ass (2010)

A few of the ways in which Kick Ass kicks ass:

1. It follows its own rules--no contrivances to explain away nonsense at the end of the movie.

2. Best use of Elvis' "An American Trilogy" that I'm aware of

3. Nic Cage. Yeah--it's hard for me to say, too, but he's awesome.

4. Hit. Girl.

5. Some of the goons are named after Spice Girls--seriously.

6. Craig Ferguson

Religulous (2008)

Sort of full disclosure: I recognized the opening scenes as somewhere near Raleigh, NC before the location was identified. You see, I grew up in North Carolina, went to undergrad and my MA program in the Triangle area, and went for my PhD in SC. Religiously--frightening.

Anyway, I agree with Maher on a lot of things regarding religion but I don't agree with his approach. In terms of religion, I'm more of a let it lie sort of girl (as long as you're not trying to preach to or convert me or belittle my opinions) whereas Maher thrives on stirring the pot.

The film jumps shark at the exact point Maher starts to talk about Islam. He's never professed tolerance of any sort really but his intolerance here is staggeringly close to ignorance. I'm a lover of snark but snark is not going to reform the world and it certainly won't rid the world of ancient religion.

Transsiberian (2008)

I'm never getting on a train in Russia. That seems like common sense, right?

Emily Mortimer was good. Woody Harrelson was good. I love Ben Kingsley. Kate Mara always intrigues me. The movie, however. For whatever reason I thought this was the movie to watch at home by myself one afternoon while catching up on quilting (yeah--I do that). Dear. Jesus. I had to cover my eyes for part of it. And I'm not that girl.

A Single Man (2009)

I watched this one on the plane back from the east coast for a few reasons. First, I'd heard it was good and love Colin Firth and Julianne Moore. Second, the woman beside me wouldn't stop talking to me. Third, the children on the plane were out. of. control.

A Single Man is VERY Tom Ford. I don't know the man, don't know much about him personally, and don't even know if he's made any other films but this one just oooooooozes Tom Ford.

Firth is wonderful as George, a Brit who has just lost his long time partner and is struggling to find his way in a homophobic 1962 LA. Moore is gorgeous as usual and really seems to settle into the desperate Charley, George's perpetually dumped lifelong friend. The film is also an interestingly honest look at an English prof. (George). The end, however. I don't dislike it per se but Jesus.

Date Night (2010)

Um. Hilarious.

An Education (2009)

T. was nice enough to take this out of the already-sealed Netflix envelope so I could watch it while at her house--she's nice like that ;)

I'd heard mixed reviews about this one--from "brilliant!" to "too creepy to watch." So, of course, I was intrigued but I am always slightly cautious about hyped movies. This one lived up to it's hype. I loved Carey Mulligan (in a way that I fear she will always be this character in my mind) and Peter Sarsgaard was appropriately, quietly creepy. Alfred Molina and Olivia Williams were other high notes in the acting department. The costuming was super fun--but, I could easily find myself wearing those clothes if I has enough initiative to "dress" everyday.

The plot itself managed to unfurl in a way that made it not so much predictable or obvious but in an "of course" way--as if we were Jenny coming not only into the realization that we'd engaged ourselves to a creepy lying thief but also coming into womanhood.

Looking on imdb to double check the year just now, I see that Lynne Barber is the author of the autobiography that Nick Hornby adapted. Barber is a British journalist with a host of traditional publications under her belt but . . . she wrote for Penthouse for 7 years and wrote a book titled How to Improve Your Man in Bed. So, we get a peek into the grown-up Jenny's life. Cheeky ;)

The Secret of Kells (2009)

I *REALLY* want to call this movie The Book of Kells. If you don't know why--Google people!

J and I saw this at a new-to-us theatre so that was interesting. Also interesting was the audience member who had to be called out so she'd be quiet--she was especially vocal during the Babies preview. Luckily, she shut up once told to.

I don't know how much this will make sense to anyone who isn't in her/his early thirties or anyone who didn't watch a lot of cartoon movies on tv in the 80s and 90s but Secret of Kells felt like a tv cartoon movie to me. And I can't quite expand on that. It's not Pixar or Disney or any other contemporary animated movie making look.

The animation is beautiful and simple and sweet as is the story. I loved the incorporation of the images from the Book of Kells and only wish those intricacies had been used more. Of course, the whole thing made me wish I could go back to Ireland asap. Worth seeing but expect a quiet movie instead of a flashy one.

Alice in Wonderland (2010)

To be a "new" Alice, this one felt remarkably traditional to me--not that that's a bad thing. J. and I saw it at Disney's El Capitan so we were treated to large painted roses in the balcony and a musical intro complete with tissue rose petal confetti --but that's about it which is kind of disappointing for El Capitan and their decorating capabilities. Regardless, the movie was largely enjoyable. I'm a huge Johnny fan (who in her right mind isn't?) and I love when he just dives in wholeheartedly and becomes a character. That said, there were lines that went completely over my head because I couldn't understand his accent/lisp/quick delivery. Everyone else was good but none perhaps remarkable. I liked Anne Hathaway's Queen but I also liked Enchanted. What I didn't like was the end--you'll notice a trend here, readers, in that I frequently have problems with endings. The end frame felt forced and too hoo-rah-wo-man! But, I'll forgive it that I suppose. This was not Burton's crowning glory--nor any of the other actors' (especially with Bonham Carter and Depp having been in the much much better Sweeney Todd with Burton's direction recently)--but it was a good enough movie. And, being at El Capitan, we got to see some of the props and costumes in the basement of the theatre which is always cool.

We're Going Live, People!!

In about a week I'm taking it public . . . scary ;)

In the meantime I'll catch up and blog about a loooooooong list of movies and books I've failed to write about thus far:

1. Alice in Wonderland (2010)

2. The Secret of Kells (2009)

3. An Education (2009)

4. Date Night (2010)

5. A Single Man (2009)

6. Religulous (2008)

7. Kick Ass (2o10)

8. Duplicity (2009)

9. Transsiberian (2008)

10. Mata Hari (1931)

11. The Keep by Jennifer Egan (2006)

12. Fame (2009)

13. Robin Hood (2010)

14. Iron Man 2 (2010)

15. Shrek Ever After (2010)

16. Killers (2010)

17. Day for Night by Frederick Reiken (2010)

18. A-Team (2010)

19. Citrus County by John Brandon (2010) AND the Rumpus Book Club

20. RocknRolla (2008)

21. Oscar and Lucinda (1997)

22. Man on Wire (2008)

8 movies and 1 book

Lots of Oscar nods here due to the post-nod pre-show catching up.

Crazy Heart (2009): Love Bridges. Am ok with Gyllenhall although I wonder how she manages to never really wear a bra in a movie. Strangely love Colin Ferrell with his ponytail. Do not love the breezy in and out of rehab magically cured of a lifetime of alcoholism. Love the music.

The Hurt Locker (2008): Strong apolitical (as much as anything can be apolitical) movie about the war without looking wishy-washy about the war. Renner did a great job as did the other actors. And, what? Colin Firth is in the movie? How do the Colins keep surprising me in movies?

Inglorious Basterds (2009): This is my favorite of the Best Pictures which is surprising as I'm not a Tarantino devotee--I like about every other one of his I see. I loved loved loved the Nazi. Loved the unapologetic yes we changed history and blew up Hitler ending. Loved Pitt's accent. Love love love.

Up (2009): How do I manage to go into movies without a clue sometimes? I didn't know she died! Ugh. The movie is super cute and I am in love with Doug--squirrel!--and it's actually one of the most complete of the Best Pic nods.

Wolfman (2010): What? Seriously? No. No. No.

A Serious Man (2009): I want a whole movie about Clive. Seriously. Right now. I liked this one a lot and thought it very funny but I don't really like the ending (surprised?). I don't like super neat thread every needle endings but I certainly don't like the leave it wide open to a tornado ending either.

Couples Retreat (2009): Cute but preachy relationship crap sometimes.

Gladiator (2000): Nope. Still don't like it.

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry (2008): Oh. How I want to like this book. I really really do. But I don't. I just don't. I can't like a book when I so obviously figure out the ending and I'm right but the author tries to make it right with contrivances. Sigh. It's a decent book and I like the idea. I enjoyed reading it a lot until I got that *whack* this is what the end is going to be dread and then it was just the wait for the inevitable to happen.

8 movies and 3 (!) books

Going back to school has been the best thing ever for my reading habits. How long has it been since I've read three books in a month? I've even started another one. It has, however, seemingly slowed my movie watching.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009): Who cleaned up the mess at the Smithsonian after Ben Stiller left? That's what I want to know. It was cute enough. What you expect from this movie and the sequel. I wish, though, that they'd refrained from the girl-who-looks-like-Amelia thing at the end.

Kung Fu Hustle (2004): I don't know that I love much more in a movie than Asian gangsters dancing in formation. Seriously. Anyway, I'd seen this one before but J had not. Fun, funny, and lots of kung-fu. The only thing that would make it better might be an animated dancing animal and a Johnny Depp, Steve Carell, and Paul Rudd dance-off. Ha! I made myself giggle just typing that. Strange how all of their last names end with double consonants . . .

(500) Days of Summer (2009): Cute! And, yes, there's a dance scene and I loved it. I could have done without "Autumn" as a name but the rest was an actually interesting non-linear narrative about love. Easy to do in print, hard to do on film.

Me without You (2001): Maybe I'm callous but I don't put up with clingy crazy people. Rachel Getting Married made my skin crawl and so did this movie. It's well acted and all but, ohmygod, I wanted to kill Anna Friel's character by the end and TOTALLY don't get the very end but I won't spoil it. Anyway, so this one is about Michelle Williams and Anna Friel growing up in England in the 70s and 80s. It takes us from their childhood through marriage and babies. Williams is the sane down to earth one and Friel is a manipulative selfish bitch. I'd have ditched Ann Friel looooooooooong before Michelle Williams even really has it out with her.

Sleepy Hollow (1999): No, my Johnny Depp fan card is not being revoked, I've seen this one a million times before. I know a lot of people thought it was crap but I love it and think it's really a gorgeous movie.

Julie and Julia (2009): Mmmmmm. Made me want to cook all of the recipes in the book, too. Then I came to my senses and had a cookie. Julia would have approved. It had real butter. Cute movie. Great cast. Wonderful construction of plot.

Point Break (1991): I'd not seen this one but we watched it because, well, I don't really know. I think it had something to do with Hurt Locker (same director). Anyway, dude, it's a little too 1991 for 1991.

The International (2009): What? No. No. No.

Point Omega by Don DeLillo (2010): Yes, I'm a massive geek and bought this the day it came out. That's actually progress. I had Falling Man before it was released. There are mixed reviews but I think it's brilliant. And, no, I don't like all DeLillo--I'm still dreading a return to Americana--and, no, I'm not an apologist for his more recent slimmer books--The Names is my favorite. But this book is good and accomplishes a lot in so few pages. I might have to go reread it now.

The Girl with the Glass Feet by Ali Shaw (2009, first US edition 2010): I picked this one up because it had an interesting title and was fairy-tale-y. It's not terrible by any means but it's disappointing when, while reading the book, you can think of ways to improve it. The end still struck me so I was engaged in it and I liked the characters and the plot and the bigger ideas but, goodness, what a brilliant book it could have been.

Lowboy by John Wray (2009): It's taken me forever and a damned day to get my hands on this book. Everyone loved it and fawned over it and the Rooster has it in it's tournament. I don't know why but every bookstore was perpetually sold out, the paperback is delayed, and even online bookstores had it back-ordered. I finally got a used copy and read it. Eh. Again, it's not bad. It's actually pretty good, especially considering the first person narrator for quite a few of the chapters is a schizophrenic having various episodes. My trouble is with what I can only assume is the "twist." There is a fact given at a later point in the novel that a main character seems to regard as revelatory. I won't spoil it but it's not revelatory. It's not even interesting. I didn't have it figured out but the knowledge of that fact changes nothing, makes nothing more clear, and adds no further dimension to the novel. Yet, the novel clearly starts the denouement after that revelation. If J. hadn't been asleep beside me, I might have actually proclaimed "THAT'S the climax?!" It's kind of like the novel spends a lot of time picking individual threads out of a tapestry, gets a good mess going, finds one nondescript thread and says "a-ha!," and then quickly puts them all back perfectly in a third of the time it took to take them out. Again, it wasn't bad but that irked me and kind of cheapened reading the book.

1. Avatar (2009): I was not impressed. With so much hype preceding the opening and then the fervor following the opening, there was no possible way the movie was that good. No movie is THAT good. The problem here is that the movie is not good at all and it's made worse because everyone seems to think it's so wonderful and ground breaking and new. It's just not.
a. Blue people are not original. See 1980s cartoons.
b. Cat people are not original. See 1980s cartoons.
c. Earth Mother stories are not new. See the history of mythology and literature.
d. There was no need to relive Titanic through the music. Seriously, adding a few "nature" noises doesn't make it new and it only serves to remind the audience (me at least) about that other annoying James Cameron movie. Try reminding us of the good James Cameron movies (and, no, Sigourney Weaver is not enough).
e. The visuals aren't enough. Sorry. They aren't. They're cool for the first, oh, half hour. The nighttime glow-y forest scene is gorgeous. The rest is just the same.
f. If you're going to use 3-D, use 3-D. This movie really did nothing with it and it's annoying to sit with those glasses for 3 hours.
g. Get your actor (and I mean you, Sam Worthington) to get control of his accent. He really had very little face time on screen so there is absolutely no reason an American jar-head character should have a little Australian accent here and a little British there and a little British trying to be Southern over there and a newscaster midwestern accent everywhere else.
h. "I see you" is only poignant if you don't use it to say "hello."
i. This isn't a movie about everyone coming together to save the natural world. This is about blue people killing human people (while both destroy the natural world, I might add) in order to salvage the natural world. I'm not saying the blue people shouldn't have fought but they (and the audience) can't maintain the self-righteous "we're saving the world" attitude. Blue people blew up shit, too.
j. If you're going to have the human-brain-synapse-like network of nature do something cool to save the world, have it do something cool. Having the animals bend to the will of the blue people is not cool.
k. Don't kill off all of the good human women while saving all of the good human men. Not cool.
l. Have an interesting story. I shouldn't know what's going to happen in the first ten minutes.
m. The villain has to at least be sort of maybe kind of morally ambiguous.
n. That's all I can think of right now but I'm sure the points fill the rest of the alphabet and back around at least once more.

2. Book of Eli (2010): This movie actually managed to be all about The Bible without making me want to shoot myself. While I'd prefer it be about a different book, I very much appreciate the poetry of the end. Denzel Washington surprised me pleasantly and Gary Oldman is always a fun villain. I would have liked a little less let's-keep-everything-secret tension in the beginning but they did manage to roll out the twists and secret info with good timing and in line with the story and characters. Entirely watchable.

3. Australia (2008): Sigh. I love Baz Luhrmann but this was a misstep. It's over-long, over-dramatic, and under-edited. It feels like it's full 165 minutes times 2 and some of the acting is a little over the top but the story and feel of the movie doesn't support that melodrama the way Luhrmann's other movies would. The trouble is that it's an interesting story that could really pull the viewer in but it's just too long and desperately needs to be condensed.

4. Geisha, A Life by Mineko Iwasaki (2002; translated by Randa Brown): This is the memoir by the geisha who provided Arthur Golden the inside information for his novel Memoirs of a Geisha (1997) and who he later had to pay an undisclosed settlement for breach of contract when he included her in his acknowledgments. I'm not a huge memoir fan just because I'm much more used to a novelist and his/her art. I often find memoirs lacking in art. And that holds true for this book as well. It lacks a certain structure that might have helped the story-telling. But, it is an interesting look inside the geisha life. I appreciated and liked the first-hand story and was intrigued by the connections and disconnects between her story and Golden's. I found her persistent insistence that geisha are not courtesans or prostitutes a bit too "the lady doth protest too much." She could and should have shown instead of stomping her feet and insisting. And she actually did show that she was not engaged sexually with her clients (save one with whom she had a separate personal relationship) so she could have left it at that. Golden's book is fiction and smart people can distinguish between fact and fiction. I loved her descriptions of everything (especially the kimono and obi) and found the story engaging and found myself wanting to know more about her life post-geisha when I finished the book. I read it in only a handful of sittings and would readily teach it in conjunction with Golden's novel and the film.

About the translation: Are all Japanese to English books so clunky? All of those I've read are and it's disappointing.

17 Movies and 1 Book

I'm making these quick-quick since I'm behind so very far and want to be caught up asap. 1-13 are from 2009. 14-18 are from 2010 (well, the McEwan was begun in 2008, I think--sad state of my reading affairs).

1. Away We Go (2009): Smug. Smug. Smug. And some more smug. Piled up on a whole lot of smug.

2. Funny Face (1957): Eh. Fine and I understand why Streisand was praised and whatnot but boring and long.

3. The Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933): A J. pick. Odd.

4. W. (2008): Frightening that we let this man run the country. Kudos to Josh Brolin.

5. Paris Blues (1961): Love me some Paul Newman. Wish this movie were more cohesive.

6. The Duchess (2008): Eh. Not the movie it could have been and not the movie it should have been. I don't want to watch a movie of this marriage.

7. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948): Another J. pick. Eh. Not very interesting.

8. The Edge of Love (2008): A strange little movie with a lot of pretty people. Could have been better but wasn't completely terrible.

9. Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009): Completely acceptable fluff. Except that they dropped the Leslie Bibb as villain thing before it played out.

10. The White Countess (2005): Loooooooooong. There are much better movies about China during the war.

11. Last Chance Harvey (2008): Sad little movie. Not teary sad either.

12. Sherlock Holmes (2009): Could have been more but is very very very good.

13. Brick (2005): Good, solid movie with an interesting grasp on language.

14. Up in the Air (2009): One of the best crying scenes ever. And, beyond that, an excellent movie with excellent performances. The end needed to be rearranged a bit but I'll get over it.

15. Igor (2008): Yuck.

16. Atonement by Ian McEwan (2001): McEwan may be a genius. The book is beyond beautiful. I still loathe Briony with every bit of my being and my hopes that the ending to the book would be drastically different than the movie were dashed but I have to give it to McEwan: that's true to her character and he made me hate her.

17. It's Complicated (2009): Wonderful. I can't even pick my favorite thing. Everyone is brilliant in it (little Office guy almost steals it). The story is solid. It's hilarious and poignant and blah blah blah everything I want a comedy to be.

18. Body of Lies (2008): Hmpf. I'm still waiting on a good post-9/11 terrorism movie. You know, the one without the pounding over the head about everyone being culpable. Subtlety people! That said, DiCaprio and Crowe are excellent in it.