The play this season was Macbeth, which I learned is a very difficult play to stage effectively. Our leads got up to some amusing shenanigans and some young players got to do the worst Romeo and Juliet ever conceived. I found this season to be not as funny as the first one, but still enjoyable because the characters are interesting.
Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home with Matt
This was a very pleasant movie to watch in that way one gets when they have ample time and don’t really care so much if the movie has a ton of stuff happen in it and everything. The characters were interesting and time passed along. However, I could not help thinking the following repeatedly throughout the picture: this is totally a film that would never, ever be made with women cast in the lead.
Cost: $2.00 from Videorama
Where watched: at home.
I’m not sure if I can correctly summarize the intense loathing I feel for this movie in a mere three sentences. Suffice to say it’s 90 minutes of the absolute worst parts of US culture and edited in a looping image way just so you get to see bits of the scenes on repeat. If I had a daughter,* the roles depicted in this movie would be my greatest fear for her namely the longing to be an object and not a person.
Cost: $2.00 from Videorama
Where watched: at home.
*Or for that matter a son. There were no good role models in this movie, and I realize that that is the point, but that didn’t make it a good movie. Just gratuitous.
I got this movie partially because it’s an Elmore Leonard-written Western, but also because the main character, John Russell, (played by Paul Newman!) happens to share a name with someone I work with. It was odd to hear that Elmore Leonard dialogue that I associate with hardened gangster and other urban underbelly people coming out of the mouths of frontier denizens, but that didn’t make it any less enjoyable. Diane Cilento was great fun to watch as the hardened, scrappy Jessie, and it turned out that the name John Russell was featured prominently through the movie including the dramatic ending, so I had myself a very good time.
Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home
I grabbed it for the Chris Pine eye candy (and good acting skill) but loved it because of Elizabeth Banks’ subtle skill portraying Frankie. This was a solidly built drama with good performances throughout. While I enjoyed the movie as it spooled along, the end convinced me I had wisely invested my time.
Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home while the ice was raining down on our snow accumulation.
The advantage to reading/seeing a lot of Shakespeare is that suddenly things that used to go right over my head, are very funny because I’m more familiar with the whole Shakespeare “thing.” So this show about a Canadian Shakespeare company is hilarious to watch. It also is very moving and clever and this season deals with the play Hamlet with which most of us are familiar, so you too might want to search out this show.
Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home with Matt
ps. for those of us who enjoyed Stories We Tell, Sarah Polley’s father is one of the actors in this show!
After the rather heavy Mysterious Skin, this was exactly what the doctor ordered. I loved that–much in the style of Whip It–we got a movie about a female character who changes not because of a guy, but because she discovers another part of herself. These movies are few and far between and I would like to see more of them.*
Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.
*Also, I could have done with less graphic vomiting and the song “I Saw the Sign” which sticks in my head for weeks.
Also, also. This movie pulled Matt in and he ended up watching it all the way through, which is something he rarely does.
And, plus. Unlike Glee, I was not familiar with most of the songs the college-aged people were singing. But I enjoyed them anyway.
This was hard to watch in that it has to do with child molestation which–it probably need not be said–is not a fun topic. However, the acting was tremendous and I loved how true-to-life the teenagers’ friendship felt. Worth watching, but have something fun on hand for cleansing purposes.
Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home
One of those movies were no one talks much, but man, is it tense in that way that you can’t really get around, just have to go through. Michelle Williams plays it quiet and understated as a woman on the Oregon Trail. Difficult decisions are made, not with the input of the women, of course, because who needs to listen to them?
Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home
Really, there are three movies, so there should be nine sentences, but they all blurred together into a very long movie. I found that a lot of the bonus content was not necessarily necessary, but was mostly interesting. And I realized I hadn’t seen these movies since their release (it was a Christmas activity with the brother for three years running) so I had mostly completely forgotten the story, which made for pleasant viewing as it seemed new to me.*
Cost: free
Where watched: Laurie and Burt’s house.
*Also, I had completely forgotten the huge amount of eye candy, which made for a pleasant addition to eleven hours of viewing.