I was in the middle of cooking, but Matt dragged me out four times to look at the progress. Here’s my shoddy capture of the event.
Three sentence movie reviews: Song One
This is a quiet little movie about loss and music. I found it to be a pleasant way to pass an evening, but it caused no huge tremors of delight. I did enjoy how not-for-Hollywood Johnny Flynn was.
Cost: free from library.
Where watched: at home.
poster from imp award
Three sentence movie reviews: Kubo and the Two Strings
Being a terrible hometown supporter of animation studios, this is the first Laika feature I’ve seen. I found it to be an engaging tale and I particularly enjoyed the origami storytelling. There’s some good mom stuff in this movie.
Cost: free, due to hotel package
Where watched: McMenamins Olympic Club
poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2016/kubo_and_the_two_strings.html
Found because I walked on the opposite side of the street.
People familier with me will not be surprised to know that I tend to walk certain specific routes from place to place. I encounter this tree on one of my routes home from the library. However, I usually walk under it, not on the opposite side of the street.
But in doing so, look what I discovered hiding.
Writing Prompt II
Same intersection, different day. How can there be more pizza?
Parting Gift
The lovely Mary, an 80+-year-old volunteer at school, sent me off to my new job with a book and a handmade card made with her photographs. I will miss Mary. And not just because she gives me things.
Three sentence movie reviews: Hysteria
This movie is clever in that way that women–for most of history viewed as nothing more than chattel–have had to be clever in that it seems to be a story about a man inventing an ingenious device and finding success and love, but which also tells us the story of women lining up for a “treatment” that I suspect most of them knew did nothing for their diagnosis of hysteria, but was beneficial none the less. Great performances all around. This is a light and funny film best taken with a glass of wine and some chocolate after a long hard day of being female.
Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.
poster from IMP Awards
Last day at the North Portland Library
My new 40-hour per week job means no more volunteering for Teen Lounge at the North Portland Library. Today is my last day. There were never many teens at teen lounge, but I did enjoy two solid hours each week to write these blog posts. And I really enjoyed the setting. The woodwork is beautiful, much darker in real life than in this picture.
Three sentence movie reviews: Lovely & Amazing
There’s some really great female body image stuff in this and the usual Holofcenian touches. This, of course, includes Catherine Keener, and I could not stand her character.* However, it was quite well acted, including the four female leads and Jake Gyllenhaal when he was still playing teenagers.**
Cost: Free from library. (I requested this myself, but later found it on the shelf. I do indeed think someone in my neighborhood has been systamatically working their way through Holofcener’s movies. And now I have seen all of them too. Thanks random library patron for hooking me up with Holofcener!)
Where watched: at home.
*In my book, it’s not really important for female characters to be likable, but I so very much didn’t like her Michelle Marks, and unfortunately, it sunk the movie for me.
**He was 20 at the time.
poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2002/lovely_and_amazing.html
Three sentence movie reviews: No Strings Attached
Expecting a brainless romantic comedy, I was instead blown away by this.* Mr. Kutcher was his usual non-offensive self, and the rest of the cast really knocked it out of the park.** It was also laugh-out-loud funny in parts,*** which came as no surprise once I figured out that Ivan Reitman directed it.
Cost: Free from library. (Also, this was on one of my Letterboxd lists. I’m not sure why. Perhaps I made notes? I did. Movie Date recommended it.)
Where watched: At home while changing the toes from green to red.
I wonder how long I could watch Ashton Kutcher moves during pedicures before I had to repeat? The answer is that there are 17 Ashton Kutcher movies I haven’t watched, so I could keep going for a very long time. I won’t though. I think I would eventually stop being pleasantly surprised that his movies aren’t actually that bad.
*Secret to success with Ashton Kutcher movies: lower those expectations.
**And what a cast! Natalie Portman! Kevin Kline! Greta Gerwig! Mindy Kaling! Jake Johnson! Lake Bell! Ludacris! Olivia Thirlby!
***Many rom-coms are more “smirk” or “quiet chuckle” events. They don’t come with actual laughter.
poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2011/no_strings_attached.html