Part of the Ruby Oliver Film Festival.
Though I want to be an Ewan McGregor fan, mostly he leaves me cold as an actor. But not in this very bizarre movie which I really liked. I mean, there’s a random dance sequence in the middle, how could I not be a fan?
Cost: free due to Heather’s magical movie thing. (Though she may have had to pay?)
Where watched: at Heather’s house in Kansas.
I have now completed the Friday Night Lights circle* and can say this was a fine picture in the Friday Night Lights Cannon. I’m a Kyle Chander fan over Billy Bob Thornton, but Billy Bob brought good stuff to his role. It was amusing to see Connie Britton as the coach’s wife in both film and TV series.
Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.
*read the book, saw the movie, watched all five seasons of the TV show.
Oh my goodness was this a romantic comedy for me. Romeo* and Juliet with zombies instead of parents to keep the young lovers apart. Very cute and clever and includes a positive message and with that big-eyed girl from Crazy Stupid Love** playing a supporting role.
Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.
*Can’t get enough of the dude who plays Beast in X-Men? He’s the male lead.
**Analeigh Tipton
I’ve been a fan of Chris Pratt since he was the loser boyfriend of Rashida Jones on the television series Parks and Rec. His boyish slacker/charming vibe was perfect for the role of Peter Quinn and the rest of the cast were top-notch as well. The movie was funny, had a great soundtrack, whisked along at a very good pace and for once, a completely CGI animal character did not at all annoy me.
Cost: $6.00
Where watched: at the St John’s cinema with Matt
I hated this movie. Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaated it. I watched it for Anna Faris, because I enjoyed her so much in What’s Your Number and I thought she acted up a storm, but the movie itself was a trial.
Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.
Dissatisfaction is the word that sums up my feelings about the ending of season two with almost every character in a place I am not really thrilled with. Our main girl Hannah had a big change during this season which I didn’t buy because if it had been part of her life since high school, why are we just finding out about it mid-season? Still, I had fun watching it and I love how actresses of a certain age rotate in as mothers and other older women.
Cost: free from libary
Where watched: at home with Matt.
part of the Ruby Oliver Film Festival
Julia Roberts is so damn likable that I didn’t mind watching this fairly mediocre movie that was completely predictable. I just love to watch the various emotions spool across her face. Plus, Joan Cusack was in this, which is always a treat.
Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.
Sometimes I read something written by someone from the past and they mention, just in passing, that they saw Oscar Wild give a talk or went to a reading with Mark Twain and I think, “Do you realize, random person from the past, how incredibly cool it was to be there in that moment?” And so it is with this movie, getting to be there in the theater seeing actors age in real time as they tell a story that is both specific and universal. I can’t recommend this movie enough meaning, it’s not the be all, end all of film making, but there was a time before someone made a movie over 12 years with the same actors and there is a period where that concept now exists, and I’m happy to have experienced the changeover.
Cost: $9.00
Where watched: at Cinema 21 with Stephanie North.
Part of the Ruby Oliver Film Festival.
There was a lot to like about this movie and it has aged quite well.* I also appreciated how it incorporated many things that could have gone off the rails,** but never did and it says a lot that the movie is 111 minutes of mostly fighting, but still very fun to watch. However, I found Marsha Mason’s voice grating (unfortunately) and has an uncanny resemblance to someone in my life, so that was incredibly distracting.
Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.
*Especially considering there’s a subplot with a gay Richard III, which manages to be funny and not offensive, at least in my mind. Other people can feel free to weigh in about this.
**For instance, Quinn Cummings as Lucy McFadden could have gone the way of grating, abrasive child, but instead she managed to perfectly walk the line between world-weary and innocent. Also, there’s something inherently creepy about random dude moving into an apartment with a little girl living there and the movie managed to not venture into that territory. Plus, I could have completely become judgmental of Paula McFadden’s quick attachments with (and subsequent dumpings by) men, but for all her grating voice, she managed to charm we away from that line of thinking.
Part of the Ruby Oliver Film Festival.
This version of the Jane Austin novel has more running than a Tom Cruise movie! I greatly enjoyed this tale of love lost, a deserving heroine and a convenient school friend who eagerly rounds up all hanging plot points in one breathless soliloquy. I’m guessing it doesn’t happen that way in the book.
Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home.