(no subject)
Am back at work, but still not feeling 100%. However, work must be done. It's -30 outside, and god damn, that is cold. Okay, winter. We get it.
Movie watching continued apace on the weekend. I think I've watched more movies in the past week than I have in the past year.
The Fighter: I liked it, but didn't love it. Great performances by all, but the plot didn't really appeal to me. It was very well done, though.
Blue Valentine: Jesus, the supposedly happy parts of this were still freaking depressing to me. Amazing performances by Ryan and Michelle, but I don't ever want to watch that again. Nothing crazy sad happens, but I think that's what made it worse. Their lives of quiet desperation were so painfully mundane.
Rabbit Hole: Amazingly, this was far less depressing than Blue Valentine. Really fantastic performances by Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart as grieving parents figuring out how to go on with their lives after their son is killed in an accident. It was obviously sad, but I really liked this movie.
Toy Story 3: I'm not a fan of animation at all, but I do enjoy this series. I'd heard that this installment was sad, and it did indeed make me cry. But it was very enjoyable, and a great ending to the story. Reminded me of the song "Puff the Magic Dragon." (True story: When I was a kid, I thought Jackie Paper died ("A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys"), not just grew up.) The toys' devotion to Andy and the realization that he doesn't need them any more really was touching.
The Reader: Because it wouldn't be an awards season movie marathon without a Holocaust flick (albeit one from last year). Very engrossing, and great performances by all.
The Lovely Bones: Oh my goodness, Stanley Tucci. Wow. Seriously an incredible performance. So, SO creepy and scary. Saoirse Ronan was excellent and really likable as poor Susie. The suspense sequences were really well done, but overall I felt like the main point of the book (what "the lovely bones" actually are) was lost. I know that you can't translate everything from the book, but we barely saw Ruth and Ray, and Lindsay's boyfriend, etc., so I didn't feel the power of those connections. So in the end it rang a bit hollow. However, I was relieved that... Susie didn't have sex with Ray in Ruth's body. I hated that in the book, and it would have really felt wrong and out of place in the movie.
Movie watching continued apace on the weekend. I think I've watched more movies in the past week than I have in the past year.
The Fighter: I liked it, but didn't love it. Great performances by all, but the plot didn't really appeal to me. It was very well done, though.
Blue Valentine: Jesus, the supposedly happy parts of this were still freaking depressing to me. Amazing performances by Ryan and Michelle, but I don't ever want to watch that again. Nothing crazy sad happens, but I think that's what made it worse. Their lives of quiet desperation were so painfully mundane.
Rabbit Hole: Amazingly, this was far less depressing than Blue Valentine. Really fantastic performances by Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart as grieving parents figuring out how to go on with their lives after their son is killed in an accident. It was obviously sad, but I really liked this movie.
Toy Story 3: I'm not a fan of animation at all, but I do enjoy this series. I'd heard that this installment was sad, and it did indeed make me cry. But it was very enjoyable, and a great ending to the story. Reminded me of the song "Puff the Magic Dragon." (True story: When I was a kid, I thought Jackie Paper died ("A dragon lives forever, but not so little boys"), not just grew up.) The toys' devotion to Andy and the realization that he doesn't need them any more really was touching.
The Reader: Because it wouldn't be an awards season movie marathon without a Holocaust flick (albeit one from last year). Very engrossing, and great performances by all.
The Lovely Bones: Oh my goodness, Stanley Tucci. Wow. Seriously an incredible performance. So, SO creepy and scary. Saoirse Ronan was excellent and really likable as poor Susie. The suspense sequences were really well done, but overall I felt like the main point of the book (what "the lovely bones" actually are) was lost. I know that you can't translate everything from the book, but we barely saw Ruth and Ray, and Lindsay's boyfriend, etc., so I didn't feel the power of those connections. So in the end it rang a bit hollow. However, I was relieved that... Susie didn't have sex with Ray in Ruth's body. I hated that in the book, and it would have really felt wrong and out of place in the movie.