(no subject)
It’s a little sad how happy I am that today is Tuesday and not Monday. Had a fun long weekend visiting my bestie in Ottawa, although our plans to actually do outdoor activities for the first time fell through thanks to Mother Nature. Well, thanks to global warming is more accurate. Rain and not enough snow in OTTAWA in mid-February! Insanity. This time of year is usually -30.
This week’s blog is about the contentious issue of book reviews. If you write your own reviews on Amazon or Goodreads I’d love to hear your thoughts. And if you don’t, I’d still love to hear your thoughts!
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Watched some Oscar flicks recently.
The Descendants: Good, but not great, IMO. I liked it, and Clooney was excellent in a different kind of role for him, but overall I didn’t *love* it.
The Artist: So delightful! Really charming and lovely. Nice to see a truly unique movie these days. Sweet romance, and great cinematography and scoring. Loved it!
Beginners: Christopher Plummer was terrific, as was Ewan. Their scenes together were wonderful, and I enjoyed that aspect of the movie more than Ewan’s romance with Melanie Laurent. Overall, I liked it but didn’t love it.
A Dangerous Method: Very enjoyable, especially for Herr Fassbender. Another that I liked but didn’t love.
The Help: I saw this in the theatre, but watched it again and loved it again. Viola Davis just kills me. Love the casting from top to bottom, and it’s just a really entertaining movie. If The Artist doesn’t win, this is my vote for best picture (granted, I haven’t seen all the noms).
War Horse: I fell asleep. I saw this play on Broadway and it was phenomenal. Absolutely breathtaking, with the life-sized puppets for the animals, etc. With real horses it just doesn’t have the same magic, I’m afraid. I found myself thinking that Albert really needed to get over his obsession with that horse. Heh. Do yourself a favour and see the play - so much more effective.
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: I haven’t read the books, which people seem to either love or hate with a fiery passion. (I’m sure the movie made some changes, so my thoughts are just on that, not the books.) Yet another that I liked but didn’t love. Dazzling opening credit sequence, and I thought Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara were great - especially her, as that can’t have been an easy role at times. The graphic sexual violence was obviously disturbing, but I have a pretty high threshold for disturbance. I enjoyed that it was Daniel who was the damsel in distress at the end and that she saved him. I guessed that Joely was the missing girl, because I’d think cadaver dogs would have found the body on the island. Overall I didn’t really have very strong feelings about the movie one way or the other. The ending was rather an emotional downer.
Speaking of Mr. Craig, one more: Dream House: Most definitely NOT an Oscar movie! We watched it for Daniel, because we figured with him, Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts - and directed by Jim Sheridan - that it would be a decent horror flick. We thought wrong, my friends. Sooooo terrible. The only thing I can imagine is that all involved had insurmountable gambling debts and desperately needed the paycheque. The movie hinges on a gamechanging twist that makes no fucking sense whatsoever. The whole thing was just embarrassing. Avoid at all costs! Also, Daniel has bad hair in it, so it’s not even worth it for the eye candy.
This week’s blog is about the contentious issue of book reviews. If you write your own reviews on Amazon or Goodreads I’d love to hear your thoughts. And if you don’t, I’d still love to hear your thoughts!
*
Watched some Oscar flicks recently.
The Descendants: Good, but not great, IMO. I liked it, and Clooney was excellent in a different kind of role for him, but overall I didn’t *love* it.
The Artist: So delightful! Really charming and lovely. Nice to see a truly unique movie these days. Sweet romance, and great cinematography and scoring. Loved it!
Beginners: Christopher Plummer was terrific, as was Ewan. Their scenes together were wonderful, and I enjoyed that aspect of the movie more than Ewan’s romance with Melanie Laurent. Overall, I liked it but didn’t love it.
A Dangerous Method: Very enjoyable, especially for Herr Fassbender. Another that I liked but didn’t love.
The Help: I saw this in the theatre, but watched it again and loved it again. Viola Davis just kills me. Love the casting from top to bottom, and it’s just a really entertaining movie. If The Artist doesn’t win, this is my vote for best picture (granted, I haven’t seen all the noms).
War Horse: I fell asleep. I saw this play on Broadway and it was phenomenal. Absolutely breathtaking, with the life-sized puppets for the animals, etc. With real horses it just doesn’t have the same magic, I’m afraid. I found myself thinking that Albert really needed to get over his obsession with that horse. Heh. Do yourself a favour and see the play - so much more effective.
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: I haven’t read the books, which people seem to either love or hate with a fiery passion. (I’m sure the movie made some changes, so my thoughts are just on that, not the books.) Yet another that I liked but didn’t love. Dazzling opening credit sequence, and I thought Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara were great - especially her, as that can’t have been an easy role at times. The graphic sexual violence was obviously disturbing, but I have a pretty high threshold for disturbance. I enjoyed that it was Daniel who was the damsel in distress at the end and that she saved him. I guessed that Joely was the missing girl, because I’d think cadaver dogs would have found the body on the island. Overall I didn’t really have very strong feelings about the movie one way or the other. The ending was rather an emotional downer.
Speaking of Mr. Craig, one more: Dream House: Most definitely NOT an Oscar movie! We watched it for Daniel, because we figured with him, Rachel Weisz, Naomi Watts - and directed by Jim Sheridan - that it would be a decent horror flick. We thought wrong, my friends. Sooooo terrible. The only thing I can imagine is that all involved had insurmountable gambling debts and desperately needed the paycheque. The movie hinges on a gamechanging twist that makes no fucking sense whatsoever. The whole thing was just embarrassing. Avoid at all costs! Also, Daniel has bad hair in it, so it’s not even worth it for the eye candy.