Amazing Race, Lost in Translation, Lone Star
Amazing Race
Okay, there's something I don't understand about this leg. If Eric and Danielle hadn't beaten Danny and Oswald by thirty minutes, would they have still not been eliminated, just faced with another marked for elimination leg?
I am sick of the yield and the sniping over it. It needs to be retired even more than the fast forward does. I don't blame Danny and Oswald or Dustin and Kandice for using it the way they did, and I think what they did made a lot of sense. I do wonder if Danny and Oswald will own up that taking money for yield use was their idea in the first place. And I didn't much like D&K's half truth there at the end, but the way the explained it is exactly the way they should have approached it. They should have asked D&O to yield anyone but them, or even not yield anyone at all. And now I'm sick of talking about it, too.
That roadblock was intense! I think the walking around the top part would have been harder than the jump. But wow to both.
The garden in Macau was gorgeous. I want to visit it someday.
Lost in Translation
I put this movie on my netflix queue because I wanted to see what was with all the hoopla, both positive and negative, over this movie. So I watched it today and … fell asleep twice. This was possibly the most boring waste of a movie I've seen in years. It wasn't awful or anything. And the sets and camera shots are great. But the story itself is completely pointless. And yes, I get that it's about lack of communication and isolation on many levels, blah blah blah, but. I mean really, come on. None of the characters are sympathetic, so why should I care who they're communicating with or not. And they all have the power to change their situations if they want to. Instead, the two principals jump at the chance for adultery. It was just mehness. And honestly, very self-indulgent on little Princess Coppola's part. I guess with the daddy she has it doesn't matter and she can get any piece of crap she wants made into a movie, but I think it might be a better idea for her to play at something else for a while. Maybe daddy can buy her a restaurant and she can pretend to be a chef. I'd be more likely to try whatever ridiculous trendy concoctions she comes up with than ever see another one of her "movies."
Question for those of you who liked it -- do you consider this a chick movie? I didn't, but some reviews I've read have indicated that people who don't like chick movies won't like this one, so I'm curious.
Lone Star
Now this was a wonderful movie! With a 40 year old murder as the catalyst, Lone Star explores racial and cultural tension in a small south Texas town. It also explores the relationships between different father-son and mother-daughter pairs. While the mystery itself is not all that mysterious, it functions perfectly as the event driving the characters to greater knowledge of themselves and their families. Lone Star has some very interesting takes on interracial and inter-cultural romantic relationships, and there are some surprises along the way, especially at the end (warning - some people may find it shocking and/or disturbing). And it's one of those movies with lots of shades of gray and sympathetic characters making mistakes and dealing with them. I'm from north Texas, so I'm not an expert, but I did feel like it portrayed the type of small south Texas town Frontera is supposed to be perfectly. The acting was superb across the board, and all of the characterization has a great deal of depth to it. I highly recommend this movie.
