movie reviews and such
I don't often see movies, except of course when I visit NJ. I thought I would write about them here, in case I hit on one that one of my friends has been wondering about. (don't worry, I won't write spoilers, and if you have a comment to make I ask that you avoid them too)
But first... I might be back here in NJ next week, to see Amma, yet another Indian woman. She is hosting a three day retreat in RI next weekend, but it looks like it might already be full, and it costs a bit over $200. For half that I could do the round trip to NYC and see her, and probably sneak a night in back here at my mother's.
Anyway, on with the movie reviews.
I will warn you that I suck with names, so bear with me. This isn't going to be like one of those reviews that people actually get paid to write or anything.
Life as a House was beyond awesome. It stars Kevin Spacey (I think) and the guy that plays Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen? or something like that) and both of them impress the hell out of me. (there were others, but those were the ones I felt the story revolved around) A lot more of the criticism that I've read about Hayden makes sense now, seeing the performance he put in here. It's one of those father-rebel son-bonding kind of movies, and there were so many times I was floored and pleased at some of the risks they took (so many times I said "I can't believe they went there!"). Maybe I am just easily pleased, but this movie had enough surprises in it to make up for the fact that, in a sense, you kind of know where it's going to end up in the first twenty minutes. The path they take to get there more than makes up for it.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding was another good one. Maybe it's just the fact that the main character, when she was made-up to look nice (as opposed to the homely creature they had her be in the beginning) looked a lot like this girl I worked with at the airport. Maybe it's just that her love interest was the totally yummy guy from Northern Exposure (the really tall one, with the long hair, that worked at the radio station). But there was just so much to laugh at in this movie. It's basically about a Greek girl who manages to go against family tradition and go beyond marrying a Greek man and putting out more and more Greek babies. She has the gall to fall in love with a non-Greek, and the culture clash is hilarious to watch.
The Others is great, if you are into ghost stories, and if you are patient. The story moved kind of slow sometimes (and coming from me, that's really saying something; I wasn't bored with Titanic the first time I saw it) but it eventually builds into a pretty cool climax. It's set around WWI on some English island that the Germans conquered (I remember reading about that, but cannot remember the name of the island). If you can grit your teeth thru a mother teaching her children about the Loving God Who Will Cast You Into The Fiery Pit Of Hell For Fucking Up Even Once, you might enjoy it. It's the kind of thing Mikki (my older sister) would totally love. But if you need action, or a fast moving plot, then this one will put you to sleep.
We watched Die Hard 2 last night, pretty much just to make fun of it. The part of me that remembers how things work in an airport had to constantly rip the movie to shreds to be able to put up with it, but then Bruce Willis can be so fun to pan. (There is NO fucking way that someone with an LA police badge would be allowed, without an escort, into a secure area of Dulles airport, for starters. Not even before 9/11.) The worst part was that it was on some movie channel that had commercials, meaning that The Censors got to it, so they dubbed out all the cuss words. Unfortunately, not only did they fail to match the voices well, but the things they dubbed in were hysterical. (can you see a shot up Bruce Willis calling someone "freakin' idiot?" I don't think so)
Anyway, that's enough of the movie review.
I went to the foot thing, and that was, erm, interesting. I am still processing that to be honest. I hate it when someone asks me a vague question about medical status, because as much as I don't want to be closeted about my HIV status, I hate volunteering it when that's totally not what someone is looking for. So the assistant asks me the vague "Do you have any medical condition we should know about?" question, and I redirect the question back to her. (ie "like what?") She asked me if I had any problems with dizziness or blood pressure. (The answer was no.)
So the first thing I noticed was that I got a little nauseous at first. And my left knee hurt really strangely. (I have banged up both knees pretty badly at different times, so this was no surprise.) But I brought a good book, and just held it to where I could not see the water my feet were soaking in, and focused on my breathing, and both discomforts went away soon enough. When we were done, the water was this murky orange-brown muddy color, and kind of gross. They told me that was normal for a first time. I've been kind of spaced out all day since, and just kind of taking it easy.
Okay, I've been online for an hour now, so better shut up. I should be coming home tomorrow.
But first... I might be back here in NJ next week, to see Amma, yet another Indian woman. She is hosting a three day retreat in RI next weekend, but it looks like it might already be full, and it costs a bit over $200. For half that I could do the round trip to NYC and see her, and probably sneak a night in back here at my mother's.
Anyway, on with the movie reviews.
I will warn you that I suck with names, so bear with me. This isn't going to be like one of those reviews that people actually get paid to write or anything.
Life as a House was beyond awesome. It stars Kevin Spacey (I think) and the guy that plays Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen? or something like that) and both of them impress the hell out of me. (there were others, but those were the ones I felt the story revolved around) A lot more of the criticism that I've read about Hayden makes sense now, seeing the performance he put in here. It's one of those father-rebel son-bonding kind of movies, and there were so many times I was floored and pleased at some of the risks they took (so many times I said "I can't believe they went there!"). Maybe I am just easily pleased, but this movie had enough surprises in it to make up for the fact that, in a sense, you kind of know where it's going to end up in the first twenty minutes. The path they take to get there more than makes up for it.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding was another good one. Maybe it's just the fact that the main character, when she was made-up to look nice (as opposed to the homely creature they had her be in the beginning) looked a lot like this girl I worked with at the airport. Maybe it's just that her love interest was the totally yummy guy from Northern Exposure (the really tall one, with the long hair, that worked at the radio station). But there was just so much to laugh at in this movie. It's basically about a Greek girl who manages to go against family tradition and go beyond marrying a Greek man and putting out more and more Greek babies. She has the gall to fall in love with a non-Greek, and the culture clash is hilarious to watch.
The Others is great, if you are into ghost stories, and if you are patient. The story moved kind of slow sometimes (and coming from me, that's really saying something; I wasn't bored with Titanic the first time I saw it) but it eventually builds into a pretty cool climax. It's set around WWI on some English island that the Germans conquered (I remember reading about that, but cannot remember the name of the island). If you can grit your teeth thru a mother teaching her children about the Loving God Who Will Cast You Into The Fiery Pit Of Hell For Fucking Up Even Once, you might enjoy it. It's the kind of thing Mikki (my older sister) would totally love. But if you need action, or a fast moving plot, then this one will put you to sleep.
We watched Die Hard 2 last night, pretty much just to make fun of it. The part of me that remembers how things work in an airport had to constantly rip the movie to shreds to be able to put up with it, but then Bruce Willis can be so fun to pan. (There is NO fucking way that someone with an LA police badge would be allowed, without an escort, into a secure area of Dulles airport, for starters. Not even before 9/11.) The worst part was that it was on some movie channel that had commercials, meaning that The Censors got to it, so they dubbed out all the cuss words. Unfortunately, not only did they fail to match the voices well, but the things they dubbed in were hysterical. (can you see a shot up Bruce Willis calling someone "freakin' idiot?" I don't think so)
Anyway, that's enough of the movie review.
I went to the foot thing, and that was, erm, interesting. I am still processing that to be honest. I hate it when someone asks me a vague question about medical status, because as much as I don't want to be closeted about my HIV status, I hate volunteering it when that's totally not what someone is looking for. So the assistant asks me the vague "Do you have any medical condition we should know about?" question, and I redirect the question back to her. (ie "like what?") She asked me if I had any problems with dizziness or blood pressure. (The answer was no.)
So the first thing I noticed was that I got a little nauseous at first. And my left knee hurt really strangely. (I have banged up both knees pretty badly at different times, so this was no surprise.) But I brought a good book, and just held it to where I could not see the water my feet were soaking in, and focused on my breathing, and both discomforts went away soon enough. When we were done, the water was this murky orange-brown muddy color, and kind of gross. They told me that was normal for a first time. I've been kind of spaced out all day since, and just kind of taking it easy.
Okay, I've been online for an hour now, so better shut up. I should be coming home tomorrow.