Two movies and a bunch of tv shows
Today I baked my first ham! It was kind of crazy. I kept asking my meat-savvy roommate insecure questions about water level and poking prowess and such. I am much more comfortable around tofu and vegetables, but I need to get my protein intake UP, and one protein shake a day is certainly enough. It turned out really yummy. We glazed it with a mustard/brown sugar/orange juice glaze that my mom always used to put on ham growing up, and mmmmm.
I only got to nibble on a bit of it before I had to run out of the house to go to a movie with my exstepmom (for those of you just joining us, I am one of those weird many-mothered people; I have a bio mom, an exstepmom, AND a newstepmom. I will try to keep these distinctions clear lest your head explode). I assumed it was my birthday present, since she has a tradition of taking me to the movies for my birthday, but it turned out she just randomly invited me to the movies. Which is a rare but welcome occasion, and a present in itself.
She wanted to see Because I Said So, descriptions of which sounded vaguely familiar, but the Lauren Graham billing was enough to get me there. Graham wasn't the headliner, but she was delightful in the parts she was in, and the movie itself enjoyable. I've never really liked Mandy Moore (in truth, I used to hate her), but I have liked a number of her movies (read: Saved), and after this one - well, I officially declare that I respect her. I'm not about to fangirl her or anything, but she really is a solid actress, and THANK GOD she got rid of her blonde hair. Ahem.
Final spoiler-free thought: fun movie that I enjoyed a lot, but some stereotypical humour near the beginning that I didn't appreciate, and many over-the-top sexual scenes/humour that was hit-and-miss with me. Oh, and GREAT guest stars! Buster from Arrested Development was hysterical! I'd say check this movie out if you like the actors, otherwise wait for the rental.
01. Oh my GOD, that mother! Would drive me nuts. She really did need to take the "How to let go" course. All of her stalking and obsessing about her daughter was just sad.
02. I was very uncomfortable with the underlying premise that life isn't complete (and you can't be happy!) without a man. Um. But, heck, this is the movies and I'm good at suspending disbelief.
03. The mother-taking-out-a-personal-ad-for-her-daughter "dates" were somewhat interesting and amusing (though this is where we're barraged with unfunny stereotypes). But, just like the MTV show with the same premise, the potential suitors flirting up the mom is just inherently uncomfortable if not inappropriate. Of course right away, the guy mom likes seems like Sleaze, and guy mom dismisses is the unlikely musician with a heart of gold.
04. The climactic breakup scene in the relationship between Mandy Moore and Heart of Gold Musician Guy was sudden and contrived. In real life, I would hope a woman dating two guys would be upfront with each of them, and as she has not yet been betrothed to either, I don't see the problem. I'd probably have a hard time of it myself, but if gal wants to explore her options before committing, more power to her. And Musician Guy *knew* she was seeing Sleaze from the beginning, so what's with the feigned surprise just because she's still seeing him? And the mom's later comment that Mandy's character "betrayed" the musician as though she'd been cheating on him -- um, no. Plz be to not forcing drama where there isn't any. K thx.
05. Having said all that, Mandy Moore played the character well and there was sincerity and honestly in her confusion between two guys and, really, life paths (the shiny pretty rich guy who mom loves but is vapid and stern and doesn't get her; or the [presumably] struggling artist with a kid who understands her and isn't scared away from her freak outs and is constantly supportive and encouraging - but whom mom is convinced is Bad News).
06. The mother-daughter relationship was interesting, and Lauren Graham's involvement brings instant comparisons to Gilmore Girls. Of course the relationship explored here wasn't nearly as warm or best-friend-like - and bordered on the creepy of course - but it was nice to see them talking frankly about sex and genuinely caring for and about each other. The scenes between the mom and all three daughters were a delight. They all clicked really well and had a great, fun chemistry.
07. The movie really was quite raunchy by American non-X-rated standards. Some of it was too over-the-top. Like when the mom stumbles on some frantic, loud internet porn and starts freaking out trying to shut the thing down (um, you do know where the volume button is right?). And then, after throwing a blanket on top of the computer to cover up the Vile Goings-On, her dog drags it off and proceeds to eagerly lick the scene and then go hump the couch. Okay. However, scenes like this got the loudest laughs from the audience, while other scenes that made me howl (and I laugh REALLY. LOUD.) got nary a peep from anybody else. Making me seem like a huge pervert in some cases, I swear, which is slightly embarrassing when sitting next to someone who was your step-mother in high school. So maybe I have strange taste, or I'm not the intended audience, but I really do prefer the overt sexuality of French films in general. They seem more natural, while here it felt forced, in a Puritans-trying-too-hard-to-be-raunchy way. Maybe it just seemed out-of-place in a romantic comedy, because I do love my raunchy comedy is general (40-Year Old Virgin anyone?).
08. At the same time, many of the sexuality scenes were refreshing. Didn't quite score the goal, but they get points for trying. The mother's sexuality arc was particularly satisfying, starting out living vicariously through her daughter's romantic (and sometimes sex!) life, asking her daughter what an orgasm feels like, and then ending up falling for the sweet-runs-in-the-same-family Daddy Musician Guy. Judging by their randiness, she no longer has to ask what sexual pleasure is like. (Also, Mandy Moore - buy your mom a vibrator for god's sake!)
I think that sums up my thoughts. I had a lot more, but seeing another movie immediately after makes it very hard to recall without any notes.
(And one thing I'm going to sneakily add to the end of this cut because I'm a little shy to talk about this, but -- well, the theme of all of this, for me at least? Turning 30. Growing up. Getting a real job. Blah blah blah. Because I Said So is the you-need-a-man part (which I don't buy into, but still it's the single-life-must-end-sometime message, which can be read in a youth way not just in a relationships way). With Music and Lyrics, the characters also get together, but I relate that movie to myself more in the pulling your career together and figuring out Your Path way.
And then I LOVE the Knocked Up trailer (linked below), but again it's about growing up, letting go of this fancy free youth thing and trying to figure out where to go from here, what you really want your life to be centred around. Deciding the course upon which you want to set out on, that year you enter your thirties, so that you end up in 10 years in a place you want to be (further along your newly discovered career path). Setting the foundation, making those choices. And seeing the freedom of your twenties slip away, but deciding to meet this new decade head on, to embrace it and make the most of it. As Sarah Michelle Gellar (who's my age!) said in a recent interview, "I love my age. I still look a lot younger, but I also have the wisdom and experience to make me appreciate myself and the world much more." (Paraphrased from memory.) So it's about trying to appreciate that you have the best of both worlds, and deciding to look forward to the new experiences, and (perhaps) life roles that may present themselves soon. I look forward to soon being thirty-something. It's a new adventure if nothing else. (End hidden soul-baring here.)
As we were leaving the theatre, I bumped into a couple of friends and decided to see a second movie with them. They were seeing Music and Lyrics, a romantic comedy with Drew Barrymore (eee!) and Hugh Grant. I'd just seen the preview in the first movie and it looked cheekily awesome. And it was. An over-the-top 80s cheese music video right at the beginning (and in the trailer if you want to check it out), though it is one of those movies where the funniest scenes are in the trailer, so the hilarity of some scenes were a bit muted for me. The romantic comedy-ness wasn't forced or insincere (as it was at times in Because I Said So), and by the end I was crying along with Drew. Awwww.
Overall, I'd say that I felt more inspired by Because I Said So, and it will stay with me longer and I will chew over its issues more. It was meatier. Music and Lyrics not so much, but overall a more solid and consistent movie. Definitely worth checking out, even in the theatres (especially if you like the actors!). The music-biz story lines were interesting and sweet as well, and I appreciated the references to writers and writing (Drew's character).
Oh! And the preview for the new Judd Apatow movie, Knocked Up, is SO HOT. Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogan, Jay Baruchel - it's like all my favourite stars in one movie. SWEET. (Watch the hilarious trailer here.)
I ate waaay too much junk tonight. My tummy is crazy sore. It's quite painful. :(
Also, thank you all for voting in my last post! A lengthy addendum, since I didn't have room in the poll to name every show I've ever watched regularly. I was really wanting to see what shows you guys watch that I might actually write about sometime (i.e. which shows you might be interested in me reviewing, etc). So my choices reflected that. I have or do already watch many of the shows you recommended (Sex and the City, Tru Calling, Everwood, Carnivale, Freaks and Geeks, Sports Night, Scrubs, Stargate: Atlantic, Six Feet Under, Friends), and you mentioned a couple of shows I forgot that I do want to check out (The 4400 - I have all of first season on my computer but haven't watched it yet, and Torchwood - hey, you had me at hot bisexual sci-fi guy).
I also want to see more of Men in Trees and Oz, as I've only seen a few episodes each, and as for The X-Files - Oh, yes, I definitely watched this back in the day. Every Sunday for at least a few years. Not the first year, as I was in high school and didn't appreciate my inner geek yet, but by second-year University I was totally into my sci-fi love. Of course, I skipped the last couple of seasons like everyone else just because they seemed lame.
I only got to nibble on a bit of it before I had to run out of the house to go to a movie with my exstepmom (for those of you just joining us, I am one of those weird many-mothered people; I have a bio mom, an exstepmom, AND a newstepmom. I will try to keep these distinctions clear lest your head explode). I assumed it was my birthday present, since she has a tradition of taking me to the movies for my birthday, but it turned out she just randomly invited me to the movies. Which is a rare but welcome occasion, and a present in itself.
She wanted to see Because I Said So, descriptions of which sounded vaguely familiar, but the Lauren Graham billing was enough to get me there. Graham wasn't the headliner, but she was delightful in the parts she was in, and the movie itself enjoyable. I've never really liked Mandy Moore (in truth, I used to hate her), but I have liked a number of her movies (read: Saved), and after this one - well, I officially declare that I respect her. I'm not about to fangirl her or anything, but she really is a solid actress, and THANK GOD she got rid of her blonde hair. Ahem.
Final spoiler-free thought: fun movie that I enjoyed a lot, but some stereotypical humour near the beginning that I didn't appreciate, and many over-the-top sexual scenes/humour that was hit-and-miss with me. Oh, and GREAT guest stars! Buster from Arrested Development was hysterical! I'd say check this movie out if you like the actors, otherwise wait for the rental.
01. Oh my GOD, that mother! Would drive me nuts. She really did need to take the "How to let go" course. All of her stalking and obsessing about her daughter was just sad.
02. I was very uncomfortable with the underlying premise that life isn't complete (and you can't be happy!) without a man. Um. But, heck, this is the movies and I'm good at suspending disbelief.
03. The mother-taking-out-a-personal-ad-for-her-daughter "dates" were somewhat interesting and amusing (though this is where we're barraged with unfunny stereotypes). But, just like the MTV show with the same premise, the potential suitors flirting up the mom is just inherently uncomfortable if not inappropriate. Of course right away, the guy mom likes seems like Sleaze, and guy mom dismisses is the unlikely musician with a heart of gold.
04. The climactic breakup scene in the relationship between Mandy Moore and Heart of Gold Musician Guy was sudden and contrived. In real life, I would hope a woman dating two guys would be upfront with each of them, and as she has not yet been betrothed to either, I don't see the problem. I'd probably have a hard time of it myself, but if gal wants to explore her options before committing, more power to her. And Musician Guy *knew* she was seeing Sleaze from the beginning, so what's with the feigned surprise just because she's still seeing him? And the mom's later comment that Mandy's character "betrayed" the musician as though she'd been cheating on him -- um, no. Plz be to not forcing drama where there isn't any. K thx.
05. Having said all that, Mandy Moore played the character well and there was sincerity and honestly in her confusion between two guys and, really, life paths (the shiny pretty rich guy who mom loves but is vapid and stern and doesn't get her; or the [presumably] struggling artist with a kid who understands her and isn't scared away from her freak outs and is constantly supportive and encouraging - but whom mom is convinced is Bad News).
06. The mother-daughter relationship was interesting, and Lauren Graham's involvement brings instant comparisons to Gilmore Girls. Of course the relationship explored here wasn't nearly as warm or best-friend-like - and bordered on the creepy of course - but it was nice to see them talking frankly about sex and genuinely caring for and about each other. The scenes between the mom and all three daughters were a delight. They all clicked really well and had a great, fun chemistry.
07. The movie really was quite raunchy by American non-X-rated standards. Some of it was too over-the-top. Like when the mom stumbles on some frantic, loud internet porn and starts freaking out trying to shut the thing down (um, you do know where the volume button is right?). And then, after throwing a blanket on top of the computer to cover up the Vile Goings-On, her dog drags it off and proceeds to eagerly lick the scene and then go hump the couch. Okay. However, scenes like this got the loudest laughs from the audience, while other scenes that made me howl (and I laugh REALLY. LOUD.) got nary a peep from anybody else. Making me seem like a huge pervert in some cases, I swear, which is slightly embarrassing when sitting next to someone who was your step-mother in high school. So maybe I have strange taste, or I'm not the intended audience, but I really do prefer the overt sexuality of French films in general. They seem more natural, while here it felt forced, in a Puritans-trying-too-hard-to-be-raunchy way. Maybe it just seemed out-of-place in a romantic comedy, because I do love my raunchy comedy is general (40-Year Old Virgin anyone?).
08. At the same time, many of the sexuality scenes were refreshing. Didn't quite score the goal, but they get points for trying. The mother's sexuality arc was particularly satisfying, starting out living vicariously through her daughter's romantic (and sometimes sex!) life, asking her daughter what an orgasm feels like, and then ending up falling for the sweet-runs-in-the-same-family Daddy Musician Guy. Judging by their randiness, she no longer has to ask what sexual pleasure is like. (Also, Mandy Moore - buy your mom a vibrator for god's sake!)
I think that sums up my thoughts. I had a lot more, but seeing another movie immediately after makes it very hard to recall without any notes.
(And one thing I'm going to sneakily add to the end of this cut because I'm a little shy to talk about this, but -- well, the theme of all of this, for me at least? Turning 30. Growing up. Getting a real job. Blah blah blah. Because I Said So is the you-need-a-man part (which I don't buy into, but still it's the single-life-must-end-sometime message, which can be read in a youth way not just in a relationships way). With Music and Lyrics, the characters also get together, but I relate that movie to myself more in the pulling your career together and figuring out Your Path way.
And then I LOVE the Knocked Up trailer (linked below), but again it's about growing up, letting go of this fancy free youth thing and trying to figure out where to go from here, what you really want your life to be centred around. Deciding the course upon which you want to set out on, that year you enter your thirties, so that you end up in 10 years in a place you want to be (further along your newly discovered career path). Setting the foundation, making those choices. And seeing the freedom of your twenties slip away, but deciding to meet this new decade head on, to embrace it and make the most of it. As Sarah Michelle Gellar (who's my age!) said in a recent interview, "I love my age. I still look a lot younger, but I also have the wisdom and experience to make me appreciate myself and the world much more." (Paraphrased from memory.) So it's about trying to appreciate that you have the best of both worlds, and deciding to look forward to the new experiences, and (perhaps) life roles that may present themselves soon. I look forward to soon being thirty-something. It's a new adventure if nothing else. (End hidden soul-baring here.)
As we were leaving the theatre, I bumped into a couple of friends and decided to see a second movie with them. They were seeing Music and Lyrics, a romantic comedy with Drew Barrymore (eee!) and Hugh Grant. I'd just seen the preview in the first movie and it looked cheekily awesome. And it was. An over-the-top 80s cheese music video right at the beginning (and in the trailer if you want to check it out), though it is one of those movies where the funniest scenes are in the trailer, so the hilarity of some scenes were a bit muted for me. The romantic comedy-ness wasn't forced or insincere (as it was at times in Because I Said So), and by the end I was crying along with Drew. Awwww.
Overall, I'd say that I felt more inspired by Because I Said So, and it will stay with me longer and I will chew over its issues more. It was meatier. Music and Lyrics not so much, but overall a more solid and consistent movie. Definitely worth checking out, even in the theatres (especially if you like the actors!). The music-biz story lines were interesting and sweet as well, and I appreciated the references to writers and writing (Drew's character).
Oh! And the preview for the new Judd Apatow movie, Knocked Up, is SO HOT. Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd, Seth Rogan, Jay Baruchel - it's like all my favourite stars in one movie. SWEET. (Watch the hilarious trailer here.)
I ate waaay too much junk tonight. My tummy is crazy sore. It's quite painful. :(
Also, thank you all for voting in my last post! A lengthy addendum, since I didn't have room in the poll to name every show I've ever watched regularly. I was really wanting to see what shows you guys watch that I might actually write about sometime (i.e. which shows you might be interested in me reviewing, etc). So my choices reflected that. I have or do already watch many of the shows you recommended (Sex and the City, Tru Calling, Everwood, Carnivale, Freaks and Geeks, Sports Night, Scrubs, Stargate: Atlantic, Six Feet Under, Friends), and you mentioned a couple of shows I forgot that I do want to check out (The 4400 - I have all of first season on my computer but haven't watched it yet, and Torchwood - hey, you had me at hot bisexual sci-fi guy).
I also want to see more of Men in Trees and Oz, as I've only seen a few episodes each, and as for The X-Files - Oh, yes, I definitely watched this back in the day. Every Sunday for at least a few years. Not the first year, as I was in high school and didn't appreciate my inner geek yet, but by second-year University I was totally into my sci-fi love. Of course, I skipped the last couple of seasons like everyone else just because they seemed lame.