Movie Review

I just watched a great movie called "Slumdog Millionaire." It was sublime. I'd heard of it when it first came out, but I didn't think I'd ever watch it just because I knew it wasn't going to be in wide release and I couldn't really be bothered to hunt down a theatre that was playing it. I ended up watching it online (yeah, I feel a little guilty about that actually), so I missed about five minutes of it due to really bad streaming last night. Oh well. Anyway, the movie was very moving and beautifully shot. The story was sweet and very engaging. I'm glad I got to see it!

In other news . . . tomorrow is my last teaching day this year! I booked Friday off (I wanted the whole week off because after five and a half years of only get a one week break at Christmas, I felt like I deserved two weeks off, but I was told I needed to work this week to provide "leadership" as the director had already booked his two week vacation to Mexico. In case you can't read between the lines, I'm a little bitter about this. Oh, and "leadership" pretty much translates to "someone with keys who can open the door in the morning.") and I am so looking forward to my four-day weekend! I don't have plans for this time off yet, but that's okay. It will depend on what the weather's doing, and since I just looked outside and saw that it is snowing lightly, I guess the weather will play a fairly large factor!

Book Review (and two movies too!)

I just finished reading "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Housseini. It. Was. Fantastic! I read and loved "The Kite Runner" but this was, as the critics said, even better. Interestingly, a couple of days before I started reading the book, I watched the movie "Charlie Wilson's War" which talks about some of the same time periods covered in the book. I enjoyed being able to compare the American and Afghan perspective on the Soviets. And then the Afghan perspective on the Taliban, and 9/11. Totally worth the read, and I would recommend this book highly.

On a similar note, I recently watched two good movies that I would like to recommend (especially as I know my friend Amy values my movie opinions). I typed some reviews of these movies earlier, but there was a glitch and that post never made it online. Anyway . . . the first movie I want to recommend is "The Tale of Despereaux". I hadn't actually heard much about this movie until I saw some commercials for it on tv, so I didn't really know what to expect going into the theatre. It was really cute, and has a good message! I enjoyed hearing Emma Watson's voice in a role other than Hermione Granger (Harry Potter movies). The plot of the movie does meander a bit, but otherwise it was a nice, light, fun show.

The second movie I want to recommend, which I did enjoy more than "The Tale of Despereaux", is "Bolt." I saw this one in 3D (very fun! The 3D effects are much more sophisticated now compared to when I was younger) and the movie left me actually wanting a puppy, even though I'm a total cat person and don't really have a lifestyle that would be fair to a pet. When I got home, I downloaded a couple of songs from the movie. I really liked the humour and message of this movie. For as much as I don't like Miley Cyrus, I liked her character in the movie. And as an added bonus, I now fully recognize the power of styrofoam (you have to see the movie to get it).

I'm hoping to see another movie this weekend, if the weather clears up. There are a few really good shows that I want to check out like "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" because I like Brad Pitt, love Cate Blanchett, and the story intrigues me; "The Spirit" (I don't know why, and it would probably be my last choice on the list); "Marley and Me" even though I can't stand Jennifer Aniston, I do find that one scene from the commercials where the dog is "escaping" from the car rather funny; and "Revolutionary Road" because hello! it reunites Jack and Rose (Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet) after 11 years. I DON'T want to see "Valkyrie" because it really irritates me that Tom Cruise doesn't speak with a German accent! The only reason I would see that movie is for this guy. He intrigues me.

Anyway, it's time to go eat some turkey leftovers!

Movie Recommendation

Yesterday I saw "Burn After Reading", the new Coen Brothers comedy starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, and Tilda Swinton. I wasn't sure what I was going to think of it since I haven't been too crazy about some of their previous movies ("The Ladykillers"), and haven't seen a lot of their hit movies ("Fargo" and "No Country for Old Men"). I was very pleasantly surprised!

The movie has a lot of funny lines. My favourites came at the beginning ("You're mormon! Compared to you, everyone has a drinking problem!") and at the end ("Uh, report back to me . . . whenever it makes sense.")

The performances were stellar, particularly from Brad Pitt! He completely steals the show. Seriously.

This movie probably isn't for everyone, but I left the theatre completely satisfied :-)

Tropic Thunder

Last night I went with a group of friends to see the movie "Tropic Thunder" starring Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey Jr. It was vulgar, crude, rude . . . and totally hilarious!! After spending the last 2 days sweltering in my apartment, it was nice to get out of the house and into an air-conditioned movie theatre! I was quite surprised at just how many "laugh outloud" moments there were in the movie . . . I was totally expecting something much heavier on action. I particularly liked Robert Downey Jr.'s performance. I thought his accents were great and he set the right tone.

Now it's off to the waterslides to celebrate my brother-in-law's 30th birthday. I think today is going to be a little cooler than the past few days, which will be welcome relief. I'm not sure I'll survive this hot weather much longer . . .

The Dark Night

I saw "The Dark Night" today. Wow. That's my one-word review: wow! It. was. FANTASTIC! Heath Ledger as The Joker totally blew my mind. If he doesn't get an Oscar nomination (scratch that, if he doesn't WIN the Oscar) for his performance, I'll be shocked. He was the perfect crazy, weird lunatic . . . from his voice to his facial tics . . . AMAZING!

Overall I thought everyone's performance was great. Christian Bale makes a dark, sexy Batman - hubba hubba! Oh, and Maggie Gyllenhaal made a far better Rachel Dawes than Katie Holmes.

I hear this movie is breaking all kinds of box office records. If you haven't already, you should go see it too!!

Sex and the City

Saw the movie yesterday - LOVED IT!! We went to the theatre at Metrotown and were pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't that busy at all . . . nice! Anyway, we laughed, we groaned, we clapped . . . it was awesome!

The ARK

Last night I went with some friends to see the movie "Evan Almighty". In the movie, God (played by the brilliant Morgan Freeman) commands Evan Baxter to build an ark for the imminent flood. Without giving too much away, let me just say there are some truly, truly funny parts in the middle of this movie that had me choking on laughter for a good 15 minutes. Don't be mistaken however, this movie is not the best thing I've ever seen. The setup at the beginning is completely obvious and they really hit you over the head with the message. There were a couple of comedic gags that are very obvious and hit completely "below the belt", but otherwise it was a pretty good movie. During the previews there was another Steve Carell movie that looked really good too . . . Dan in Real Life.

One of the things I discovered last night was the idea of the ARK. No, not the boat, an Act of Random Kindness. A lot of people probably call these random acts of kindness, but I rather like the acronym ARK and how it all ties together with the bigger message of the movie. Last night on the skytrain on the way home after the movie, I experienced a real-life ARK! I was sitting on the train feeling really tired (it was past midnight) and just wanting to be home. When the train pulled into Gateway station (one stop before mine), I saw a transit officer outside the train. Thinking he was going to get on and check fares I bent down to dig my bus pass out of my purse. When I looked up, the officer was standing in front of me, holding a white rose bud to me (it looked as if it had just been picked off a rose bush). He said to me "have a good night!" and then got off the train just before the doors closed. It was so random and sweet and totally made my evening (which had already been pretty darn good to begin with). Anyway, the picture above is of that rose, which opened this morning. That simple gesture brought me happiness and I've been in a good mood ever since. I want to perform an ARK for someone else now . . . and I strongly encourage everyone to perform an ARK this week!

My Spidey-Sense

Last night I saw Spiderman 3. It was good, but not as good as the previous 2. The theatre was packed so I had to sit quite close to the front, but I didn't mind. What I did kind of mind was the fact that the two kids next to me wouldn't stop talking! Their parents would shush them once in a while, but not often enough for my taste. I think they were probably too young to be at an evening movie (though it wasn't really late - it started at 7) since about halfway through the movie they started asking to go home. The other thing I didn't like was about three-quarters of the way through the movie a guy's cell phone went off. The man actually answered the phone and had a five minute conversation right in the theatre!

Anyway, I thought the special effects with the Sandman villain were superb. The other villains, I'm sorry to say, were a little disappointing. The black goo that takes over Spiderman for a while made for some very interesting personality changes in Peter Parker though. His "new" personality made for some of the funniest moments of the film. The other funny parts came from Bruce Campbell's character and Ted Raimi's character. On a scale of one to ten, I'd rate Spiderman 3 a solid 6.5 to 7.

Movies

I ended up renting 4 different movies yesterday evening. Each was different from the other, and each was good in its own way. Here are my thoughts on each:

1. Notes on a Scandal
This movie was initially recommended to me by a friend at work. This movie, more than any of the others I rented this weekend, resonated with me. I felt very sympathetic to both characters, but more to Judi Dench's character. I can easily imagine how the loneliness of the years impacted her enough to make her an obsessive woman with only her cat and fantasies for company. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate this movie a 9.

2. John Tucker Must Die
This movie was just a little bit of fun for the weekend. It actually was a bit better than I expected. The plot is fairly predictable, but it's still cute. I find it a little hard to believe that the female lead can be "invisible" in school given that she's blonde, cute, has a good figure, and is smart, but whatever. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate this movie a 7.

3. Scoop
This movie was the most unexpected of the 4. Having seen Match Point, which was another Woody Allen movie starring Scarlett Johansson, I was expection something a little more slick and mysterious. This movie was a little bit more like a comedy - particularly the scenes with "death". I also couldn't quite wrap my head around the fact that Scarlett Johansson's character was a bit of a nerd. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate this movie a 7.

4. Freedom Writers
This movie was probably the most predictable of all 4 in terms of what the ending was going to be. Anyone who has seen Dangerous Minds, Stand and Deliver, or even Mr. Holland's Opus knows where this movie is going to end up. But that's not really a bad thing given the movie's subject matter. The only "complaint" I had with this movie was the pointlessness of Patrick Dempsey's character. I guess he serves the purpose of illustrating just how dedicated Hilary Swank's character was becoming to her students, but really, was that 100% necessary? Anyway, it is always inspiring to see a teacher make a difference in the lives of her students, so I enjoyed the movie anyway. On a scale of 1 to 10, this was an 8.

Ways in which I am like MacGyver

Okay, so there's really only one way in which I'm like the character MacGyver - I was able to fix a problem with a single paperclip (and no, the problem wasn't that I need to hold some papers together)! The zipper on my jacket broke and for now, I'm using a paperclip to operate the zipper. This is only a temporary fix until I can buy a new jacket . . . but I can live with it for now.

Just came home from seeing the movie "Fracture" with Sir Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling. Wow! It was a very, very compelling courtroom drama. I'm impressed with the Canadian boy, I must say. The whole time I was watching all I could think of was "where's the gun?" Now I know. I also saw a preview for a movie that I want to see. It's called "Martian Child" and it stars John Cusack. It looks like a really touching story. The premise is a little goofy - single man adopts a young boy who thinks he's from Mars - but I have a feeling that the Mars bit is really only an opening into a deeper discussion of the importance of being yourself. At least, I hope so.

I think maybe tomorrow I will walk over to the video store and rent a few movies that I've been meaning to see. I haven't actually rented any videos in a long while (can't really remember the last time I rented a movie) and it will keep me busy while I'm stuck at home doing chores.

Movie Review

I promised a review of the movie "Goal" and I always follow through on my promises . . . For those of you who don't know the movie (I hadn't heard of it until a few days before I borrowed it from a friend), it's about a young man, originally from Mexico but living in Los Angeles, who dreams of becoming a professional soccer player. He meets a man from England who comes to see one of his soccer games, and the man talks him into going to England to try out for Newcastle. I'll let you watch the rest of the movie to see what happens.

Anyway, I really enjoyed the movie. I'm not much for sports movies since I don't play any sports, but I hear so many people talking about soccer at work that I figure it's as good a sport as any to make a movie about. I ended up falling in love with the story though, it was very uplifting. It was nice to see this kid making the most of his abilities. The main character, Santiago Munez, has some challenges to overcome, and the requisite "parent who doesn't believe in him" plot line, but overall the movie was quite effective. Effective enough to be spawning two sequels in the coming years!

Kuno Becker, the actor who played Santiago, is quite talented and very HOT! It was a real treat watching him play soccer. I would absolutely watch this movie again and recommend it to my friends!