Movie Review-splosion

This weekend was an epic movie-watching weekend for me. No particular reason, I just didn't have anything better to do. So, here goes...

Love Me if You Dare (Jeux D'Enfants)
In recent years I've started to watch more international films. Sometimes I'm confused by them, but never disappointed. This movie, about two childhood friends that continuously play an escalating game of dare, was no exception. Marion Cotillard is the reason to watch this flick. She was, as always, brilliant. Otherwise it was kind of cute, but not earth-shattering. Bottom line: 3 out of 5.


What's Your Rashee?
Occasionally I enjoy watching Bollywood fluff movies. That's exactly what this is. Basically, this guy has to get married in 10 days, and he decides to meet women based on their astrological sign. Oh yeah, it's exactly as cheesy as it sounds. The one really interesting part is all 12 women are played by the same actress. She's so good you don't even realize it right away. If you enjoy Bollywood movies, this is a pretty good one. As Western movies go, it's nothing special. It's certainly not something I would advise a Bollywood virgin to watch (if you want to get into the genre, start with either Bride & Prejudice or Bollywood/Hollywood) . I'd give Rashee a Bollywood 4 out of 5, but maybe a US 2.5 out of 5.


Nine

If you liked Chicago, you'll like this movie. It has the same aesthetic, realistic scenes interspersed with theater-style song and dance sequences. The music is good, the best piece is probably "Cinema Italiano," which was written just for the movie. (by the way, did you know that Kate Hudson can sing? Oh yeah, she kills that song.) Daniel Day-Lewis was brilliant as tortured director Guido Contini, and the bevy of fantastic actresses around him were also great. It was almost surprising how brief their scenes were, I didn't even notice how little time each spent on screen. The story is almost painful to watch, as Contini's mental breakdown progresses and he really starts to lose it. Visually this movie is shot well, with an interesting mix of black-and-white and color, and beautiful shots of Italy. Overall: 3.5 out of 5.


Where the Wild Things Are
When this movie came out, there were very mixed reviews. I understand that now. There was very little story, but it was very beautiful. It really was like watching the book. It's hard to comment on the acting, when most of the actors were giant fuzzy monsters. The kid was pretty good. Bottom line: this movie is not for everyone. If you like artsy movies with little substance, you might like it. 3 out of 5.


New York, I Love You

I watched Paris, je t'aime a few years ago and absolutely loved it. It's basically a series of short films, written and directed by different filmmakers, set in Paris, telling different love stories. New York, I Love You is the companion piece set in NYC. It was filmed a little differently, more continuous, but each story was touching. I liked the way both films didn't tell the whole story, but a part. The beginning, somewhere in the middle, the end... It was a brief look into each relationship. It also tells the story of life in the City. I've never lived there, only visited, but I was able to identify with much of the commentary. All the actors were great, even some I didn't expect (I didn't even recognize Shia LaBeouf at first). I really enjoyed both of these movies, and I encourage everyone to check them out. 4 out of 5.


Men Who Stare At Goats

I wasn't sure what to make of this when I added it to my Netflix queue. The previews looked great, but then I heard nothing about it. Well, turns out that's because it really is different. Bob (Ewan McGregor) is a journalist interviewing Lyn (George Clooney) who used to work for a military psychic warfare group. I did like the balance they struck with the psychic stuff. If you wanted to believe in it, you could, but the skeptic in me could also explain away everything that happened. The more interesting part was the commentary on war in general, and specifically the war in Iraq, what it does to people and how it's fought. I'm not going to get in to all of that... I'll just say watch The Hurt Locker to see the serious side, and watch this movie to see the slightly lighter side. Anyway, this was funny and thought-provoking. Worth a watch.3.5 out of 5.


Outsourced
I added this to the Netflix queue a long time ago, but was prompted to watch it this weekend when I heard there was going to be a TV show of the same name and similar premise starting this fall. Based on character names, it's based on the movie. The idea is a customer service manager is sent to India to train phone center employees. It sounds like the plot of a screwball comedy (which is likely what the tv show will be), but end up being a really touching look at the clash of cultures. This movie in particular struck me because in Todd (Josh Hamilton) I recognized myself. I spent two months in Nepal a few years ago, and many of the things he went through I also experienced. The random power outage. The differences between the city and the small village. The crammed and often... interesting... modes of transportation. Learning to haggle over prices. Culture shock is something you don't think about until you travel somewhere so completely different. So while the average movie viewer would give this maybe a 3 out of 5, it struck a chord with me, so I give it a 4 out of 5.And I'm making my Nepal travel buddy watch this as soon as possible.


In the next blog post (sometime this week maybe) I'll talk about Alice (which I've watched 3 or 4 times in the past few weeks), Primeval (and how the two are connected), and The Guild (which I finally got around to watching this week). Something for you to look forward to...

Ah, nostalgia...

Watching last night's Glee made me nostalgic for my show choir days. I broke out my old sheet music and tried out my audition song. Well, both of them, because I had a couple. I usually did better when singing "On My Own" from Les Mis. Anyway, I found out my kitchen has great acoustics, and my voice is not what it used to be. In college I was singing with some sort of choir at least 3 times a week, and sometimes taking voice lessons on top of that. Now, other than singing in the car, I don't get much practice in, certainly nothing that really stretches my range. (Though "45" by Shinedown is a surprisingly good vocal workout...)

(Evidence of my show choir days. Yes, that's me. I swear.)

I know I have the dress and shoes, now I feel like going up in the attic and digging through my boxes to see if I still have the boa...

Vacation Re-cap

I know it's been a while since my vacation (a month, to be exact), but I finally uploaded some photos I thought I'd share. I drove up to Green Bay in the middle of a thunderstorm, spent Easter with my parents, then the three of us drove to western Wisconsin to my aunt & uncle's cabin.

I spent most of that week reading, sleeping and taking photos. Unfortunately most of the photos were with my mom's new fancy camera, but I did manage to get a couple nice shots with my little P&S...

One rainy day my mom, my aunt and I drove in to town for a change of scenery. We found the coolest used bookstore, housed in an old tobacco warehouse. I picked up a bunch of James Bond books I didn't have so it was definitely a success.

Our last day in Hay Valley we visited what my aunt calls the "Amish Walmart," but is more like a junk shop or thrift store. It's run by an Amish family, and had the weirdest collection of stuff I've ever seen for sale in one place. I took some fantastic photos, but there are way too many to post them all here... Here's the Flickr set, and a preview of what you might see:

On the drive back to Ohio it was much  nicer, and I managed to get a nice shot of the large windmills in northern Indiana:

It was great to get away for a week, see my family and play with my dog. Unfortunately the week after my getaway was filled with flying to Florida for a day then to Chicago for two days, both for interviews. All the benefits of my relaxing vacation were immediately erased. It all worked out in the end, though, I got the job in Chicago. Hooray for permanent employment!

(PS: You can click on any of the photos here to see them larger.)