Video: Chasing Liberty
Sunday: Chasing Liberty is another in the string of teeny-bopper movies that I own and love. And THIS one stars Mandy Moore. This was actually the movie that earned Miss Moore a modicum of respect in my eye (much like Ever After renewed Drew Barrymore for me). Granted, it is not a great movie. Not really even much of a good movie. But it is the perfect movie to watch while you are rearranging and cleaning your bedroom, as I was. It is the kind of movie that doesn't take much concentration, and when you do pay attention, it makes you smile (if you're me, anyway... I don't think it would make, say... Francis Ford Copolla smile...)
Plus: Cute Guy With British Accent, with the added bonus of Funny Guy With Cockney Accent. They almost outshine Bad American Singer Turned Actress.
Anna Foster: The naked virgin is safely in bed.
Video: MASH
Saturday and Sunday: Oh, how I mourn! I really, really, really wanted to like MASH. Really, and truly, I did. And for those of you who know me, you know it doesn't take much for me to like a movie. Really not much at all.
I do like little things called diction and plot, however. Two things that MASH was sorely lacking in.
I can see maybe liking this movie while high. But even then, I don't think I'd be able to pay enough attention to it. Sigh... Such a shame. Maybe my problem was just that I missed Alan Alda. I do love me some Alan Alda. As well as the TV program MASH.
Which the movie is not.
At all.
Hotlips O'Houlihan: I wonder how such a degenerated person ever reached a position of authority in the Army Medical Corps.
Father Mulcahy: He was drafted.
TV: Snow Dogs
Saturday: I turned on the television, and somehow became hypnotically entranced by Cuba Gooding Jr. in Snow Dogs. I think part of me was trying to heal my soul after the afternoon movie I'd watched (see earlier post) Because, really, I have no other explanation.
It did provide ample time to get some serious crocheting done, however. Not to mention the little nap I took in the middle of it.
In the movie Cuba plays a successful dentist who finds out that he is adopted when his birth mother dies and leaves him her estate in Alaska. He has to go to a po-dunk town in Alaska to claim his inheritance. Once there, he discovers that his birth father is white (yegads!) and there are a lot of dogs.
Now that I think about it, I think I was watching just to see the shots of Alaska. It is so pretty there!
By the way, isn't there another Cuba Gooding Jr. movie where he plays a successful businessman with a relative that dies and he has to go to some po-dunk town to claim his inheritance? I'll skip that one.
Amelia: [on phone] Hey, honey. How's Alaska?
Ted: Oh, just great. Everything's white. Including my father!.
TV: Lord of the Flies
Saturday: I watched Lord of the Flies at a slumber party in about sixth grade. I remember it vividly, as it was one of the most disturbing movies I'd ever seen: boys stranded on a deserted island who turn primal and start killing each other.
I was shocked by the movie when I was twelve. It was even worse at the age of twenty six! I hadn't realized how young these kids were - they're just babies!
It was also weird to think back to how we'd all been swoon-y about Balthazar Getty. Again, as a 26 year old, it is quite different. I appreciated Master Getty's acting abilities (he's quite good), but he's a tiny little boy! I do wish he'd grown up to be more successful. That'd be awesome.
Anyway, this movie is horribly, horribly disturbing. Like to the depths of your soul disturbing. But it is good.
Piggy: We did everything just the way grownups would've. Why didn't it work?
Video: Possession
Saturday: I had Possession recommended to me by a friend a while back, but kept forgetting the title! It doesn't have much to do with the plot, as far as I can tell anyway.
It is about two modern day researchers (literary sleuths, according to the tagline) who are uncovering a clandestine affair between two Victorian poets. The movie portrays both storylines. The modern day pair is played by Gwyneth Paltrow and Aaron Eckhart (Eckhart apparently means "eyes too close together") The Victorian couple is played by Jeremy Northam and Jennifer Ehle. JENNIFER EHLE!!! Anyone? Anyone? It's Elizabeth Bennett! Can you believe it?!
It was a tad hard seeing her in another role (I've never seen her in anything but P&P) and adjusting to her as a lesbian (ahh the intrigue!). And Jeremy Northam is one of those guys that I always forget that I love.
I really did like the movie, though. It comes short of being a great movie, but it does have some good romance. Gwyneth, Jennifer and Jeremy are all very good. I think I would have cast someone other than Aaron Eckhart, though. And at times I had a really hard time understanding the motives of the Victorian poets. But then, they were Victorian. And... poets...
Randolph Ash: You cut me, Madam.
Christabel LaMotte: I'm sorry. I only meant to scratch.
Video: Can't Hardly Wait
There are many reasons that I like Can't Hardly Wait. None of them have anything to do with Jennifer Love Hewitt, though she does fulfill the role of a self-centered, slightly confused high school who-de-hoo.
I think part of my enamor-ation is Ethan Embry (what ever happened to him?), but also that it is a high school-based movie that actually portrays more than jocks and geeks and beauty queens. It doesn't go into much detail, but it does flesh out the senior class of Huntington High more than most teeny-bopper movies do (along with the jocks, geeks, and beauty queens, you get the druggies, the socially awkward, the play-ahs, the somewhere in betweeners...still all very stereotypical, but you get my drift).
Anyway, it is a good, fluffy, entertaining movie and one that I use (as I did this time) to watch during lunch hours when there is nothing on TV. It gives me two or even three days of entertainment that way!
PLUS! It is the only thing that kid from Hook has done since... well, Hook.
[drunk for the first time in his life]
William: I can't feel my legs, I HAVE NO LEGS!
Television: Summer School
Summer School was the afternoon movie on television today. Not having anything better to do, I watched it. I found that it was good for a few laughs, but not good enough to prevent me from answering the telephone or putting down the scarf I was crocheting.
It is the story of a bunch of delinquent kids who are forced to take remedial English in summer school. Sounds like the same plot you've seen in at least twenty other movies, right? Well the twist in this one is that the teacher is no more motivated than the students. Ahhh... Now THAT sounds interesting. Or at least... not excrutiating. (Not that I don't love motivational teacher movies - cause I do!)
I was most fascinated to see the thin Kirstie Alley and think of what she looks like now. Also, I was surprised to see that Mark Harmon was pretty cute. I've never seen him that way before, but then in 1987 he was a lot closer to my current age than he is now. I like that the kids don't actually pass the test at the end. Rock on.
Pam: You want us to study?
Shoop: The thought did cross my mind.
Denise: Well, what's in it for us? What do we get out of it?
Shoop: Literacy?
Video: Pride and Prejudice
This is another movie that would make my list of Top Ten Movies Ever.
I just love Jane Austen things - yes they may be girly-girl, but they're so fantastic. And P&P combines Jane Austen with another of my most favorite things: Colin Firth! Just go to the fifth video (yes, I still have the VHS version - a travesty, I know) and go to the scene where Elizabeth is playing piano at Pemberly and they show a shot of Darcy watching her. I dare you to not fall in love with Colin Firth at that moment. His eyes, and facial expressions just KILL me. Dead. I can't write any more because I'm lying here on the floor dead. Seriously.
Okay, maybe not dead, but you know what I mean.
Something distressing that I just learned: Anna Chancellor, the actress who plays Caroline Bingley (also known as "Duck Face" in Four Weddings and a Funeral) is related to Jane Austen. Shocking, I know. Jane Austen's brother was her great-something grandfather.
I so wish people still talked like they did in Jane Austen novels. It would be excessively diverting.
Mr. Darcy: She is tolerable, I suppose, but not handsome enough to tempt me.
Video: The Outsiders
This 1983 flick is one of those movies that I've always wanted to watch. Why? Here's the cast list: Matt Dillon, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez and Tom Cruise. Wowie! Oh, and the main character, C. Thomas Howell (who?) Plus it was made by Francis Ford Coppola, so it was sure to induce tears (hello Virgin Suicides), which is often a good thing.
The movie is great - the battle of the Greasers and the Socs (said like an abbreviation of socialite). It's kind of one of those snapshot type movies - not much explanation of who these people were before these events, and not much follow up. I really, really liked it. Even beyond seeing all those hot men in their younger versions.
Coppola actually treated the different groups of actors differently during filming - great rooms for the socs, basement rooms for the greasers. I'm sure that helped add to the tension necessary for the big rumble scene. Rumble! Any movie that has an actual rumble has to have some merit.
I think it has a good message, too. I need to read the book to make sure that I was getting what I was supposed to out of the movie.
If you haven't seen it yet, you should. Especially if you want to see lots of cute boys and maybe cry a little.
Randy: You can't win. You know that, don't you? It doesn't matter if you whip us, you'll still be where you were before, at the bottom. And we'll still be the lucky ones at the top with all the breaks. It doesn't matter. Greasers will still be greasers and socs will still be socs. It doesn't matter.
Video: The Little Princess
I've seen the 1995 version of this movie many times because it is just so beautiful. The 1939 version starred Shirley Temple as the rich little girl whose father leaves her at a school in England to go to some random war. When he is reported to have died during combat, little Sara Crewe loses all her money, and the semi-evil Miss Minchin has her stay on as a poorly treated servant to make up the money spent on a lavish pre-poverty birthday party. But she does not lose hope!
That's about it, plot-wise. Still, what girl hasn't dreamed of being able to give everyone their come-uppance when they find their father, alive but with a bit of memory loss. It's a cute little movie. I even like the Shirley Temple version, though her precociousness can be just a tad nauseating at times. Much like a Miss Dakota Fanning. Plus the singing and tap-dancing.
Overall, I like the 1995 version of A Little Princess better. It manages to squeeze a little more plot in there, and actually ties up all the loose ends. And is so pretty!
Sara Crewe: I am a princess! All girls are!
Video: Not as a Stranger
This weekend was supposed to be icy and frozen, so I just stayed in and watched movies and read books. 'Twas fantastic!
Not as a Stranger is a movie I picked up at Goodwill a while back. It stars Robert Mitchum as Lucas Marsh, a (really, really old) medical student. Frank Sinatra is another (really, really old) med student in his class.
Lucas Marsh is hard up for tuition and couldn't come up with the $400 for tuition. Facing expulsion from the school, he decides to marry a Swedish nurse who happens to have a couple of thousand bucks in her savings account. Just the first in a string of jerky things that Lucas Marsh does in his life.
It was really neat to see what medical education was like fifty years ago. (Beyond a tuition that was around one percent of what it is today...) A lot of things were really similar, but there was a LOT that was different. Like, if I am to believe the movie, school was two years followed by a one-year internship, then that was it... Anatomy was taught in a giant stadium, and men were a lot more prone to fainting. Professors, however, were just as boring.
The plot of the movie was a bit choppy, but I still liked it - mostly because of the old medical references. Neato.
Professor something: A doctor is memory. There are 17,000 pages exactly like that that you will memorize before you leave here.
Theater: In Good Company
I actually saw this flick yesterday, but forgot to log it. Because it was so bad? Nay! Really, just because I got tied up posting books to sell on Amazon. If the movie had affected my memory/state of being in anyway, however, it would have been in that dazed that-was-a-fantastic-movie-that-I-have-to-sit-and-think-about way.
I heart Topher Grace. Just the fact that he goes by "Topher" instead of Chris speaks to his phenomenal-ness. And if you just pretend that that wasn't really him in one of the worst movies ever made - perhaps an evil twin or humanoid alien instead - then he's got a dang good track record. Short, but good. (That 70's show, Traffic, and this... oh, yeah, I'm not counting Mona Lisa Smile either). Topher does a fantastic job as Carter Duryea (isn't that a perfect name?!), a 26 year old professional whose life is not nearly as pulled together as he makes it seem.
Dennis Quaid also does a great great great job. I forget how much I like him until I see him in something. Anything, really. I think I may confuse him with Randy Quaid, but that is neither here nor there.
I think Scarlett Johansson (who knew she spelled her name like that? Not I!) looks like Marilyn Monroe. She's another actress that I tend to universally like. EVEN in The Perfect Score. She pulls another good performance in this one.
It's just a really, really good movie is all.
It almost made the 20+ minute wait in 30-some degree weather to get a ticket to sit in a freezing cold theater worthwhile.
Dan: You're my new boss? How old are you?
Carter: I'm 26 years old. How old are you?
Dan: I'm 51.
Carter: Fif- Wow! Wow. That's crazy. That's like a year older than my dad, so... that's weird.
Video: Love Actually
When this movie came out last year, I thought that my head would explode. So much talent (and beauty) crammed into one little movie? Good grief! I would never need to see another movie again!
Then I saw it. Eh. I liked it alright enough, but it was not the be all and end all I had been looking for. How sadly disappointing!
The second time I saw it, I liked it more, which made me a happy girl. It really is quite a happy, fun movie.
Last night was about the tenth time I'd seen it (the victim of many occasions of people saying 'you have to see this!' to others present) As says one character (possibly the cutest - after Colin Firth, of course): Enough.
Natalie: Hello, David. I mean "sir". Shit, I can't believe I've just said that. Oh and now I've gone and said "shit" - twice. I'm so sorry, sir.
Prime Minister: It's fine, it's fine. You could've said "fuck", and then we'd have been in real trouble.
Natalie: Thank you, sir. I did have an awful premonition that I was going to fuck up the first day. Oh piss-it!
Video: The Unsinkable Molly Brown
This one was a Netflix experiment. I saw it on the list (maybe even my recommendations list), and thought - what the heck! I'll try it out. Verdict? It was okay. Kind of long, and lacking in plot moving-forward-ness. But of course, this was made in 1964 before the world had gone ADD.
What was I saying?
Debbie Reynolds. I feel like I should know her from something, but after looking at the list of things she's been in, I think I only know her from being... Debbie Reynolds.
Molly Brown was a real person, and I guess we are supposed to believe this movie is about her life. Well... kind of. They play around with the timeline of her life a little bit (she was on the Titanic to go back to nurse her sick grandchild, not to get back together with her estranged husband). The whole poor girl meets poor boy then strikes it rich thing is true. And the Colorado part. I can't firgure out if they really did burn $300,000 in the stove though.
Anyway, I recommend this movie only to people who have a lot of patience with old movies that drag. There are some great parts, with a lot of filler.
Huh?
Molly Brown: It's not the money I love, it's the not having it I hate.
Movies On Demand: Sleepover
Okay, I admit it. I had wanted to watch Sleepover ever since I saw the preview (probably one shown before some other kiddy movie I was seeing).
The title basically describes the movie. Four girls just out of eighth grade, having one last hoopla of a sleepover before one of the girls moves away. Simple enough. THEN the evil (and blonde!) girl comes to raise a ruckus and spread her evil ways. Why would she do such a nefarious thing?? (btw, this is the second time I've used the word nefarious today...) I'm glad you asked. It was because some high school guy wouldn't take her to the dance. Shocking, I know. You know that you would have started spreading evil yourself if you had found yourself in the same situation.
Anyway, back to the rabble-and-ruckus rousing. A scavenger hunt! Dress mannequins in your clothes! Get a man from a dating website to buy you a drink at a bar!! Steal your crush's underwear!!!
How could this movie not be fun I ask you? Add in a dad who thinks he's a good plumber, a dancing-on-table-tops mother, a weird older brother, an even weirder skater dude and a crazy security guard, and you've got a recipe for success, my friend. Especially if you throw in a tiny green electric car. Oh, and of course a love interest for the fat girl.
If you are a child, particularly of the female persuasion, have a slumber party! I urge you to! I miss those days, and this movie was a fun, if completely unrealistic, trip back to the days of late night giggling and unbridled gossip. With the occasional pan of warm water...
Hannah: Do you prefer celery or brownies?
Yancy: Is that a trick question?
Hannah: So just find a guy who likes brownies.
Video: Election
I've been meaning to watch this Reese Witherspoon movie for a while, and I finally got around to it. I remember that my mom and sister had seen it and had not thought much of it.
I like it, though! I liked the whole freeze-frame/get into people's thoughts set up of it all. It ends up being one of those movies where you don't really understand everyone's motivations at the first watching. Meaning that I probably will watch this one again some time to see if I get a better understanding.
But, man, it was nice to see a version of that girl (or guy) from high school (or college, etc.). The "golden" one, who just seems to have everything go their way. Minus the people skills, of course. Reese Witherspoon did a fantastic job. I love the part where she is hopping around in joy.
I think it was trying to say something about morals and ethics, too, but I'm not quite sure what at this point...
Anyway... yay! Finally a movie worth watching. Phew. I was getting worried there.
Jim McAllister: Dave, as a friend I'm telling you that what you're doing is morally wrong, and it's illegal.
Dave Novotny: Jim, I don't need a lecture on ethics.
Jim McAllister: I'm not talking about ethics, I'm talking about morals.
Dave Novotny: What's the difference?
Hallmark Channel: Cupid and Cate
They pre-empted The Amazing Race tonight to play a Wake Forest basketball game. In desperation, I flipped to the Hallmark Channel - a movie with Mary Louise Parker and Bebe Neuwirth couldn't be that bad, right?
Wrong.
I want to find this movie in its original form and burn it.
Burn, baby, burn.
Thankfully, I haven't been paying much attention, beyond the bad medicine, slack-jawed acting of Mary Louise and the horrible script. Mostly, I've been researching my future online.
I used to think I liked all movies, but I'm starting to realize that that is not true.
Cate: I have a problem.
Harry: What's your problem?
Cate: It's you!
Harry: I've fallen in love with you. That's MY problem, but I don't want to be a problem to you
Cate: But you ARE, because I've fallen in love with you too. Now, is that gonna be a problem?
Harry: Oh, that's a problem I can live with!
Theater: The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
January 9.
Ahhh, Wes Anderson, you done me wrong. You done me wrong. Is there a piece of perfection more beautiful than the sardonically sedate Royal Tenenbaums? Can anything else give you that little thrill of 'being-in-the-know'-ness than appreciating Bottle Rocket? Ca-caw!
If these questions are applied to Steve Zissou, the answer would be a resounding "no." Maybe a half-hearted no, rather. Cause that's how I felt when I left the theater. Half-hearted. I had really wanted to like Steve Zissou, nay, to LOVE Steve Z. Alas, alack. And Alaska. It didn't quite hit the spot for me.
It had all the requisite Anderson quirkisms. Fantastic music (this time a Portuguese homage to David Bowie). An excellent eye for detail (like the water-splashed hand-written index card saying 'Sea Water Analysis' in the background of one scene). Deadpan delivery of lines. And things that just don't quite exist (fluorescent snapper, etc.)
I can't quite pick out what I didn't love about Steve Zissou. I have to wonder of course, why Owen Wilson doesn't have writing credit on this one (just who is Noah Baumbach?) as he did in the others. Is Owen the magic? And why was the other Wilson brother not in this latest epic? Perhaps Luke holds the magic key.
Now, don't get me wrong. I appreciate Wes Anderson's new movie. Truly, I do. Bill Murray does great. Angelica Huston is flawless. Cate Blanchett does a good job of trying to fit into the quirky Anderson world. And Owen Wilson, of course... I do heart Owen Wilson (doesn't he have just the best nose in the world?)
Sigh... It just wasn't perfect and I had wanted perfect.
Scientist: [regarding the shark Zissou is hunting] What would be the scientific purpose of killing it?
Steve Zissou: Revenge.
Video: Whatever It Takes
January 9. See post under... that other teeny-bopper movie I watched.
This one is not even worth a link! It is really quite a disastrous movie, but it made for good entertainment while I cleaned my bathroom.
My bathroom is really clean now. I wasn't distracted by a good movie to watch. That's why movies like this exist, thinks I.
Ryan: Finger suck good. Vomit shower bad.
Video: Napoleon Dynamite
In contrast to Maria, I have seen Napoleon listed on both 'best' and 'worst' lists for 2004.
My knee-jerk response is to love it, because it has that whole disaffected-youth-with-unprovoked-anger-simmering-just-below-the-surface thing going on.
But that was on first watching. Watching it again, time number two, I'm a bit less enamored. I love the attitude of it all. I really like Jon Heder's passive-explosive performance. He seems to attack everything - including the juice bottle, all while speaking in that monotone drone. It's great! But... plot? Did it get lost somewhere? I understand the appeal of the no-plot plot, but this movie seems to have too much plot to fit the non-plot category. The plot just gets lost somewhere. (But I think I found it in this paragraph! I apologize for the overuse of the word 'plot.')
My FAVORITE thing, though, is when Pedro shaves off all his hair because his head is hot. That makes me laugh every time I think of it. Who hasn't wanted to do that (or something similar) on one occasion or another?
All in all, I'm glad I saw the movie, to see what all the hype was about. I would definitely not object to seeing it again in the future, but I probably wouldn't be the one pulling the box off the shelf.
Kid on Bus: What are you gonna do today, Napoleon?
Napoleon Dynamite: Whatever I feel like I wanna do, gosh!
Video: Maria Full of Grace
I spent the week seeing mostly Spanish-speaking patients, so this movie made a fitting ending (being that it is in Spanish, thankfully with English subtitles).
I've seen it listed on many people's Top Ten list for 2004. Would I agree? Well... yes and no. It was truly a beautiful movie, and not really what I was expecting. I think the acting was phenomenal. Catalina Sandino Moreno is beautiful and convincing as a girl who really gets in over her head as a 'mule' - transporting cocaine from Colombia to the US in her stomach. The supporting actors were all good, too. Sometimes I could even understand the Spanish, which made it all even more enjoyable.
All that said, I don't think I'd add it to my list of top movies... Why? Because I couldn't really identify with Maria at all. I don't understand the circumstances that she lives in and can't figure out why she does the things she does. I don't think this is due to a lack of skill on the director's or actor's part. Much to the contrary, I am just not the kind of person who could ever do such a thing. Ain't no giant pellets of drugs going down MY throat.
It all just made me feel kind of like a bad person sitting here while there really is that kind of stuff going on in the world. I guess I'm just too selfish to put this movie on a 'best of' list.
On the wall behind Maria in the last scene: It's what's inside that counts.
TV: Return to the Blue Lagoon
Return to the Blue Lagoon was on television this afternoon. I'm not quite sure why I watched it. It may have had something to do with it being the sixth day of pretty bad sleep deprivation, leaving me half-comatose on my (small) couch. Or maybe it was because I was hypnotized by Milla Jovovich's eyes. And really, extremely bad acting. The only other things I've seen her in are movies where she doesn't speak English (i.e. Fifth Element) or good English (e.g. Zoolander)
Anyone know what the difference is between i.e. and e.g.? I know there is, but I can never remember. My time would have been much better spent had I used these two hours to research these differences (in excruciating detail) rather than watching this movie.
I like almost all movies. Except this one... Thankfully I slept through parts of it. These were the messages I got: Irish sailors are evil; chiseling is an instinct; as is the need to prove one's machismo by outracing a shark, even when the only around to impress is your 'sister;' sometimes toothless 'heathens' come to deserted islands to have random parties (but they don't hurt anyone, and don't leave much of a mess besides the random human skull); girls who wear clothes are sluts, whereas girls who don't are not.
That's about it.
Sylvia: I should think it must be ever so boring here.
Richard: What is the meaning of boring?
Sylvia: Boring's when you have nothing whatever to do. So you're bored, like you must be here.
Richard: [suggestively] No. We're never bored!
Video: Drive Me Crazy
I watched this while I was unpacking my clothes. This movie was actually named after a Britney Spears song. Remember? You Drive Me Crazy.? The movie was based on a book, called "How I Created My Perfect Prom Date."
Anyway, I like it, as I like all stupid teeny-bopper flicks. I heart cheesy movies with 'kids' (played by aging young adults generally) going through the exact same situations in new settings. There are the popular, the geeks, the love-lorn, the dumb jocks... You know the stereotypes. And no matter how hard they try to hide them, they always run rampant in the teeny bopper movies. Ahhh... the comfort of consistency.
Drive Me Crazy features Clariss - no I mean, Sabrina - oh wait! I mean Melissa Joan Hart as the popular girl who can't get the popular guy of her dreams (who has the WORST hair style EVER in a movie since 1992). To make Dumb Jock fall for her, she decides to make over her next door neighbor, a former friend, current anti-establishment rebel. So Rebel gets made over, and guess what happens? You'll just have to watch now, won't you?
Highlights of this movie include: Dee Vine (played by the ubiquitous high school character actor Keri Lynn Pratt - she's 26 and has played a HS student in movies/TV since she was 19); the requisite geeky friends; and... Okay, those may be the only highlights. But it is a good movie to watch while you do something else. :)
Here's a better list (man, oh, man was this hard to compile! There are so many good movies missing):
Top Ten Teeny Bopper Flicks:
10. Better Off Dead - John Cusack
9. Drop Dead Gorgeous - Kirsten Dunst
8. Say Anything - John Cusack
7. Can't Hardly Wait - Ethan Embry, Jennifer Love Hewitt
6. Bring It On - Kirsten Dunst
5. Mean Girls - Lindsay Lohan
4. Breakfast Club - Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson
3. Sixteen Candles - Molly Ringwald, (John Cusack)
2. 10 Things I Hate About You - Julia Stiles, Heath Ledger
1. Clueless - Alicia Silverstone, Paul Rudd
Don't you love it all!!!
Nicole: When girls fight, it's an art. Alicia's an artist.
My quote is not quite right, but it is the best quote in the movie!
Airplane: Mr. 3000
January 2nd. I didn't really watch Mr. 3000, but it was played in the plane on my way home.
I think I'm glad that I didn't watch it. Hear it, I mean. I did watch some parts of it. For those of you (my kindred spirits) who did not see it, here is a plot outline: Bernie Mac (who is kinda funny, don't get me wrong) plays an aged baseball player who finds out that he was a mere 3 runs shy of hitting 3000. So he decides to go back and hit that number. I don't know why. And there's a lady.
I finished reading my People magazine, and had nothing better to do, so I watched (but didn't listen to) the last ten or so minutes. Mr. 3000 was one run short of hitting his mark. Will he make it? The tension is high. There are all sorts of meaningful looks (not that I knew what they meant). The pitcher throws a ball at his head. (again, I don't know why... I don't think they changed the rules of baseball)
So, as far as I can tell, Mr. 3000 doesn't actually reach 3000. (I'll call him Mr two thousand and ninety nine)
It makes me think of the time in high school when we had to take one of those state-wide competency tests. For the writing one, I was assigned a topic that was something along the lines of "write a true story about a time when you wanted something." I wrote a lovely story about when I was a kid and wanted this particular doll. I went into great detail about her dress, and her hair, and her accessories. I described the deep longing that I had, my burning desire to create a life for this boxed-up doll.
Of course it was totally made up.
Since I made it up, I decided to make up a Christmas, with a box under the tree, exactly the shape, size and heft of the adored and desired doll. And then, when I opened it, it was shoes. Or something along those lines. It was my made up story, and I decided to end it by me not getting my heart's desire.
I snickered all the way home after that. I still snicker when I think of it today.
I think the makers of Mr. 3000 did a lot of snickering. But that's about all I can say about the movie.
I don't have a quote since I dind't actually hear the movie...
Video: When Harry Met Sally
Watching WHMS while I pack.
One of my Top Ten Movies Ever. 'Nuf said.
Harry Burns: You take someone to the airport, its clearly the beginning of the relationship. That's why I have never taken anyone to the airport at the beginning of a relationship.
Sally Albright: Why?
Harry Burns: Because eventually things move on and you don't take someone to the airport and I never wanted anyone to say to me, How come you never take me to the airport anymore?
Sally Albright: Its amazing. You look like a normal person but actually you are the angel of death
Video: Anchorman
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy was a rental to satisfy my father. I saw it with my parents and my (other) sister.
I must say that I was not a huge fan of Old School. And by 'not a huge fan' I mean 'hated it greatly.' So I was not gunning to see Anchorman when it first came out. Then came a little film called Elf, which I thought was fantastic. That gave me enough faith in Will Ferrell to check out Anchorman.
Overall, I liked it. I do like Christina Applegate, post-Married With Children days. I'd watch MWC on occasion, but never really liked it. That Bud guy creeped me out. Will Ferrell pulled another funny and not too crass performance. And I loved Steve Carell as Brick Tamland.
They're releasing Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie on DVD. It is made from excess footage from the first film. I bet that was a fun set. Cool.
Brick Tamland: [opposing women in the newsroom] I heard somewhere their periods attract bears. They can smell the menstruation.
Theater: The Aviator
The Aviator was my first movie of 2005! How thrilling!
Saw it with my parents and my sister.
Mom: It was long.
Dad: I liked it.
Lindsay: It was good.
Me: It was really quite good. Leonardo DiCaprio did a mighty fine job portraying Howard Hughes (who I always get confused with Hugh Hefner. NOT the same person...) I did not know that HH was in a relationship with Katharine Hepburn OR that he'd almost died after crashing a plane into Beverly Hills OR that he'd had his very own Senate hearing. The movie definitely made me want to read a biography on him.
Katharine Hepburn was played by Cate Blanchett. She had Ms. Hepburn's mannerisms and voice down spot on, but I could not get over the fact that it was Cate Blanchett. Man, oh, man, how I wish that I could be like Katharine Hepburn, though. She was awesome. It made me wish that the biopic was about her.
Overall, I thought the movie was very good. I'd be surprised if it is not nominated for something - picture, actor or what-have-you.
Oh, and it had John C. Reilly in it, who ALWAYS makes me smile. I'd like a little talking John C. Reilly doll to cheer me up when I'm feeling blue.
Howard Hughes: You feel like a little adventure?
Katharine Hepburn: Do your worst, Mr. Hughes.
