Video: Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
I always forget how much I like these movies! I decided to put it on today while I cleaned my apartment. I succeeded in the putting the movie in, but kind of failed on the cleaning part. I did get some cleaning done, but mostly I just watched the hobbits and Gandalf.
I do feel totally inadequate making any sort of comments about this movie, as I know that there are many, many people out there who are self-declared experts in J.R.R. Tolkein and all. I'll just leave it at: this movie rocks.
Gandalf: My dear Frodo, Hobbits really are amazing creatures. You can learn all there is to know about them in a day, and yet after a hundred years they can still surprise you.
Video: Pump Up the Volume
I somehow made it through high school and college without ever seeing Pump up the Volume. I feel that it would have served me much better had I seen it as a teenager, because it is all about teen angst and not fitting in. The thing is, even had I seen it as a teenager, it would have been lost on me - I somehow made it through my teen years without feeling too much of that angst-anger at the world-hating all adults thing. I was perfectly well-adjusted, not hiding any secret... angst.
The movie is great though. Christian Slater, creepy as ever, rocks the community he lives in by starting a pirate radio station. I don't really understand the appeal he had over everyone, but the movie is pretty dang good. I think it is a very generational situation - can you imagine a pirate radio station affecting everyone so deeply in today's world? We have the internet to shock and awe everyone and to express teen angst and to find your niche. Strange what a difference 15 years makes media-wise. But the message is still the same.
Mark Hunter: I'm sick of being ashamed. I don't mind being dejected and rejected, but I'm not going to be ashamed about it. At least pain is real. I mean, you look around and you see nothing is real, but at least the pain is real.
PayPerView: Collateral
I had heard so much about how good Collateral that I had to see it - especially since Jamie Foxx was up for Best Supporting Actor (he didn't win - I just saw). I must say that it was okay. Not spectacular, though. Maybe I just don't like movies about people driving around killing other people. Wait. I DON'T like movies about people driving around killing other people. It was well done, though. I can see why other people like it. I'm just not one of those people.
Max: I can't drive you around while you're killing folks. It ain't my job!
Vincent: Tonight it is.
Theater: Hitch
I had good hopes for Hitch - I've always like Will Smith, and haven't been really disappointed by any of his movies yet. This one did not fail me! It is very, very funny. I laughed and laughed! Kevin James, who I'm also a fan of from his TV show does a fantastic job as well.
The movie stars Will Smith as Hitch, a relationship 'consultant' - he helps hopeless men (like Kevin James as Albert Brennaman) figure out how to be smoothe enough to not drive women away in droves. When Hitch meets a girl that he really likes, he starts to get as clumsy and awkward as the men he tries to help.
And, oh, it is funny. Not Oscar-worthy of course, but I don't feel that I wasted my time seeing this movie on Oscar Eve instead of, say, Million Dollar Baby...
Hitch: In case you missed high school: hitting is a good thing.
Video: The Boy Who Could Fly
I've watched this movie like a serial over the last few days, not having time to sit down to watch a full movie. I remember loving this movie when I was younger. When I started watching it this time, I felt like I had never seen it before! Except that I seemed to remember all the scenes involving Fred Savage. Funny, huh? I remembered barely anything of the actual stars, but remembered that Fred's dog was named Alex and what he did to get back at the bullies. Memory is strange, no?
The movie is about a girl named Milly who moves into a new neighborhood with her mom and brother after her father dies. An autistic boy fascinated with airplanes lives in the house next door and Milly befriends him. Oh, and one of the Facts of Life girls is in it.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that this movie did not disappoint - I like it even now! So often lately, I've re-watched childhood favorites and found that they lacked the same draw they had when I was a child.
I like the idea that the spectrum of autistic disorders could include things like... flight. Or that your dreams can have such powerful results.
Tagline: Wish hard enough... love long enough... and anything's possible.
Television: Ghost Dad
For somw reason, I thought I had seen Ghost Dad when it came out, but after watching it, I don't think I had. Though it did come out in 1990, and it is now 15 years later. And, frankly, the movie is not THAT memorable.
It isn't bad, though. Especially when the last movie you saw was Hotel Rwanda. (to reiterate: Hotel Rwanda is fantastic, but makes you feel horrible) It's a cute family flick where the dad dies and becomes a ghost. Sounds uplifting, doesn't it? But c'mon - it's Bill Cosby! He can make anything fun.
Wouldn't recommend this movie for kids who, you know, worry about their parents dying and becoming ghosts, but otherwise - good family fun.
Elliot Hopper [mimes]: I am ghost.
Theater: Hotel Rwanda
Okay, so we all know that Hotel Rwanda is up for several Academy Awards, so I had to see it - especially as they were actually playing it at our theater! (shock upon shock at the theater that seems to pride itself in playing the trashiest of trashy movies)
And we all know that Hotel Rwanda stars Don Cheadle as Paul Rusesabagina, a Rwandan man that saves some people by letting them stay at his hotel in 1994.
That's about all I knew about it, though I did guess it wouldn't be the sort of movie that would have me rolling on the floor laughing.
And, oh my, I would probably say that this was the most gut-wrenching movie I've seen since... I don't even know. Schindler's List comes to mind. But Schindler's List took place so long ago - before even my parents were born. The happenings in Hotel Rwanda - the battles between the Hutu and the Tutsi, the genocide that killed over 1 million people - happened when I was 16. And I didn't even know about it.
I remember hearing the word "Tutsi" and thinking that it was a funny word. That's it. This is the kind of movie that makes me feel extremely guilty for the life I've had. Never fear, though. I'll get over it, and no doubt much more quickly than I should.
Don Cheadle is excellent in his portrayal of a most amazing man, who early in the movie says he only has the resources to save his family, but ultimately saves - repeatedly - the lives of 1268 Hutu and Tutsi refugees.
I most definitely recommend this movie, but please don't be feeling at all depressed or unstable when you do. I found myself almost non-functional after seeing this, and I had been in a terribly great mood beforehand!
Two quotes today:
Colonel Oliver: [explaining why the world will not intervene] You're not even a nigger. You're African.
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Jack: We'll watch it on TV, say 'that it's terrible,' and go right on eating our dinner.
Television: Rent-A-Kid
I stumbled acrossRent-A-Kid on TV yesterday and thought to myself "Gee, this seems like a Made for TV movie." Guess what?! I was right!! I was temporarily thrown off by the presence of both Leslie Nielson and Christopher Lloyd, but in the end, my instinct was correct. Lesson learned!
This movie is about three orphan kids who get rented out to a couple for a week. That's about it. And there is a Great Dane, which as you know, is a sure recipe for laughs. (So-so plot + so-so dialogue + Great Dane = Hilarity!)
It's a good way to avoid doing anything worthwhile, though!
Val: I don't want any kids. I want those kids!
Video: SpaceCamp
When I typed "Space Camp" into the Internet Movie Database, it gave me a Mary Kate and Ashley movie. So, for future reference "SpaceCamp" is one word. Who knew?
SpaceCamp is a movie that always reminds me of a conversation I had one night in college. I don't know why. I am not even sure if we were discussing the movie. But we must have been... I think I was thinking of a different movie, though, because this was not the one I was expecting.
It is a good little 80s flick. Seeing movies like this (from 1986) make me realize how much more mature movie plots have gotten even for kids. Anyone seen Catch that Kid? There is a world of difference! It is kind of neat to see how movies progress - you see it in television, too. You KNOW that Full House would completely flop if it was a new series today.
The thing that struck me most in this movie was the portrayal of weightlessness. I want to know how they did it - was it just a lot of slow motion acting and pretending that things were floating? I think it must be, because everyone's hair follows the rules of gravity - to me, that is a dead giveaway.
Anyway, if you are feeling nostalgic for the simpler days, go get SpaceCamp. You can see, too, how much Leaf Phoenix looks like his brother, Joaquin. Wait! It's the same person!!
Oh, and of course the requisite 'hi-tech' robot that talks like a human and looks like a metal playground ball with legs.
NASA #1: How the hell am I supposed to keep a lid on this? People for 500 miles know the shuttle went up.
Commander Zach Burkstroom: Tell them the truth. You sent my wife and five kids up from Spacecamp. They'll never believe it.
(Sunday) Theater: The Wedding Date
The Wedding Date is the perfect fluffy movie. It definitely has the feel of a 'chick lit' book, and it actually is based on one. I think only part of the book made the movie, though, because I kind of felt like I was missing a large chunk of the story.
For those who don't know, The Wedding Date is about a girl (Kat) who has to go to her younger sister's huge elaborate wedding. Oh yeah, and the best man is her ex-fiance.
Randomly, half the cast has British accents.
As befits Movies of Fluff, it left me feeling happy at the end. But also confused as to what a man with a degree in comparitive literature would do if he wasn't a gigilo.
Eh, I guess it doesn't matter.
Nick: I think I would have missed you even if I'd never met you.
(This quote is actually quite nauseating, but I can't find anything else)
(Sunday) VIdeo: The Parent Trap
Ahhh. Hayley Mills. And Hayley Mills! (or as my sister says, Hayley Meeeels) The Parent Trap is an old fav of mine from way back. From back when I didn't even understand all the jokes. Like the entire part about the dad marrying the young lady, and her being after his money. I just thought it was funny when she fell in the lake.
I've been working with a twin this last week, so felt the urge to watch the movie yet again. I feel all cool now that I know to look for the disappearing hand, too! Ah, yes, the disappearing hand. Curious? Let me elucidate the un...elucidated:
In the "Let's Get Together" scene when Hayley is onstage dancing next to Hayley, the Hayley in the black dress is all bee-bopping along to the guitar playing Hayley's bee-boppable guitar playing. As BDH swings her hands side to side, one hand temporarily gets too close to GPH, and it DISAPPEARS! Just for a second, but it is pretty cool.
Also, in the "Camp Fight/Cake All Over" scene towards the beginning, the Hayley with cake all over her face is not ACTUALLY Hayley. It is Susan. No, not Susan as in Susan and Sharon, but Susan as in Susan Henning, the girl playing the back of Susan's and Sharon's heads. Except in the cake scene, of course.
Anyway, I endorse the seeing of this movie. Go. See. Double!
Susan's roommate at camp Inch: The nerve of her! Coming here with your face!
Susan's other roommate: What are you gonna do about it?
Susan Evers: Do? What in heaven's sake can I do, silly?
Susan's other roommate: I'd bite off her nose. Then she wouldn't look like you.
