Video: Never Been Kissed
I think this marks the first movie that I've watched twice in the year. I actually don't believe that I made it until mid-March before recycling a movie. Though, looking back, I didn't put this on my list because I had put it on one night as I was falling asleep, and I fell asleep before I was very far into it.
Anyway. Love the movie. It is a great look back at high school and the awful things that can happen to you there... I was right there with all the awkward things, but our school was not so heavy into mean cliques. I feel like I missed out somehow. I won't have Michael Vartan swooping in as Super-Teacher to save me. *sniff* Not that I'll ever be an under-cover reporter going back to high school.
Rob Geller: All you need is for one person to think you're cool, and you're in. Everyone else will be scared to question it.
Video: Evita
I remember seeing Evita in the theater during college. For some reason, it was one of the most memorable theater experiences I ever had. Oh, wait, I remember. It was really snowy, and our friend dropped us off at the wrong part of the mall, and we ended up having to climb a really big, snowy hill. Odd the things we remember.
I also remember devising a plan with one of the friends I saw it with (the fellow hill-climber). We were going to get our third friend (the guy safely in the car, parked safely at the top of the hill) to follow us around playing his saxophone as we went up to random guys and sang the "I'd be surprisingly good for you" song.
We never tried it out, but I think it would have worked...
Eva Peron: But you really should know, I'd be good for you... I'd be surprisingly good for you.
Video: Apocalypse Now
One time, my Dad's cell phone accidentally called my aunt (it was in his pocket). He was watching Apocalypse Now when it happened. She got really worried and kept calling him back. Cause, you know, the movie is about war, so there's all this explosion and stuff in the background.
That was enough to inspire me to add it to my Must See list. The thing that struck me most (and I'm almost embarassed to admit this) is just how much Martin Sheen's children look like him. It is like Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez each took half of his looks. I think they both look more like their father than they do like each other.
Back to the movie: I see it included on a lot of "Top Movies Ever" lists. I don't think I'd add it to mine, but it is a good movie. In a disturning way. It is about Vietnam War and a Colonel that has gone crazy and the man whose mission is to find and kill him. I'm glad I saw it, but I probably won't watch it again.
Willard: It's a way we had over here with living with ourselves. We cut 'em in half with a machine gun and give 'em a Band-Aid. It was a lie. And the more I saw them, the more I hated lies.
Theater: Being Julia
Being Julia was only played at the artsy theater here in town. I was excited that it was playing anywhere, though.
I liked it. Good movie. Very funny! Annette Bening was fantastic. She looked a lot like Nicole Kidman. I wish I looked like Nicole Kidman. This is definitely a movie that can be added to the list of movies that teach you: Don't mess with a middle aged woman! A la Fried Green Tomatoes, but with more plotting.
Jimmie Langton: You kissed him as if you were frightened of catching his cold. When you kiss you feel as if your bones are melting inside your body. Tongues that's what it's all about. Tongues!
Video: 13 Going on 30
13 Going On 30 is so cute! No one could act like this in any other type of movie, but Jennifer Garner sure pulls off the 13 year old in an adult's body thing. It is just plain fun.
Young Jenna Rink: I don't want to be beautiful in my own way. I want to look like these people.
Beverly Rink: Oh those aren't people honey, those are models.
Video: Lucas
I remember Lucas from when I was young. For some reason, back then (when I was like 8), I thought that Lucas had a learning disorder. Like he was dumb or something. Turns out he was advanced. Huh. Shows what I know!
Lucas is a 14 year old advanced boy who falls for a 16 year old girl who falls for the captain of the football team who is dating the head cheerleader (who is Courtnet Thorne-Smith). AND it is an 80s movie. Fantastic.
What ever happened to Corey Haim? He was so cute in all these old movies.
Lucas: I guess everybody has their own idea of fun. Some people go to football games. Other people do less superficial things.
Maggie: Look, just because you don't approve of something, doesn't mean other people don't have a right to enjoy it. You're in the band aren't you?
Lucas: Yeah?
Maggie: So?
Lucas: So?
Maggie: So the band goes to football games!
Lucas: We're totally different!
Maggie: Why?
Lucas: Because the band does not have fun there!
Video: The Lost Boys
I'm not really sure what made me add The Lost Boys to my Netflix list. It might have had something to do with the Corey Haim/Corey Feldman pairing. I went to a slumber party once where we watched a Corey/Corey flick (I think it was Dream a Little Dream) and I, being the nerd-book-lover that I was, didn't know who they were. I've felt that short-coming my whole life. Not that I've done all that much to remedie the situation...
But, I'd say The Lost Boys was an okay place to start. This movie stars Corey Haim and Jason Patric as brothers that move to a small California town. They are surprised to discover that their new town (besides having a surprisingly busy boardwalk area) is the "Murder Capital of America" and that there may or may not be vampires.
It's a fun movie, in that fake-scary kind of way. Like a scary movie for people who refuse to watch real scary movies. With enough quirkiness (and TERRIBLE eighties clothes) to make it more enjoyable than threatening. Ooh, but Kiefer Sutherland is at his creepy best.
Sam Emerson: My own brother a goddamn, shit-sucking vampire! Oh, you wait 'til mom finds out buddy.
Video: Bridget Jones's Diary
This movie is one of my most favoritist movies ever. That's all I have to say about that.
Mark Darcy: I like you, very much.
Bridget: Ah, apart from the smoking and the drinking, the vulgar mother and... ah, the verbal diarrhea.
Mark Darcy: No, I like you very much. Just as you are.
Theater: Be Cool
I didn't realize that Be Cool was a kind of sequel to Get Shorty until someone mentioned it to me this morning. It makes the scenes at the beginning, which seemed to be referring to something that I didn't know make a LOT more sense.
Since seeing it, I've heard that it hasn't done too well with the critics. Comparing it to Get Shorty (which I barely remember, except to know that everyone seems to love it), I can see where it may not be as good. But it is fun.
John Travolta, a former mobster who was in the film industry, decides to move into the music industry. He takes on Linda Moon (played by the really dang good - singer anyway - Christina Milian) as his protege and then the action starts!
It's not the best movie, but like I said, it is a lot of fun. Especially with Vince Vaughn as the slimy manager, Raji.
Raji: Stop hatin', start participatin'. Come on, twinkle twinkle, baby, twinkle twinkle. Wanna take a shot at me kid? Do it.
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.
