Movies, Movies, Movies

I never go to the movies - I just fidget too much. I'm uncomfortable. I think of all the other stuff I should be doing. And I end up not having that 'escape from reality - enjoy the 2 mindless hours' experience that everyone else has.

So it was a surprise to me that, over the 2 weeks Christmas holiday/vacation I took, I actually watched something like 5 movies. At home of course- and between printing out pics for ornaments, cooking, doing dishes, etc. But I watch full feature films none the less.

Partially, we needed to clear out the DVR and return borrowed DVDs, and partially, I had this extra time where I didn't have to wake up at a quarter till 6 AM.

So, in no particular order, we saw: Up, My Sassy Girl, Sideways, The Accidentaly Husband, Avatar (not in 3D), Julia and Julia, Polar Express, and Hercules.

Granted 2 of these were Disney cartoons and one was a CG animation, but did you really think we'd get away with zero Kiddie movies?

So, I'll review those first.

UP: I'd heard it was sad in the beginning and then kinda plffffttt after that. But I liked it. I liked the beginning where they flash through Mr. Fredrickson's life. I think we needed it and Ellie's passing to connect with what drove the old guy to be so focused on his mission. What I didn't get was how the explorer (and I forget his name) was still alive. I mean Mr. Frederickson had to be about 80 or 85. That would make the other guy over a hundred. And they had a fight scene. On top of a blimp. That was moving at mach speed. Yeah, I know - its a cartoon. Anyway. I liked it, it was entertaining. Nothing in it was scary to my kid, so it got thumbs up for me.

Polar Express:
I got a few phone calls while this one was on so I'm sure I missed a few key moments. Loved the CG - thought it was cool and just enough for this kind of movie. I'll have to watch it again to get it, though. I can't truly review it, but it was cute - the bits I saw.

Sideways: now, we've had this DVD for months and we had to watch it. It was supposed to be about wine. That's what various people told me. My cynical synopsis is that its about 2 guys who spiral out of control that you don't care about.

My girlfriend who loaned it to me agrees, but found that to be part of the charm of the film. In fact, she got many laugh-out-loud moments. I got a forced-out-loud chuckle - once.

Who takes his friend out for a bachelor week and does what HE wants vs what the groom wants? If I were the groom, I'd say, "hold up - we'll do your things when YOU get married".
And do men really spend the week before their wedding trying to bang every woman they see? Don't answer that.

Anyway, I didn't connect with it at all. I don't get the multiple Oscar nominations. But I'm glad I saw it. Just cuz.

The 2 surprises for me were My Sassy Girl and the Accidental Husband. I hadn't heard anything about either and both were entertaining.

The Accidental Husband starred Uma Thurman. Remember her in Truth About Cats and Dogs? Well, this one is like her, 5 years later (not older, just later) and she's taken over Jeanne Garafolo's job as a Radio advice chick. Its not really, but if you watched the Cat and Dog one first, then the Husband one, you could easily make that connection. Anyhow, cute chick flick. Mindless and entertaining. Its the classic Boy meets girl, Boy loses girl, Boy gets girl movie, but I liked it.

My Sassy Girl went straight to DVD. Remember Elisha Cuthbert of 24 fame as the annoying Kimmie (and the name alone is annoying) and later as the playboy bunny in The Girl Next Door? (On a side note, the IMDB one liner is: A teenager's dreams come true when a former porn star moves in next door and they fall in love. lol - I found that funny for some reason). She stars in the Sassy Girl movie as a high maintanence, highly complicated girl who attaches herself to this mild-mannered, conservative guy who has his life entirely mapped out. The film started out making me nuts. When I see movies where one person's bizarre behaviour sends another person's life spinning out of control, it makes me bonkers. (That was partially why I wasn't a big fan of the Sideways movie, too.)

Then about 3/4 into the movie, it all turned around and I ended up really liking it. I'm not posting a spoiler for this obscure flick, just in case you watch it. But I really, really liked it. In fact, I thought about it a few times later, which is sort of one of the marks of a good movie to me; it makes me think about it well after I've watched it. I thought, later, that I might have enjoyed this one so much because it was the first non-tv show that I've watched in ages. But, no, I think I just really liked it.

The final movie I'm semi-reviewing is Julie and Julia. I've been dying to see this. Several of my friends and my sister all saw it and it inspired them all to whip up some fabulous dish or meal. For those that don't know, its about a girl (Julie) who decided to spend one year, cooking everything in The Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. The movie starts by stating that its two true stories of two women: Julie and Julia. As we watch, we follow parallel(ish) stories of their two lives.

I'm a foodie (of sorts) - love food, love cooking, love going to restaurants and try to go home and make up the dishes out of my head. Sometimes I cheat and look up similar recipes online and put in my own twist to make it similar to what we had. Or completely different from what we had. Watching Julie and Julia made me want to... blog. Weird, huh? I totally thought it would make me want to cook, too. It made me want to blog on here - my random thoughts - on my recipe blog (coming soon to a flat panel screen near you) anywhere. It made me want to do something creatively, to pour out my thoughts, write and get my thoughts down. It also made me want to read the blog. Truthfully, it didn't do that right away, but as I was getting the links to the movies on here, I thought... I wonder if her blog is still up? So I looked, and voila! There it was. The Julie/Julia Project. She was right in the movie when she says she curses a lot. A LOT. I don't think either cooking nor blogging cause me to break out in expletives. That's just me.

I know, that wasn't any sort of review of the movie. LOL, and neither will this be... I loved the movie, would totally recommend it. I'm not a huge fan of Meryl Streep. Yeah, yeah, I know, she's a fabulous actress, blah blah blah. Something about her bothers me. Like, why does she have to do an accent in every movie she's in? And her facial bones are flat on her face. No clue why, but it bothers me. In that Bridges of Madison County movie, she drove me nuts. In this one, she had me thinking she WAS Julia Child. I loved the woman from Glee in it, too... she was only in it for like 3.3 minutes, but I like 'Sue'.

I did think about trying to cook my way through a simpler, smaller cookbook of some sort after watching it. But then thought, nah. I don't like ALL food. And, after my 1.5 hour commute, there are days I get home at 8. I have to wake up at the crack of dawn - sometimes, pre-dawn - so who has time for all that? It did, however, make me think... I don't think I've ever eaten a meal or dish I've made myself where I closed my eyes, wrapped my tongue and palette around a bite and tasted it in ecstacy like the people in this movie did. It seemed like every dish she made, she savored it in a 'this is the best bite that's ever passed my lips' sort of way. Maybe I DO need to make a few Julia Child recipes. hmmmm.

I have made her Flaky pie crust. (On a side note, I've tried and tried to find a link to the recipe for this blog but the true recipe isn't posted anywhere). Its the best - and I mean the BEST pie crust I've ever tasted. Its awesome. Better than Delicious Orchards, and their pies are mouth-gasmic. My friend David brought a couple of pies over for Thanksgiving a few years ago. It was the best pie I've ever had. I've talked to David about this recently and he has said that the pie crust is one of those things that people STILL talk to him about or ask him about. It is that good.

This is my first post in ages - on any of my blogs. I'm vowing to do more of them, be more regular about it. We'll see how that goes.

Goodnight.


Note: at the time of my writing this post, I linked to the movies that had websites, some no longer did but had IMDB pages or quotes or both. I linked to that.