« New Years Resolutions | Main | Reasons You Piss Me Off »
January 19, 2008
A Tale of Three Movies
I will go for months at a time without stepping foot into a movie theater. And since I don't own a television I rarely get to watch movies on the small screen. But then…everyone once in a while (usually when I start dating someone new) there will be a flurry of movie-going activity.
This time it has been less "dating new guys" and more "escaping from the black hole that is the BIg Idea" – but no less delightful. And so in the past two weeks I have seen three movies, which could not have been more different from each other.
Juno – my sister convinced me to try going to a movie alone ("it's so great—so relaxing, see whatever you want, sit wherever you want, etc.) and so one evening last week when I was at the end of my proverbial Big Idea rope I trotted over to the fancy art house theater across the street. Plunking down my $9.75 for a ticket, I also enjoyed the absurd luxury of a Diet Coke and Junior Mints, snuggled into the plush box seating area, and prepared myself. Many people had recommended Juno, and the movie did not disappoint. I laughed, I cried, I reveled in the dry, witty humor and the not-too-easy ending. I wish I had an extra set of arms so that I could give this movie four thumbs up.
No Country for Old Men – Mr. Pilot and I had been waiting for weeks to see this movie, which made an absurd number of "top 10 movies of 2007" critics' lists. I had read some Cormac McCarthy in the past (namely, All the Pretty Horses) and had not been particularly impressed. On the other hand, I love me some Javier Bardem. As the movie progressed, I realized that it suffered from the same issues (not flaws, since I think they were intentional) that made me dislike Dances with Wolves and Brokeback Mountain and the novels of T.C. Boyle (I'm thinking specifically The Tortilla Curtain). First, the plot moves at a
G
L
A
C
I
A
L
pace. It's not that lots of stuff doesn't happen, it's just that in between the action sequences there is an obscene amount of "man stares over the open plain" going on. And then, at the end there is less resolution than just…an ending. This definitely smacks of Cormac McCarthy, and if I had been reading the book instead of watching the movie I would have definitely thrown it across the room. It wasn't A Terrible Movie, just a disappointment.
Cloverfield – This was another movie that Mr. Pilot and I had been dying to see for months. We were all set to go to opening night when it turned out that he was going to be flying a plane to Charleston that day. We faced a conundrum—wait 4 days until he got back or see it separately. In the end, the desire to see it without preconceptions or knowledge of any secret twists won out, and we opted to see it individually and then reconvene over instant messenger later that evening. What to say about this movie? I thought it was GREAT for a monster movie, accurately portrayed how people would act in a similar situation, and made the Marines look great. (I'm not sure I believe that an entire battalion of Marines could be dispatched to mid-town in three hours, complete with everything needed to fight an alien monster, but I'd like to put that doubt aside.) There were moments that were a little too "Blair Witch Project" for my taste, and I did end up taking a brief hiatus in the middle to vomit up my dinner (oh the shaky camera work!)—but overall I thought it did its job well. And it was blessedly only 90 minutes long—any more and it would have gone downhill fast.
Comments
Juno is amazing.
Posted by: bon mariage at January 21, 2008 01:18 AM
I saw Cloverfield last weekend! Did you actually puke?! Cause I just wasn't thinking that through, and didn't realize it was handheld. So I really liked it, but spent at least 45 minutes standing or pacing out of sight to get my bearings. I thought about vomiting, but figured that wouldn't be polite for all the nice patrons in the cavernous stadium theatre bathroom... I totally plan on renting it, perhaps as a final hurrah of our small TV.
Posted by: mr bad apologies at January 24, 2008 11:34 PM
Ooh, I would love to see it again on the small screen...which I'm pretty sure would solve a lot of the nausea problems (along with a Dramamine and a glass of wine).
Posted by: Ms. Write Again Soon at January 25, 2008 12:15 PM
