Sunday, September 09, 2007

Always Watching

What with finally getting employed, I've brought my love of not doing much to a whole new level (because soon I will be doing much, you see). Though, actually, some of these movies or books were watched or read before I got employed.

The Ex. Well, you know exactly how it's going to turn out within twenty minutes of the movie opening and it isn't as funny as it could be. But it's not actually bad, exactly.
Puccini For Beginners. Not bad. Actually funny a few times. Also a movie where you know how it's going to end in the first twenty minutes. I actually get comfort out of the knowing.
Margaret Maron's Rituals of the Season is the seventh book in the Deborah Knott series. I read it and I liked it but I wish that I had read books 2-6 first because now I won't be surprised by certain outcomes. If you like mystery novels and the south you'll like this series.
Sweet Land. A very nice, quiet movie. It's framed in a strange way (not cinematically but narratively) and frankly I think they didn't need the image of a man remembering a time when he was a boy when his grandmother remembered when she was a young woman...but once you get to her as a young woman the story and the acting is so nice and subtle that it's okay.
Alpha Dog. You know why I watched this movie? I think it's because I find Justin Timberlake and Emile Hirsch attractive. You know what didn't save this movie? Either of those actors potential hotness (which was definitely down played and made almost moot in the film). I simply don't like movies where you see a bunch of young idiots get deeper and deeper into a wholly preventable and horrible outcome...it reminded me of the movie Bully and I really hated that movie.
I re-read Prep last week some time. The first time I read it I enjoyed it and wished that some boy had snuck into my bedroom while I was in boarding school. This time around I enjoyed imagining that she was on my high school campus. There were so many details of boarding school life she got just right: the dining room on a Sunday, Assassin, boys' dorms' common areas, etc. But this time around I also realized how frustrating the main character's outlook on life was (I definitely noticed this the first time but had forgotten it). She was far more bitter, withdrawn and isolated than I ever fancied myself in high school. And for that I'm very glad. And I didn't get as strong a 'I wish a boy had snuck in..." feeling either because I paid more attention to the actual circumstances involved. Good book.
The Dog Problem. Not all that funny. Occasionally but not often. I'm interested by Scott Caan's being the director and also playing the same basic role he always plays: jerk who likes a lot of sex but is friends with a neurotic guy.
Georgia Rule. Well. Yeah. It wasn't very good at all.
Now I'm reading Neuromancer which I read my senior year of college for a New Media class and now am enjoying for the second time.
Black Snake Moan. This poster looks nice but the movie? I simply don't think so.

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