New in Town

I wanted to see New in Town, a film that depicts a Minnesota small town, and see how they made us Minnesotans look. And, big surprise, it made Minnesotans look like simple-minded, frumpy, totally out of touch goof balls, but they’re so darn nice, so that’s good. The accents are way over the top, and there is clear distinction between men and women's roles. The men hunt, ice fish, wear dorky Viking outfits while watching football, and go to the bar. While the women scrap book and make dishes to pass. Renee Zellweger is the outsider who tries to break into this foreign and harsh environment, and she is apparently dumb enough to wear spiked heels in freezing weather and snow (I’m pretty sure she would have learned a tip or two about what to wear before she came). She also rents a freezing house – because it always sooo cold in Minnesota, even indoors, according to this movie. The romance between Zellweger and Harry Connick's characters lacks chemistry and seems really beside the point. The ending kiss, I have to mention, is dumb, dumb, dumb. There is one bright spot in this movie though, Siobhan Fallon Hogan who plays Zellweger’s scrapbooking assistant, she is pretty darn funny even if she is playing a stereo type, but she does it with aplomb! So unless you enjoy seeing Minnesotans look like a bunch of stodgy rubes living in a hell hole, I would pass on New in Town. You heard it here. Ya you betcha!

I also saw Confessions of a Shopaholic and heard it was bad but think Hugh Dancy is soooo cute, that I watched. Guess what? it was el dumbo!

Milk and Last Chance Harvey

I watched these two movies over a week ago and I remember watching Milk but was racking my brain trying remember the other movie I watched that same night. Last Chance Harvey did not immediately come to mind (I actually had to check my Netflix account movie history) and thus I can summarize this movie with one word: forgettable. Milk, on the other hand, was amazing for one reason, Sean Penn. If there was any doubt that he was a great actor, his sympathetic portrayal of Harvey Milk, would dispel that. I don't think it's a great movie, it leaps from event to event as many biopics do, but the time that is presented and the fascinating and inspirational life of Harvey Milk makes up for the episodic plot.

Secret Life of W. and Australia

Three movies I have seen in the last week:

The Secret Life of Bees: I liked Dakota Fanning as Lily, the girl escaping her abusive father with the help of her African American housekeeper (Huck Finn, anyone?) But the movie gets too syrupy and "heartfelt". A bonus is the appearance of Paul Bettany, a great British actor as the father.

W.: too much of a caricature of George Bush -- Oliver Stone is as heavy handed as he was in JFK.

Australia: This movie could have been ended after two hours when the cattle were driven to market. A perfect ending, almost, but there was still another hour and a half! Yikes! I actually had to watch it over two evenings. I can't imagine sitting through the whole thing in the theater. There is a very cool Baz Lurman (Moulin Rouge) highly-stylized look with a dash of Gone with the Wind and Wizard of Oz thrown in. But it's a mess of a movie in the end. It could possibly be worth seeing it for the adorable aboriginal boy who is also the narrator for the story, but probably not.