SuperBad

So I saw SuperBad -- can you believe it. I thought I was down on teen boy humor. I guess because I like Knocked Up (but thought it was sexist like Kathryn Heigel) I thought I would like SuperBad. Sure, I got the occasional chuckle but mostly found it crude and had to even fast forward over a few parts because they were painful to watch such as super gross blood on pants scene -- I will say no more.

Old Joy

I had the movie Old Joy on my queue for some time. I put in on after reading a good review even though it did have the potential for being really dull. It's about two old friends who go on a camping trip to the Cascade Mountains -- both are Oregon liberals but one is stuck in the past and a rather pathetic pot smoker and the other has a 9-5 job, with a baby on the way who listens to public radio shows about the economy and boring stuff like that. These guys reminded me of guys I know and reveals how guys grow apart when their lives take different turns. I liked peeking into a world of how guys communicate with each other. One barely talks, avoids any confrontation, and just goes along with the pot smoker dude who is kinda a blowhard and keeps trying to reaffirm that his life is not meaningless. So there is not much plot in this movie -- it's just a glance into the lives of a couple of aging hippies. One more thing, the spot they visit in the Cascade Mountains is very cool -- the movie may be worth seeing just for that.

Evening

I just saw Evening based on a book by Susan Minot. The movie received terrible reviews but has a stellar cast: Merril Streep (with a brief part) and her daughter, Vanessa Redgrave and her daughter Natasha Richardson, Toni Collette, and the super cute Hugh Dancy just to name a few. But the big draw for me is Claire Danes. Even though the movie is pretty scholcky, soap operaesque and all over the place, it is still fun to watch her. Worth seeing? Probably not -- unless you like watching great actresses in a kinda dumb movie.

Dark and Light: Away from Her and Miss Potter

Last night I saw the DVD Away From Her about a 60ish couple who lose each other due to Alzheimer's disease. The couple, Fiona and Grant, played by the beautiful Julie Christie and an actor unknown to me, Gordon Pinsent, live comfortably on a lake in Ontario when Fiona begins forgetting words for common objects and sticks a frying pan in the freezer. Grant is destroyed at the thought of losing the love of his life -- they have been married for 44 years -- and fights her wish to go to a care facility, even after she gets lost after cross-country skiing near her home. While watching the movie, I had a sick feeling in my stomach; it was painful to watch Gordon's sadness and Fiona falling into oblivion. The experience of watching this movie reminded me of watching Wit, with Emma Thompson who dies slowly and painfully from cancer. Both are not fun but are incredibly powerful and beautifully made movies.

On a much lighter note I also saw Miss Potter finally. Finally because last summer I put Miss Potter on my Netflix queue and mostly it was no. 1 but for some bizarre reason I did not get it until two weeks ago. I even called and emailed Netflix about this and was told that they only have so many copies of some movies and when they are very popular blah blah ... blah. Really, Miss Potter is a hot item in the US, seems unlikely but who am I. So anyway after all that build up, I enjoyed the movie and have always liked the real Beatrix Potter and her clever and beautifully drawn stories. While Renee Zellweger did a fine job as Miss Potter, I couldn't help wishing the wonderful Emily Watson would have played the artist instead. Instead she plays the publisher's sister. The publisher is Ewan McGregor and he is Miss Potter's suitor. The movie is cute and pretty and fun to watch but at times a little fluffy.

Across the Universe

Across the Universe surprised and pleased me. Julie Taymor, creator of the visually stunning such as The Lion King, the Broadway production, and Frida, creates another very cool looking spectacle in Across the Universe. The movie is a musical, which I usually don't like, about and with Beatles's music. The characters are named Lucy, Jude, JoJo, and Prudence and the songs with their names enter in in some very cool and sometimes funny ways. There are also some groovy cameos from Bono, Eddie Izzard, and Joe Cocker. The movie flows from scene to scene moving along the story through music and dialogue. Basically, this movie is just plain fun and made me feel awed by the music of the Beatles and the amazing Julie Taymor.

Michael Clayton

I just saw Michael Clayton, a corrupt corporation meets smart lawyer movie, and have some mixed feelings. I guess I wanted to like it more than I did. I liked individual scenes, I liked listening to the smart dialogue and watching great acting: Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, and George Clooney. I liked learning about the characters, Clayton's mixed up family, Crazy Arthur's intriguing loft. And I don't ever remember liking the acting of George Clooney so much. He exudes sadness from his doe eyes. So with all that I was surprised that quite frankly at times it bored me. Is my attention span shrinking or what? I like talky movies usually and this one is definitely dialogue filled. Who knows? Maybe, my expectations were too high going in.

Fracture

I saw Fracture with Ryan Gosling who plays a sleepy and sexy lawyer while Anthony Hopkins plays a creepy, smarmy killer. It's a murder mystery of sorts although you know who the killer is, the suspense lies in how they will pin the murder on him. Ryan Gosling, I have loved since Half Nelson and indeed he is not as captivating in this movie. Fracture is good but is more of an expanded Law and Order with a much better cast.