Posted by Erin
Fri, 11 Aug 2006 05:14:00 GMT
Entertaining. Meryl Streep is great as Miranda Priestley, the feared editor-in-chief of a fashion magazine. We've all seen this type of boss portrayed in movies and on TV, everyone scurrying to meet impossible demands, but this one does it without the screaming temper tantrums. In fact, her voice stays low and reasonable-sounding throughout, and it's fun.
Anne Hathaway, as the new number two assistant to Miranda, Andrea somebody, sometimes looks great and sometimes looks like a Disney Princess (maybe Snow White), which doesn't mean she looks bad, necessarily, just a little like a cartoon. You know, skin like snow, eyes like coal, lips like blood, or whatever it is. And I was sometimes confused about who (old boyfriend or new famous writer boyfriend?) or what (stay in fashion job and dress amazingly or return to old dream of writing for The New Yorker?) I was supposed to be rooting for. I don't know if this was a weakness of the movie or a strength--maybe it's good not to show choices as Good or Bad, since they often aren't Good or Bad. I suspect that it was actually a weakness, though, perhaps caused by too little time given to Andrea's old friends, boyfriend, ambitions. Or maybe they were given enough time, but they just seemed boring compared to the cut-throat world of fashion where size 6 is the new 14.
Some secondary characters were very good: Miranda's number one assistant, a bratty English girl who reluctantly helps Andrea along, and Miranda's right-hand man who is kind to Andrea but doesn't pander to her whininess.
Also, I liked the music a lot.
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Posted by Erin
Sat, 05 Aug 2006 00:48:00 GMT
Filmed in Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban, written and directed by an Afghan filmmaker, this is a film about a young girl who dresses up like a boy in order to get work and support her mother and grandmother. I've read a few books about Afghanistan in the last year or so--they've been enlightening, but I still don't really understand the culture there or in surrounding Islamic countries. This movie gave me more to look at than the books (and the cinematography is really beautiful), but while I can explain that women there are oppressed and treated as second-class citizens, I have the feeling I'll never know what that's really like.
What strikes me about the Muslims portrayed in this movie and in the books I've read is that they are extremely religious--praying five times a day and constantly referring to God and His will--and at the same time some of the meanest people I've had to think about. Especially interesting to me is how the women, very often treated badly by their husbands and other men, try their hardest to oppress and belittle each other.
Now I know my exposure has been limited to a movie and a few books. Here are the books I've read that deal with Afghanistan:
- The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (a disturbing novel that I didn't really like but made me read more about Afghanistan and other Muslim countries)
- An Unexpected Light: Travels in Afghanistan by Jason Elliot (nonfiction about a guy's travels to Afghanistan. The first visit he snuck in and lived with the mujahedin during the Russian occupation--when he was 19! because that's what everyone wants to do on Spring Break!--and the second time he traveled around the country ten years later, when the Taliban was beginning to take control. Beautifully written and fascinating.)
- The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad (another fascinating nonfiction book by a female Norwegian journalist who lived with an Afghani family for three months. Really interesting, though also disturbing.)
Others that are related:
- House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III (interesting because one of main characters is Iranian; it's well-written and seems to characterize the Iranian family really well. Otherwise, I hated this book, because how could the characters do so many stupid things?)
- Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (I haven't finished this book yet, but it's good. Much more literary criticism than I expected, it's a memoir by an Iranian literature professor who holds a sort of underground book club for women after she resigns from her University of Tehran position because of political oppression.)
Anyway, I've barely begun to learn about Islamic culture and countries. There are certain topics that scare me because I know so little and there's so much to know, so I avoid them as much as possible until something makes me finally start to learn. And even though I didn't like the book, The Kite Runner inspired me to jump in, and that's something. (You'd think 9/11 might have gotten me started, but no.)
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Posted by Erin
Mon, 31 Jul 2006 11:54:00 GMT
Having participated in three Pinewood Derbies, the last one with two sons racing cars, and with many to come in the future, it was fun to watch this movie. It's nice to watch a comedy that isn't determined to be crude and inappropriate, too. I enjoyed it.
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Posted by Erin
Tue, 25 Jul 2006 05:02:00 GMT
Watched this last night on DVD, causing Jon to stay up later than he wanted to. Probably one of the scariest airplane crash scenes I've ever seen. I really liked the part on the island, which had no music and very little talking (until the Tom Hanks character starts talking to a volleyball he calls Wilson). The end was less satisfying than I was expecting; I wanted people to show some interest in how he managed to survive for four years alone on a island. I'd want to know all the details!
What are we supposed to learn from a Robinson Crusoe-like story, though? To appreciate what we have, I guess. And maybe to marvel at the survival instincts of humans? I'd like to learn to tie more knots.
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Posted by Erin
Sun, 23 Jul 2006 03:41:00 GMT
Or as our drive-in has it, Nacho LEBRA. I don't know if they ran out of letters or if they're creative or what.
We laughed. Jack Black using a Mexican accent is funny, it turns out. Professional wrestling is always weird, even when it's funny. I liked it.
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Posted by Erin
Tue, 18 Jul 2006 19:56:00 GMT
After bad-mouthing this movie (or at least implying that it wasn't good), I thought I should watch it. It was pretty dumb. I guess that's what happens when you write a script based on a song like "Love Potion No. 9."
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Posted by Erin
Mon, 17 Jul 2006 22:25:00 GMT
Everyone seems too modern and sentimental in these movies. Having said that, I kind of enjoyed the first Work and the Glory movie. This one not so much. I may have been more critical because I was in a bad mood (dealing with broken appliances made me crazy last night). I thought the movie might make me appreciate my modern and convenient life, but instead I was annoyed by the actor's facial expressions. I do like Joseph Smith in these movies for some reason, though he's nothing like I imagine he really was.
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Posted by Erin
Sun, 16 Jul 2006 02:50:00 GMT
I just discovered that I don't know how to spell "Caribbean." It still looks weird to me.
I loved the first Pirates of the Caribbean. That was one of my favorite rides at Disneyland when I was a kid, and while I'm not a fan of Disney nowadays and I know it's a marketing gimmick to make movies based on their rides, I loved it! It was fun and funny, the story was good, and Johnny Depp was great. It even withstood a third viewing recently.
Anyway, I hardly ever see first-run movies, but I took my visiting sister to our local drive-in for the second Pirates of the Caribbean. For a few minutes at the beginning, I thought it might be really stupid, but then I started to enjoy it. The crazy action scenes are crazy and unbelievable, even cartoon-like, but the dialogue was again hilarious and clever, and the story interesting and good. I enjoyed it very much and look forward to seeing it again.
Posted in Films | 5 comments
Posted by Erin
Sun, 16 Jul 2006 02:38:00 GMT
We have a tiny public library where we live, and sometimes I get movies from them just because they have them. I always wonder how they decide which movies they'll buy, but many are probably donated, because why would a tiny library choose to purchase The Truth About Cats & Dogs or Love Potion No. 9? Of course, I don't know how libraries choose to purchase anything, so I'll shut up.
Anyway, this is an okay movie, not appallingly bad and not particularly good. Janeane Garofalo seemed happier than in most roles she played. And it's the first time I've seen Uma Thurman play a dumb girl. I liked their characters and liked that it was also about their friendship, and not just about the guy/girl thing. It was okay.
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Posted by Erin
Sun, 09 Jul 2006 06:04:00 GMT
What I watched while the blog was resting:
- Follow Me, Boys (the kids loved this, even though by today's standards it's about three movies in one)
- Blow (edited for TV)
- Mobsters and Mormons (funny)
- Spellbound
- Holes (so good! I love Mr. Sir, mostly because we know someone just like him)
- National Treasure
- Gone With the Wind
- Off the Map
- Cipher in the Snow
- John Baker’s Last Race
- Seven Years in Tibet (fun to see again after reading the book recently, which is fascinating, by the way)
- Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (five minutes thereof; hard to express how bad I think this movie is)
- Pride and Prejudice (2005) (after initial annoyance--because who can do better than the 1995 A&E production with Colin Firth?--came to like this very much)
- Master and Commander
- Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit
- Melinda & Melinda
- Good Night, and Good Luck. (I thought this was an amazing movie; and were people smarter back then? 'cause the people on TV sure talked smarter!)
- Curious George
- Nanny McPhee
- Eight Below
- The Office (BBC, season 1)
- William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
- Everything is Illuminated (really enjoyed this, though it has quite a serious ending)
- Manna from Heaven
- Bigger than the Sky
- Alex and Emma
- In Her Shoes
- Dreamer
- Just Friends (surprisingly funny in spite of a Saturday-Night-Live-like beginning that made me think it would just be annoying)
- Prime (great acting by Meryl Streep)
- The New World
- Bleak House (BBC mini-series) (delightful Dickens characters with delightful names like Mr. Guppy and Mr. Skimpole and Mr. Smallweed)
- Reality Bites (is this movie supposed to be a satire? 'cause it seemed like one to me)
- Failure to Launch (I don't like Matthew McConaughey very much, but I enjoyed this movie; good secondary characters)
- Freaky Friday
- Over the Hedge
- Cars (made me laugh out loud a few times)
- The Pink Panther (2006)
- Le Genou de Claire (Claire’s Knee)
- Mr. and Mrs. Smith
- RV (better than I thought it would be)
- The Family Stone
- Ushpizin (very good Jewish movie in Hebrew)
- Proof
- Gladiator (TV edit) (great music sung by Lisa Gerrard, of Dead Can Dance)
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