Posted by Erin
Fri, 17 Nov 2006 20:30:00 GMT
I think this is very funny, especially for fans of Emma. It's a pretty good modern interpretation of that book: Cher (Alicia Silverstone) is privileged, popular, and well-intentioned, but she ends up causing various problems while trying to help others find love. Her lawer father is hilarious (to Cher's slick, smooth-spoken and cocky date, he says, "I have a .45 and a shovel. I doubt anyone would miss you").
Jon watched it with me. He hasn't said he hated it, and he laughed several times, so that's good. (I'm very grateful to have a husband who will watch chick flicks with me. And without making gagging noises or anything like that.)
One of the reasons Clueless works so well as a Jane Austen adaptation is that the high school is an excellent parallel to class in pre-industrialized England. In Austen's time, income, titles, and background meant everything; in high school, it's how you dress, talk and what you do for fun ("the loadies hang out on that grassy knoll"). Maybe it's easier to move between the "classes" in a high school, but I think the comparison works pretty well.
Posted in Films | 5 comments
Posted by Erin
Sat, 11 Nov 2006 06:53:00 GMT
This is another delightful adaptation of a Jane Austen novel, but I confess that it's my least favorite. Actually, the novel itself is my least favorite, because Emma annoys me. I think she's supposed to be annoying, or to put it differently, she is an immature and flawed character, and her actions have sad consequences for others (though everything turns out well in the end, of course).
I am also annoyed by the whole husband-as-teacher-and-guide thing. Knightley is so condescending towards Emma, at least in the film. I can't remember the book well enough to compare, but I hope I don't ever fall in love with someone who would hiss at me "Badly done, Emma! Badly done!" Of course that would be extra weird if it happened to me, since my name isn't Emma. Sorry. Couldn't (or didn't) resist that obvious joke.
The secondary characters are well-done and often very funny, but I seem to be experiencing an overdose of Gwyneth Paltrow, even though I haven't seen her in that much lately. Maybe I liked Bounce even less than I thought.
A thoroughly entertaining modern adaptation of Emma is the 1995 movie Clueless, starring Alicia Silverstone. It's a teen flick, but cleverly written and funny. I'm planning to make Jon watch it with me pretty soon, so stay tuned.
Posted in Films | no comments
Posted by Erin
Thu, 09 Nov 2006 23:07:00 GMT
This is a nice movie to see on the big screen. I loved Batman Begins, which also starred Christian Bale and was written and directed by the same guy. That would be Christopher Nolan.
I shouldn't say it's a nice film, though. It's not really "nice." Interesting, dark, entertaining, well-acted and well-told, beautiful to look at, yes. The movie starts at the end of the story, and I like that particular narrative trick. All of the acting was very good: Hugh Jackman, who has seemed run-of-the-mill until I saw him in this; Michael Caine, who's always very good; Christian Bale; even David Bowie, whom I forgot to recognize during the film. (I'd read somewhere that he was in it, but then I forgot, remembered during the credits and had to look at the cast listing to find out who he played. He played Nicola Tesla, who was a real person, of course, inventor of alternating current (AC) electric power and lots of other things. Tesla in the movie was interesting and weird enough that I went and read about him on Wikipedia. Pretty interesting guy, to say the least.)
However, I do wonder why the big question in the early on-screen death is "Which knot did you tie?" Wouldn't they all have been able to see which knot it was? Or did I miss something? I did miss a few minutes towards the very beginning of the film, because I was receiving the sad news of our dog's death. But I think that was well before the death in the film. Maybe that's explained in the novel, on which the film is based. I'll have to read it someday.
Posted in Films | 2 comments
Posted by Erin
Thu, 09 Nov 2006 07:22:42 GMT
I had a slow start with this book--there's a lot more literary criticism than I expected, and I got bogged down feeling like I should read all the books the author had her students read. Nabakov and Henry James, mostly. But then I just plowed through it. I had trouble keeping the characters straight, but that might have to do with the names, which are unfamiliar to me.
It is fascinating to read about these Iranian women and to try to get a picture of what things are like in Iran. The last paragraph, written by one of Nafisi's students who is still in Iran, made me cry:
Five years have passed since the time when the story began in a cloud-lit room where we read Madame Bovary and had chocolate from a wine-red dish on Thursday mornings. Hardly anything has changed in the nonstop sameness of our everyday life. But somewhere else I have changed. Each morning with the rising of the routine sun as I wake up and put on my veil before the mirror to go out and become a part of what is called reality, I also know of another "I" that has become naked on the pages of a book: in a fictional world, I have become fixed like a Rodin statue. And so I will remain as long as you keep me in your eyes, dear readers.
I don't know what it's like to live under an extreme religious government, or what it's like to never show my face in public, to never feel the sun or wind on my skin. I don't know what it's like to regularly walk past giant posters that say "Death to America!" But reading a book like this helps me begin to imagine it. As Nafisi says several times in the book, one reason we read fiction is to learn how to have empathy for others, especially others we would normally not understand. This book makes me want to keep these women in my eyes, to remember their world. I hope it'll change.
Posted in Books | no comments
Posted by Erin
Tue, 07 Nov 2006 06:06:48 GMT
There were parts of this that I enjoyed, but after it ended, it seemed much less important than it had seemed while I was watching it. Which is a bad thing, I guess. Gwyneth Paltrow is a good actress and even managed to look almost dowdy in this role. But in retrospect, the main characters were too close to tears too often and the Ben Affleck character was kind of annoying: sometimes the advertising executive jerk, sometimes the eloquent potential lover, most of the time incapable of saying anything really meaningful. There are several scenes where he opens his mouth, about to say that really important thing, and instead he says something really inane. By the end of the movie, I think it's supposed to be some kind of code for how he really feels, and I'm supposed to be moved and want them to get back together. But I wanted her to say, "Not cute! Immature and stupid! Grow up!" or some variation thereof.
As an amusing (to me, at least) aside, a friend of mine who grew up in Boston had this to say about Ben Affleck and Matt Damon (who are fellow Bostonians, of course), waving her hand in a dismissive gesture: "They look just like every other guy from there."
Posted in Films | 1 comment
Posted by Erin
Mon, 30 Oct 2006 02:50:00 GMT
Okay, if you've read any comments, you've already met her. Ivy is my sister (one of my six sisters, that is), and she has agreed to post occasionally on this here blog, which makes me very happy. Like me, she likes to avoid housework by reading, so why shouldn't we benefit?
I'd like to clarify, though, that while Ivy does let things get messy around the house sometimes, she's way better than I am at getting things done. She makes beautiful, pieced quilts, paints walls and furniture and stairs, re-covers furniture (two of my couches, even!), and is otherwise more industrious than I am. Recently when she visited me, she scrubbed my stove, cleaned my washer and dryer (they're like new!), helped me fold laundry, cooked, and cleaned up the house several times. I love her! I'm glad she'll be writing here sometimes.
Posted in Miscellaneous | 2 comments
Posted by Erin
Mon, 30 Oct 2006 02:43:37 GMT
This movie brings the Biblical story of Esther to the big screen. Of course, Esther's story would make a great movie--powerful king, beautiful queens, intrigue, drama--it's a great story! Unfortunately, the movie was not great. I was almost constantly annoyed by its cheesy-ness. And when I briefly forgot the stuff that was annoying me, I was reminded almost immediately. Like when Esther utters those amazing lines from the Bible account as she decides to go before the king to try to save her people, and her statement is punctuated by lightning and thunder. Because of course we won't understand that something important and dramatic is happening unless we have lightning and thunder. Or slow-motion. Or a piece of a scene repeated several times. Or all of that at once. So, yeah, I was disappointed. I guess I'm glad that there are more of these religious movies being made, but I hope they get better.
Posted in Films | no comments
Posted by Erin
Mon, 30 Oct 2006 01:21:19 GMT
I haven't seen the original 1977 version of this movie, but now I want to. I've heard that the original is better, and this one was pretty good. I laughed several times. I appreciated the downward financial spiral of the couple, where they didn't just live on credit and act like nothing had happened: it was hyperbolic but also strangely realistic. Of course your house isn't an asset if you don't actually own it, and it seems like people have forgotten that nowadays.
I think I've said before that I like movies in which married couples are on the same side instead of pitted against each other. Fun With Dick and Jane has that going for it, too. Dick and Jane like each other, and they make a good team.
I loved their son who spoke with a Mexican accent (because he spent all his time with their Mexican housekeeper/nanny), the nods (and "Thanks to" credits at the end) to all the recent corporate criminals, the almost-sex scene between overscheduled spouses. And if you want to see something really hilarious, watch the deleted scene on the DVD called "Let's Be Spontaneous" (I think), which continues that scene. I thought it was, well, hilarious.
Posted in Films | 2 comments
Posted by Erin
Tue, 17 Oct 2006 17:08:57 GMT
I love this movie
. I saw it a couple of years ago with my sister and last night I got Jon to watch it with me. He hadn't seen it before, and I was nervous that he would think it was just stupid. But I think he liked it, too.
Reese Witherspoon is a fine actress, as she has lately proven in Walk the Line. (I think she was really incredible in that.) In Legally Blond, she's Elle Woods, shallow (seemingly) and materialistic and way too cute. But she's also smart, funny and consistently kind. I love that about this movie. The sorority sisters look like Barbie dolls, squeal and giggle, decorate everything with faux fur and lots of pink. But they're nice, unlike the judgmental Harvard Law School crowd, with their brown and grey sweaters and identical laptops.
On the West Coast, in her sheltered, rich-girl world, "everyone loves me," as she says. But at Harvard, she's mocked and targeted by almost everyone she meets. I love that she's brave and confident and doesn't take the crap. But she's not into revenge, either, and at the first sign of friendship from those who have treated her so badly, she's just nice. Of course, Elle wins over the Harvard crowd in the end, but she, like, totally deserves it. I think it's a great movie--funny and with a good message about succeeded as yourself, and not becoming one of "them."
Posted in Films | no comments
Posted by Erin
Sun, 15 Oct 2006 03:23:07 GMT
What an uplifting movie. I liked it very much. It's always delightful to hear Scottish accents, of course (I'm revealing how shallow I am), but this is also a good story. A middle-aged man loses his job and decides to swim the English Channel. A family tragedy has caused some issues between him and his son. Brenda Blethyn, who was wonderful as a more-sympathetic-than-usual Mrs. Bennett in the latest version of Pride and Prejudice, plays his wife, who is secretly learning to drive a bus. It's all about family relationships and friendship and other worthy things, and it's really good!
Posted in Films | 1 comment
