*WARNING* This post is not really string teacher related and contains spoilers. I've spaced out my reviews though so you can skip over the movies you haven't seen and still want to see and read what I wrote about the ones you have seen. If you want. If you don't, screw you, get off my blog.
There are many things I enjoy doing on my vacation, but I truly cherish the minimal time I have set aside to relax. I have plenty of vacation, but often it is spent traveling, spending time with friends or family, cooking/cleaning, and catching up on school stuff. I have very few days set aside to do nothing. I enjoy reading a lot. Last night I stayed up until 2:00 am reading my Kindle (I've been trudging through "Casual Vacancy", JK Rowling's latest novel, for about 2 months and it finally got good so I'm trying to read it in one fell swoop before I lose interest again...) and the other morning I worked my way through a stack of US Weekly's that had been piling up (did you know princess Kate is having a baby?! And she was hospitalized with a severe form of morning sickness?!) which I know isn't exactly reading, so let's categorize that under "I enjoy celebrity gossip and trashy pop culture." But what I really enjoy the most when I'm relaxing is watching movies and/or a good TV series (last summer was Mad Men and I really want to watch Breaking Bad and Homeland all the way through- must find someone who owns them so I can borrow...) I've seen several movies this season and spent all of today at the theater watching the movies I knew I wouldn't get a chance to see again until they came out on BluRay. Here are my humble opinions about the movies I've seen this season. Please feel free to share with me your opinions as well- I love a good debate! (Although I'm much better in person what with my bossy personality and loud voice...)
The Hobbit
Loved it. Would pay to see it again in theaters. I actually read The Hobbit, unlike Lord of the Rings, so I feel it had potential to score poorly with me much like all of the Harry Potter films. I did not feel it was too long because I was entertained the whole time. There were a few additions to the story including Gandalf's cousin/brother/wizard-bro, Radagast, who I hear is very briefly mentioned in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, that I didn't much care for, but again, I was entertained so I don't mind. I loved Martin Freeman as Bilbo- I think he might be Bilbo in real life all stammery and blunderingly endearing. I liked the little throw back to Frodo and the birthday party, I loved Flight of the Conchords, Brett, as "Elrod's Elf Bitch", as my sister calls him, Gollum was as brilliant as ever and the Riddles in the Dark scene was very well done. I could just sit and list every scene and my comments would basically be- I really liked it. The only thing that keeps it from being perfect is the fact that it was not very deep- I didn't feel any emotion when watching other than contentment, which is just fine with me sometimes. So I give this one a hearty A-.
Les Miserables
I am a Les Mis fan, so I had misgivings going into this one. I was not disappointed overall. The singing was not good as a whole but the fact that I, a singer, a generally critical person all around, and one who is not easily impressed by many performances by untrained musicians, could overlook poor singing technique due to such powerful acting and cinematography is pretty amazing. The baracade boys were most impressive vocally, especially Enroljas. I liked his voice the best out of the whole cast. Marius was my second favorite if only I didn't have to watch his wobbly old woman jaw vibrato, blech! Hugh Jackman performed beautifully as an actor and added so much emotion to his character that I can forgive his through-the-nose singing and vibrato so wide you could drive a truck through it. Anne Hathaway stunned. Her performances as Fantine and as Cat Woman have all but washed away my hatred of her born from Princess Diaries, Devil Wears Prada, and her and James Franco's horrible horrible horrible hosting job at the Oscars. Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen were a pleasant surprise and played very despicable Thenardiers, though a bit dark for my taste- could have used a bit more comical relief. And then there's poor Russell Crowe. I'm sorry Russ, I loved you as Maximus, but you just don't cut it as Javert. It was Crowe's horribly awkward performance, lack of any emotion in his singing or acting, and weird stiffly cupped hands that keeps Les Mis from receiving the highest marks from me. I give it a B+.
Life of Pi
Meh, it would have been better had I not read the book- it may have been more shocking or original. Kept pretty true to the book. Thought the white writer guy was dumb- like a low budget Ryan Reynolds. Should have had someone famous do a cameo, maybe Ryan Reynolds... Or they should have had a voice-over the whole time and cut out the whole author/interviewer aspect all-together. It adds nothing to the movie; if anything, it just makes the story feel unbalanced and interrupted. The animals were great: all very well-trained and well-used throughout. Graphics were very good. They definitely made a conscious effort to keep it kid friendly- I was kind of hoping to see a flashback when he tells the "different story" at the end. I thought the dreamy sequences while he stares into the water were dumb. Also thought they could have done a better job making him look more and more emaciated. The Pi actor did a good job, wasn't blown away. I give it a C+/B-.
This is 40
Well I'm not sure I've heard the F-word more times in 2 hours ever before in my life, that's for sure. My favorite variation was probably a cycling Paul Rudd's outraged cry at an SUV of pre-teens "...You Twilight-ass mother fuckers!" What can I say about this flick? There was no plot, just fight, make up, fight, make up, fight, make up, etc..., only a couple good laughs, and too much make-it-up-as-you-go dialogue. Improvising funny lines works (sometimes) on a sitcom, but there is no place for it in the movies. A redeeming aspect of the flick was how easily I think most married couples could relate to the couple's fights and the paths each fight took. In fact, I'm pretty sure I may have said some of those exact lines in real life. More than once... Also the actress who plays the younger daughter was mildly funny. No Dakota Fanning or even Olsen twin, but cute. Probably the best part about it for me was all the Lost references- very clever indeed. Jason Segal was a moderately funny addition with his personal training company "Bodies by Jason" and Melissa McCarthy's brief cameo as defensive mom, Catherine, was over the top as usual but also moderately funny. I give it a C-.
Silver Linings Playbook
This movie was absolutely brilliant. The only bad thing about it is the title. Refreshingly honest, great acting, clever dialogue, and some really hilarious moments- literal LOL stuff, puts this film at the top of my list this year. Bradly Cooper, who usually plays some kind of pompous douche bag in all his other movies, showed a side to his acting that I've never seen. It gives me a lot of respect for him and makes me wish he's take on more serious roles and do fewer chick flicks/action dude flicks. Jennifer Lawrence is no Katniss Everdeen in this one. She ignites both extremes of the acting spectrum with her flawless performance of her crass, blunt, yet oddly introspective crazy widow character. Robert De Niro is hilarious and is such a phenomenal actor. His character had the potential to be unrelateable and comical in a bad way, which would have spoiled the chemistry of this brilliant cast. However, he delivered the goods allowing this bizarre story to click in a way I never expected. I give SLP a solid A.
Lincoln
I can't say I'm feeling Best Picture with this one although Danial Day Lewis probably deserves Best Actor. His portrayal of Abe Lincoln was quite charming in every aspect: from the plodding way he walked to the long-winded slow patience of his exasperating story-telling. DDL was excellent all around, no doubt about it. Sally Fields as Mary Todd was only OK- I can't really put my finger on what I was disappointed in, other than maybe Lewis just outshone her. James Spader gave a fun, raw performance as Lincoln's most to-the-point hired vote-recruiter-guy. Freakin' Joseph Gordon Levitt improves every movie he's in, whether he's the star or a minor side character. He plays Lincoln's eldest son who yearns to enlist and I swear my favorite scenes were the ones that included him. And he was only in about 15 minutes of the movie! Boy, Tommy Lee Jones is old- all I could think about when he was in the shot was how much he resembled a toad. And I'm getting a little tired of Tommy Lee Jones playing Tommy Lee Jones in every single movie he is in. It's the 1860's for crying out loud, can we get K out of the House of Representatives? This movie was loaded with famous faces- including Moocher from Breaking Away- which irks me in an inexplicable way. Not that it's bad to have B-list/border-line A-list actors play one-liner roles, but I feel like it's like a false way to beef up the film or something. I dunno, maybe the actors all asked Spielberg if they could play a minor role in his movie and he was like, sure whatever, you can be General So-and-So and sit in this chair for 5 minutes of screen time. My opinion over all was that it was too long and too long-winded, but Lewis was excellent. I give it a B.
So there you have it- my unimportant opinions on some movies I saw recently. Ranking from favorite to least favorite here they are:
1. Silver Linings Playbook
2. The Hobbit
3. Les Miserables
4. Lincoln
5. Life of Pi
6. This is 40
Honorable mentions (saw these too but a while back):
- The Dark Knight Rises
- Avengers
- Looper
- Argo*
- The Amazing Spider Man
- Hunger Games
- Moonrise Kingdom*
*Also rank among my favs
