Resurrecting the Movies thread...

[serious crayons]

I went and saw Made of Honor with my daughter last evening.

I saw two movies in one afternoon yesterday! First Baby Mama. I laughed out loud a few times, but it wasn't great. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were good, but they needed better material. Still, I felt I had to support it because I'd just read a NYT piece about how movies starring women are almost nonexistent these days. 

Then I had extra time, so I went to see Made of Honor. I agree with Leslie's assessment. It was a decent but unexceptional addition to this inescapably fluffy genre.

[Front-Ranger]

I saw two movies in one afternoon yesterday! First Baby Mama. I laughed out loud a few times, but it wasn't great. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler were good, but they needed better material. Still, I felt I had to support it because I'd just read a NYT piece about how movies starring women are almost nonexistent these days. 

Well, you should try Miss Pettigrew lives for a Day. Fluffy, but well-acted wartime London comedy with one of my favorite actresses Frances McDormand! She makes the transition from a North Dakota to a British accent with flying colours! Lots of pretty boys featured too!

[serious crayons]

Well, you should try Miss Pettigrew lives for a Day. Fluffy, but well-acted wartime London comedy with one of my favorite actresses Frances McDormand! She makes the transition from a North Dakota to a British accent with flying colours! Lots of pretty boys featured too!

I do want to see that, because it also stars another actress I like, Amy Adams. Who, I notice (having just looked up her imdb bio to double check that she was in Pettigrew), is from Colorado, and got her first big career boost at a dinner theater in Minnesota that I used to work at! So we both have something in common with her.

[Front-Ranger]

Amy Adams is great! I didn't know she was from Colorado! She plays the fluffhead starlett without getting cloying and has a great sense of timing.

[serious crayons]

Amy Adams is great! I didn't know she was from Colorado! She plays the fluffhead starlett without getting cloying and has a great sense of timing.

She does. I loved her in Enchanted. And now I want to rent Junebug, for which she won (? or just was nominated?) an Oscar for best supporting.

I'm in the middle of Charlie Wilson's War -- watching it for the second time, this time with my son. Amy Adams plays Charlie Wilson's (Tom Hanks) secretary. A small role, but she's even good in that.

CWW, is as good the second time as it was the first. A highly underrated film. It has even held the attention of my son -- not easy for a movie about a congressman and U.S. foreign policy. "Snappy dialogue," he said, so I told him that it was written by Aaron Sorkin. No wonder!

[oilgun]

She does. I loved her in Enchanted. And now I want to rent Junebug, for which she won (? or just was nominated?) an Oscar for best supporting.

I'm in the middle of Charlie Wilson's War -- watching it for the second time, this time with my son. Amy Adams plays Charlie Wilson's (Tom Hanks) secretary. A small role, but she's even good in that.

CWW, is as good the second time as it was the first. A highly underrated film. It has even held the attention of my son -- not easy for a movie about a congressman and U.S. foreign policy. "Snappy dialogue," he said, so I told him that it was written by Aaron Sorkin. No wonder!

Charlie Wilson's War had the worst marketing campaign in recent history.  The movie's poster was so horrible, the message it conveyed was basically:  STAY AWAY! THIS MOVIE SUCKS THE BIG ONE!   In fact, it received several Worst Movie Poster of the Year citations.  You'd think the studio would have learned something from the humiliation and hired a professional designer to come up with a decent DVD cover, but no.

[Mikaela]

I finally watched La Vie en Rose and if Marion Cotillard's twitchy OTT performance is what AMPAS is into, then I'm officially relieved that Heath did NOT win for BbM!  I thought she was just terrible and shame on the director for not reigning her in. She wasn't just chewing the scenery, she was swallowing it whole. She played Piaf's alcoholism like it was Parkinson's and made her to be such an unlikeable person it was a mystery that she had any friends at all. 

By the end of the film when she's (yet again) deliriously screaming her dead lover's name, I was thinking, "The guy's dead, just get over it!  Now it's your turn, die already!"  Sorry, it was all too much swelling melodrama for me.  Which is funny because the day before I watched an equally melodramatic & mainstream film, Jacquou le Croquant, and really enjoyed it.  I think the difference is that I cared about the characters in Jacquou, but in this one, Piaf is portrayed as such a repulsive drunk that it was impossible for me to empathise.

I just feel like popping in here to voice an opposing opinion, if I may - in case anyone's pondering whether or not to see the film. I really enjoyed La Vie en Rose, and admired Marion Cotillard's performance, which to me seemed Oscar-worthy enough (then again, I haven't got any respect for the Oscars since 2006). I thought the film was a wonderful and touching portrayal of true artistry conquering in the face of hopeless beginnings, severe health problems, substance abuse and any number of mishaps and personal difficulties. When Je ne Regrette Rien rolled around it was so poignant, I wanted to stand and cheer!

There were problems with the film though, it was by no means perfect. The disjointed narrative (jumping back and forth in time) made Piaf's story difficult to follow for someone who wasn't overly familiar with her story. And the choice of scenes and incidents by which she was portrayed seemed focused a bit too much on the melodrama in her life (which apparently were the major parts, but still....) I didn't at all understand the director's choice to hide till the very end the fact that Piaf had a little daughter who died in infancy, as this must surely have informed her life and her many troubles in dealing with life, - troubles that the film otherwise took care to portray.

But all in all, a good film. I saw it with my mother who also enjoyed it very much, though had about the same objections as me.

[serious crayons]

My reaction to it was pretty much the same as yours, Mikaela. I found it absorbing, and thought Marion Cotillard's performance was excellent. I thought the ending dragged on waaaayyyyy too long, but I thought my reaction might have been influenced by the fact that I was on an overseas flight, it was 2 a.m., and I knew I should have been asleep long before but wanted to see it through. 

[oilgun]

Last night I watched THE NINES starring Ryan Reynolds, Melissa McCarthy and Hope Davis, who are all excellent.  All three play three different characters in the movie's three segments.  The film inexplicably didn't make much of an impact when it was released,  but iit is sure to become a cult favourite.  It's a treat to watch and I highly recommend it!\

[ednbarby]

Anyone else seen Iron Man yet?

Will anyone still love me if I admit I've not only seen it, I've seen it twice?