good flicks

The neverending bathroom renovation is ongoing (more about that later), but, as it turns out, spending more than an hour craning your neck up to replace an electrical box and then install a light is not perhaps the best idea. In fact, according to the sports med doc I saw on Monday, it was a really bad idea. The neck is getting ~much~ better, and I've decided that self-medicating with chardonnay is highly preferable to taking prescribed muscle relaxants. In the meantime, I've been able to watch a couple movies. Here's the roundup:

In Her Shoes
When the trailers for this film first started appearing, I thought it looked like a cute chick flick, albeit one with Toni Collette (who I've loved since Muriel's Wedding), Cameron Diaz and Shirley MacLaine. There just didn't seem to be a whole lot of meat. It seemed to be promoted as, "Flaky sister drives motivated sister crazy. I added it to the Netflix list and waited.

I was very pleasantly surprised by the film. It was long, but I genuinely enjoyed this story about two adult sisters learning more about their dead mother and finding themselves in the process. The movie is based on the book by Jennifer Weiner, whose written a number of popular "chick lit" books. I watched this movie on my own, and that was probably a smart decision, since I'm married to someone who thinks watching Steel Magnolias is on par with Chinese water torture.

Millions
Millions is a British film that was recently released on DVD. It was recommended by a friend of mine, who we shall call Pinkola Smoh, after she saw it in the theatre. It tells the story of Damian Cunningham, who finds a large bag full of money, which he believes is from God. With his older, more cynical and materialistic brother, he struggles with what to do with the money, wanting to donate it to the poor and help others, only to realize what effect money and the desire for it, have on people. It's a really sweet story, with some odd bits (Damian talks to Saints...), with an interesting message. Definitely worth a watch.

Little Miss Sunshine
We saw this film last weekend in the cinema, after seeing a trailer for it. Again, Toni Collette stars, but this time, with Steve Carrell (40 Year Old Virgin). Olive, the akward and quirky young daughter, was in a beauty pagent while visiting her cousins, and after the winner was disqualified, she advances to the Little Miss Sunshine pagent. The movie follows the bizarre family (including Grandpa, suicidal uncle, non-speaking son, etc.) on their road trip to the pagent in their VW bus. Hilarious. My stomach hurt after leaving this one, especially due to the "talent" that Olive performs in the pagent. Go see it.

We've actually had time to watch some movies recently (unlike prior to the wedding, when we had the same stupid dvds from Netflix for months on end). Here are the speedy film reviews:

The Sea Inside
Wonderful. I cried watching this. And when I say cried, I mean, attempted to stifle body heaves, as tears streamed from my eyes. And it wasn't necessarily because I was sad, per se.
The Sea Inside is based on the true story of Ramon Sampedro, a quadriplegic fighting for his right to die with dignity. It shouldn't be confused (as my mother was) with Beyond the Sea, because really, Bobby Darin and a bed-ridden Spaniard don't have too much in common. Javier Bardem (a popular Spanish actor who you may recognize as Felix in Collateral), does an excellent portrayal of Ramon. It's subtitled, if that influences your movie selections, but well worth a little reading... regardless of which side of the euthanasia debate you are on. The film does a great job of developing the characters and the story itself, so it doesn't feel like an afterschool special. Loved it. Even if I got a headache from all the crying.

Jarhead
We waited for DVD for this one, and I'm glad we did. I hate to categorize movies as chick flicks or guy movies, but for me, this certainly fell into the latter category. Jarhead depits life in the Marines from bootcamp, through to fighting in Desert Storm. Strangely enough, it's not a "war movie" though. Much as I was confused, the characters spend the majority of their time waiting to fight, screwing around, not sure what the eventual goal even is. Unfortunately, this got a little boring.
There is a great cast though (Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Jamie Foxx).

Memoirs of a Geisha
I wanted to love this. I read the book, by Arther Golden, years ago, when it first came out and thought it was excellent. The film is stunning - the colors saturated, the scenes expansive and beautiful. The acting was good (and I'm not getting into all that Chinese actors in Japanese roles, because I don't have a clue about that stuff. They are supposed to be ~actors~ and I thought they fulfilled that requirement well. It just seemed as though something was missing. Even at almost two and a half hours, Memoirs still cannot capture the emotions described in the book. If you haven't read the book, read it now. Then, watch the movie and see some of the scenery come to life.

We also saw The Lady in the Water at the cinema... but I'll save that for later.