We’ve watched some suuuuuper random movies lately. My netflix queue has clearly broken the recommendation algorithm because the stuff they have been suggesting lately is bananas. No thank you, Jean Claude Van Damme movies. But I thought I’d share some snippets from the last few cinematic weeks:
Crazy Stupid Love: I wanted this to be GREAT and while I enjoyed it, I thought it was only okay. I think Steve Carell was better as a romantic lead in Dan in Real Life (I shamelessly love that movie) and for me Ryan Gosling in Drive was his best role this year. Even the gratuitous ab shots couldn’t compete with Drive. Entertaining-ish though. And Emma Stone is cuteness squared.
Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune: Hey-O, not a feel good movie! But an interesting look at a time in history interspersed with an influential artist. Garrett has an incredibly large soft spot for Folk Music (He’d light his lighter up at a Peter, Paul and Mary show for sure!) so this was his pick. But I love a good documentary.
Elf: Dude I know. This movie is completely seasonally inappropriate as well as a million years old. I can’t believe I had never seen it until recently either. But HOLY HELL it was so funny we’ve watched it twice. It will definitely be added to the Holiday Rotation. Will Ferrell has this uncanny ability to make me do a full body belly laugh with just an expression. I don’t know what it is. I miss his Saturday Night Live years.
Another Earth: I loved this movie. It was beautiful to watch and I’m still thinking about it. When I read the plot synopsis I wasn’t sure it would be my kind of movie (it sounded a little sci fi for my tastes) but it was REALLY emotional and interesting in a way that I didn’t anticipate. Worth a watch.
On tonight’s movie menu:
*****
While we don’t watch movies nearly as often as I would like, my heart still goes pitter-pat over the potential of a good film. Every year around the time of the Oscars I get a little bit of entertainment industry nostalgia. Have I ever told you that I was once a very aspiring film student? I think I have but I can’t remember. It was during The LA Years (obviously) and the short story goes like this: when you flunk out of your previous college, film schools in LA laugh at your applications. Actually they probably laugh at applications full of amazing grades, because that stuff is COMPETITIVE. And so my life took a different path. But I still have fond memories of living down there and every year I try my best to watch all of the Oscar contenders to recapture a little bit of that buzz that I used to feel while living in LA. We are woefully behind this year, but I’m going to do my best to make a valiant effort!
Have you looked at the list of nominees?
What movies have you seen on the list? Will you be trying to squeeze them all in?
Any other good movie recommendations for me. My netflix queue is now dangerously low. 🙂
We definitely try to squeeze them all in and we are WAY behind this year. Hugo is great and we just saw The Descendants, which was such a good movie. Sorry, that doesn’t really help with the netflix queue. 🙂
I agree with you on CRAZY STUPID LOVE… enjoyed the film but it wasn’t outstanding or anything.
I am dying to see THE HELP because I heard good things about it.
I have to admit that I haven’t seen any of the movies that are nominated for an Oscar. I am – tragically – a bit “behind” when it comes to current movies.
I recently watched “Black Swan”, which I thought was weird, but entertainingly weird. I also watched “Unknown” with Liam Neeson , which I really enjoyed.
We suck at getting to the movies. No excuse, we just do. I still want to see War horse.
I love Elf so much I own it. I probably watch it 5 times at Christmas every year.
Last year Darcy and I saw all the nominated Best Picture films but this year we’re not going to endeavor to do that. I’m not as excited about the nominees and don’t have the time. I do, however, want to see The Artist, My Week with Marilyn. The Descendents, and Midnight in Paris. I saw The Help and enjoyed it but still liked the book better (never seen a movie version of a book I loved that I loved better than the book). I will not be seeing Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close because it is one of my all time favorite books ever and there is NO WAY they can do it justice. (This is why I will never see The Time Traveler’s Wife either.)
I recently watched 50/50 and enjoyed it even if I cried in spots.
I loved Moneyball, but I hesitate recommending it to people because part of the reason I loved it so much is because I also love baseball. The movie is paced kind of like a baseball game, which is to say, if you don’t know what you’re looking for, it can be SLOW. That said, the acting is incredible in it and both Jonah and Brad deserve their nominations.
I LOVED ‘The Help’ – the book was even more amazing.
Enjoy!!!
ELF! Every time LG makes her surprised face, Chris and I say, “That’s shocking” a la Buddy the Elf.
Nothing too wonderful to write home about movie-wise lately, but I think this weekend, being my birthday weekend and all, means that we’ll have to catch up on all (or as many as we can) of the Oscar noms.