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March 12, 2008
Recent
Viewing:
Stardust – I didn’t have a
lot of interest in this, but we figured it was something we could
squeak by watching with the kids, even though it’s PG-13. It was, and
it was actually a really fun movie. Witty, comical, and sweet. Cute
turn by Robert De Niro…all in all, I quite enjoyed it. Lots of fun
big time actors, doing little spots (Rupert Everett, Peter O’Toole,
Michelle Pfeiffer, Ricky Gervais) and with character names like
“Ditchwater Sal”, “Ferdy the Fence” and “Captain Shakespeare”, how can
you really go wrong?
In the Valley of Elah – Good
movie as well, but sad subject matter. Tommy Lee Jones earned his
Oscar nomination I thought, and Charlize Theron was surprisingly
good. It’s the story of a father trying to learn what happened to his
soldier son, and it definitely gets a little political. I thought it
was well done though, and very moving. I’m a big TLJ fan though, so
that could play into it!
Things We Lost in the Fire –
This one really surprised me, it’s a sad, difficult movie so it’s
tough to rave about “enjoying” it, but it really stayed with me after
we watched it. Halle Berry was seriously great in it, I’m actually
surprised she didn’t get more recognition for the role. Benicio Del
Toro was wonderful as well, and the movie just had a quiet
thoughtfulness about it that was very moving. It was visually
stunning in really unique ways, I’m not sure how to describe it
exactly but there were just a lot of lingering shots on things that
really added something to the whole mood. If you’ve seen the trailer
then you know it’s about a family getting through the loss of the
husband/father (played by David Duchovny, he’s a big part of the story
through flashbacks) but at heart it’s really about how people help
each other and the unique and unexpected places that help might come
from. Two people who are at the lowest point of their lives, being
possibly the absolute worst, and yet best, thing for the other. It
was a really good movie, though sad. The performances are really
worth seeing.
Recent
Reading:
The Namesake – I reviewed the
movie maybe a month or two ago, and I enjoyed it but really wanted to
have more time with the parents’ story, or more detail in general. So
I decided to read the book. Turns out that the movie is incredibly
faithful to the book, so there wasn’t much more to be had. It was
definitely a worthy read though and I’d probably recommend the book
over the movie (as is usually the case) though the movie has its own
merits. Jhumpa Lahiri is the author, and I wish she’d write more. In
case you missed the movie review, it’s the story of an arranged
marriage Indian couple moving to America and starting a family. The
central character is their son, Gogol, and he takes us on a journey as
he tries to assimilate his heritage with his present…and tries to grow
into his name.
Agnes and the Hitman, by
Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer. Jennifer Crusie is one of my favorite
“fun” authors. Chick lit, but with a lot of great humor. I recommend
most of her stuff. This one is about Agnes, a kitchen columnist and
fabulous cook; and Shane, the hitman sent to protect her from the
steady stream of people coming into her South Carolina “mansion” with
murder on their minds. There’s a little mob, a southern belle
wedding, a lot of crazy small town characters, a good dash of romance,
and a great dash of friendship. It’s just light fun which reminded me
quite a bit of
Evanovich's Stephanie Plum
series, so if you enjoy that I definitely recommend this as a filler
while we wait on number…whatever we’re on.
As an FYI, I am currently posting American Idol columns
(usually by the morning following performance night) on my
Blog. Check those out if
you’re a viewer!
-Sherry
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