Rushin' to the Finals

All of those who thought that the French Open finals would be an all Russian event and that Tim Henman would still be alive, raise your hands.

This is Weird

This is more of a personal note for me than a typical web log entry but something hit me this morning. I've seen 4 movies, at the theater no less, in the last two weeks. Now, this will come off as no news to most of you but keep in mind that I generally donate an average of 4 movies per year to the MPAA.

Anyway, I'm no Atkinson on Film but here are my takes on these films.

1.) Mean Girls. I've already talked about it here. Having a couple of weeks to think about it, I might have jumped the gun by giving it an A-. I still enjoyed the movie, but in retrospect it probably falls more into the B/B+ category. I talked to Vijay about this and he makes a good conclusion. Perhaps it's because movies in general these days (especially your box office hits) are so bad that movies such as Mean Girls appear really really good in retrospect. Anyway, it's innocuous fun so rent it when it comes out on video.

2.) Shrek 2. I enjoyed it. Yes, the plot is paper thin. Yes, Mike Meyers isn't really that funny. Yes, there's way too much Shrek advertising in stores. But the animated "sad cat" eyes won me over in the end. B/B+.

3.) Saved!. I suppose there are countries out there where one would be rightfully stoned to death for watching a Mandy Moore movie. But strangely so, I kind of enjoyed this one. It didn't have me going all the way (the middle was dreadfully slow) and there are ways that it could have been better. But for the most part, I found myself enjoying it. I think I'm becoming overly sentimental and nice in my old age. I usually hate all movies. What's going on?

Anyway, think Bring it On with rabid teenage Christians rather than rabid cheerleaders and you get the gist for this movie. It's trying to be a satire but I felt that it needed a little bit more satire to enable it to climb into elite satire company. (Wow, that was a malformed sentence.) Moore is uninspired but not baleful either in her role. Jena Malone has grown up since Bastard from Carolina. That performance showed that she has some good work in her and I wish she and Patrick Fugit (Almost Famous) would find real roles to play, but here they get the job done and I did not mind watching them fall in love. The film ultimately gets its message through (being too religious and crazy can be unhealthy but there's nothing wrong with believing in the love of family, friends, and God) but I agree with Vijay that a secondary message might have come through as well. And that message, believe it or not, is teenage pregnancy can be a good thing! Hmm, come to think of it, take all of your sisters and daughters to this one! B-/B.

4.) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This one I downright loved. And it's a day later and I still love it. It might be a keeper. (I may spoil some things here so go away if you haven't seen it yet.) I liked the over arching plot line of erasing your memories to ease your pain. But like most movies I like, it was the little things that made this movie for me. The little nuances and jokes. I don't know what it was, if you really want to know the truth. Needless to say I found myself smiling and chuckling throughout. Perhaps it was the central theme of forgetting who you are but still being ineffably drawn to someone which echoes the theme of Buddhistic rebirth and karmic attraction that drew me. Perhaps it was the ending where the two decide to give it a go even though they know that it might inevitably lead to them being bored with one another. They knew from the tapes that it had once ended in disaster. He had no recollection of the final moments of memory erasure where he vowed to do things differently. And yet, they gave it a go anyway. I wonder how many relationships would be aborted if we knew, ultimately, how it would end and how we would feel about the other in 3-4 years. What would happen if we all had a tape like the one given to our leads at the end of the film. The quotidian answer would be to say that no one would have a relationship. To know that you would inevitably be bored and hate the person in 3-4 years? To know that you would end up hating each other. To hear the hurtful comments. But this movie concludes, maybe not. Maybe we would still have a go at it and try to make course corrections and try to better ourselves for the sake of the other. Nice stuff. A.