we've got it hard, second floor living without a yard

last night we watched pan's labyrinth and the night before that the last king of scotland, that makes three movies in three nights, none of them particularly spectacular. interesting that they all have a character that is a tyrant who gets his comeuppance at the end, and i don't just mean the villian, literally all three were tyrants (although i suppose nicholson isn't technically a tyrant in the political sense, still).

scotland had some pretty great acting, but then i am probably bias as i happen to love forest whitaker (ghost dog...who didn't love that?), and the scottish lad in there was quite impressive. marko was frustrated that it deviated from fact for the sake of fiction and i was frustrated at how completely unbelievable some of the scenes were. it wasn't a terrible movie but it didn't leave me impressed much either.

labyrinth was actually quite similar. the acting didn't stand out as much in this one, but the cinematography, sets and costumes did, which i suppose is why it won so many oscars. again marko was frustrated that a spaniard would make a movie about the spanish civil war and yet fall so off the mark. if one is going to make such a violent movie (and yes, like scotland, it was quite violent) then should it not be to help us learn from our mistakes of the past? why create so much fiction when the fact was story enough? tough questions for sure (and ones that i think should be asked about both of these films). it didn't help that about two thirds of the way through characters started acting out of character and making strange and glaringly obvious mistakes, presumably so that the narrative could continue. i hate it when that happens. it is particular evil when it happens in a book, you know the "great book, terrible ending" syndrome (i am looking at you murakami), at least with a movie i didn't invest hours and hours into it. so again it was alright, probably worth seeing, but there was no wow! when was the last time i felt the wow? i can't even remember. perhaps my standards are getting too high (or i need to start renting international flicks from the local indie video store again).

speaking of wow, to compensate for my long movie tirade i offer up this movie of my own. it is of my boys singing me a song before bed...enjoy!

dearly departed

it will come as no surprise to those of you that know me in real life that i don't much care for violent movies. i can often be found turning my head away or covering my eyes like the sissy pants that i am. horror movies are something i can no longer even fathom, a genre completely lost on me and my wimpy ways. the only exception to all of this is gangster movies (and the occasional kurosawa).

i don't know why they appeal to me, but they always have. i suppose it is the attitude, or maybe the accents, but my teenage years were filled with them and with me fantasizing about growing up to be a gangsters wife. hard to imagine i know and yet still it is true. like many others of my generation reservoir dogs was probably my favourite, but goodfellas was only slightly behind. so when i heard that scorsese had finally won a directing oscar i was filled with glee. sure it would have been nice if it had happened earlier, preferably before he started making credit card commercials, but he deserved it after all these years.

then i saw the film.

i am not going to try and be jennica (although i do wonder what she thought of it) as i am not only lacking the wit, but alas the movie intellect as well. still, something ought to be said. some of you may remember my opinion about crash where i suggested that it was perhaps my high expectation that ruined the movie for me. in retrospect i was too kind. i won't make the same mistake twice. so please someone tell me, what exactly was the departed about and why is it i cared? i mean there wasn't even a bank robbery...sheesh. oh, and the rat scurrying along the ledge at the end was such a nice finishing touch, so subtle and "artistic".

in other unrelated news, i just read my last post and i want to clarify that "better" does not mean that here is bad, just different didn't sound right. i love where i am and how things are going, it is just taking some getting used to is all, the loss of one thing in order to find something new. this having faith in faith.

i've always been intrigued by the letter "Q".

so i am reading stanley park by timothy taylor and so far i am really enjoying it. i wasn't sure at first, it seemed...well maybe too polished. i am not sure that is the right word but something wasn't right with me and it. over a few dozen pages i became engaged though. i am quite liking getting interested in a book. i haven't tried in awhile, spending most of my reading time attempting to stay up to date with my harpers subscription or reading short stories. i will keep you posted on how it turns out. i suspect that some of my readers have read it, what did you think?

in other review news i have been meaning to mention a movie that we saw a couple of weeks back now. it was this and it was great, despite looking like something that would have serious potential to put you to sleep. we were glued to our seat and couldn't believe just how interesting the whole thing was. maybe that just makes us complete nerds, which would come to no surprise to anyone.

wait, what was the point of this post again? oh yeah that's right, not much. any good movies/books you've seen/read lately that you want to share?