I just bought my ticket to this:

Jealous?

Although I had the best of intentions of watching all the foreign films today, I only got to one. I decided to watch The White Ribbon first because it looked creepy and I had heard really good things.

The first thing you need to know about this movie is that it’s long. 137 minutes, to be exact. Also of note, the subtitles are white. The movie is in black and white and the subtitles show up fine on the dark scenes but the outlined them in black on the lighter scenes and the words are nearly impossible to see.

That’s the bad.

On the other hand, I think I really liked the movie. I think The White Ribbon is a film you need to think on for awhile to truly form an opinion. The film, at its most basic, is about a small town in Germany just before the outbreak of WWI. Strange and horrible things start happening in the town and the children of the town always seem to be situated near the crime scenes.

The narrator lays out the goal of the film in the beginning. He suggests that telling the story of what happened in the town will help to explain some of the things that happened in Germany. It is truly a film about the seeds of fascism and cruelty being sewn into the children. It is no wonder that the town turns evil when the children are subjected to ritual punishment, sexual abuse, and are horribly repressed. The adults are all hypocrites and there is almost no one and nothing to root for in the film. However, it is an interesting look at evil and the ways in which evil is bred.

Somewhere in the midst of the film, I was reminded of the scene in Schindler’s List when the train carrying the women gets routed to Auschwitz instead of Schindler’s camp. Mila looks out the window of the train and sees a young girl near the tracks. The girl drags her finger across her throat, clearly delighting in the fact that all these women were going to die. That girl could have been any child in The White Ribbon. The spark that sent the country hurtling towards Nazism started long before the first camp was built and this movie gives a look at that spark.

I saw three Oscar nominees today. I finished out the animated film category and am 4/5 through with best actress.

The first thing I watched was The Princess and the Frog. When I saw the first trailer for this film, I immediately recoiled. It looked so incredibly racist. I was pleasantly surprised, however, with just how GOOD the movie was. It wasn’t racist in the slightest. Instead, it was the most modern feeling of any Disney 2D animated movie that I can remember. The voice acting was top notch and the princess was a hard-working waitress who worked three jobs just to achieve her dream. I loved that aspect. All in all, a truly fun film that I would happily watch again.

After that, I met a co-worker and we went to see An Education. Y’all, it was sooooo good. Carey Mulligan is a true find and Alfred Molina was better than I have ever seen him. Peter Sarsgaard was the appropriate amount of creepy and charming. I thought Olivia Williams also gave a nice, restrained performance. The story was about a sixteen year old girl with dreams of studying English at Oxford who gets swept up in an affair with an older man. Mulligan did such an amazing job of conveying youthful innocence and a sense of wonder at the sudden changes to her life. There were two scenes though, both dealing with intimacy between her and Sarsgaard, that I could barely watch. So uncomfortable. The biggest disappointment about this film was that Sandra Bullock will likely beat Carey Mulligan for best actress. Ridiculous.

Finally, I watched the last of the animated film nominees, The Secret of Kells. I knew nothing of this film when it was nominated and barely anything more when I started watching it. It was an Irish film about the monastery at Kells and the writing of the famed Book of Kells. I was was a totally tough customer going into this film. I loved both Ponyo and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and I just couldn’t believe this would be better. I have to say, I was blown away. The art style in this film is like nothing I have ever seen before. The seemed to have based it on the folios in the actual Book of Kells which gives the movie this trippy, dreamy quality. They often did away with perspective in favor of the style. It was truly cool. The character and story were good enough but the style…that’s why this movie was nominated. Awesome. I actually now believe it was The Princess and the Frog that took the fifth spot. The Secret of Kells was better. The highest praise I can give a movie is to say that it captured my undivided attention. I am a multi-tasker to the extreme but Secret of Kells commanded my attention. It was beautiful. What a year for animated films.

Tomorrow, the foreign films.

I just requested passes to this movie for Monday:

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And I got a gold badge (film and interactive) to this:

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I bought these:

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I plan to watch the following this weekend:
* The Milk of Sorrow
* A Prophet
* The Secret in Their Eyes
* The White Ribbon
* A Serious Man
* An Education
* The Secret of Kells
* The Princess and the Frog

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fin.

We saw 9 today.  I’m a little sad to say that it didn’t QUITE live up to my expectations.  I thought it would be amazing based on the commercials and while it certainly was unique, I wasn’t blown away.  The animation was gorgeous and there WAS a story there, I’m just not sure if the one they told was the most interesting.  It was a sad movie and very dark.  It was definitely not for kids.

There was a really good new trailer for Where the Wild Things Are.  Can not wait for that one.

The same day I watched Unforgiven, I watched Blade Runner which is also on the AFI list.  Maybe I’m just grumpy lately but I don’t like any of these films!  I love science fiction and I love noir so…a cross between the two should be a natural fit for me, right?  Incorrect.  What a boring movie.

I’m not even really going to say anything else about it.  It was boring and I was bored.  I DID enjoy seeing where a lot of the ideas in the revamp of Battlestar came from but man…that did not outweigh the boredom.

This past weekend, I watched the next film on the list, Bringing Up Baby.  This movie was actually incredibly funny.  I thought Cary Grant would be the one making me laugh and at times, he did.  But he is definitely the straight man when compared to Katherine Hepburn’s very kooky Susan.  I laughed a lot during this movie and even when the plot started to drag, the action and gags were coming fast enough to keep me entertained.  I have seen a lot of old movies but somehow I have just never quite understood the allure of Katherine Hepburn.  I’m starting to really get it.  She lights up the screen.  She did subtle things when most people were still treating movies like they were a play.  I have long been a fan of Cary Grant and paired up, they really were fantastic together.  Lots of comedy talent in that duo.

Next up, Do the Right Thing (A Spike Lee joint) and The Searchers.

I’ve still been slooooooowly making my way through the AFI movie list. I recently watched Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and Unforgiven and boy do I ever have opinions.

First of all, I hated Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner. I thought it was boring, I thought some of the acting was terrible, and I thought they forced the setup of the issue.

So, of course everyone know what this film is about but just in case, here is a brief synopsis: Joey (a girl) is going home to see her parents (awesomely played by Spencer Tracey and Katherine Hepburn) and she is bringing her African American fiance with them (Sidney Poitier). Her liberal parents are forced to face their own prejudices and overcome their reluctance to accept them if they want their daughter to be happy. Spoiler alert: They do.

The message of the movie was fine and important and still relevant today. Where the movie fell apart was that Spencer and Hepburn came off more as concerned parents who didn’t want their daughter to enter into a life that might be more difficult. They were never malicious toward the Sidney Poitier character and actually accepted him quite quickly. It was a different time and even the most liberal of people probably would have been taken aback by their only daughter bringing any man home and giving them one day to give their blessing for marriage. It just felt like a lot of their reluctance had a lot to do with that and the fact that their daughter was extremely naive.

I just thought the movie was boring and a little heavy-handed. The one totally bright spot in the film was the last ten minutes. When Spencer Tracey stood up to give his speech, I thought the movie arrived.

All that said, I thought the movie was completely well-meaning and I understand why it would have been ground-breaking in the 60’s. I just personally did not enjoy it.

The next movie I watched was Unforgiven and I had a bit of a hard time with this one as well. I am not really a western person. There are a few I enjoy but it would never be my first choice. With Unforgiven, I could see how someone who likes westerns would be crazy about this film. For me, it was just pretty good.

Clint Eastwood was fantastic as was Morgan Freeman but aside from that, it’s hard for me to even comment too much on the movie. It didn’t really hold my focus. That’s not to say that it was boring. I just wasn’t interested in the story. The big shootout in the bar was insanely cool though. Clint Eastwood man…what a badass.

All in all though…Toy Story is still my fave of the AFI movies I’ve watched.

We saw Inglorious Basterds today. I have to say I completely loved it. It was so fun and funny and tense and just…Tarantino. I don’t think it was as good of a film as Kill Bill but I found every second immensely entertaining or at least engaging.

Brad Pitt was hilarious and possibly the most at ease I’ve seen him on screen in awhile. But for all the focus that has been on Brad Pitt, the star of the movie was easily Christoph Waltz. He was every inch the villain. He was gleeful in his villainy. He was that complex sort of villain that I love that has his own motives for doing what he does. He is starring in his own story in which he is the hero, the mastermind. Every scene with him was just dripping with tension and I was constantly on the edge of my seat.

I thought the movie was just fantastic. From the mixture of styles, to the complete rewriting of history, I just loved it. If I have any complaint, it’s I would love to have spent more time with the basterds. However, I wouldn’t have wanted to lose any of the time with Shoshanna or Landa so the only way would have been if this was a three hour film (which I actually would have been ok with).

In the end, this is up there with Star Trek, District 9, and Julie and Julia as favorites of the summer. But it is definitely the most fun I’ve had at the theater all year.

Still thinking about those movies we saw this weekend. District 9 is definitely one that stays with you. I called my mom and told her to go with dad and see Julie & Julia. As Ryan said, who wouldn’t like that movie?

Here are the trailers before the movies that I hadn’t seen and that stood out for me.

Amelia (Oscar bait!):

The Blind Side (starring Sandra Bullock who is suddenly in every movie):

Surrogates (Mindless Bruce Willis action film! Woo!):

Zombieland (New trailer — apparently red band but I’m not sure why):

By not seeing Bandslam, we got to not see the New Moon trailer. What a great weekend!

Had lots of fun last night. I was going to leave early this morning but Ryan asked if I wanted to see Julie & Julia. I readily agreed. I had been wanting to see this film since I read the book and I honestly didn’t think I’d be able to convince anyone to go with me (not that I have any qualms about going to the theater alone).

Let me just say, I loved every second of this film. It was funny and beautifully acted and inspirational. They were so smart to cast Amy Adams in the Julie Powell role. My main criticism of the book was how grating and unsympathetic Julie came across. I have no doubt that cooking that many recipes in that amount of time was an enormously trying task but the constant complaining and mistreatment of her unbelievably patient husband left a bad taste in my mouth. Fortunately for the film, even at her most whiny, Amy Adams is still, somehow, a joy to watch.

From the Julie story, they cut out a few things I’d have really liked to see but I think they really did the story justice. It was very well adapted and I liked a lot of the little details from the book that quietly made their way into the movie. I had a little laugh when Julie and Eric drove up in their old Jeep. It’s only shown for about thirty seconds and never mentioned again but it reminded me of all the moments in the book where that Jeep caused them problems.

Interspersed with the Julie story, they told the story of Julia Child discovering cooking and writing Mastering the Art of French Cooking. This part of the movie was revelatory. They could have easily done two solid hours on Julia Child alone. It’s been said already and will be said again before the year is out but Meryl Streep was brilliant in this role. I forgot it was Meryl Streep. She just was Julia. It moved far past impression or imitation and right into the realm of perfect acting. I think she’ll get an Oscar nomination for this film. Also awesome was Stanley Tucci as her husband Paul. Not that that’s a surprise either.

I am totally surprised to say that I really loved this film. I laughed a lot and remembered all over again why Julie’s story inspired me to be a little less lazy. Ryan seemed to really enjoy the movie as well and if you are worried about it being a chick flick, it really isn’t.

This year, I have been so unimpressed and disappointed by nearly every movie I’ve seen. This weekend, between District 9 and Julie & Julia, I finally feel like this year might be a decent one for movies. It has to be…we have 10 Best Picture slots to fill.

Next week: Inglorious Basterds.