out of chaos, hope

The past two weeks, I have not been as productive in my movie watching as I would have liked, but this is what I have been up to...

I finally watched Up and, while Carl Fredricksen and the tennis balls on his cane reminded me of my six years life-guarding all the old people at the Green Hill Condominiums' Outdoor Pool, I was mostly unimpressed by this movie. The animation was as good, as it usually is with Pixar, but the story left something to be desired for me. First of all, parts of it were very traumatizing. Of course, I still cry at the end of The Little Mermaid, but I just thought it was too depressing for a children's movie. I definitely do not think it was the best animated movie this year (or I guess, technically, last year :o).

I also got Fame from Netflix. I have never seen the original movie or the TV show, so I do not have anything to compare this to, but it was just alright. I felt like they tried to focus on too many characters and because it spanned over four years, none of those characters were fully developed. However, I did enjoy the music and the dancing, which is all I really expected to get from this movie. I usually hope for a little more from my cheesy dance movies.

I saw Invictus in the theater but was also not incredibly impressed. The political aspect of it was interesting, to see how Nelson Mandela wanted to bring the people of his country together and decided that rugby was the way to do that. It was just not a good sports movie, which is what I was expecting. I guess that is more the fault of whoever made the trailer though.

It also did not help that I do not really understand rugby at all. All I kept thinking about was the episode of Friends where Ross is trying to play rugby to impress his British girlfriend, Emily. Joey is trying to teach him the rules while watching a match on TV and he says, "Hey, Ross, look-look-look-look-look, right here, it's called a scrum. Okay, it's kind of like a huddle" to which Ross responds, "And is a hum kind of like a scruddle?"



:o)

Yesterday, a new show called The Deep End started on ABC before Grey's Anatomy. I love Matt Long, I love Tina Majorino and I love Rachelle Lefevre, so giving this show a chance was a no-brainer for me. I do feel like they tried to cram too much into the first episode, but I think it definitely has potential to be a great show. It was funny and genuinely entertaining. I look forward to seeing what else happens to these first-year lawyers.

And finally, these are my two cents about the whole Conan v. Leno situation: "I'm with Coco" :o) While I do not think that Jay Leno is to blame for what happened, I do think that since he had FIVE years to figure out what he was going to do after The Tonight Show, he could have found something that did not affect Conan. I also think that NBC is run by idiots and should have given Conan a smidgen of a chance before making this kind of decision. Tonight is Conan's last show and, if the rest of this week has been any indication, tonight should be hilarious. I highly recommend tuning in or setting your DVRs. Also, you should go to this website: http://imwithcoco.com

But, like Conan has been saying all week, there are more important things going on in the world right now.

I am writing this as I watch Hope For Haiti Now and if you want to help, please go to one of the following sites to donate:
Hope For Haiti Now
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
UNICEF
StillerStrong

Before the earthquake, Haiti was one of the most poverty stricken countries in the world. George Clooney is telling me right now that 80% of Haiti's people live on less than $2/day, that it's 3 million people go without clean water and that 1 in 3 Haitian children die before the age of five. These people needed our help before the earthquake and they will need our help long after the world loses interest in their story. We should not care because George Clooney tells us to care, we should care because no one should have to live like that. What happens one year from now, two years, five years, when we have shifted our focus to the next natural disaster and the people of Haiti still need our help?! The attention span of our country boggles my mind. Do not get me wrong, I want you to go to one of those sites and donate, I just want you to remember that once we get the Haitians past this current crisis we need to continue to help them, as we should have been all along.

Michael Muhney (@michaelmuhney) just tweeted: "I don't care how big of a star you are, we all need food, shelter, water, medical attention and a place to lay down. Human is human."

xoxo
c

"Every story has an end. But in life, every ending is just a new beginning."

Happy 2010!

I am hoping that this year will be the Year of Me :o) I have not exactly figured out what that means yet, but I am working on it and will let you know how it goes.

Now, back to business...

Always a sucker for anything vampire related, I have watched all three Blade movies. I enjoyed the first one, although the special effects and storyline left something to be desired. The second one had slightly better special effects, but still a very thin plot. It was, however, fun to watch Wesley Snipes kick some vampire ass. In the last one, Ryan Reynolds brought the funny and some hotness, which made up for the fact that there probably never should have been a sequel, let alone a third.

Apocalypse Now was a little disturbing but very well done. I only watched the 1979 version because the 2001 version was an extra hour longer and the reviews I read said the original was better. I cannot even imagine what it was like to shoot this movie. It was supposed to take six weeks to shoot and ended up taking sixteen MONTHS, in part due to a typhoon that destroyed the sets. It also took three years for them to edit it because they had almost 200 HOURS of footage. Apparently the shooting of the movie was very intense for the actors, and it definitely comes across on screen and in their performances. It is not something I am going to watch more than once, but it is definitely a movie that everyone should see at some point in their life.

Continuing down my list of nominated films, I saw The Young Victoria and Avatar this week.

The Young Victoria was excellent. The beginning jumped around a little bit so it was confusing trying to figure out who was whom, but then it settled down and was much easier to follow. Though, at some point, I feel like I need to have a British Royalty movie marathon because they have been made (and thus, watched) out of order and I get the genealogies all confused. Emily Blunt was excellent as the young queen and I even learned a few things :o) For instance, she was the first monarch to live in Buckingham Palace. I never knew that. While Victoria was slightly naive when she took the thrown at the age of 18, she was also a strong and clever leader. Blunt plays this character beautifully and deserves all the praise she has received.

Now on to Avatar...

First of all, 3-D glasses were not made for people who already wear glasses. I think someone needs to get on that, pronto. That being said, the movie completely blew my mind! The story was predictable but still very moving and the special effects were spectacular. Even if you are not someone who usually gets excited about science fiction, you NEED to see this movie just for the experience. It is not even something that I can describe to you in a way that will make you understand, you really just need to see it for yourself.

I was also planning to watch Up this week, but unfortunately, when I received it from Netflix there was a tiny crack in the disc. So I have sent it back and will get a replacement disc in the next couple of days.

My television shows are starting to come back, so the movie watching will slow back down to its normal pace over the next couple of weeks :o) I am very much looking forward to new NCIS, Castle, Accidentally on Purpose, Greek and The Vampire Diaries.

However, tonight I take a break from movies and television and enjoy some live entertainment in the form of Wicked! I know, you are jealous :o)

Until next time...

xoxo
c