Well, it wasn't officially a blizzard, but we were under a blizzard warning on Saturday here in Central Ohio, and we did get a snowstorm which dumped between 15 and 20 inches of snow in 24 hours, a record (see pic at right from our second-story study window, out onto what should be a green front yard and a street). Once I got home from work Friday afternoon (a 20-minute drive which took me about 45 minutes during the beginnings of the snowstorm), I didn't leave the house all weekend except for a quick walk to the nearby Kroger's on Saturday morning, a couple hours before we got some whiteout conditions. Earlier in the week, we got a new 42-inch flat-screen HD plasma TV, so it was a good weekend to be snowbound. I think I set a record for on-my-ass sloth: I watched 10 movies and a handful of TV shows between Friday and Sunday night. Among them:Lara Croft, Tomb Raider: I love Angelina Jolie (especially since that dream I had in which I gave her a hot-oil massage), but I've seen only a couple of her movies. I thought this disc (from our library) might be fun for viewing on our new Huge TV, but it wasn't. I liked her fantastic house and the elaborate tomb she was raiding, and her bungee extravaganzas, but overall the movie left me cold--and the library disc kept locking up so we didn't really get to see the last 20 minutes, and I can't imagine I'm missing much. Of course, I'm not a young heterosexual video-game player, so I'm not really the audience for the movie.
The Nativity Story: Much as I love all things Christmas, I didn't see this movie when it came out last year in theaters; it sounded altogether too "real" and "gritty" and "indie"--I prefer my Christmas movies colorful fantasies full of snow or Dickensian city streets. But this turned out to be OK; it sticks to the Gospels and the apocrypha surrounding the birth of Christ and, though indeed relatively "authentic" looking, there were some nice mythic touches involving the Magi and the star, though the angels were disappointing--no multitude, only one rather scraggly looking guy in a plain muslin robe. The ending is rushed and the performances are nothing special, though Keisha Castle-Hughes is fine as Mary.
Brother Sun, Sister Moon: Years ago, I bought this DVD of the 1973 Zefferelli movie sight unseen, partly because it has songs by Donovan. It has a reputation of being a nearly unwatchable "hippy-dippy" take on the life of St. Francis of Assisi, but I quite enjoyed it. It didn't really seem dated at all, even with Donovan's occasional ballads, one of which almost becomes a full-fledged production number. It helps that the actor playing Francis, Graham Faulkner, is quite handsome (see picture above) and gets a short nude scene. The landscapes are gorgeous and the sets are effective, especially the knockout of a church used in the finale when Francis goes to Rome to visit the pope (Alec Guinness, a thankless cameo). I'll keep this one.I also watched the 70's BBC production of Count Dracula with Louis Jourdan (OK, but with really bad bat effects), a couple of Netflix discs, some stuff on the DVR, and two old favorite "comfort movies," Laura and Bye Bye Birdie. I also watched The Incredibles; it's one of Don's favorite movies, and when we saw it in a theater, I was on a muscle relaxant for back pain, so I wound up sleeping through most of it--I didn't like what I saw, but I promised Don I'd watch it again sometime when I was in a more lucid state. I stayed awake for most of it this time and found some of it amusing, but I'm still not crazy about it. It's just not my genre--I don't care if I never see another Pixar movie, quite frankly. Is Pixar a genre? Discuss and get back to me.
2 comments:
No, Pixar is not a genre, but they're a definite studio with a definite style. I can't say I like all of their films, like the really ghastly CARS. But at their best, as in THE INCREDIBLES, they do work as good as and better than anything anyone else is doing. Pixar films are among the only films that I will see as a matter of course upon release, along with whatever Terry Gilliam and Alfonso Cuaron do.
If I'm going to see an animated film, Pixar is the way to go. Compare TOY STORY with SHREK and you'll see the difference.
I think it's the sentence, "If I'm going to see an animated film" that is crucial here. I'm just not a fan of animated films these days, at least not the ones that connect with a mass audience. In the last several years, the only animated film I liked enough to buy on DVD is Miyazaki's Spirited Away. I think Toy Story and Finding Nemo are fun movies, but not ones I'd care to watch over and over. So we have a disagreement trifecta: I avoid films from Pixar, Gilliam, and Cuaron. (I'm exaggerating a bit for emphasis: Cuaron's Harry Potter film is the best of the series so far, and Children of Men was OK though the last half-hour was disappointing, but I didn't like Y Tu Mama Tambien at all.)
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