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Cate

I've been falling asleep during movies these days. A comment on my lack of sleep rather than a comment on the movies. I fell asleep during the Live Free Die Hard, Babel, Paris Je'Taime, and during an episode of Deadwood.

The Bee Season. I liked it. Especially Juliette Binoche and the kaleidescope imagery. Her character was the most interesting. This movie fell flat for me because I didn't quite get the ending. Why did little Eliza purposefully lose the spelling bee and everyone started crying. I just didn't get it. If anybody else wants to recommend another Juliette movie to watch, please comment. I like her.

Blockbusters has ruined any attempts to rent movies lately. I got Charmed first disc of season 3 and that was cracked. Returned that and got Sex and the City, last disc of season 4. But the wrong disc was in that sleeve. So today I got The Bee Season in the mail. But the psp I was trying to play that on didn't work either. Some funky message like, "we aren't able to play dvds in this region." Whatever. No new movies, this week.

I'm listening to Tom Petty singing Turn this Car Around.
I'm reading a book called The Memory Keeper's Daughter. In fact, I might read that before going to work tonight. Better than browsing around online doing nothing.


~Rachel~

Last movie, Harsh Times staring Christian Bale and Freddy Rodriguez. I really liked it. I watched an Ashley Judd movie that I can't remember the name of. That was only ok. A kids movie called Sky High. Brilliant. Iris. Did I mention that one here on livejournal yet? I rented Iris. Also a very good movie. *scratchin my head* I think that is it.

Iris
300
Casino Royale
part of The Return

I saw some very good movies over the past few weeks.

I mentioned 'The Good German'. A much anticipated Cate film. It was released to cinemas back in December. I had given up hope of seeing it in the theater and was resigned to wait for the DVD. But it is a George Clooney/Cate Blanchett/Toby McGuire/Steven Soderberg movie. How could it not get released with big names like that? So puzzling to me, until mid February it finally is being shown in Omaha. At AMC Oakview 24. When that theater first opened, it struck me as the big corporate theater that would drive out all others. The blockbusters of movie theaters. The high priced theater. While Oakview AMC is not my favorite theater in Omaha (I love Dundee and Westwood 8 much more) AMC has done a lot to win my favor. They have this series of films being shown, AMC Select, that are independent, foreign, etc., that no other theater is showing. Pans Labyrinth is an example that Jose and I saw last night. The Good German is another example -- I doubt any other theater will be showing this movie. One more positive thing to add about AMC, although the prices are higher than any other theater chain in Omaha, if one goes to see a movie before noon on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday it is only $4. That is a jaw-dropping good price.

I digress. This post is about movies. That little back story was just to illustrate how long I've waited for 'The Good German'. Another back story is that I'm always skeptical of a Steven Soderberg movie. Is he a good director or a bad one? I loved Sex Lies and Videotape. I hated Traffic. I hated Oceans 11, but loved Oceans 12. Inconsistent, but true. Much to my surprise, The Good German did not feel contrived at all. Soderberg's idea of filming TGG in the style of old Hollywood worked. It helps that I'm so enamored of that period of film making. (Not saying that I have seen all of the classics, just that I really like the classics.) The idea of mixing this old style of filming with moder elements like sex, language and violence also worked for me. Unlike what the critics all thought, to me it went together smoothly -- Soderberg's experiment worked.

I don't have a lot of intelligent things to say about the plot other than I liked it. I'd have to see the movie again to go into a more detailed analysis. I loved the performances by everyone. Including Toby, sure I still think he's a terrible actor, but he wasn't as annoying as usual. One thing that was so neat was the lighting. Every scene that Cate was in she looked so lovely in black and white. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. Beautiful Cate.

The other films I saw:
Marie Antoinette -- pretty costumes, the story disappoints
The Us vs. John Lennon -- interesting documentary
Pan's Labyrinth -- loved this movie. I'm so glad to have seen it on the big screen.
The Covenant -- actually, I fell asleep for most of it
Ghostbusters 2 -- the 100th time I've seen this movie since childhood and it still delights me

I was going to list the books I read, too. But I don't remember the author and title of the last two. No matter they weren't any good. I'll try to rember to do this in the future.