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some recent movie reviews by moi

When I say "recent" I mean that I watched these recently... not all the movies are necessarily new releases.

First off, hats off to Alisha for convincing me to watch Farscape. It is really some brilliant and entertaining sci-fi... I'm hooked and I've only just finished disc 1! My initial attraction to the show was that Muppets are used in it (but NOT the cuddly kind :) but all the characters are so unique and at times so very comical that I enjoy them all equally. And I hear from my boyfriend that it gets pretty racy... with the muppets? Curiosity propels me forward!

On to the movies...

Serious Moonlight - starring Meg Ryan, Timothy Hutton, Kristin Bell & Justin Long
This was written by the late Adrienne Shelly who also wrote the wonderful movie Waitress with Nathan Fillion. Her colleagues knew her scripts shouldn't be just sitting in a drawer, so Cheryl Hines, a good friend of Adrienne's, made her directorial debut with this film.
The main plot is, Tim Hutton is leaving Meg Ryan for a younger woman (hmm flashback? French Kiss?) But no, this is a significantly darker comedy. Louise (Ryan's character) is desperate to keep him there to work on their marriage and decides to duct-tape him to the toilet. Most all of the movie takes place with him there :)
Kristin Bell plays the mistress and I don't want to spoil too much but hilarity ensues between her and Meg... a brief cat fight in the bathroom that will have you laughing!
Justin Long is scary AND funny at the same time, in a way that I can't really compare to another actor. All the performances were nuanced in a way that brought out the witty, disturbing and simultaneously touching dialogue. This movie can't really be classified as a comedy or a drama because it plays with both genres at the same time and weaves in and out cleverly. It's lovely to see that the writing of Adrienne is still being honored - she had a unique wit for certain! I highly recommend this movie - I didn't know what to expect but I really enjoyed it.

Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
I put off seeing this movie for a long time. But curiosity got the best of me and I braced myself for a tearjerker. Having known already the basic plot of the movie that Precious is pregnant by her father and abused by her mother, I knew the film could go one of two ways for me... leave me crying, depressed and in a funk I can't pull out of for a couple hours; or leave me inspired and relieved that I'm not in a funk for hours. Happily, it was the second outcome. While you do get the brunt of the abuse Precious endured, you also see the amusing dream world she creates to escape it (did anyone else have a brief Amelie moment?) And the focus of the movie is on her survival and people that influence her to help her initiate change in her life. My favorite part of the movie was the sweet character that Lenny Kravitz played as the male nurse... oh man was he adorable! (I don't care if that was sexist or not fellas, I'm just bein honest!) There were brief moments in this movie that made my heart melt and really reminded me how much impact we can have on a person's life by challenging them and reaching out to them. Will I watch it again? Probably not, but it's worth at least one viewing.

Leap Year - starring Amy Adams and Matthew Goode
A romantic comedy, light and breezy - easily forgettable. The premise is that it's Leap Year Feb. 29 and Amy Adams decides to go to Ireland to propose to her boyfriend. Now I knew it was most likely a predictable romantic comedy... but SOMETIMES a movie can surprise you. I love both the leading characters - they both have an attractiveness and charm that is usually very alluring to me. Matthew Goode has been a favorite actor since I saw him in Imagine Me & You and beyond that he usually chooses unique, complex roles. But this will end up being one of those movies a few years from now that I know I've seen but struggle to remember.

Battlestar Galactica: Caprica - Starring Eric Stolz & Esai Morales
YES YES SO MUCH YES! This prequel I'm sure has been seen by every Battlestar Galactica fan, so I'm appealing to the people who perhaps haven't gotten into the series yet (seriously what is WRONG with you?) Kidding. It took me a while to get on the BSG boat but now I'm an emphatic fan. However, I'm not certain the prequel is the one you want to watch first. I really liked having seen the full BSG series before watching Caprica, because I could understand and appreciate the nuances about the cultures of the varying planets and the references they discussed made sense to me. This movie is set a half century before the BSG series and follows the inventor of the cylon. Now I don't have cable tv (I know, shocking!)... so I have to wait for a series to come out on DVD; therefore this movie is all I've seen of Caprica so far and I can't WAIT for more. I think my favorite aspect of what makes Caprica and BSG special (aside from the creative technology) is the questions it raises - just because you can, does that mean you SHOULD? What are the ramifications of re-creating someone who has died and what aspects of them are you really capturing? DO cylons have souls? It is fascinating to get to know the father of Bill Adama and speculate on how his dysfunction contributed to the person Bill would turn out to be. The ending of the film gave me chills... so so so so good. MORE PLEASE!
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I've seen many more movies (Hi, my name's Nielle and I'm a movie addict)... but that's all for now. Please comment! :) I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Comments

  1. Farscape is one of my all time favorite sci-fi series. I'm glad you are picking it up!

    I didn't care too much for Caprica, and can't seem to get into the series either. I was a little disappointed since BSG was so completely mind-blowing that it didn't live up to the standard.

    I saw Legion last night. Skip it. The trailer has all the good bits.

    And I saw A-Team which was actually way more entertaining than I expected. It's not a brilliant piece of work by any means, but it was definitely action packed and funny. My disclaimer though, is that I have no history watching the original so the nostalgia wasn't ruined for me like it might be for some.

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  2. cool that means you and I can talk about Farscape too! How cute is John Creighton? :)

    Don't get me wrong, I don't like Caprica more than the BSG series. And it took me the first half of season one to get into the series but I stuck with it and that's when it started blowing me away and kept getting better (for me anyway).

    What didn't you like about Legion? Big bummer... I'll probably still keep it in my queue anyway b/c I'm always just curious as why people either like or dislike a movie.

    Can you believe I STILL haven't seen Iron Man 2? Something I hope to fix with dad this week :)

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