Monthly Archives: October 2008
Recap: 5 October 2008
This is becoming something of a trend: I pegged the top 3, but not in the right order.
This Week’s Top 10
- Beverly Hills Chihuahua ($29 million)
- Eagle Eye ($17.7 million)
- Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist ($12 million)
- Nights in Rodanthe ($7.4 million)
- Appaloosa ($5 million)
- Lakeview Terrace ($4.5 million)
- Burn After Reading ($4.08 million)
- Fireproof ($4.07 million)
- An American Carol ($3.8 million)
- Religulous ($3.5 million)
What I Watched
- What a Girl Wants (2 stars): My sister convinced me to watch this because of Colin Firth. And, sad to say, that’s probably the only reason to watch this. Granted, without the silly B-story love interest, I think this movie might have been perfectly respectable. Well, maybe that’s going a bit far, but you get my drift. As it is, save yourself some time and just watch this.
- Final Draft (2 stars): I did learn a very important lesson from this movie. Cutting yourself off from the outside world by locking yourself in an apartment to finish a screenplay is a very bad idea.
- Woman of the Year (3 stars): See the full review here.
- Son of Rambow (3½ stars): I was highly amused by the reasons behind the PG-13 rating for this film: “violence and reckless behavior.” This is a story about unlikely friendship and love of movies, so I, of course, loved it. The two leads were wonderful, and the story (if a little uneven at times) is funny, sweet and emotionally authentic.
- The Full Monty (4 stars): The story of down-and-out steel workers who convince themselves that performing in a strip show would be a good idea. As you can imagine, chaos ensues. It’s hilarious and touching, and it walks the line between feel-good and schmaltz better than I’ve seen in a while. I’ll also note that, despite the plot, the movie is monty-free, though butts do abound from time to time.
In Other News
I finished Voyage of the Dawn Treader
I’ve since moved on to Neil Gaiman’s collection of short stories, Smoke and Mirrors
Last but not least, it’s nearly time for National Novel Writing Month! Get thee to the Web site and sign up! If you have no idea what NaNoWriMo is, check out Matt’s post about it. He sums it up quite nicely. And, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. This will be my fourth year participating, so I’m a bit of a veteran as far as NaNo goes.
Edit: Matt says this post is better, but I say you should check out both. There’s no such thing as too much when it comes to NaNo-related motivation.
Netflix Project: Woman of the Year (1942)
Woman of the Year, the first collaboration for Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, tells the story of a political columnist and a sports reporter who meet after trading barbs, fall in love, and then find marriage isn’t quite the bed of roses they thought it would be.
Written by Ring Lardner Jr. and Michael Kanin, the film contains some amusing dialog and a couple of laugh-out-loud sequences. Overall, though, the film struck me as rather unremarkable.
From the beginning, I was never really quite certain what Sam saw in Tess, nor what she saw in him other than he had the moxie to actually go after her. There was an obvious physical attraction and even an undeniable chemistry between the two leads, but I never understood the undercurrent that pulled these two together.
For the modern viewer, the second act seems to drag on longer than necessary. There’s a good twenty to thirty minutes in the middle where the plot gets too serious for its own good. (It was at this point, when we had to pause the movie for a moment, that my less-patient-with-movies-than-I-am mother remarked, “Is it just me, or is this movie really boring?”) Luckily, they saved the best for last as Tess attempts to make breakfast for Sam in a last-ditch effort to save their marriage. That scene alone bumped the film from 2½ stars to 3 on my scale (of 5).
And not because it’s all that clever or unique but simply because it’s true…
Favorite Line: “What’s the sense of abolishing the thing you’re trying to protect?”
Box Office Predictions: 3 October 2008
We have a slew of wide releases this weekend: family flick Beverly Hills Chihuahua, smart teen comedy Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist, conservative comedy An American Carol, drama Blindness, and biopic Flash of Genius.
As much as it pains me to say it, it looks like Beverly Hills Chihuahua has the best shot at taking No. 1. The box office has been lacking in family films lately, and this one’s opening in more than 3,000 theatres. It’s movies like this that make me embarrassed to admit I own two chihuahuas, albeit long-haired and very anti-purse ones.
After that, it’s between Nick & Norah and last week’s winner, Eagle Eye. We’ve had at least a couple of weeks with thrillers at the head of the pack, so I’m banking that the theatre-going crowd will be in the mood for lighter fare this weekend.
Official Predictions
1. Beverly Hills Chihuahua
2. Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist
3. Eagle Eye
A Writer’s Theme Song
Found another meme over at Write Here, Write Now.
Here’s the deal:
Find a song that sums up what you think it means to be a writer and post the lyrics on your blog and why you’ve chosen it. NB: It doesn’t have to be your favourite song, it just has to express how you feel about writing and/or being a writer. It can be literal, metaphorical, about a particular form or aspect of writing – whatever you want. Then tag 5 others to do the same (reprint these instructions).
I’d never really thought about a theme song as a writer. I have plenty of project-themed songs that come to mind for various characters, stories, etc. I’ve also got a number of songs I relate to as an entire human being, but the part of me that is a writer had never resonated clearly with a song. But no longer. I present to you, “Shark Food” by Starsailor. You can listen to the song for free at last.fm. And while you’re there, add me as a friend if you like.
Sunshine in the glory skies,
When the broken men open up their eyes.
Sunshine in the glory skies,
When the day is long and the clouds are high.
We’re stepping through the door
We’re shooting from the heart
And if we get it wrong
They’ll feed us to the sharks
The first stanza reminds me of what a bitch writing can be at times contrasted with the euphoria of when it goes well. I picture the quintessential high noon gunfight, except it’s me versus my laptop.
The second stanza hits home in a couple of ways. First, it’s always a risk revealing something that’s come directly from your heart and brain to others. But that’s why we do it, too, because there are stories we feel compelled to tell. The risk is worth the reward of seeing someone connect with what we’ve put out there. Second, I feel a sense of responsibility toward my stories in that I want to tell them clearly and with the attention they deserve. If I don’t make the effort to do my absolute best and to continually raise that bar I call “my best,” then I deserve to be shark food (and certainly will be in this industry).
I’m not going to tag five people since I don’t know five people who will do this. But I will strongly encourage Brittany and Matt to join in the fun.
