To put this in perspective, last year, I only had two five-star movies the entire year, and it’s only June and I already have 5 (those are Star Trek, The Brothers Bloom, Up, Easy Virtue, and Away We Go).

What I Watched

• Some Kind of Wonderful (4 stars): I can’t believe I’d never heard of this movie until Gigi’s mention of it in He’s Just Not That Into You. My sister and I love that movie, so, of course, we had to check this one out, too. And it was funny and charming and sweet without being too saccharine. I think it’s pretty underrated as far as ’80s romcoms go.
• Away We Go (5 stars): I was really interested to see what Sam Mendes could do with a quirky comedy/dramedy that tackles some of the same themes as a couple of his other films, the much darker American Beauty and entirely depressing Revolutionary Road. As much as I love American Beauty, I’m thinking maybe he should stick to this sort of thing. It was absolutely wonderful. If I thought I was in love with John Krasinski before, I most certainly am now. And Maya Rudolph was beautiful and complex and, well, just great. I’d recommend making an effort to check this one out, folks.
• Hope Springs (3 stars): Sister and I needed a Colin Firth fix, so we picked this little-seen romcom from 2003. It wasn’t bad, wasn’t great. Firth was absolutely charming, though, as we expected. Interestingly enough, this movie is based on a book by the same author who wrote the book upon which The Graduate was based. A little trivia for you there.

Other Goings-On
Joselyn and I are likely going to participate in the 48-Hour Film Project, which is happening the last weekend in July. We haven’t yet decided whether to join a team or to try and form one of our own. So, if you’re in the Kansas City area and would be interested in joining our dynamic duo for one crazy weekend of filmmaking, drop me a comment or shoot me an e-mail at izzi [dot] ditty [at] gmail [dot] com.

Have a lovely week, everyone!