Looking for Eric

So on Wednesday, my personality soulmate (Nicole) came over and we had our long lost friend reunion. Two weeks is TOO LONG. In addition to watching two AWESOME episodes of Wife Swap, we watched Allison's first movie selection: Looking for Eric.

This is a British movie (and I love me some British films) about a middle aged post office worker whose life is in a serious slump, and how he comes back from it. It was really good! Even Nicole liked it, and she hates all British things (not even joking).

I was definitely confused at first, because there are two Erics in this movie, the main character, and then Eric Cantona, the famous Manchester United Soccer player. I may or may not only know that because I had to look it up on Wikipedia at the beginning of the movie. I think this movie would have made slightly more sense if you were from England, where people actually care about and follow soccer/football. I know absolutely NOTHING about the sport, despite the fact that my dad has been all about it my entire life.

But half of the sport references in this movie probably would have been lost on me anyway, because they were mostly cultural. And as I am not British, I do not understand. But once you figured out that the two Erics were different people (and that the main character did not used to be a soccer player), it made more sense. And the acting was great, and I just really love british humor so that was great too. It was a happy, good ending kind of movie. DEFINITELY what I needed after the torture of the night before. UGH.

Next movie is Joe's choice, "The Usual Suspects." Now I'm not entirely sure when I'm watching this one, it depends on when Netflix delivers it and when I find time. But I'm glad I caught up a bunch this week and hopefully I'll be able to stay slightly more on top of this as time goes on!

HOORAY!

The Human Centipede

I just....

I can't even comprehend what I just saw. I'm not the kind of person who feels nauseous that easily. But I have feel like I'm going to vomit up my entire dinner for the past hour.

That is hands down the worst movie I have ever seen.

I cannot even believe that this movie got made to begin with. Because I intend for NO ONE to ever see this movie again, I don't feel bad ruining it: A psycho kidnaps three people, attaches them to each other, butt to mouth, and that's basically the whole movie. Need more details about the horror? Read this. I can't relive it again.

The acting and script doesn't do it any favors. At first it was so bad that it was laugh out loud funny, but then it just got SICK. I couldn't even watch the last half hour, I instead focused on catching up on my SEVENTEEN DIFFERENT GAMES on Draw Something. Time well spent.

I don't even know what to say. Just...never see this. Never ever. Thank goodness Katie was here and I didn't have to watch this alone.

Luckily there are two hours of Dance Moms on tonight to make me forget all about the past 90 minutes.

WOOF.

Up next: Looking for Eric, chosen by Allison!

Ne le dis à personne (Tell No One)

Ashley, you are a genius. Thank you for picking this movie.

I just finished it.

I had to blog immediately.

I have officially watched the first AWESOME movie on my blog list.

THIS MOVIE WAS AWESOME.

I probably shouldn't blog yet because I haven't had any, let alone enough time to process what I just saw. But seriously. Watch this movie.

I don't (ok, I guess I should say didn't) usually like foreign films. And at first, I was not digging that this was in French. I think it's because I'm a movie multitasker. But you can't multitask if you have to read subtitles. At first it was slightly annoying...I really had to pay attention.

And then I could not tear myself away. I had every intention of folding my laundry and eventually pausing the movie to heat up my dinner...and here I sit, at almost 11:15, with two giant baskets of laundry and food sitting in the fridge. I could not even bear to pause it. I had to know what was going to happen. I don't usually like thrillers either, but seriously. This movie was so well done. The acting was amazing, the plot was even MORE amazing, and by the end, I forgot that it was in French. I was too engrossed to even notice.

I want everyone reading this to see it, so I'm not going to write a WORD about what the movie was about. Just watch it. And if you don't like foreign movies, or thrillers, or you have too much to do, I'm not buying it, because those were my EXACT excuses too. And I was wrong about all of them.

This is why this New Years Resolution was SUCH a good idea for me.

Up next tomorrow (and this will not be the kind of movie that proves my preconceived notions wrong...): The Human Centipede (NO WHY WHY WHY PLEASE SOMEONE COME WATCH IT WITH ME)

THE COMPLETE LIST

And so, it is finally revealed. This is the order I am trying to watch them in, although, as you can tell, this list is slightly flexible. I tried to space people's choices out so I would have a varied year. Some of these I'm so excited to see, others, I cannot believe I have to watch (i.e. Jacob and Sarah Smith, I hate you both). SO! If you want to watch any of these with me, just let me know, and we'll make it happen!

THE 2012 MOVIE BLOG LIST:

Ne le dis à personne (Ashley)
True Grit (Josh K.)
Joyful Noise (Katie)
The Human Centipede (Jacob)
The Vow (Evie)
Looking for Eric (Allison)
The Usual Suspects (Joe)
Breathless (Sarah Davis)
Au Revoir les Enfants (Josh Eflin)
Kinsey (Dan)
American Graffiti (Aunt Tawdra)
The Hurt Locker (Dad)
The Room (Sarah Smith)
Cinema Paradiso (Mom)
Slumdog Millionaire (Laura)
Drive (Ashley)
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (Sarah Davis)
Cool World (Brandon)
Pan E Tulipe (Allison)
The Dark Knight Rises (Josh Kingett)
Trapped in the Closet (Jacki)
Finding Neverland (Toni)
Waking Life (Josh Eflin)
Enchanted Cottage (Mom)
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (Evie)
Red Dawn (Joe)
Atonement (Dan)
Dragonball: Evolution (Jacob)
Dead Poets Society (Aunt Tawdra)
127 Hours (Katie)
Exit Through the Gift Shop (Jacki)
I am Legend (Laura)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (Dad)
Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus (Sarah Smith)
MirrorMask (Brandon)
The Blues Brothers (Toni)

The Vow

WELL HELLO AGAIN.

I have been awful lately at updating all things in my life because March and Feb were so so so busy, but I'm using this week to try and catch up and get back on track. Which means not only am I blogging about The Vow today, but I'm going to watch THREE MOVIES this week. So get ready for lots of blogs.

The Vow was Evie's movie, so, appropriately, I saw it with her on what felt like the COLDEST DAY OF ALL TIME. But that's beside the point.

This movie was okay, and it was not what I expected. Maybe because it had Rachel McAdams, or who knows why, but I expected this movie to basically by The Notebook part 2. But it really wasn't. This movie was SAD!

SPOILER ALERT:

I really thought Rachel McAdams's character was going to regain her memory in some great moment of catharsis...but she never did. And even though you're left believing that the two characters do end up back together, it doesn't change how unsettled you're left by how horrible the whole situation was. I mean, what if that happened to you? You were fine and in love and happy, and one day, your significant other just...doesn't remember? And what if it wasn't a movie and they just moved on?

My grandpa is falling more and more into dementia, and so I was actually talking about this very phenomenon last week with my mom, aunt, and uncle. My uncle is a chaplain for an elder center in a hospital outside of Orlando, and he's seen couples where one spouse forgets they're married and falls in love with someone else. My grandpa is sort of doing that right now, although he's doing it to his second wife, so it's not exactly this "movie situation". But either way, it's just so sad! I spent the next couple days after watching this movie wondering how I would react if I were Channing Tatum. And this movie was based on a real couple (who also ended up falling in love again), so something like this could really happen!

In terms of the MOVIE, like I said, it was okay. Definitely more dramatic than real life, with its moments of sweetness, and semi-decent acting (Rachel was better than Channing, shocker). Will I buy it? No. Would I see it in theatres again? No. Am I glad I saw it and will I watch it on TV eventually? Yeah. It was one of those.

At least it didn't make me depressed on Valentine's weekend. Silver lining?

Up next: Ne le dis à personne, chosen by Ash, which I'm watching TONIGHT!

SUCH A DELINQUENT!

Hi everyone,

Sorry I've been TOTALLY slacking on this lately; not too long after I posted the last entry I got insanely busy and cast in another show and work is insane right now and blah blah blah EXCUSES EXCUSES! I know, I know. I have one movie to blog about and a LOT more to see, and hopefully life chills out soon and I can get back to movie watching. Stay tuned, because I WILL watch all of these movies this year! :)

A blog to come VERY SOON!

Shannon

True Grit

So the next movie on my list was selected by my brother Josh. In honor of his 20th birthday on Saturday (and because I was so sick that I could not get off the couch), I decided to watch it that night. Thanks Instant Netflix. I also "watched" it with Dan who is currently in Utah...aka we pressed play at the same time and gchatted things like "Can you understand what Jeff Bridges is saying?" "Gross." "NO MATT DAMON NO!" and "No but seriously what is Jeff Bridges saying?"

This movie took a while to get good, but I did like it. I think if I were to watch it again I'd like it even more and I'd appreciate the beginning. I also told Dan that maybe we should have watched the old one first, because seriously, Jeff Bridges is IMPOSSIBLE to understand half the time. I get that this is the Old West. I get that you're drunk. But seriously. WHAT IS GOING ON. I had to rely on context clues to even figure out what was happening.

My other critique is that colloquial speak aside, the first half is slow. Everything exciting basically happens in the last half hour, and until then, you don't know what's going on anyway.

I did like how funny it was and I wasn't expecting that. Did I find Matt Damon believable as a character in the old west? Nope. Was he hilarious though? Yup. And Jeff Bridges is Jeff Bridges, so humor is inevitable. I would definitely see this again, but it was not life changing or particularly remarkable. I now only have ONE MORE MOVIE from the Best Pictures of 2010 until I've seen them all (I only have 127 Hours left...and that may or may not be on the list for this blog...stay tuned!).

Next up: Ne le dis à personne (Tell No One), chosen by Ash!