Let me start off by saying: this was a very good week for movies.
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1 - One of my favorite classes to teach while I was subbing a few months back was Drama II. The kids were terrific, and we really had a good time. There were also lots of class inside jokes: one, in particular, presumed that a certain girl had a huge crush on Zac Efron when, in fact, she couldn't stand him. She was a great sport about it and it kept coming up, even to the point of becoming a plot (and set) piece in their group movie. Anyway, one day in the midst of some usual ribbing, one of the boys in class spoke up. This kid is the poster child for emo-rock, and definitely more inclined towards horror, psychedelic "drama", and gross-out humor than anything Disney-related. Imagine our collective shock then, when he calmly (and more than a touch defiantly) proclaimed that not only had he been to see "17 Again" (starring Zac Efron) but he really really liked it, AND intended to see it again, AND he didn't care what anyone else thought. Shock and awe all around.
And even this event was not enough to get me into a theater to see the movie...
... which I can now see is somewhat unfortunate, since I saw the movie for the first time on Monday, and thoroughly enjoyed it. A couple of friends came over, and we laughed ourselves silly over it, in the best possible way. There was the occasional startled sideways glance, followed by a whispered, "who would have though ZAC EFRON could ACT?!?" and then back to the action. One girl's part is not as fleshed-out or motivated as I would have liked, but Efron really was excellent (and funny! Comic timing wow!) and Matthew Perry was even more endearing than I remembered. As my friend put it, the movie also has one of the best/most hilarious secondary couples EVER. I have no qualms about seeing this one again. Thanks, DVD! (And Tara, for bringing it over! And Greg, for being there! Here's to the sweater!)
2 - Wednesday I did some cleanup at the theater (yay to the show being open, though!) and then took myself to a matinee of "G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra". Now, look - I am a child of the eighties. I may be a girl, but G.I. Joe was one of my favorite shows - heck, we even used it as the theme for one of my EFY groups just a couple of years ago (we were the "G.I. Josephats" - the other counselor and I even pulled out cammo pants, hats, and makeup. We were INTENSE). It's not like I was ever NOT going to see this movie. Plus, I've always had a soft spot for Channing Tatum (A friend: "I can't stand him. Also, he has two girl names!") and I was delighted to discover (because I am weird) that Joseph Gordon-Levitt had a part as a *SPOILER* villian. (See review below, and mentions in previous posts *ahem*.) I knew the reviews hadn't been great, so my expectations were fairly low. I read another review that talked about long stretches of boredom.Silly reviewer people, silly ADD article author... the movie was just fine. Yes, it was fluff and action. Yes, there's not much going on besides pretty people blowing things up and being special-effected and saving the world and stuff. What else did they expect? In fact, there was also some attempt at character development and an actual plot, there was relatively decent script work, there were some great design concepts, and there was Dennis Quaid playing a tough-as-nails hands-on General. All bonuses, as far as I was concerned. I liked it MUCH more than Transformers 2, to which it is being regularly compared. No, it won't be winning any acting/directing/philosophy awards any time soon, but it was fun and the occasional references to the cartoon sprinkled through the show kept me very happy. You can't always trust reviewers, after all - you have to know for yourself, because (*wait for it* *sorry, I just HAVE to*) Knowing Is Half The Battle.
In all honesty, that line really is as cheesy as ever, even when Dennis Quaid is the one saying it.
3 - Thursday it was time for the completely delightful "Julie & Julia". I feel very comfortable saying that if you like Meryl Streep, and/or Amy Adams, and /or food, you'll like (quite possibly love) this movie. Wonderful performances all around, fantastic cinematography (Paris! All the food!) - it's charming, touching, and funny. There are all sorts of metaphors one could make here about the "recipe for a winning film" or this being the way to "serve up a tasty bite of life" or some other such type of drivel (sorry to all the official reviewers out there who have already taken this cliched road!) but I won't. I'll just stick with: I liked it, it was calorie-free, and did not make me want to learn to cook French food. For as good as the movie was, that last is a relief.
4 - Friday got busy, so today I took myself out for a double-feature. Okay, remember the preface (above) to "17 Again"? My response to Vanessa Hudgens is quite similar to the class's reactions to Zac Efron. NOT a fan. And yet... I completely loved "BandSlam". I'm not kidding. It was hilarious, and edgy, with some really excellent music, and VH doing this completely weird near-goth-emo-vocally-impaired chick that very much surprised me. It's not a Disney-fied movie, it's really not. Yes, there are a couple of Disney stars in it. Yes, it has a Disney moment or two - but not where you'd expect, and there are a few other plot points and twists that haven't ever seen the light of a Disney day before. And the set-up! "Strange, odd loner-kid gets hooked up (not "hooks up") with two very different, also odd (for various reasons) pretty girls and very interesting sorts of character things start to happen!" It's FUN. It's also high school, so it's painful. But it's FUN! I'm really hoping to go again with friends, because this time I want to laugh about it with people that I know... I liked it that much.5 - And then I moved to another auditorium at the same movie theatre for part 2 of today's outing (which also happened to be the second time I saw this last movie, so I'm cheating here a little)... "(500) Days of Summer". Still brilliant. Still starmaking, for Joseph Gordon-Levitt at least, though Zooey Deschanel was perfectly cast IMO and will probably help start a new retro fashion trend. It's absolutely a fascinating piece of work in itself - it's non-linear, so it doesn't follow the story straight through. (Incidentally, it reminds me a little of the book The Time-Traveler's Wife, which is amazing, even though the reviews for that movie adaptation have not been very good. If this team had done T-TW, I think it could have been wonderful.) It jumps around to different days in the relationship of the boy and girl, and keeps the audience on track with a counter that starts off each scene. That way, the audience sees things that they think they understand, but come to realize later actually meant something completely different than what they thought. And if that isn't a perfect visualization right there of the complexities of boy/girl relationships, I don't know what is. You're told right off that the movie is not a love story. It's not. It is a story about love, and life, and figuring out who you are and what you want. It doesn't have the ending we've been programmed to expect, but the one it's got is even more satisfying. Also, JG-L is beyond adorable... I may have mentioned that before.
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I say with some confidence that I am not likely to cram this many movies into one week again, not unless I'm getting paid to do it (and I'd like to mention to the Universe that I certainly wouldn't mind getting paid to do it!). There is, after all, a life of some kind trying to go on over here too! More on that later!
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