Kick Ass - This was not what I was expecting, and I really liked it. I'm glad I haven't read anything about it, and I really don't want to read anything about it, because I feel like it will definitely ruin it. I was gearing up for a superhero movie (which I like) starring kids (which I thought was pretty gimmicky). Instead I was shocked and thrilled by what they ended up doing with it. (Plus, I had no idea Mc Lovin' was in it. Win.) I don't really want to say any more in case people haven't seen it.
Chaos Theory - Bizarre little indie movie starring Ryan Reynolds. It gave me an anxiety attack for the first 3/4 of the movie. A comedy of errors this extreme really puts me on edge... I mean sometimes Curb Your Enthusiasm was too much for me. Nevermind an entire movie where his wife setting the clock back 10 minutes leads to serious consequences. But I did like the ending - I was glad that the moral of the story wasn't that you should be less rigid, which was what I expected and was prepared to take personally. ;) But that being said, I wouldn't watch this one again.
Evidence of Blood - I don't know why but the production quality of this kept making me think it was a made for TV movie. It was a crime mystery starring David Strathairn, who I really like - the plot was basically that he was a true crime writer who comes back to his hometown and ends up helping try to exonerate someone who was executed for a murder like 40 years prior. I really like these kinds of stories, for some reason I'm obsessed with exoneration (lucky for you all I went on my exoneration documentary watching spree BEFORE I joined film club - although I still have a few I'm saving for a rainy day, so get excited). However, I thought this one got a bit convoluted, which made me really like it up until the climax and denouement. Bummer, right? Oh well.
Easy A - I really liked this one. John I know you didn't and aren't but I have to say, I am a huge John Hughes fan, and I was really glad that they did (like you said) capture the John Hughes spirit in this movie. Plus I like anything with a reference to literature because I am a huge nerd. The scenes with Olive and her parents were by far the best part of the movie - I am a huge Patricia Clarkson fan (that is a severe understatement). I think she's excellent and hilarious. The dialogue in those scenes was really quick and quick witted, which I'm a sucker for. Anyway, it's kind of a girl movie, so I'm not really recommending it. I just wanted to note that (not unexpectedly) I watched and liked it.
Speaking of being a huge nerd... I have been concealing this but I also watch an obscene amount of NOVA, National Geographic, History Channel and Frontline specials. Seriously guys I mean I'm like weirdly obsessed with them. The four I watched today were pretty good so I thought I'd mention:
- Science of Evil (National Geographic) - This one made me think I (and all of you) may be capable of disgusting amounts of evil if we were put in the right (by which I mean wrong) circumstances. That is really a scary thought. But it was pretty compelling.
- Crash of Flight 447 (NOVA) - This one made me never want to get on an airplane ever again. I'm not sure if any of you read the cover article from last week's NY Times Magazine about the crash now that they found the wreckage, but if you haven't, the article was horrifying. I have to say, this special (which was pre-wreckage-finding) was actually kind of MORE horrifying than the article. ::cancels upcoming flight to Chapel Hill::
- The FBI (National Geographic) - I give this one a "meh." I really just watched it to see if they would mention Waco (I watched a documentary about Waco pre-film club and have been a little bit preoccupied with it lately - but you should just be glad this replaced Jonestown as my cult obsession of the moment because seriously Jonestown was all I could talk about for months and months. Have you SEEN Jonestown: The Life and Death of People's Temple? Anyway...)... Interestingly an FBI agent who was involved in the Waco operation said that the fact that it ended in a "suicide fire" was his biggest regret. Suicide fire? HA, that's a good one. Anyway, conspiracy theories aside, I was glad to watch this one but do not really recommend it, it was kind of boring and clearly had to go through like governmental approvals or something.
- How Does The Brain Work? (NOVA scienceNOW) - Unlike the regular NOVA programs, these scienceNOW ones have this host guy who is SO goofy that it's really hard to look past it. I don't know if you've ever seen these (the one on Pluto was particularly painful), but usually if you can grit your teeth through the parts with the host they have some pretty cool stuff. This one had a couple different segments which were all about the brain, which is another topic I'm overly fascinated with. One of the segments talked about AI and was mostly focused on Watson (the computer who beat Ken Jennings on Jeopardy), another one was about magic and why our brains get tricked by simple legerdemain (that's sleight of hand, guys... GRE word... good thing I remember ONE thing from that stupid test), and another segment was about synesthesia. Look it up, it's so cool - if any of you have this and have not told me I'm going to be so mad at you.
Ok clearly I'm totally geeked out and excited from a night of watching all my nerdy science shows so I'm going to try to go to bed.
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| Host of NOVA scienceNOW. Need I say more? |
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