IMDb Top 250
twofifty is well designed and easy to use site that allows you to keep an overview of which movies from the IMDb Top-250 you’ve seen.
film
Pitching Passion
Eight things I didn’t know before watching The Passion Of The Christ last night:
1. Jesus had a brother. I can’t believe I didn’t know this.
2. The devil is a woman.
3. Somebody helped Jesus carry the cross.
4. Jesus stopped more than three times while carrying the cross to Mt. Golgotha.
5. It was Jesus of Nazareth who first said, “those who live by the sword will die by the sword”
6. Judas hung himself after his betrayal.
7. Jesus invented the chair.
8. Kit Kats bites are delicious.
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My Life Without Me
Last night I watched My Life Without Me (trailer can be found here). What a tear-jerker that was. I was a sniffling mess for a while there. I can’t remember who recommend this movie to me, but they said my Big List reminded them of it. Anyway, thanks whoeveryouare, it was really enjoyable. I thought it was a great movie, if not a bit depressing and a little manipulative, it really moved me. There are plenty of bad reviews out there for this movie, this isn’t one of them. I thought Sarah Polley did an incredible job. The stylization was just up my alley and the soundtrack was great to boot. The selfishness of the main character was lost on me till I started reading some negative views.
I also really enjoyed it because it correlated with the book I’m reading right now: White Noise by Don DeLillo. Both stories (the movie and the book) deal with the ever looming spectre of death, specifically terminal illness. They both deal with how we act when our time on earth becomes specifically finite. Neither of the characters (in both the movie and the book) choose to tell their spouses or their children. Is that OK to do? Are we obliged to tell our loved ones if we are going to die in two months? Are we saving them any suffering if we don’t? In addition, both main characters deal with issues of infidelity which draws even more parallels between the two stories. Anyway, I totally recommend the movie (as long as you don’t mind a good cry) and I’ll let you know about the book when I finish it.
Winter Weekends
Friday I worked a little late into the evening and spent a quiet evening at home. I watched How To Lose a Guy In Ten Days. It was cute, laughable, fodder to wind down my week. I can appreciate an occasional fun chick flick despite how generally contrived and predictable it was.
I was up (relatively) early on Saturday and headed up into the mountains for a day of skiing. I met up with A.P. and his wife and the two kids. We all ate an early lunch together and then went out to the carpet lift to play with the kids and teach them how to ski. The boy popped out before he even got his skis on but the girls were gung ho and couldn’t get enough. It was great getting a four-year old and a six-year old interested in the sport. Both me and A.P. agreed the whole secret to getting the youngsters started is just making sure they stay warm and are having fun. Most of the skills and athletics come later. At first you just have make sure they want to come back. Afterward me and A.P. went to take some turns on our own. We got about four additional hours skiing the ‘S’ lift at Copper Mountain. Traditionally, one of our favorite areas. It snowed most of the afternoon and this made for some good skiing but it also made traffic a bear. It took me two hours to get up to the mountain in the morning and three hours to get back. It was a long day.
I spent most of Sunday running errands, grocery shopping, watching TV, and reading. I was a pleasant weekend for a change.
True Stories
I’ve basically been snowed in the for the last few evenings. We only got like three or four inches worth over the last couple of days, not enough to actually snow anyone in, but it was enough to keep me from wanting to go out. I spent some of my recent indoors time staying late at working and doing some design stuff.
The night before I watched a really cool flick called True Stories. First off this movie was starred in and directed by David Byrne. And being a huge fan of both his music and his artwork may have effected my opinion of this movie, but I thought it was great. It was “A film about a bunch of people in Virgil Texas” who are observing the states sesquicentennial: the 150th anniversary and “a celebration of special-ness”. David Byrne did a wonderful job with his perfect alliteration, straight face, and odd-ball comments – “This car is not a rental. It’s privately owned”. Yet, he still makes his unabashed annotations on mass-consumerism, fashion, architecture, corporate America, and marriage without being satirical (for the most part) without being pretentious. The quirky characters were incredibly entertaining. Make no doubt, this movie is a musical, with some of the songs written specifically for the film. My favorite was “Dream Operator” sung during the fashion show. Anyway, great flick, go rent it.
Two Types Of Cheese
My brother lent me the movie 28 Days Later. I it watched last night and thought it was pretty good. It definitely belongs to the horror/zombie genre but I didn’t figure that out till about half way through. I was thinking it was going to be more of an apocalyptic/morality flick. I did enjoy it though. Despite the fact that I’m usually not too keen on horror movies. Fortunately this one lacked the one liners that seem to always ruin a good scary movie for me. I was warned the ending was terrible and had maybe thus given it the benefit of the doubt. I thought it was the only ending possible. The three alternate endings on the DVD basically sucked and the director and writer both admitted to it. Ain’t nothing wrong with a horror flick and a giant plate of homemade nachos for dinner.
How To Crack An Egg
I caught Sabrina on AMC last night. It seemed fitting for the times so I stayed up late and watched it all. I miss you Sabrina, wherever you are. This quote from the movie seemed especially appropriate:
Bonjour, mesdames et monsiuers. Yesterday we have learned the correct way how to boil water. Today we will learn the correct way how to crack an egg. Voila! An egg. Now, an egg is not a stone; it is not made of wood, it is a living thing. It has a heart. So when we crack it, we must not torment it. We must be merciful and execute it quickly, like with the guillotine.
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