What B's been watching, end of May and June edition

It's been a long month and lots of lonely evenings. Maybe not the best one to start this new section out with, but at least I'm cutting out the last couple of days :-). My movie taste is sporadic and varied, and I like it that way. I've been trying to not let my brain rot, and watch some documentary type movies, but I've also been trying to watch as many classics and expand my movie-knowledge as quickly as possible. And Matt was gone, so I got to watch whatever I wanted. Just some background. Here goes.

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. (1954, probably PG).

This movie is a lot of fun. Lumberjacks dancing ballet, seven brothers getting makeovers, and a lot of good music. It won an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture. Some of the brothers were borrowed from the New York City Ballet. The plot is that the eldest brother, Adam, goes into town from his home in the woods looking for a good strong wife to take care of him and his 6 brothers, Benjamin, Caleb, Daniel, Ephraim, Frankincense and Gideon. He finds a strong, awesome girl who agrees to marry him, and looks forward to the simple life of less work, being in charge of one man and one house (she'd been working in an inn). He "neglects" to tell her that it won't be just him, which she is not happy about when they return to the house. But she tames the brothers, and finds them all girls, and gets her own husband to not think of women as property... and it's all fun and good. I recommend this if you like fun and cheesy musicals set in the days of yore.

Here's a really long trailer that gives a little taste.

North by Northwest. (1959, maybe PG-13 because of the train scene).

Awesome classic movie about mistaken identity. Cary Grant's a great actor. Eva Marie Saint reminds me of Scarlett Johanssen. It was very tense and made me so frustrated at how far he had to go to get his name cleared, but so very very worth it. My favorite scene would probably be the auction scene. Brilliant.


Scrubs. (TV series, 2001 TV-14).

I started at the beginning on Netflix and have been greatly enjoying myself. I've only watched the first 5 episodes, but Dr. Cox is definitely my favorite character. My brain is foggy right now and I can't remember too many details, but I loved the episode with the "butt" box.

Jane Eyre. (2006 TV mini-series version).

I just finished reading the book and LOVED the book, so this was fun to watch soon after that. My favorite scene was definitely the one when they admit to one another that they're in love. The first half was painfully slow, but once it picked up, it grew on me. I'm not a massive fan of the girl who played Jane, but Rochester was pretty dang good. He was a little too sauve for me, I pictured him as more awkward and with more mood swings, and without that charming of a smile. But it's just such a good story that I will forgive them. I hope the new version coming out doesn't let me down too bad, but I have it on good authority that the guy who plays Rochester decided not to be "brooding" and that just won't do. Anyways, if you haven't read the book, it's so very very worth it, and watch the movie if you want to.

Sid and Nancy. (1986, R).

As wife of a punk rocker, I find it important to learn the history of the genre, and what better way to do it than through film? This movie is based around the story of the bass player of the Sex Pistols (highly influential British punk band), Sid Vicious, and his downward spiral with his junkie girlfriend, Nancy Spungen, ending with him stabbing her. First off, it is frustrating to watch almost two hours of heroin addiction. Second, awesome music. Third, say no to drugs. There were a few BIZARRE scenes in the movie, completely out of place and just random. And it was looong for the amount of sober dialogue there was, but it was a very good depiction of how fully and terribly drugs can take over lives, and just a weird, endearing little love story. Sort of a modern Romeo and Juliet meet The Thenardiers on drugs. I wouldn't highly recommend it unless you love punk rock, and I probably won't ever watch it again, but it was worth it to learn that whole story.

The Rescuers. (1977, G).

I totally wanted to be Miss Bianca when I was little. I was more of a Rescuers Down Under fan, but this first one does have it's moments and it's fun. I was a little shocked at the amount of alcohol consumed by Luke the swamp mouse, but I guess kids don't pay much attention to that (at least I didn't when I was little, they were just like some of Daddy's friends). Anyways, Miss Bianca is kind, and adventurous, and can talk anyone into anything, never loses her cool, and has the cutest accent on earth. Madame Medusa is just terrifying. Someone tell her to get a dang bra on and wear half the makeup. Oh, and don't lower children into holes that fill with water. Sheesh. It was fun to re-watch a classic kids movie on a lazy saturday morning with Allison.

Les Miserables, 25th anniversary concert.

Goose bump central, can't stop listening to the soundtrack, SUCH A GOOD STORY/MUSICAL. But can I mention how LAME I found it that they let Nick Jonas play Marius, ESPECIALLY for the 25th anniversary concert?!?! Come on, he is a dumb teeny-bopper pop trained singer who can't support a note to save his life. It doesn't help that the guy who played Enjolras was phenomenal, but still. It makes me upset every time I think about it. I guess I've listened to the original soundtrack too many times, but I found him to be an impassionate twit who was concentrating too hard on trying to keep his voice from cracking to care about what he was singing.

Listen from 3:00 to 3:40, BLECH!!!!

Four weddings and a funeral. (1994, R).

Meh. Was not impressed with this movie. There were some entertaining parts, but all in all, Hugh Grant was just as astonished and messy haired as always, and I didn't like the Andie MacDowell character much at all. I loved Gareth and Matthew, and (spoiler) was very sad that Gareth was the funeral. It's the story of a group of friends who wonder if they'll ever find love and marry, and the title explains most of the rest of it. I liked the re-occuring story of Henrietta, and thought that it ended just the way it should. I also liked how Hugh Grant was always late for every important occasion. Reminded me of my own life :-) Don't rent this unless Hugh Grant's rumpled hair and astonished expression makes you feel better about yourself and you don't mind Andie MacDowell playing a less than perfect character. Ooh, but I was in love with her hair.

Easy A. (2010, PG-13)

I'm thinking that someone did a review of this on the blog, but I can't seem to find it. Anyways, I loved it. I thought it was clever, and refreshing, and that Emma Stone is a really good actress. It's a kind of modern version of the Scarlett Letter, where a girl pretends to lost her virginity over the weekend so that her friend won't be offended that she didn't want to go camping, then she pretends to sleep with her gay friend so that he'll stop getting beat up... and then her reputation starts to tank as she does "favors" for lots of other people. I thought Amanda Bynes was finally cast in a deserving role as a condescending judgemental preachy new age christian (she bugs me so bad, it was just perfect). I REALLY liked the parents of Olive (main character), and was just a fan of how it all played out. Also, as someone who was wrongfully accused of being slutty in high school, I could relate a bit. So I completely recommend this if you like good movies and aren't scandalized by the plot line.

Lie to me (2009 TV Series, TV-14)

An awesome show about universal body language and picking up on microexpressions to solve crimes. I'm pretty fascinated by this subject, so I've really like this show. I've only watched the first five episodes, and heard that it turns into more of a regular drama later in, but it is pretty fascinating to watch. I've been trying to study old footage of known liars like they do in the show (i.e. Bill Clinton's speech, etc.), and it has proven that I definitely don't have a natural talent for it, but that doesn't mean I can't pick up on some things!!! Like my co-worker who constantly thrusts her jaw out in a show of superiority. Anyways, good show!! I have a documentary to watch on it (body language). I'll let you know how that goes. 

Growing Op. (2008, NR) 

I ripped this description off of Netflix because I've been writing a lot and this movie was strange. "After years of being home-schooled by his earnest, post-hippie, pot-growing parents, Quinn decides to jump from the nest and give himself a normal high school experience. He quickly learns, however, that there's nothing normal about high school. When the teen falls for a beautiful blonde neighbor, he realizes he'll have to make some compromises to get what he wants -- once he's sure what that is." Lots of pot in this movie. It was one that Matt had just started watching when I got home from work (the why is a little more complicated), and... it was definitely a pro-marijuana film. Interesting statement at the end, but kind of endearing. And as a formerly homeschooled child of one pot smoking and one non-pot smoking hippie parent (s(most awkward sentence ever written? Possibly)) I definitely understood the quest for normality. So, if your parents used to home school you and were hippies, and you think we should ban alcohol and legalize marijuana, this is an interesting movie to watch. 

The Switch. (2010, PG-13).

In my defense, my mother likes obscure chick flicks, and we were having a movie night at her house so I rented this. We didn't end up watching it then, but I had it for five days (go Jiffy!) and was bored one night, so I watched it. It was far fetched, and kind of terrible. It had a pretty good cast of Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Juliette Lewis, Jeff Goldblum, and this really cute neurotic kid. That didn't help. Jennifer Aniston decides to have a baby by IVF, but her neurotic male best friend freaks out, gets drunk, and switches the sperm in a very "yeah right" scene. That's all you need to know. The kid and Jason Bateman have an adorable relationship when they finally meet, and the rest of the movie wasn't worth paying attention too. 

Singin' in the Rain (1952, PA for Pure Awesomeness)

I hadn't seen this movie since I was tiny, and didn't remember much except that there was a scene where someone sang in the rain :-D Oh my goodness, now I'm in love. I watched it twice in one week and keep going back to my favorite scenes on YouTube. I wish I could've lived in that era. Matt and I have both had all of the songs stuck in our head (all of them, every single one). So fun to see such amazingly talented people!!!! Cosmo Brown, the sidekick, was definitely my favorite character. See this, see this, see this. If you don't like this (Goldmember voice) den dere ish no pleashing you. 

My favorite scene: 

From Prada to Nada (2011, PG-13)

What can I say? Sometimes I watch attrociously bad chick flicks. And what I learned from this one is: With enough spray tanning and a dialogue coach, anyone can look Mexican!! Which is what they tried to do here. I actually looked it up ( I was dying of boredom, ok) and both of the female leads have hispanic blood, but not enough to make them not terrible at playing Mexicans. I appreciate that there was an attempt at a multi-cultural chick flick, and some of the storyline played out well, but... It was so weirdly written that I couldn't predict the ending, and most of the time I'm really good at that. So... don't see this. Unless you're really in the mood for some terrible acting in English and Spanish. (OH MY BIP FRIGGIN SAUCE, I just read the IMDB liner and it said that it's a Latina spin on Sense and Sensibility. As a fan of Jane Austen and someone who has recently read the book and watched the film.... I had no idea. I guess I can see that now, kind of... Ai Caramba!!! I didn't think anyone would attempt that!!! I guess they were jealous of how much I liked Easy A, so they decided to try it with some other well known literature. Well guess what you guys, it didn't work so good. Well anyways, the girl who plays Elinor (or NORA in this version) is the scandalous movie-ruiner here, so Em, stay away. Stay far far away).

The Hereafter (2010, PG 13)

Very interesting, slightly supernatural film. It follows the paths of a psychic, a woman who died and was brought back to life, and a young boy who loses his twin. It was very well done, the psychic (Matt Damon) was not cheesy at all, and all three stories, which took place in LA, Paris and London, were all interesting and flowed along together nicely. It's a cool story about people who are touched by death and how it affects the living, and other things that would be spoilers if I shared them on here. There wasn't much dialogue, which I found refreshing, and the plot was mostly not spoon-fed to you. So I'd recommend this if you're in the mood for something a little dark and edgy, but in a very nice way (that was the most nauseating commentary I've ever done, but it really was just something you just have to see for yourself.)

Super 8 (2011, PG 13)

SUCH a good movie!!!! Despite having an alien (not a fan of alien movies), it was kind of... enchanting?  It had an awesome cast of great young actors (I just read that the little blonde girl in it is Dakota Fanning's little sister), and it was this awesome, scary adventure. The dialogue was good, the scary was just scary enough, the acting was good, the plot-line was good... just go see the dang movie!! And the kids are filming a zombie movie during this whole thing that is just brilliant. So go see this movie, it's so worth it. 

Ok, I have watched 3 other movies (not counting the Voice, SNL and The Glee Project that I've been watching on Hulu. OH and I need to catch up on Project Runway, drat!), but I am over blogging right now, and they all involve lots of death, so I'm going to leave this how it is, and maybe start doing this bi-weekly. But then again, Matt is back, which drastically cuts back on the amount of terrible movies I'm allowed to watch :-)