Skip to main content

Movie Musings: Misc in flight movies

I have come to believe that the traditional rating system for films is inadequate. It is impossible to express with a single line of stars opinions about both a films quality as a film and it's entertainment/educational/emotional value. Below you will find the 5 films I watched on my flight from Santiago to Auckland, NZ along with favorite moments and quotes, misc. commentary and my double 5 rating. The first number represents what I thought of the films acting, direction, visuals, message, etc. (see comments in previous posts); the second number represents how much I enjoyed the film and whether I would be likely to watch it again.

Film 1: Horton Hears a Who

Favorite moment: Horton tucks one ear under the other to form a swimming cap.
Quotation:
Horton: I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful 100%
Morton: I've never been more than 99%, and I think I'm awesome!
Comments: Good if somewhat goofy fun.
Rating: 4 - 4

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Film 2: Garden State

Favorite moment: Zach Braff wakes up from a stoned sleep to see a knight in full armor clanking across the kitchen.
Quotation:

I like being unimpressive. I sleep better.

Comments: I thought Natalie Portman did a great acting job. Very un Queen Amidala.
Rating: 3 - 3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Film 3: Watchmen

Favorite moment: None
Quotation:
Never give up. Not even in the face of Armageddon.
Comments: I was hugely disappointed with this film. See my previous post about Spirited Away. The good guys are pretty bad people with hardly a pretense of being conflicted. If this were an X-men movie, I'd be jumping on the "Mutant cure" bandwagon.
Rating: 3 - 0

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Film 4: New in Town

Favorite moment: Renee gets to wear some really pretty shoes.
Quotation:
She's my ex-wife. This is my ex-house and now I pay rent and live in my ex-basement.
Comments: Another film about people who hardly know each other falling in love without any kind of real foundation. If this were real life, the only thing to say would be, "And..... good luck with that!"
Rating: 3 - 1.5

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Film 5: Flashdance

Favorite moment: Heroine Jennifer Beal walking along railroad tracks in bright pink high heels. Don't get me wrong. I like my high heels and I like walking along railroad tracks - but together? Puh-leez.
Quotation: none
Comments: I enjoyed this more than some other dancing movies I've seen, but not suitable for kids.
Rating: 3 - 4
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Sudden Change of Direction: an Analogy of Dog and Life

There are times when you and Life are walking along, like good friends, and you think you know where you are going.  You think that you and Life have agreed on a direction; that there is a plan; that you understand each other. And then Life decides that despite all the trees you have already visited, you really must see this new one.  This tree is different from all the other trees and if you don't see it, you simply won't be the person you might be if you DO see it. And so Life changes direction. Except you don't notice.  Because you talked about it.  And there was this plan . And then you trip over Life.  And Life LOOKS very indignant because you weren't paying attention and kneed her in the ribs.  And you ARE very indignant because this is a stupid tree that you had no interest in ever seeing and you would chop it down and burn it if you could. Stupid tree.  Stupid Life.  Stupid little bits of gravel stuck in your palms. But eventually, you thin
2 comments
Read more

Snow Tires, Snow Tired

Dear Reader, LandLady likes to encourage me by saying "I hope you're writing about this." At least, I'm pretty sure it's meant as encouragement.  It might be private hopes that if I write the story well enough, I can sell the movie rights and she can demand a cut. After all, the whole plan to buy a house in Bangor and move Dog in with my friends and their three boys (7 and younger) was hatched under her roof. However, as yet, the whole situation seems very unreal.  It took 3 months from offer to closing.  I signed a lot of papers and took possession of a lot of keys. And then the plumber showed up and there was a lot of banging.  And I extended my lease at LandLady's in hopes that plumbing and heating issues could be resolved before I moved in. And this house is in Maine where it has finally snowed.  And the driveway has been plowed in.  Dog doesn't want to go outside to run or pee and when she is forced to, she holds each foot off the icy ground
1 comment
Read more

Je reviens.

My red soft-sided suitcase is somewhere in France, and that's the most I can tell you.  When I handed the suitcase to the nice man at Tulsa Int'l Airport, I naturally expected it to touch down in Montpellier at the same time I did.  Life did not meet my expectations. In fact, this entire trip is somewhat unexpected. At the time that I resigned my position in the UK, I struggled to picture myself returning to an office, staring at a screen for hours on end.  I had the idea that I would make a complete career change - to baking or event planning or film production.  But in the end, I met some people who were particularly interested in all the things I used to know and who were willing to pay for that knowledge.  They were also interested in sending me straight to France to work with my former colleagues.  And given a job description which could not have been filled by anyone but me, I agreed to take the position. As I was eating dinner (and trying not to spill on my onl
2 comments
Read more