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

Comments

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. B...

Crazy T-Shirt Lady

My mom's oldest sister did not own cats, perhaps because she traveled so much. She was known in the family for bestowing interesting gifts, often acquired at international medical conferences and bearing the names of obscure drugs intended to cure diseases (thankfully) unknown to us. Because she spent so much of her time in Taiwan, another popular gift was T-Shirts with incomprehensible English translations. It has been suggested that since my aunt passed away a few years ago, I am now the appointed single-world-traveler-crazy-T-Shirt member of the family. Since I am not a medical person, nor do I spend a great deal of time in Asia, I am skeptical about my ability to adequately fill this role. But I will try. At the Beijing airport, after spending the last of my Yuan, I had vowed not to spend another penny. But that was before I saw this shirt. One member of the family will be receiving this for Christmas - hopefully it's the correct size. (...

Day 2: Grand Rapids, MI to Oconomowoc, WI

When I lived in England, I learned the saying - Start as you mean to go on . I thought about this as the hotel manager explained to me that he was calling because I had left my journal in the hotel room but he would be able to have it shipped back to me if I could provide a pre-paid shipping label. This was the second distressing phone call before lunch. The first distressing phone call was to say that due to high winds expected across Lake Michigan, our ferry to Milwaukee was cancelled. I really like ferries and I had been looking forward to the ferry across Lake Michigan for weeks. We stopped at Panera for lunch and to discuss the situation. My lunch was a disappointing sandwich. And then there was a lot of highway south of Lake Michigan and around Chicago. And Spotify kept slipping weird mellow folk music into my upbeat driving playlist. And then about 20 miles before Oconomowoc, the sky did this, and I think we will consider this the new start of the trip.

Immeasurably More

Search This Blog