Word To The Ys

Courtney here.  I just have to tell you about this movie we watched the other night.  I Am Legend arrived from Netflix via our mailbox several weeks ago.  Okay, probably sometime in early July when things were too insane for both of us to sit down and watch a movie together.  Let me say this for the record: Joe chose this movie.  I had heard of it, but knew next to nothing about it before the other night.  Just that it was post-apocalyptic or whatever and had the almost always odious Will Smith starring.  But I love my husband, so we waited all this time and finally sat down to watch it.  Now all I can say is: Joe, why did you make me watch this movie?!?

Joe here.  First off, I didn’t MAKE you watch this movie.  In fact, I offered to send it back since we’d had it so long without watching it.  There’s something in myself that I find myself having to fight off on occasions like this.  The movie had been in our house for weeks.  The shiny newness of it had worn off, and I wasn’t as enthused about watching it.  Why?  I think I’ve been brainwashed by a consumer culture to only want the freshest, most cutting edge “thing”, be it a movie, CD, or video game.  I can choose to avoid the seduction of the shiny, and I did.  But I digress.

I too knew little about this movie, other than what Courtney stated above, and that geeks (a term I use with subdued affection) everywhere were complaining about how the computer generated “creatures” were too fake looking.  With that in mind, and having never read the book, I wasn’t sure what this was all about and thought we’d give it a spin and form our own opinions.  After all Will Smith has been trying so hard to be a serious actor for years now…  So Courtney, what were your overall impressions of the film?  (Or at least the parts you watched)

So, as Joe alludes, I did not in fact watch the entire movie.  That’s because we started watching it and about 20 minutes into the thing I started to become profoundly uncomfortable.  And by 45 minutes runtime I turned to Joe, asked him to pause the film, and told him I was quitting.  For the first time in Movie Project history. 

The basic premise, so you won’t be blindsided like I was, is this: a doctor (played by the unparalleled Emma Thompson) interviews on a morning show program that a controlled version of the smallpox virus has been found to completely cure cancer in clinical studies.  So she has cured cancer.  Then the words: THREE YEARS LATER appears at the bottom of the screen depicting a desolate scene.  Will Smith is the only man living in New York City, and everything is a wreck.  Plants are growing in the streets and animals are roaming free, but no other people are visible.  Just Will Smith and his dog, hunting deer and seeming concerned about getting home before dark.  In flashback scenes you see that Will Smith is some incredible virologist, and he was working on a vaccine to fix what the “cancer cure” had begotten…which is crazy mutation and an outbreak.  Will Smith has to evacuate his wife and daughter out of NYC before it is sealed off from the world, but he won’t leave because, in his words, “This is Ground Zero”; meaning, this is where he must continue his work for a cure because it started here.

I know it’s nuts, but in the first 2 minutes I was disenchanted because, seriously?  How could Emma Thompson ever be responsible for the destruction of mankind?!?

It’s true, Emma Thompson has got to be my favorite actress these days, and as such could not be responsible for the destruction of mankind.  But that’s beside the point, Will Smith’s character has clearly been surviving just fine, but is struggling to deal with his isolation which, after over 3 years, is starting to get to him.  With his trusty canine companion at his side he maintains the facade of normal life by creating false social situations to keep his mind from the truth of his horrific reality.  In his dreams he is haunted by flashbacks of his last moments among his family.  If anything, these were the parts that really got to me.  The responsibility for the safety of his family and his obligation of duty really made me reflect on my own life.  But to take a step back, I have to imagine the first 15 minutes of the “present day” seemed to me to be pretty clearly geared toward guys.  I mean, I’m not a hunter but there is something very primal about driving a Shelby GT500 through the ravaged streets of New York at top speed with one hand and firing a high-powered rifle out the window to “hunt” with the other.

And here I thought you weren’t a typical dude.  Okay, you aren’t, and I know that because you actually had to Google to find out what the make and model of that car was.  But that sounded like you were.

Anyway, I don’t know how much I want to say?  Would saying more give too much away?

Probably, and we’d snark back and forth for hours, so let’s spare the nice people and skip to the opinion part, shall we?  Overall, I found the movie pretty simple and predictable, but still engaging on an emotional level.  It was more than just adrenaline too, Will Smith did manage to capture some sympathy for the character and the beginning and middle of the movie, but as others critics (nerds) have suggested, I found the ending too easy and would have liked to seen something deeper.  I think I should probably just read the book.  Court?

I’m sorry, but that dude is always gonna be The Fresh Prince to me.  “Now this is a story all about how my life got flipped, turned upsidedown…”  Oh, the movie?  Well, I only watched half of it because it was awful.  It was horribly gut-wrenching and I didn’t think it needed to be.  I cannot recommend it.  Do you like dogs?  People?  Life?  Emma Thompson?  Don’t watch this movie!

Posted in Papa Post, The Movie Project | 8 Comments »

Helloo, friends…

See that?  I meant to just type “hello” but “helloo” came out and it just looked right to me.  So I left it, against all my copyeditor’s instincts.  And this is a perfect representation of my current mood: mellow. Relaxed. Rediscovering my capacity to laugh and be silly.

Not a whole heckuva lot has been going on ’round these parts, and that in itself is the cause of my improved mood.  Joe is on his one-week break from classes after having totally aced his summer courses.  Accomplishment feels so good.  This whole month we decided our weekends would look something like this: 1) complete a task that’s been put-off around the house for far too long and 2) do one social thing with people we’ve been meaning to see.  And it’s been working swimmingly.  But NOW!  With this week sans classes for Joe?  Every weeknight is free.  We’ve been eating dinner at a leisurely pace.  Playing outside with the kids (did I mention the weather also turned glorious?  It did!)  Watching movies left and right.  It feels so good.  Extra good.  I was just saying to Joe the other night that this new phase of our lives has given me a new appreciation for our “down” time.  I value it so much more now because of its scarcity, which is just the story of our human lives, isn’t it?

Speaking of movies!  Joe and I are going to do a special joint post on I Am Legend, but let me tell you about a couple others we’ve watched recently.  First, Joe watched Mark of Cain, which is a documentary about the tattoos in Russian prisons.  Yeah, really.  He can’t remember the date he watched it even, but he did and told me it was interesting.  So there you go. Next on our list is Annie.  Yes, the movie musical Annie.  My parents are probably asking themselves why I’ve included on the project list a movie I watched no fewer than 100 times growing up.  The answer?  It was Maxwell’s first time seeing it.  Awww!  It was a big moment for me as I shared this childhood favorite with my firstborn favorite.  I am pleased to announce that he loved it.  I am also pleased to announce that it was even better to me as a grown-up, if that’s possible.  Because the brilliance of casting Carol Burnett?  And Tim Curry and Bernadette Peters?  Unparalleled. 

Then I watched Harold and Maude when Joe was off taking his algebra final.  Where has this movie been all my life?  Oh yeah, out there in distribution because it was made before I was born.  I’m not sure why I’d never seen it but it might have something to do with its exceeding weirdness.  But wow…it knocked my weird socks right off.  If you’ve never seen it, the brief rundown is this: Harold is a 19-year-old socialite’s son.  He has a bizarre fixation on death and regularly fakes his own suicides to get a rise out of his mother.  He drives a hearse and attends random funerals for kicks.  At one of these services he meets Maude, a 79-year-old whose preoccupation with funerals lies in her fascination of the life cycle rather than a death wish.  Maude loves life: she drives fast, makes art and inventions, drinks, and basically lives the life of an eccentric student of the world.  Harold becomes fascinated with her, and she with him.  The resulting relationship is a thing to behold.  I really recommend this weird old film.

Next we had a marathon movie night wherein THREE films where clocked: The Land Before Time, Helvetica, and The Dead Zone.  The boys enjoyed watching The Land Before Time.  Joe and I both think that’s a movie ripe for a restoration, because it looked horrible.  Sure, it has to compete with today’s slick-looking animation…but it was really rough-looking.  And I couldn’t help but think of how the adult Triceratops were depicted incorrectly according to recent paleontological discoveries.  I mean, who ever heard of a Torosaurus? 

Sorry for the digression.

After the kids were in bed, Joe and I settled in for Helvetica, which is a documentary about the font of the same name.  Yes, really, we watched a documentary about fonts.  Because I am a huge giant dork.  But it was pretty darn interesting to hear about the origins, proliferation, and perhaps overuse of this ubiquitous typeface.  I can’t say I’d recommend it unless you, too, are a huge giant dork for fonts.

Then I wandered off to dreamland and Joe watched The Dead Zone alone, which is how it should be when it comes to horror/thriller movies.  The reasons for this will become obvious when we do our joint post here shortly.  Anyway, the movie has Christopher Walken in it, and is based on a Steven King story, and Joe said the story was really great.  He even described scenes to a friend and I using his stellar Christopher Walken voice impersonation and it sounded interesting.  So if you like thrillers and/or Christopher Walken (I’m looking right at you, SARAH) then maybe you want to check it out.

Finally, I just have to say a few words about last night’s movie pick: This Is It.  You know, the Michael Jackson concert documentary?

It was…amazing.  So incredible.  Joe and I were both blown away that depicted here was a man who would shortly be dead of a heart attack.  He may have been a tiny bit…um, looser?…with his dancing than in days of yore, but the man was 50.  And basically a skeleton.  The fact that he could still dance like that, while singing very well indeed, was remarkable.    It had the makings of a fantastic show, and I for one was glad they had film footage to piece together what it might have been like had he lived to do the concert series.  I personally love all his hit songs, and he even had a little Jackson 5 medley bit in there that made me squee like a schoolgirl.  I’m ridiculous for Jackson 5 music.  It takes me right back to parties in the Wilmar House during college. In any case, even if you don’t have memories of an old college friend dancing like Rick Astley to “(Baby) I Want You Back” in an abysmally dirty living room, I recommend this film. Especially if you’ve enjoyed the music of MJ over the years.

Okay!  That’s it for now, but look out for the special dual-author post shortly. And Joe and I will be seeing a movie…together…in the THEATER this week, when we go ON A DATE. So you have that report to look forward to as well. Try not to faint!

Posted in The Movie Project | 6 Comments »