The Italian Job: 2003, dir. F. Gary Gray. Seen on DVD (Jan 24).
Warning: I’m going to reveal a bunch of stuff about the plot of this movie, so if you haven’t seen it and don’t want to know, don’t read this.
The Italian Job was almost a good movie. It was entertaining, and I enjoyed watching it, but I couldn’t help seeing ways in which it might have been so much better.
Month: January 2004
Get Shorty (1995)
Get Shorty: 1995, dir. Barry Sonnenfeld. Seen on DVD (Jan 16).
Get Shorty was on my list of films to see last year because it is one of those films that people are always appalled that I say I haven’t seen. Well, everyone except my little brother, who loaned me the DVD with a shrug and said it was somewhat overrated and told me not to worry about getting it back to him in a hurry. In fact, he hadn’t even unwrapped the packaging from the DVD.
But I found Get Shorty to be a nice entertaining movie. Nothing to get overly excited about, but a good movie to curl up on the couch and watch and enjoy.
Irma La Douce (1963)
Irma La Douce: 1963, dir. Billy Wilder. Seen on DVD (Jan 9).
Irma La Douce was Billy Wilder’s most commercially successful film (on initial release, anyway). It also appears to be his silliest film. I’m not saying that like it’s a good thing, either.
I didn’t expect much from Irma La Douce. This is what happens when you read too many film books, I suppose. Also, I tend to dislike Sixties “sophisticated” sex comedies … which might explain why I have this completely inexplicable affection for Kiss Me, Stupid, Wilder’s anti-sophisticated sex comedy.
the perils of procrastination
Everything is a jumble around here. I can’t find one coherent topic to write about, except that I saw some movies for the first time and I ought to write about those, but I can’t even think of anything particularly entertaining to say about them. When I’m at a loss for movie rants, you know it’s been a weird week.
Mostly I’ve been sick with some nasty viral thingy that crept into my throat and attached my tonsils and the inside of my mouth in a really disgusting way. Not only did I feel miserably ill, but I felt entirely grossed out every time I looked in my mouth. I still have a sore throat and a tender mouth but at least it’s not icky anymore, just red. I am very thankful.
the nun, The King, the wedding
If you watch lots of sitcoms and cliched romantic comedy films, if you read the type of book that is currently being typed as “chick lit”, then you know that all unmarried women, excuse me, all of us girls harbor special secret wedding fantasies in our sweet feminine hearts. Even the tough, butch chicks have these Ultimate Wedding Ideals, no matter how much they might publicly deny it. Whether we actively want to be married doesn’t matter, we all have dreams of bridal beauty.
Yes, I am including myself. I didn’t think I had any sort of thoughts about “what if I ever got married” in my head beyond the immediate and visceral “Elope. Definitely elope.”
the Christmas trip, part two
I started writing this entry the other day, and in rereading it, I have to wonder why I have been in such a negative, pissy-ass mood all week. I mean, I did not have a rotten time in the Greater New Orleans area (I did not actually set foot in Orleans Parish during the visit, unless the airport counts). I missed my boyfriend, I had a nasty cold, and I was bummed about having too many Family Duty activities and not enough time alone or with friends.
Well, let’s face it, some of that was my own damn fault.