Chris and I went to Blockbuster sometime last week and wandered the New Arrivals. I suggested Red but he said nothing, so I took that to mean no. He must not have seen anything he was interested in because he approved my next two suggestions. Now, before I tell you what they were I want you to understand that I regularly read Bob Grimm's movie column and Entertainment Weekly. When they say something's good I tend to listen. The problem comes with the Oscars. (Digression Alert) For the last couple years I have added the Oscar winners to my Blockbuster queue and am usually horribly disappointed. Not that they are bad movies- they're usually just horribly depressing. I have finally figured out that while these movies may be great movies, they are often not great for my disposition. If I'm not inspired to watch it, an Oscar nomination should not change that. So that's why I'm leaning towards some less serious movies. (End of digression.)
My choices were Splice and Easy A. I'd read good things about both so I decided to give them a chance even though I am not a fan of science fiction or teen movies. We decided to watch Splice first.
We watched maybe a half hour in silence. Then we turned it off. I can't tell if it was good or not. Bob Grimm liked it, but I haven't seen many sci fi movies I liked. One that comes to mind is Serenity. Rachel showed us that one and we both really liked it. Maybe that was more adventure though. Splice is about two scientists who create this crazy creature that starts out too cute to kill and things get out of hand, of course. That's about as much as we saw. There were the expected "thriller" moments where the music builds and something jumps out and surprises you, which got old quickly because that seems to be a requirement for these kinds of movies. I really wanted to like it because Adrian Brody can't do much wrong in my book, but no such luck. If you're a sci fi fan you should probably give it a shot because I read that it was good and overlooked.
After we rejected Splice we put in Easy A.
This also inspired silence, at least for a little while. Then Chris asked me why I picked out a teen movie. I cited Bob Grimm again, but this didn't help since Bob had recommended Splice too. Then something made me giggle and something else made Chris laugh and that's how we spent the rest of the movie. Emma Stone plays a girl who allows an undeserved bad reputation to stand and deals with the repercussions. It has everything you expect from a teen movie: plenty of raunch and losers, lessons and a romantic thoughtful love interest that would never exist in real life. We didn't always laugh at the same things but we laughed a lot. Chris got an added bonus- he loves Lisa Kudrow. Not bad, not bad at all.
On Monday we drove out to Topaz to pick Ant up. It was my first day out of the house and I was not used to so much excitement so I took a Vicodin nap on the reclining side of the couch. (I must remember to buy a couch with built in recliners.) M&E served up prime rib, mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts and I ate happily as we watched Red.
We were not too far into the movie when I pulled Splice and Easy A from my purse (where they were waiting to be returned), showed them to Chris and said "This- (pointing to the TV) is what I wanted to rent instead."
"Oh," he said. "We should have gotten this."
Red was exactly the kind of movie I've been wanting to watch lately- a fun, funny action movie that doesn't take itself seriously. I was delighted and I want to watch it again. I am a Bruce Willis fan because he can be silly in his seriousness and we were all surprised by how many awesome actors were in it. I'm not sure that I totally followed the plot but that might have been the Vicodin and besides, it really didn't matter. It was a fun movie and I'm really grateful they waited to watch it with us.
Today we FINALLY finished The Rape of Europa.
Don't let the name scare you away- this goes on my Best Movies Ever list. I was so blown away by this movie that as I was watching it I was composing a list of people I wanted to send it to. So why did it take us so long to finish it? Oh, you don't even know how long. Get this- we rented it on December 1st. It was a Chris selection from the Special Interest section. He is very interested in WWII and we both thought it looked really interesting. We brought it home and it sat on the dresser for over two months. (Don't worry, it was online terms. No due date.) Every few days I would ask Chris if he wanted to watch it and who knows, maybe we were tired and didn't want to learn anything that night. Documentaries are difficult- you have to be in the right mood to watch them. I started excluding myself and asking him to watch it alone. Then I started threatening to return it unwatched. He was okay with that so I went back to pestering him.
We finally started watching it... maybe two nights ago? It was horribly interesting but there's lots of black and white war footage and people talking- perfect sleep aid. Usually we'll return a movie if we fall asleep through it but neither of us could do that to Europa, as we came to call it. It was just too damn interesting. It took three times to get it all, but I'm so glad I saw it. I can't return it yet though, because Chris fell asleep again. :D
Hitler was not accepted to the Vienna Academy of Art and he apparently felt burned by Jewish decision makers. This was not the only origin of his hatred but certainly provides some perspective. He created a list of artwork he wanted from other countries before he invaded them, which totally reframes WWII- at least it did for me. Europa follows the art from its original owners and how they tried to hide it, to its theft and recovery, destruction, or disappearance. There are stories behind famous paintings and statues that you've never heard before, like with the Mona Lisa or Michelangelo's David. The stories about the artwork itself is just as compelling as the stories about the people. There are paintings by famous artists that you have never seen, and paintings you will never see. There are recovered pieces whose ownership is debated, and you will debate it too. This story is called the greatest art heist of all time and you will be uncomfortable with how close it all came to disappearing forever. A lot of it did- Hitler stole what he called the masters and burned what he considered degenerates. It is an absolute miracle that so many pieces survived and were returned but all the numbers in this film are staggering. I urge you to watch this movie not just because it is enlightening, but it is just so horribly interesting. Emphasis on horribly.
http://www.rapeofeuropa.com/
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