What Adrienne Thinks About That

I had thought that The Princess and the Frog might be Lucia's first movie in the theatre, but I must admit that the music didn't reel me in enough to want to see it before it came to DVD. I'm happy that Tiana is Disney's first (and I hope not last) African-American princess, but according to the reviews, she spends most of her time as a frog, which seems a bit counter-intuitive to me. Please, convince me otherwise, and we'll go!

P.S. The reviewers that panned The Lovely Bones for not showing the murder of Susie are a bit heartless, I think. There is enough wretchedness and wrongness in the world that no one is sheltered. No one.

Its a good time of year for a comedy!

I miss Harold and Kumar already. I just finally watched both movies for the first time like a month ago. Awesome.

Up in the Air was a big fail for me. It was intensely engaging and then completely fell apart at the end, which made me rethink the entire experience I'd had up until then. I ultimately came to realize that it's a film made by insulated, privileged Hollywood types who don't know anything about life. It has a very presumptive attitude about people and feels very empty.

My husband and I were talking this weekend about how we really don't gravitate towards the sad dense intense movies we used to watch. Maybe we just also don't have time anymore - so when we do movie out it's often for laughs and comic relief than drama.

I saw Up in the Air and was disappointed. I expected more and didnt anticipate the ending at all.

Sadly, I get stressed out even by The Hangover! which I was surprised I actually liked.

Farida, Jules saw The Princess and the Frog with her girls. Maybe she'll chime in if she stops by. *I* really enjoyed it. I should warn you, though, that it does contain one of those Disney sucker-punches a la Bambi's mother dying.

Momster, Indeed.

Jeffrey, I'm still undecided about the quality of Up in the Air as a whole, and I'm not sure if the amount of thinking I've done about it has more to do with my own life or the quality of the film. I guess I shouldn't comment too much on the ending in case there are people out there who haven't seen it, but I keep thinking of how else it might have gone and can't think of a better way for it to end. In terms of one character's journey, I think it was a realistic amount of change given who he was when we met him.

Neil Patrick Harris is hysterical in those Harold and Kumar movies, incidentally. It must be said.

Cheryl, Up in the Air also kept me guessing. The Hangover stressed me out, too, although it also made me laugh a lot. I have a hard time watching characters make bad decisions. Have you seen I Love You, Man? That's another one that made me laugh even though it also made me very uncomfortable.

We just watched I Love You, Man this weekend. ha! Michael thought it was uncomfortable too and will walk out of the room with this or other movies at moments.

My DVR cut off the very last moments of HnK II, so I don't actually know what happened to HPH. I'm going to have to get it off Netflix at some point just to find out.

Without giving too much away, my biggest problem with Up in the Air is that it spends the whole film saying one thing and then it completely abandons that idea at the end of the film, all with seemingly no sense of the irony of it. This just made me realize that despite the IMPORTANT subject matter and THOUGHTFUL way it was dealt with until then, it's really just navel gazing celebs who think they understand real life and don't.

Okay, I just realized that I wrote the exact same thing in different words already. I'm not getting to my point very well, but I was made very upset by this film and it angers me that it's gotten such good reviews and so much attention (and is the waste of the talent of so many people I usually like).

If it were a French film, it would make a lot more sense.

Oh, and a few other things:

1. Computer animation is boring, but it's becoming SO entrenched in Hollywood that even minor things are CGI'd. Take for instance:

http://vimeo.com/8337356

I haven't seen Avatar, so I can't speak for it, but I really hate that CGI is mostly being used to simply make images that are essentially realistic instead of imaginative. But I think there is a line being crossed so often these days that the pendulum simply has to swing the other way. The line is the difference between a hyper-realization of an environment and a simple enhancement. I was thinking this when I saw the trailers for that recent Sherlock Holmes movie. The skylines of 1800's London were so overdone with realism as to look off-putting and fake. Life never looks as real as it does in the movies (or in the computer). Detail only for the sake of detail, not for story-telling. That said, I tried to imagine how a similar shot would have been accomplished on film in the 70's and that result would have been ugly and boring too, just in a different way. Basically, I think there's a middle ground to be had and the technology is still so new and developing as to be impossible to resist at every turn in some film-makers minds.

And it's not that CGI is by nature ugly, but lots of times it is. 28 Days Later did an excellent job of it. So did BSG (with exception of the individual Cylons. Too bad Caprica by comparison looks downright dreadful.)

2. I expected much bigger laughs from The Hangover. Only mildly funny in the end for me, even though it seemed to have all the elements in place.

3. The Hurt Locker is another film that falls apart at the end, but in a totally different way than Up in the Air. No less disappointing though.

Know what didn't make me cry? Julie & Julia, which we finally saw the other night. I know you've seen it, but it's amazing for me to see something *that* new. (New for us, that is.)

Farida, yes, we saw The Princess and the Frog. My girls walk around saying that Tiana is the "only princess who doesn't need to get a job." (Translated: She's not all doe-eyed for some prince. Don't get me started on Ariel.)

I keep hearing more and more about 3D movies -- and how they'll be more prevalent. No. NOOOOOOO!!! Can we keep them to a minimum please?

I'm reading Bones now and am glad to hear it's somewhat hopeful at the end because I'm finding it depressing as shit right now. Everything set in the 70s is depressing, though.

Jeffrey, I mostly agree about the CGI. I really don't understand why the filmmakers all so proud of making such realistic CGI humans, for instance, because we have plenty of real humans to film if they want something realistic.

Jules, Oh, I KNOW about the 3D.

Chuck, Some people really hate the book, so there's that, too.

I really wanted to comment on this, but the only movies in your list I've seen were Avatar and Harold and Kumar, and we talked about the latter already. But I enjoyed your post nonetheless. I like it when you write about movies in your blog :).

Jason, Thanks. :)

The Clooney character did seem ready for change.I can't say more than that in case someone hasn't seen it.But given his circumstances you can see why he does what he does at the end.That moment when he gets his news is a fine bit of acting.I guess I'm saying I don't think the film falls apart at the end.But I'm very glad there are folks like Jeffrey,who have a passionate interest in meaning.This is a small film with a too big budget:-)