There Will Be Blood

I am pleased to announce a movie I enjoyed. I don't want to spoil any of it, so I'll just blurb and recommend it.




There Will be Blood is about Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis) as a prospector in the late 1800s and the movie chronologically shows events that depict his misanthropic greed, and quest for money. The disturbing look at a man's psyche as he uses others to get ahead, is done so well here.

The pacing, the scenery and the acting in the movie is superb. Paul Thomas Anderson delivers once again! I highly recommend the movie both for its historical relevance (and modern comparisons can be made too) and the fact it's just good on all counts.

Juno

Juno is a comedy/drama about teen pregnancy. I have to apologize for the crankiness of this review. By all accounts I found it a lighthearted if a little sappy. Nothing terrible and even some moments where I smiled. But nonetheless some of the movie irritated me and it's hard to avoid touching on that.


Juno is a teenage girl who gets knocked up in a moment of bored sex with her best friend. Enter the witty quips and references to yesteryear from the mouth of a kid; does Hollywood ever have any normal kids that don't sound like they're channeling thirty year olds? Not saying that fifteen is too young to be witty or clever (I certainly was) but she's just well, too witty and clever.

As she resigns herself to the situation at hand, we see her going through the standard motions of what to do in this scenario: first she considers abortion but finds the concept unsettling after a short while in the abortion clinic. Then she decides to find the perfect parents to raise her bundle of joy. She does this with a loving and supportive set of friends and family, that almost makes me wonder if it's not a little sad to be giving the baby away when such a cool family is right there for it. Of course - that's just me, who lived it.

The movie turns far better when potential parents, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman whose screen names escape me, enter the picture. They are what at first seems like a perfect couple plagued with the misfortune of infertility, but we begin to realize the man of the house has a different dream. Their relationship and performances are the best things about the movie and the only ones that were realistic to some extent.

The movie was funny, in a quirky way. I'm not saying it wasn't a good movie but I did find Juno annoying to listen to at times. I also object to the use of the phrase "Honest to blog".

The Mist

Legendary? I reckon not. The Mist is based on a novella by Stephen King. To be fair, I read it ages ago and thought it was entertaining. The premise: A mysterious mist settles over a rural town after a storm. Some of the residents in town head to the local supermarket to purchase some supplies, only to find that the mist is spreading over the town, and there are "things" in the mist. Once it is ascertained how the mist came about you can say, at least it wasn't a virus this time - though equally disturbing experimentation should really be monitored more closely (those darned military keep dropping the ball!)

Over time we discover these creatures to be some hungry or poisonous monsters, such as giant bugs and other stuff we aren't sure what it is. A tentacled beast emerges to eat one of the unwitting hicks who is sent out to fix the generator in an overly gruesome scene. There wasn't much dread here after it was deduced what's out there- mostly we just had to endure panicky, fast motion scenes of screaming and swatting giant bugs. There's one scary scene involving spiders, but we all know spiders are bad ass.

Some of the supermarket residents start to cope by becoming members of the church of the religious kook in their midst. As she thumps her bible hard core, they stand in a trance of orgiastic religious fervor. Then it becomes apparent that she's really off her rocker, as she thinks that the only way to thwart the beasts is tossing innocent bystanders into their hungry mouths. She's the Mom from Carrie with a congregation: Look out!

Of course, the other people aren't all that intelligent, and their demise is impossible to take seriously. In the final scene, the music swells, and then we are handed the obligatory "ironic" twist at the end.


Overall, I thought it was crap on many levels but for a horror movie buff, they may enjoy the gore. I usually compare my thoughts on a movie to what the critics say on Rotten Tomatoes. There was a 70% good for this movie and I thought it was utter crap - maybe I'm just becoming too cynical.

readme

My husband and I rent or buy movies on a fairly frequent basis, having no social life to speak of, and I decided to start a blog so I can share my opinions on movies.

I tend to be sarcastic and use pictures to make my points. I will also make fun of celebrities and go off on unrelated tangents. I don't consider myself a great expert, just a bigmouth that likes to watch movies occasionally.

I rarely visit the theater so these will be movies already out on DVD. My hope is to entertain more than to inform people's decisions to watch movies, as there are spoilers galore in my reviews. Now I'm off to watch movies so I have something to blog about.