When in Rome

This movie was every bit as stupid as I expected it to be, but I will admit I laughed out loud a few times. ("What are you doing in my apartment?" "Blowing your mind!" No? Guess you had to be there.) And I really liked seeing the scenery in Rome again (although it would have been nice to see more than, say, thirty seconds of it). And I enjoyed Pedro's cameo as Juan. But, other than that, yeah--it was just stupid.

I'm not really sure what compelled me to watch this movie (I swear it wasn't Josh Duhamel. Really!) but at least now I've gotten it out of my system.

New in Town

My friend Carole told me this movie was really cute. Now, Carole and I are about as different as tapioca and crème brûlée (no, I won't tell you who is who), so I wasn't really sure whether I believed her or not. But it turns out she was right. This movie was cute! As is Harry Connick, Jr, of course, even though he left his shirt on AND had a fuzzy little beard throughout the entire movie. Total chick flick, to be sure, but it made me smile. I give it two thumbs up, but you probably shouldn't bother trying to get your husband to watch it with you.

Peaceful Warrior

This is another one of Those Movies: I have absolutely no recollection of how it got in my netflix queue (did I really put it there?) and I've been utterly uninspired to watch it. In fact, I've had it since mid-December and hadn't even considered watching it until tonight when I decided it was finally time to watch the freakin' thing so I could return it.

The menu looked very Lifetime Original Movie. Not good. But then the movie started off with a pretty freaky dream sequence, and I perked up a little bit. All in all, however, the majority of the movie turned out to be slanted towards cheesy family drama, though there were a few weird moments that I liked. And male gymnasts. In slow motion. So it wasn't all bad.

At least I figured out why I picked this movie (I think). It's because Amy Smart was in it. I really liked her in that stupid movie Rat Race, and ever since I saw that I've wanted to see her in something else. Well, I saw her in The Butterfly Effect and it just wasn't quite the same; and in Crank, where her role was pretty unimpressive except for her hiccup scene (which I bet was accidental, but it worked well so they kept it). She didn't have a very big part in this one, though.

Inception

I watched this movie nearly two weeks ago. Normally I don't take so long to blog about a movie, but then normally I don't come out of one with so many questions.

I didn't realize I had so many questions right at first. I was actually surprised (judging by what I'd previously heard) that the movie wasn't especially hard to follow, and it all seemed to make sense to me. I would have blogged about it the night I watched it except that we'd already stayed up way too late and I was incredibly tired. But in the days since then, I found I wanted to do a bunch of googling before I wrote this post.

Oh, by the way, did I mention I thought this movie was awesome? It's right up there with The Matrix (first one only!!) in its mindblowing combination of WTFery and action/effects. It's a great story in a great package. I would totally watch it again, and that's saying a lot coming from someone with a neverending list of movies to watch.

In fact, judging by my questions, I need to watch this movie again. Most of them, I think, were answered during the movie. I asked Hud what he thought on each of these and he couldn't answer a single one. I don't think he was paying attention. I, on the other hand, was at the edge of my seat and completely focused throughout the entire movie, which is really unusual for me. But I still had the following questions:

What was the secret Mal had hidden away? I forgot . . . was it that she believed their world (in limbo) was real? What was the little thing she locked in her safe to symbolize this?

I didn't understand why Cobb's father(-in-law?) was first in Paris, then the US. Does he live in Paris and just happened to be visiting his grandkids when Cobb finally got back home?

How long was Cobb gone--why did it look like his kids hadn't aged? I actually think I know the answer to this one. Apparently they used two different sets of kids during filming--one pair older, one younger--so they were supposed to have looked like they aged. I just didn't notice it.

How did Cobb and Mal get lost in limbo for so long? Looking back (and if my answer to my first question is right) it must be because for a long time she didn't realize it wasn't real.

Why didn't Cobb want to see his kids' faces in limbo? He deliberately turned away so that he wouldn't.

Why did the van hitting the water not wake them up in the plane? (I think I know the answer to this one too--it was because of the sedation.)

Then, of course, there's the big question: Do YOU think the top toppled? I was actually expecting that ending, but I was not expecting the ambiguity. I thought the movie would end with a smoothly spinning top that never dropped. Anyway, I say it wobbled, so it was going to fall.

As for my poor friend who called this movie bizarre and said she was disappointed in it, I pity her. If such a movie can be a letdown, her life must be rife with dissatisfaction. That must suck.

RED

This movie was awesome. It's like Ocean's 11, right down to the soundtrack, except with spies instead of thieves. Well, retired spies. And, regrettably, without Brad Pitt. But Bruce Willis is a pretty good replacement. I can't believe Demi Moore didn't want to be married to him anymore. Ashton Kutcher just doesn't compare.

Wanna get pancakes?

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

I put this movie in my netflix queue quite a while ago. It looked weird, and weird is good. But I didn't realize until I finally sat down to watch it that it has what could have been the perfect storm of hotness: Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, Jude Law AND Colin Farrell. I mean, none of them are in my top five, but they're all awfully pretty. And I thought surely there would be some sort of synergy going on.

This movie was a crazy trip. Not as much of the hotness as I pictured, since the four hotties never shared the screen, and hotness was really not of paramount importance in their roles. And maybe Hud was right in saying that this movie is probably best enjoyed with large quantities of alcohol and weed.

Dr. Parnassus and his small band of sidekicks run a traveling sideshow featuring a magic mirror. Whoever enters the mirror goes on a journey into the imagination. Throw in a deal with the devil on a deadline, and you've got yourself some weird, wild stuff.

Salt

Finally, a movie Hud and I could both enjoy. Of course it wasn't as great as Inception (which I still need to blog about . . . I'm just not quite ready yet) but it was good enough. Action--maybe far-fetched, but fun; plot twists, not all of which I saw coming; lots of gunfire, to appease Hud; and though there were a few lines that kind of sucked, the entire movie wasn't full of them.

It's not my favorite Angelina Jolie movie (that would be Mr. and Mrs. Smith), but she's been in quite a few stinkers, so this is one of her better ones. Fun! You should try it. With popcorn.