The Daily Narcissist Goes to the Movies

Sunday, October 14, 2007

I've been able to see a few movies in the last week or so. I've already talked about Into the Wild, which I liked very much. 3 swipes of the cat tail for that one.


We also saw 3:10 to Yuma which was really, really good! I happen to like Westerns and I'm a huge fan of Christian Bale and Russell Crowe. It was also nice to see Peter Fonda again, all grizzled and chewing up the scenery. Fantastically well acted, realistic and believable, and a few nice plot twists, which I always enjoy. I appreciate it when the director can pull one over on me.

I didn't realize the movie was based on an Elmore Leonard story until the end credits; no wonder the plot was so interesting! 4 swipes of the cat tail. Yeah, I thought it was a perfect movie. If you like a really well done drama and Westerns, go see it.


Beatle haters, turn away now. I finally caught Across the Universe, a movie musical using Beatles songs, directed by Julie Taymor. She did "The Lion King" on Broadway, and seems to like to use big, cool-looking puppets. I was excited about this movie, of course, as I'm crazy for the Beatles and I'm always curious about how people play with that music. I knew nothing about the movie. Well, I have to just give it 2.5 swipes of the cat tail. Let me explain... I hate love stories. They bore me to tears. I'm just not into them (am I the only woman on the planet like that?). And a love story between very young people is at the heart of the movie. Double bleah. I can see why teenage girls are driving up the attendance to this movie.

The actors also sang, and they were all quite talented. Standouts for me were good old Joe Cocker doing "Come together". He did the song as different characters, my very favorite being a purple and green clad pimp - that made me laugh out loud.


There was a gospel version of "Let It Be" that gave me the chills. Wow... And finally, Dana Fuchs played a rock singer named Sadie, and she was awesome. And hot. I love rock and roll chicks. I'll feature her on Sheik Yerbouti Friday. I actually enjoyed all the music.

As you might expect with Taymor, visually it was interesting, but a little too "clean" for me. Everything was just worked over to the nth degree. There was an anti-war message also, but it was so antiseptic and overly artful that I thought it lost any impact it could have had. I dunno...maybe it's because my memories of the 60s are much dirtier and smelly than how they were portrayed in this movie. My favorite part visually was actually the closing credits. Filmed underwater, it was tricked out to look like an acid trip or one of those coffee-house light shows that some of us might remember



I finally saw Eastern Promises with Naomi Watts, who I think is a really fine actress, along with my Viggo. 3.5 swipes of the cat tail. Why not 4? Well, director David Cronenberg is well known for his in-your-face use of violence, and this movie was no exception. Having read interviews of his, I get why he does it, but I can't take it and there were 3 times during the movie when I had to cover my eyes with my hands. Really interesting story, again with plot twists - yeah! - and outstanding acting. And, of course, it had Viggo (naked), who just gets better and better. Did I mention that Viggo was naked?

What's that you say? None of the photos below are from the movie? Does it really matter?

Kissing the hand of peace activist Cindy Sheehan. Lucky!!!

This one ought to just finish you off...