Movies I've Seen (possible spoilers)

Serenity - Most people say that all space films are really hi-tech westerns. Well, Serenity is a true western set in space, with the Texas accents and everything. Should you see this movie? Yes. For the surprises, the laughs, and most of all, the adventure. I cried a little in this movie. That shouldn't surprise you.

In Her Shoes - I saw the preview to this movie when I watched "Must Love Dogs" (which was cute in its own right). I saw it was based on a book so I went to B&N to buy it. I saw that this woman had other books, so I picked one of each (3) and said I would buy the one that kept me the most interested in the first 2 pages. 30 minutes later, I was heading home with all three books (and a knitting magazine, but that's neither here nor there). In Her Shoes was the worst of the three I read, but it was still a very good book. It is also easy to see why it was made into a movie, of the three. It has the least confusing list of characters and build of action. Past events are talked about and told almost as a separate action to the book, a true Plot B, while the other books have so many characters, so many storylines and the past is so intricately interweaved into the present that to tell the stories the way they are truly meant to be told would either confuse the audience, or couldn't be done. Soooo, the movie, was it good? Yes. I'm a big fan of Toni Collette. It was good to see how she played the Rose Feller character, with a great deal of strength and a lot of self doubt. We get to see her transform in the movie, in a way. We see her go from insecure to confident in herself. Cameron Diaz plays a good Maggie Mae Feller, but the things that helped her move from slacker to responsible in the book don't show up here and, although they try other tactics to get us from these two extremes, they don't do it as well as the book. And the relationship with these two women never grow. Rose still doesn't trust Maggie Mae, but accepts her love and her role as little sister who will always need to be watched. Maggie Mae is okay with that. While not satisfying, it's okay. That being said, the movie was better than the book. *gasp* Can't be! But it is. The movie was clearer in some areas, like why Rose continues to take care of someone who acts like they care one cent about her. I like the idea of Maggie Mae reading to the professor in the hospital and the touches that spark vs. the book's version of her slipping into classes at Princeton. The entire Princeton scenario was awesome in the book, but I understand why it wasn't in the movie. I just wish they'd taken the heart of that scenario and added it into the middle of this movie. I cried like a baby at this movie. You shouldn't be surprised.

The Exorcism of Emily Rose - I love horror movies, but after I watch them, I am usually a bit fearful. To say that Emily Rose is a horror movie is to miss the depth and breadth. It is a courtroom drama where the truth is not on trial. What is on trial is something far more intangible. Faith, demons, possessions, mental disabilities and psychosis, etc. and who has the right to judge them. There are some scare moments. I remember one scene where I jumped, audibly gasped and covered my mouth with my hands. The girl next to me, with whom I'd gone to see the movie, did the exact same thing at the exact same time in the exact same pitch. There were creepy moments where you wanted to have already seen the movie so you would know not to be scared. I really loved this movie. I liked the themes, I like the true lack of a final answer, I liked what this had to say about people and faith and all the ways it looked at the questions it raised. Was it a perfect movie? Not by any stretch of the imagination. But I left the movie more satisfied by the ending than any other movie I'd seen in a while. I didn't cry in this movie, but then, it was a horror, so it shouldn't surprise you.

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit - I'm a big fan of claymation. I saw The Corpse Bride as well, although I was disappointed to know that some Corpse Bride moments were CGI. Wallace & Gromit, however, did not disappoint. Wallace and Gromit are Anti-Pesto, a humane rabbit catching outfit that keeps rabbits from ruining the vegetables that will compete in the annual Giant Vegetable Competition. A mysterious, vegetable eating giant begins destroying all of their work, so much that the organizer of the Annual Giant Vegetable competition finally decides that maybe the giant must be disposed of non-humanely. I laughed so much at this movie, that I cried. I highly recommend it because you have to see well done clay-animation like you have to see well done CGI. I laughed so hard I cried at this movie.... you get the rest.

The Corpse Bride - Frankly, a disappointment. The acting was bland, not humourous at all. I was intrigued by the almost lack of colour in the living world, and the vibrant colour in the afterworld, but I think that there were too many moments where the thoughts of the director weren't connecting with the editing of the movie. I enjoyed watching the technical aspects of the film, colour, directions, movement, emotions of the characters, etc. but the story left a lot to be desired. I didn't cry at this movie.

So there you have it. Hopefully I will be seeing the delightfully fluffy Just Like Heaven with Reese Witherspoon and Mark Rufalo and Elizabethtown with Orlando Bloom and Kirsten Dunst (I've already teared up at the online trailers) and possibly An Unfinished Life with Robert Redford (because I like Jennifer Lopez as an actress). I'll let you know how that goes.