Movie Madness

I mentioned in an earlier post that one of my goals for this summer is to see one movie a week. Likewise, back in (cough, cough) February, I issued an EA challenge for people to go see a movie that they wouldn't expect in advance they would like, because they might end up surprising themselves. So I figured I could mesh these two concepts together pretty easily, since most of the time there are hardly any movies playing that interest me.

Little did I know that this summer would turn out to have one of the best movie lineups I've seen in years!

So while I do intend to go see a movie that I wouldn't normally (I'm currently thinking of Zohan, but I shudder a little at the mere thought of it...), so far I've taken in some pretty good flicks.

The first one was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Loved it! I know others have found it to be too unrealistic, but I had no problem suspending my disbelief for a couple of hours and just had fun with it.

Next up was Sex and the City. Loved it! I thought it was completely true to the series, which is all that I was looking for.

Last week I went to a documentary I'd never heard of: Young@Heart. Loved it! It's about a chorus of elderly people (average age is around 80) who perform worldwide. The twist is that they sing songs you wouldn't expect from this age group, like Schizophrenia by Sonic Youth and I Feel Good by James Brown. It's very uplifting, although you should definitely take some tissues with you if you go.

And yesterday was And When Did You Last See Your Father? Liked it. There were lots of great performances by Colin Firth, Jim Broadbent, Juliet Stevenson, and a young actor I had never seen before, Matthew Beard, who was fabulous as Firth's character as a teenager. The movie is based on a true story but I didn't find it really grabbed me. There were some weird cinematography glitches as well, where a brief scene or two seemed to be completely out of focus. And I found the direction a bit choppy, making it a bit difficult to figure out the significance of certain actions and reactions. But it definitely had some moving moments and I'm glad I saw it. (It would have had to be really bad for me not to like it, what with Colin Firth being in it and all... :)

What movies have you been seeing this summer?

P.S. I definitely won't be living up to my challenge this week either as Get Smart is coming out on Friday. I've been dying to see this ever since I heard that Steve Carell would be playing Max. That's the most inspired casting I've heard of in a long time! (And I can't wait to see the new millenium's version of the Cone of Silence!)