June 2010 Media Inventory

Well, another month has flown by, and I am not at all sorry to see it go. Spring has always been my least favorite season, due to allergies, the heat (hard on fair skin and on long hair - I've managed to tackle both issues head on by getting sunburned and cutting my hair), the bugs, and that awful smell of fresh cut grass that messes up my sinuses.

So, in between avoiding the outdoors and finishing off my spring semester, here's what I watched and read in the month of June:

Movies:

Fun with Dick and Jane: Very funny. Of course, as with many comedies, this movie could have some serious problems if taken seriously, but don't worry about that because you won't.

Just Like Heaven: Maybe not a great film, but still surprisingly engaging and believable, all more the impressive considering the completely unbelievable plot. Reese Witherspoon is really all the reason you need to watch the film anyway. She's just so... watchable.

500 Days of Summer: I've wanted to see this for a while, and was quite disappointed when the library's version refused to play the last two minutes wherein we get some semblance of a happy ending... Still, I quite enjoyed the overall film, story, characters, and the real though sad and difficult message at its heart.

About a Boy: Sweet. Clever. Funny. A little bit...um...British.

The Dead Poets Society: Certainly a film worth watching, but with more ups and downs than you might expect. There are moments that made me cringe aplenty, but other moments that moved me to tears and highmindedness. Very sad.

The Princess Bride: Can you tell I needed a bit of cheering up at this point? Yup. Thanks!

Big: A fairly simple film but genuinely sweet. Though a bit immature. Like most ten-year-old boys.

Nanny McPhee: Eh. I enjoyed Colin Firth's performance, of course, and was sort of drawn in by the fairy-tale design of the characters and sets, but wasn't really impressed by anything else. It's kind of disheartening when you realize that the nanny can just solve anything with magical powers.

For Richer or Poorer: I'm going to say as little as possible about this film.

The Neverending Story: It would be fun to make a joke here about the neverending qualities of this movie, but the truth is that I found the ending quite abrupt and unexpected. I kept hoping for something more insightful and intriguing to emerge from the surface, but nothing ever did, and then the movie ended. The whole experience felt oddly like watching a children's book.

Fletch: Yeah, I've seen it before, but I was in the mood, okay? And I forgot how funny it is when he shows the picture of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir!

Billy Elliott: A highly impressive film. Each of the actors in the family did a fantastic job in representing the hopes, beliefs, and behavior of a torn family. I forgot I was watching a film sometimes - the acting was so truthful and heartfelt. Be warned that sometimes the truth can be ugly.

The Golden Compass: I was actually enjoying it very much until the end - what the what? There was a scene that felt like a nice "calm before the storm" sequence, and then suddenly the main character starts bringing up all of these issues and reminding the audience of our need to see them resolved in a resolute fashion and then all of a sudden- THE END. !?!!?????!?!!? I remember there being a controversy about this film when it first came out, and I still can't understand why. Other than that atrocious ending, it's a pretty creative, engaging, enjoyable fantasy-type film. And can I just say that I LOVE Nicole Kidman as an evil villainess? Yeah, we need more of that.

Savage Sam: I didn't enjoy the book at all, but decided to give the movie a chance. After all, I loved Old Yeller (book and movie) so much; it was easy to see how I could have exaggerated my childhood disappointment in the sequel without just cause. The movie is entertaining and fun (who doesn't like watching kids get kidnapped by Indians and rescued by cowboys?), but nowhere near the classic that Old Yeller is. For one thing, Savage Who? Please - I can barely remember what the dog looks like. And I'm pretty sure no one in the movie calls him "Savage" anything. It was a good idea to have the old Travis and Arliss reprise their roles, but they just... really... seem...like they're acting too much. Where's Ma? The only one who really seemed like his old self was Jumper the mule.

Fletch Lives: I liked Fletch better. But I still wish there were more Fletch-es.

Letters from Juliet: Should have waited for the library. The Provo library. That ought to tell you my opinion right there.

Love Wrecked: Yeah, I know. It's a silly, shallow, superficial --- squee! Um, excuse me. It won't happen again.

Doubt: See, I watched a strict, serious, solemn movie about religious people as penance. Which was also pretty good.

Where the Red Fern Grows: I was feeling reminiscient and thinking about dogs, so the inevitable happened.

Are We There Yet?: I should have read Eric Snider's review first.

Enchanted: Yes! Refreshing, good, fun movie! I feel happy again!

The Terminal: I wouldn't call it a comedy (Provo Library, I am looking at you), but it was a thought-provoking and interesting film with some riveting performances. Perhaps I'd better re-watch Sleepless in Seattle and see if I can come to grips with my feelings about Tom Hanks's like-ability.

Six Days, Seven Nights: Harrison Ford? How could you?

The Englishman who went Up a Hill but Down a Mountain: Delightful. The characters and story are simple yet pleasing - I even enjoyed the impertinent narrator - though the accents are occasionally difficult to understand.

What a Girl Wants: Not a bad film. Colin Firth saves it, as usual.

Mom at Sixteen: Plenty disturbing (though the ending is sweetly relieving). I arrived without any difficulty at the conclusion that one should never if possible become a mom at sixteen.

Knight and Day: I really enjoyed the beginning. Funny, clever, and action-packed. Then the middle got really complicated, and the ending... was just lame. But I would re-watch the beginning in a heartbeat.

Opera:

Yes! I watched opera this month! Did YOUUUUU? And if you did, did you watch it for FREEEEEEEEE? Cause I did!!!!!!!

Trial by Jury: A delightful Gilbert and Sullivan comedy about a divorce court with all sorts of hypocrisies and biases going on. I was perturbed (yes, perturbed) by my inability to understand all the words, but the humor was fortunately self-evident.

The Telephone: Much less entertaining (and fortunately, much shorter) than Trial by Jury. Reminded me of why I don't really care for opera all that much.

Books:

The Da Vinci Code: I had been told by everyone that this was a thrilling page-turner that you wouldn't be able to put down, so I read it with great anticipation, hoping to come across the part that was so exciting that I wouldn't be able to put it down. Alas, as you might have guessed, I finished the book before coming upon the part that would make me yearn to finish the book. I didn't have a real problem with any of the book's supposedly blasphemous conclusions (I guess I was asleep during all the main controversies of my teenager-hood) but I was distracted from the bajillion incredible insights revealed by the author by my main concern, which was WHEN DO THESE PEOPLE EVER SLEEP? In the end, I was unimpressed, though I don't blame the author or the book. I think, perhaps, I was hoping for more controversy than was actually there. That's what leaning on the reports of others will get ya, folks.

The Novel: FINALLY finished this book (because two months is an incredibly long amount of time to read a single book, you know?). It's interesting, but wow, you'd better read it as fast as you can if you hope to care about or even remember the characters by the end.

The Jane Austen Book Club: I went in with low expectations, and, lo and behold, they were surpassed. This is definitely a readable book. It has similarities to the Jane Austen novels! It is occasionally amusing and insightful. I have nothing further to say.

A Series of Unfortunate Events: #1 and #2: I eyed these books for a very long time as a child, and until now have always heeded the author's advice to put them back on the shelf if you don't care for unhappy books. But now that I'm an adult, fie! I shall read whatever I want! Even if it is obviously written for eight-year-olds and revolves around a single, stable plot and one-dimensional characters!

Adventures in the Screen Trade: William Goldman's The Princess Bride is one of my favorite books, so I figured I might enjoy looking through his other books. I examined about three or four of them, but ended up reading only this one. I think he's at his best when writing like a journalist rather than a novelist, and he certainly does that here. It's an insightful, clever, witty (and I'm assuming truthful) account of his personal experiences in screenwriting. I was fascinated nearly the whole way through (there's a rather long section about his adaptation of a short story that seemed unnecessary and out of place).

Anyone have any good books or authors for me to try over the summer? If not, I guess there's always War and Peace.