April 2011 Media Inventory

MOVIES

Anastasia

Rasputin was pretty creepy - reminded me of the bad guy in The Princess and the Frog. Not a great movie but still okay, mildly interesting and so on.

Gladiator

I love this movie. It makes me cry. The acting, script, music, just.... EVERYTHING... is amazing.

Moulin Rouge!

It took me a while to see this, and it wasn't my favorite, but I'm still glad I've seen it. The story was fairly dull, but still told in an interesting way, and the characters were a bit cliche and silly, but I found myself liking them anyway. I was exhausted and drained after seeing it, though - probably won't revisit it for a while.

The Inspector General

A lot weirder and less funny than the other Danny Kaye movies I've seen, but it was okay. I saw it with Matthew, which made it seem a lot better than it actually was.

Lovely, Still

A beautiful movie. So sweet, and thoughtful and inspiring as well. And CHRISTMASY! Yup - no wonder I loved it.

I Do: How to get married and stay single

I had fun watching this movie, about an Italian guy living with his family, who want him to get married because they are tired of taking care of him, but they also all want to approve of his wife and get involved in his life, etc. I enjoyed forgetting about my own situation and laughing at someone else's for a while.

Leap Year

Cute movie. You know what I mean.

Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince

I don't remember too much about it except that it was all right. I was kind of waiting for Dumbledore's death to be like Gandalf's fall into the abyss.... but then... it... wasn't. Oh well.

The Court Jester

Still the funniest Danny Kaye movie I've seen. And I got a lot more of the jokes that Matthew and his family like to quote this time around! But it made me want to watch the Errol Flynn Robin Hood.

Hitch

I like this movie a lot. Despite having a plot that is SO FAKE, the acting/dialogue feels genuine, interesting, and funny. Plus it's the cuteness of Leap Year x 2.

Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde

Oh my freakiness. Probably better not to see this movie unless you're not my usual type of blog follower (but if you do see it, I recommend doing so at an academic conference surrounded by a very humorous group of BYU students with whom you have recently taken a class on horror). It's mostly the traditional story, except, um, did I mention Dr. Jekyll turns into a woman? Don't be fooled by "Sister" - she is definitely not LDS.

Megapiranha

I do not recommend this movie to anyone. However, it may be the most hilariously bad horror movie I've ever seen. Part of this, of course, might have to do with the fact that I watched it late at night (right after Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde) with the same group of awesome female BYU students (one of us won it in a raffle that night). Technically, I probably shouldn't say I've seen it since I fell asleep less than an hour in, but the parts I watched were ridiculously awful.

Clue

No matter how many times I see this (TWO SO FAR), I always think it's super funny at the beginning, and then I always lose track of what's going on when they give the explanation, and then I think at the end, "Huh. That wasn't so good." And then I forget and re-watch it. Seriously, you guys, if this happens a third time, I might be cursed.

Memoirs of a Geisha

I randomly picked up a copy of Wild Swans while cleaning my room in Sandy and got interested in epic, moody, dramatic sagas about repressed women in Asia. This movie was just was I was looking for - drama, romance, history, tragedy, and beauty.

True Grit

Loved this film! It's so nice to see a classic western film being made for modern audiences. The concept, casting, and execution were just absolutely fantastic - nothing felt awkward, out-of-date, or boring for one minute. Bring back the good ol' days!

Tron

This film really wanted to be cool. Honestly, it tried so hard. It had people wearing body suits with glowing neon stripes and racing each other in motorcycles and blowing each other up dispassionately and using magical forces and superpowers (aka advanced science) to do all sorts of freaky special effects stuff. While I was impressed by all the high-tech showmanship, it still felt like something was lacking here. The human relationships and new-age atmosphere just weren't doing it for me. As for Tron, I would be really hard-pressed to tell you a single thing about who (what?) he actually is.

BOOKS

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I thought this was a good book, but it was definitely not my favorite in the series. In keeping with most final books in an extremely lucrative and popular series, the reality could not quite meet my (unrealistic, no doubt) expectations. The beginning just dragged on forever without accomplishing enough, and the ending was just a bit too nice and quick and tidy for me.

Eat Pray Love

It took me a while to get to this book, but I'm glad I read it. She has a really engaging and personal writing style, and it was fun to travel vicariously to Italy, India, and Indonesia through her memoirs. I'm not sure I agree with her conclusions about herself, God, and life in general, but I appreciated her honesty, insights, and perspective.