catching up on the reviews

1.) Slumdog Millionaire. Saw this in the theater last weekend and quite enjoyed it. I will agree it had very conventional storytelling, but that's as it should be, because it's a fairytale, or if you prefer, a myth (of the Joseph Campbell variety). There's a reason people have been telling that kind of story for a few millennium: they're deeply satisfying.

2.) Movies I've rented recently that everyone else saw years ago, but I never had: The Full Monty, I [heart] Huckabees, Splendor in the Grass. I loved The Full Monty, which I guess is to be expected considering how much Britcom I enjoy. There's something about how England is almost, but not quite, America that fascinates me: the little subtle differences in how people live there compared to here, I mean. I enjoyed Huckabees for its weirdness, but I have a question. Was Jude Law specifically and purposefully fake-tanned orange in that movie for his character, or was that supposed to look good? I'm thinking the former. Also, Lily Tomlin's skin looked awesome in that movie, all glowy and fresh for a woman her age. I'm thinking in a few short years I'm hiring someone to follow me around and light me correctly so I can look like that. Finally, Splendor. Is it just me or in that scene where Bud is confessing his torment to his MD, how he doesn't trust himself to date Deanie anymore because all he can think about is having sex with her and they can't, and how his father has counseled him to find himself a slut and he doesn't want to, and how he can't sleep or eat or whatever because of his hormonal upheaval--is it just me who's yelling at the TV, "just tell the poor kid it's okay to jerk off, will ya?!!?" Okay, just me then. But I'm still thinking that whole starcrossed love thing and the girl ending up in the sanitarium could have been avoided with the right medical advice. Geez.

3.) A couple books about gynecology. Okay, I won't review them. But can I just say about "Could It Be... Perimenopause?" that the pulp style cover with the distraught and shocked looking comic book woman is a work of genius. Too, too funny. Edited to add: See?

I have a bunch of books various people gave me for Christmas as well as one or two I bought before Christmas myself that I swear I will get to soon, and more stuff from Netflix to get to as well. Stay tuned.

xoxo