Weekend Round-Up

I haven't posted consistently, at this blog, in a while. I'm navigating a couple of life transitions and even more erratic and unfocused than usual. :-)

Movies Watched This Week:

Cronos by Guillermo del Toro (Sarah's Review) -- Both Sarah and I were disappointed in this one, which began with promise then seemed to devolve into a cheap horror flick. But it was del Toro's first feature-length movie, and it was interesting to see some of the imagery and themes that would be explored in later, better, films.

P.S. (My Review) -- I'm still not entirely sure what I thought of this movie. I didn't fall in love with it, but it seems to have improved upon reflection. The thing I appreciated most was the way it explored our tendency, in intimate relationships, to project our needs and desires onto another person. I think this is the basis for many -- if not most -- relationships in their earliest stages. It isn't until we finally shed those projections that things start to get real.

The Sessions (My Review) -- I enjoyed this movie a lot. It had a bit of a "typical Hollywood" feel, but it managed to rise above that. Of course with such a talented cast, including the magnificent John Hawkes (Winter's Bone, Martha, Marcy, May, Marlene), that isn't surprising.

Next Up: Side Effects and The Hit.

We started watching Side Effects but ran into a schedule conflict and had to turn it off. I was liking it a lot -- the characters and cinematography hooked me right away. This is good news, since I was skeptical going into it. Anything that may be capitalizing on the evils of psychoactive meds triggers a negative knee-jerk reaction in me. Negative knee-jerk reactions can be kind of fun, especially when there are a few drinks involved, but ... well. We'll see. :-)

I'd never heard of The Hit -- it was one of Sarah's picks. She's been on a roll with watching Tim Roth movies lately, which is all good. It looks promising. What's not to like about a story of a hit man and his protegee? And young Tim Roth off the chain can be pure pleasure.

Television: We've been watching Frasier on Netflix streaming (we're on Season 3). This is a sit-com I never got into until recently. It has the same problems I see in most sit-coms, such as predictable, repetitive humor, but I'm really enjoying it. The dialogue is witty and these actors/characters are a lot of fun to watch together.

The Hubby and I are also watching Grimm: an urban fantasy loosely based on traditional fairy tales. It's pretty cheesy, and I'm not all that impressed with the character development. But it is imaginative, and I enjoy seeing what they'll cook up in each episode. Plus the series seems to be getting better as it goes along. I really dug the soccer mom who morphs into a spider-thing and eviscerates her prey. ;-) Never count out us soccer moms.

Next on our Netflix queue: Oz. I'm definitely looking forward to that.

Some Posts I've Enjoyed:

• Jennifer at The Relentless Reader incited me to buy Mandatory Release by Jess Riley, for my Kindle -- this will probably be my next read. Amazon describes it as "a snarky mashup of Girls and Oz." Ha ha! What is it about prison settings that intrigue me so much?
  
• The wonderful Lucy at Therapy Through Tolstoy posted about several novels that help guide you through grief and illness.
• M. Brown at Two Dollar Cinema, who is consistently awesome and hilarious, piqued my interest in Spring Breakers.
• Chris at Movies and Songs 365 posted his excellent Monthly Links in the Blogosphere. I appreciate it, especially since I'm not making the time to follow as many blogs these days.
• Trish at Love, Laughter, and a Touch or Insanity reviewed the audiobook version of A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.
• Brittani at Rambling Film wrote an excellent, balanced review of End of Watch, a film my son James and I really liked.
• Josh at The Cinematic Spectacle writes fabulous, concise reviews. This week he got me interested in seeing Wild Girl Waltz and What Richard Did.
• I loved the latest installment in the In Character series at And So It Begins, on the wonderful J.K. Simmons. Just so you know, Alex is the one who incited me to put Oz at the top of our Netflix queue. I was also excited about this post: My Favorite Scene: 25th Hour.