Movies, Movies, Movies

So, this weekend was very movie-oriented for me. The weather was beautiful, and I did get out to enjoy it quite a bit, but I did watch my fair share of new movies.

On Friday night, Mark and I decided to stay in and enjoy one last night in our great apartment. We move on Saturday! Anyway, we got some good food from the grocery store and rented Walk the Line. For those of you who are living under a rock, Walk the Line is the story of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. I had heard that this movie is just amazing and wonderful and that I'll be thinking about it for days afterward. Plus, it was nominated for many Academy Awards. So, I had been wanting to see it for quite some time.

Now, I thought that it was a good movie. A really good movie, even. I could even stretch it to say that it's a great movie. But an amazing movie? No. One that I'll be thinking about for days afterward? No. It was a great story of stuggles and triumphs and love and relationships. And it was well done. And Reese Witherspoon and Joaquin Phoenix both gave an excellent acting performance. And I really enjoyed watching it. And I'd watch it again. But overall, this movie didn't wow me to the point that I'd heard about. It didn't make me fall over with emotion at the end of it. And that's saying something for me - I'm a hopeless romantic. I love romantic movies and stories of love succeeding in the end. But, this one didn't make me swoon, I guess. And, it's not an Academy Award caliber movie, in my opinion. Again, the acting was great, which is why those actors won awards. And again, I'll watch it again. I will say, though, that it was the perfect date movie to watch on a Friday night with my most favorite man.

On Saturday night, Mark had some guys over for one last boxing night in our apartment. So, I went to the movies with Kristin. We were in the mood for a very girlie flick, so we decided to put on our dancing shows and see Take the Lead. Take the Lead is the new Antonio Banderas movie in which he plays a dance instructor who starts teaching inner city students ballroom dance during detention. It was such a fun movie! I went into the movie thinking that it would just be a fun, girlie movie with mediocre acting and a predictable storyline, but with a helluva lot of great dancing. And I was totally right. But that's what made it so fun! Kristin and I left the theater wanting to take dance classes and compete in a national dance off or something crazy like that. And with Mark having a few months off starting in June, I might just be able to persuade him to take them!

On Sunday, after Mark and I did some running around, we rented The Weatherman. This movie is with Nicholas Cage, and he plays a divorced weatherman who is trying to get at job on a national morning show, make his dad proud of him, and get his family back. According to the DVD jacket, it's part American Beauty and part About Schmidt. According to Mark and I, it was part predictable and part blah. It wasn't a bad movie, but it was like so many other movies I've seen. A guy is depressed because his wife divorced him. He's losing touch with his kids and is trying, in his own way, to get back into their lives. He's struggling with feeling inadequate and unsuccessful in the eyes of his father, who is the only person in the world that he cares to impress. He's dealing with his career being mundane, which spills over into the rest of his life. Throughout the movie, he is trying to find himself and his happiness again. Seriously, I think that I've seen this movie about 10 times. Oh well.

So, we had one great movie, one fun movie and one dud movie. But, I love movies. I enjoy watching movies of all genres, so I don't ever really mind when I hit a dud. It makes me appreciate the good movies all the more.