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2/2/11

the "s" movies.

as you've probably seen on the news (or not) we (as in northern texas) are snowed in (even though i went to work yesterday), so my family and i have been getting cozy. on my way home from work yesterday, my pops and i decided to hit up a redbox and rob them of their films so we'd have some entertainment for this blizzardy weather. when we got home, i realized all our movies started with an "s". "s" for snowed in - get it? no? okay. . . moving on *said in a that-was-awkward tone*.
ahem. anyway, we rented secretariat, the social network, and salt. none of which any of us had seen before. me being the big movie buff i am, watched them (as i do all flicks) very critically and formed strong opinions of them. 
this is the part where i share said opinions ("s" is also for spoiler alert. so if you haven't seen these, and are planning to, maybe skip this one. i can't promise how much or how little i'll actually give away...): 

secretariat
{image via google/images}
i love true stories that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside and happy. just plain happy. well,  secretariat was one of those stories if you're not familiar with it, its the true story of a woman who has to take over her father's horse racing/breeding business and everything that comes with it.
i loved the story and may or may not have even teared up at one or two parts in the movie. but that was all after i got past the acting which was. . . pretty bad. i thought the actors reactions to a lot of the circumstances were very stale and transparent and at some points it felt like a rehearsal of certain scenes rather than the actual finished product.
that being said, i'd still recommend it. especially if you need a hopeful boost or are in the mood for an over all feel-good movie.
*this film is comparable to dreamer only with less seasoned actors.

the social network.
{image via google/images.}
i need to own this film.
 originally, i was intrigued to see it because i sort of admire mark zuckerburg. i mean, he's the youngest billionaire in the world. that deserves some respect, right? plus he dropped out of harvard and went the entrepreneurial route. another couple of things i admire.
so, i've been wanting to see this one.
and i'm glad i did because it was amazing. (of course it was amazing, it has 8 oscar noms.)
aside from the fact that its been called a 'work of fiction' from more than one of the parties actually involved in the actual creation of facebook, i still really enjoyed it. the actors were phenomenal (i was even impressed by little brenda song, the disney star from suite life of zack and cody) and the scripting was magnificent (hey, what do you know, those were 2 of the things it was nominated for.) over all, the film was really interesting and kept my attention the whole time. it was witty and clever and at some points out of control and i really, really enjoyed it.
you should see it.
but read about mark zuckerburg first so that you don't get the wrong impression of him by watching the film.
also, who loved my boy jt in this? i think he was lovely.

salt.
{image via google/images.}
so, i've been going back and forth whether i wanted to see this or not since it came out. i debated that it'd probably just be another tomb raider (yuck) or any of the other completely cookie cutter movie that she seems to come out with every couple of years.
well, i finally forked out my dollar and watched it and. . .
ugh.
i really just didn't like it.
while i thought angelina jolie did well (i'll give her that, even though i don't care for her), i thought the story was pretty bad and the stunts they had her do were horrible.
i mean, when she was jumping from one semi-truck to the other while they're flying down the free way, all i could think was 'yeah right' and then again when she was jumping down in the elevator shaft.
huge thumbs down for that.
and then i love (<-- sarcasm) how there were coats and hats (among other things) conveniently placed in her path so that she had the luxury of changing her identity sporadically as needed. and oh how well those coats fit her even though they were randomly yoinked from a dry cleaning rack in the hall of a hotel.
i also really didn't like how she, one woman, took on 3 and 4 guys at a time. i'm not saying she couldn't do it because she's a woman, i'm saying she couldn't do it because she's one person. i mean here she is, battling it out with these highly trained and conditioned fbi/cia agents who are armed might i add, but somehow she beats the crap out of them with very little to show for it. movies like that make the cia/fbi/ai etc look really bad. and i hate that too.
and then the ending. barf. i wont elaborate if you haven't seen it, but that's all you need to know. barf.
i don't know. it just all seemed super unrealistic to me, which, for a film like that, seeming realistic is pretty key.

there you have it.
my opinions on hollywood's latest.

what'd you think of these flicks?
if you've been snowed in this week like i have, what've you been doing??


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3 comments:

BJJ said...

I liked Secretariat too :)
Loved Social Network - the editing was brilliant, the script was amazing, the tone was perfect. I was a huge fan!
And I decided not to see Salt. ;)

Loved this post! Been catching up on your blog today :) peace&love

pickingwildflowersblog.blogspot.com

kebowman said...

i love Norah Jones!!

The Terry's said...

i watched salt and fell asleep it was a bore. and my husband fell asleep threw the social network.