Movie #7 - Into The Night

I have several days home alone, and so thought I should capitalize on this time to clean the house & watch movies.  I am still dying to see Bridesmaids, but for a person who's kind of movie inept (no Netflix, never used Redbox, late to the game on a library reservation, etc..) it wasn't easy for me to track it down today.  So I decided, instead, I would just choose something free from On Demand.

I ended up choosing 1985's Into The Night.  The real reason I chose it was because my best friend has a lifelong, eternal crush on Jeff Goldblum, and he stars.

In other posts, I try to do a lot of hyperlinking, to get people to actual, relevant source material -- or at least to material of people more knowledgeable than I am.  This one, I'm trying to keep it to a minimum, because I have thoughts & reactions to this weird little movie, and would like to write them and THEN research.

The premise of the movie is that Jeff Goldblum's character has chronic insomnia, and it's causing a number of problems.  Through a series of misadventures, he meets Michelle Pfeiffer's character, and rescues her from being killed by a variety of bad guys.  [Spoiler:  It has a happy ending for the two actors I've mentioned, but not for tons of others..]

It was funny to watch this movie I'd never heard of that was so totally representing a time in the USA in my youth.  Complete with big shoulderpads, feathered hair, synthesizer soundtracks and inappropriate stereotypes, it was awkward in the way many movies from the mid-80's are.

But it also had these clever filmic moments that I really admired!  There's a scene where Goldblum is trying to find Pfeiffer in a big fancy apartment/suite thing, and as he creeps from room to room, the TV is on in every room, and what's being shown is a retro black&white Scary Movie, so that the soundtrack from the Scary Movie becomes the soundtrack of Goldblum's search.

There were other interesting moments / montages / constructs.  I wonder -- do all mediocre movies have these, and I rarely notice them? Do I ascribe interesting things to this film because of the nascent star power put into it (John Landis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jeff Goldblum)? And really, most of all. who in the hell do you have to be to get Dan Aykroyd, Jim Henson and David Bowie to cameo in your film????

Movie #6 - Ted

YAY! A movie in a movie theatre! A FIRST-RUN movie! A FUNNY movie! Starring super-cute Marky Mark. Written & directed (and starring, as the bear) by the super-inappropriate, super-raunchy, super-sophomoric, always brilliant Seth MacFarlane.

Not as good as an episode of The Family Guy, but still super fun.

Yay! A dumb comedy, IN THE THEATRE!!!

Book #23 - The Language of Flowers

The Language of Flowers, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, is the story of Victoria -- a young woman who has aged out of the foster care system in San Francisco.

By turns inspiring and depressing, it's a really well written, interesting & moving novel. The title refers to the Victorian practice of assigning meanings / definitions to flowers. (e.g., yellow rose = infidelity, red rose = love, camellia = "my destiny is in your hands") Victoria, the protagonist, is well versed in the language of flowers, and it serves her well.

The author, Diffenbaugh, has since co-founded a non-profit organization (called The Camellia Network) designed to support young adults aging out of the foster system by getting them targeted funding for specific aspirations. It seems pretty interesting.

As a side note, the author's daughter was in my daughter's kindergarten class last year!

Book #22 - Seriously...I'm Kidding

According to the source of my inspiration for this nonsense, audio books count just as much as visual books.  Today, when I spent a long time in the car, I listened to Ellen Degeneres read her newest book, Seriously...I'm Kidding.  It was (as you'd expect!!!) funny, bright, clever, insightful.

Random thing that I really loved about the audio recording:  Ellen read every chapter name (meaning, "CHAPTER ONE!" "CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE!") with a different flair & intonation.  I am picturing her in the recording booth, and her director saying, "OK, show me enthusiastic!  Great. Now show me puzzled.  Great.  Now show me zany." etc.

Book #21 - Sacré Bleu

I am a big fan of Christopher Moore novels.  I've read a ton of them, and always enjoyed his blend of humor, history, and inventiveness.  So I was incredibly excited when I learned (via a Facebook ad, of all things!  Can you believe that I got a targeted ad that was actually appropriate and appealing???) that he had a new novel, Sacré Bleu.  And even more excited when I went to the library and saw it sitting there on the Speed Read shelf, waiting for me to check it out.

Sacré Bleu is a novel of the Post-Impressionist Paris art scene, including Toulouse-Lautrec, van Gogh, Seurat, and others of the period.  They are haunted / blessed by Bleu, the muse who brings them the singular color blue they incorporate in their paintings.

It's a fun and engaging book, but unlike Moore's previous works, I didn't LOVE it.  It seemed like he was wishing he was actually Tom Robbins, and so was doing his damndest to write like Robbins.

If you're a die-hard Moore fan, read it.  If you're unfamiliar with Moore, read Lamb or the vampire books, You Suck and Bite Me, instead.

Movie #5 -- Mean Girls 2

Sometimes, when a person is trying not to think about something, that person might stay up till 2 a.m. watching a really terrible, derivative, made-for-ABC-family movie.

The real MEAN GIRLS, written by Tina Fey and starring Lindsay Lohan (before she went around the bend) is smart, biting, feminist and funny.

The "sequel," not written by (nor, I would wager, sanctioned by) Tina Fey is just garden-variety After School Special material. At best.

But it took my mind off sadness, when I knew I could neither sleep nor read.

MOVIE #4. Cry- Baby

Yep.  Honest to Joe, it's the FOURTH real-live NEW movie I've seen this year.  What's worse...(wait is there something worse??) is that I could have & should have seen this movie as a high school kid.  I think know my sister told me about how awesome John Waters is, but it wasn't enough, so I skipped seeing Cry-Baby when I should have, and instead, just watched it last week as I folded laundry.  (That is how glamorous my life is...)

I liked it. OK.  I liked it okay.  I didn't LOVE it. And really, what I thought, was that it was a not-great ripoff of Waters' own movie, Hairspray. Not as sharp, not as textured, not as...well...good.

Ah well.  I'm sure I can see another movie this year.

Book #20 - ANOTHER Spellman Book

I think we should spend a few minutes in this blog going, "Hey!  That Lisa Lutz! She totally kicks ass!"  And then we should say, "Wow, that fifth book she wrote is mega."  And that should be followed by, "HOLY CATS, KATHRYN IS HALFWAY THROUGH HER BOOK-READING GOAL!"

Can I get a "Hell yeah!!!"?