I just came to a somewhat surprising realization ... I'm a bit of a movie buff.
I suppose it shouldn't be surprising, considering I used to watch a good dozen movies a month, and I still enjoy kicking back with a new film, whatever the genre ... but I never think of myself as having seen that many movies. I guess the thrill of a movie is I can turn off my analytical, editing / critiquing brain and enjoy the film ... mostly. I still do notice the occasional plot hole or weak moment.
This came up due to a discussion on Fantasy-Writers.org, where we were discussing the escape plan or heist, and arguably the best examples come from movies because of the ability to conceal and reveal. Besides Leverage and the new Ocean's movies, which had already been mentioned, I brought up Lucky Number Slevin and Who Is Cletis Tout? (That's not a punctuation mistake. The question mark is in the title.) These are both pretty good examples of that genre, but dang ... who here has heard of or seen these? (Though Slevin has an insane cast: Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis, Ben Kingsley ... on top of Josh Hartnett and Lucy Liu, just to add insult to injury.)
(I'm also a parantheses fanatic, but we'll get to that another time.)
I really hate the "big secret" kind of romantic comedy, where the tension comes from hiding something and then the fact that the other person refuses to stop and hear them out (seriously!), creating another false twenty minutes of tension so the movie doesn't end early. I've seen a few good recent examples of romantic comedies that don't follow this pattern: the slightly off-beat Love Happens, Leap Year, and When In Rome. The last is probably the most adorable thing I've seen in a while. It's hilariously implausible and sweet as anything. Carve out some time for that one.
Up In The Air gets points from me for being surprisingly layered and nuanced, and not going where you expect it to. This is definitely not a fluffy, formulaic film, but it's not an arthouse piece, either. Just don't watch it when you're already feeling depressed.
Got any recent recommendations for me? I'm still trying to catch up - I haven't rented a movie in a while, so I'm now picking up things as they premiere on television. I do have the premium movie channels, so I get them on that time-table.
About Me
- Lindsey Duncan
- I'm a professional harp performer, chef / pastry chef, and speculative fiction writer from Cincinnati, Ohio. My contemporary fantasy novel Flow is available from Double Dragon Publishing, and my science fiction novel Scylla and Charybdis is now out from Grimbold Books. I've also sold a number of short stories and a few pieces of speculative poetry. I write predominantly fantasy, usually epic and/or humorous, with some soft science fiction. I play the traditional lever harp with a specialty in Celtic music - but I also perform modern and Renaissance tunes. And yes, you read that right - I have a diploma in Baking and Pastry and an Associates in Culinary Arts and am currently working in the catering field at Kate's Catering and Personal Chef Services (Dayton, KY). I am a CPC (Certified Pastry Culinarian) and CSW (Certified Specialist of Wine).
2 comments:
I surprised myself by liking "True Grit" the new Western out in the movies. Have you seen it? It's based off of a book more than the old John Wayne version.
No - I'm not a fan of theatres, so I rarely see movies until they hit the video store. :-) I've been hearing it's good, though, and will definitely check it out.
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