movie

The Artist

/ Shane / 8 Comments

Since the kids were born, Sara and I see movies in the theater very infrequently. As I said the last time we saw a movie, when you’re only seeing about one movie a year, it’s got to be a good one. You’ve got to make it count. That’s why when we got the opportunity last weekend to see a movie, we quickly turned to the Academy Award Nominations to separate the wheat from the chaff so to speak.

Hugo leads the pack with 11 nominations, however, it wasn’t playing at the theater closest to us. Close behind was The Artist, with 10 nominations, so we took the Academy at their word and checked it out.

I wish we wouldn’t have.

It’s not that The Artist is a terrible film. It’s an okay film at best. I won’t say I wasn’t entertained by the movie, but I will say my entertainment level was below probably half of the movies I’ve seen this year. And for a movie with 10 Academy Award nominations, that’s not really up to snuff, is it?

Sara and I tried to explain to ourselves later how this film garnered so many nominations, and the best guess we have is that Hollywood absolutely loves movies about Hollywood. I was positively shocked when I looked up some of the reviews and read how absolutely glowing they were. Again, it’s not a bad movie, but reading the reviews they made it sound like it was the greatest movie ever made. I have to say, I feel like there is some kind of emperor’s-new-clothes thing going on with this movie. Everybody has been told how good it is and how much they have to like it, that they think they *do* like it, because they don’t want to disagree and say it really wasn’t that good.

The only thing the movie had going for it was a gimmick: it’s a silent film. Now, full disclosure, I did not know this going in, and it’s something you should be prepared for. I knew the subject of the movie was silent films, but I didn’t know that it was actually a silent film. So I could certainly see the argument that it was unique and different, and perhaps if we saw tons and tons of movies we would appreciate it on that front. But the problem was not that it was a silent film, but that it wasn’t a very good film.

The Artist is up for Best Picture this year. Can someone honestly tell me they enjoyed it as much as say The Departed or A Beautiful Mind? Put it in the same class as Schindler’s List or Forrest Gump? Is it as iconic as Rain Man or Silence of the Lambs? Will it be remembered like The Godfather?

The answer is no.

It has an interesting gimmick. Maybe it’s worth seeing, maybe it’s not. But if you’re only going to see one movie a year, it shouldn’t be this one. It can’t be this one. You can not tell me it was the best movie of the entire year.

Maybe I am a curmudgeon who just doesn’t like things. Maybe seeing only one movie a year sets my expectations too high, and I didn’t judge this movie fairly. But let me also say this: the movie put Sara to sleep. 10 potential Academy Awards, and it put Sara to sleep. Even my mom, who said she really enjoyed the movie, said she almost fell asleep.

Is that the mark of the best movie of the entire year, that it lulls you to sleep??

Baby’s first movie

/ Shane / Leave a comment

Over the weekend we took Evie to the Museum of Science and Industry and she had a blast. She loved seeing the trains and the chicks hatching. She learned a new train word, caboose, or as she likes to put it “kaboom!” But of course, being a little kid, she enjoyed other things such as walking up the stairs just as much as the actual exhibits. When recounting all the best parts of the day, she always made sure to include “Red stairs!” in the list. Unfortunately the children’s area was closed for renovation, but on the other hand had it been open I’m sure we wouldn’t have been allowed to leave.  All in all a highlight of the weekend and a great way to spend a rainy day.

While we were there, we saw “Wild Ocean” on the Omnimax. Perhaps it was a bit overwhelming as a first movie experience, but I think Evie liked it overall.

It certainly delivered on the promise of “fishies and sharks” (although not too many sharks actually). She was actually more into the above water scenes, recounting for me her memories of the “people dancing and singing” and “high place, high up place” for some of the (I assume) helicopter shots. I think she was a little scared during some of the underwater scenes and repeatedly called for them to “turn the light!” We assumed we would only stay for a few minutes before she got too antsy and we had to leave, but she was really good. Several times I thought she was asleep, only to look over and see her staring at the screen enraptured, with a forgotten cookie clenched in her fist. Eventually she did fall asleep, but I think she watched at least 30 minutes. She even applauded during a few scenes. I’m sure she would have liked to stay awake, but it was well past her usual nap time.

So I think it is a safe bet that she enjoyed it and I’m sure she would thank her grandma and grandpa for the money for the family pass if she had any sort of concept of money and stuff. We will certainly be back.