A deep chick flick

I watched Bride Wars this weekend. It was actually a good movie--funny and light-hearted, a classic chick flick. It was exactly the kind of movie that women love and men would have to be dragged to.

And then, at the end, came this voice-over:

"Sometimes in life there really are bonds formed that can never be broken. Sometimes you really can find that one person who will stand by you no matter what. Maybe you'll find it in a spouse and celebrate it with your dream wedding, but there's also the chance that the one person you can count on for a lifetime, the one person who knows you sometimes better than you know yourself, is the same person who's been standing beside you all along. "

And that made me stop and think. My dating life has been the subject of countless posts, emails, phone calls, and girl get-togethers. I often wonder if I'll ever find "the one," if I'll find the kind of love and relationship that seems to come so easily to others. As a child, I never thought that I would be 32 and still single. And, although women are settling down and starting families later now than at any point in history, it's also a biological fact that if I don't have kids in the next few years, it may not happen for me at all. (And my emotions keep going back and forth on this issue: sometimes my biological clock ticks like a time bomb, and sometimes I truly feel that I'd be okay if I never had another a child of my own, that maybe my path will include either adopting or becoming a stepmother.) Still, it's no secret that I do, at the very least, want to get married--someday. And, as I see former classmates getting divorced and beginning SECOND marriages, I'm beginning to view my never-married status as a source of pride--that I'm learning invaluable lessons along the way, that I'm refusing to settle, that I'm not rushing into anything, and that all of this will help to make sure that when I DO take that final step, it will last.

And then I watched Bride Wars, and that voice-over made me stop in my tracks. The idea that my "soul mate" may not be a romantic partner but rather a friend kind of blew me away. That's not to say that I'd be okay never getting married--far from it. Even if the kids thing never happens for me, I truly hope that marriage is in the cards somewhere down the line. But maybe, when it comes down to it, I'm searching for something that I already have. Renee's been around since first grade, and the rest of the Girl Tribunal has been around since high school (Kish) and my mid-20s (Anna). And then there's Nik and Missy, who came into my life through the marriage of our parents but have been my sisters in every way that matters. They all know me inside and out, they love me unconditionally, they give me a kick in the ass when I need it (and let's face it, that's pretty often) and they are always, ALWAYS there for me. They've never let me down. They've seen me grow and change over the years and have been my biggest supports throughout every one. Even when I make mistakes (some of them over and over again), they still have my back. What guy will EVER be able to compete with that? Even if I meet the perfect man tomorrow (and trust me, I'll still be out there looking, LOL), he won't know the me of yesterday--only the me of today and tomorrow.

Needless to say, I highly recommend this movie. It will make you want to tell all of your friends how much they mean to you...which is why I'm writing this post. I love you all.

And if I'm still single and childless when I'm 50, I'm coming to live with one of y'all.

Scary Movies

The upcoming holiday has got me thinking, not surprisingly, of scary movies (and by "holiday," I mean Halloween, not my birthday--although, when you're about to turn 32 and are still single, that's pretty damn scary, too). It also helps that I'm currently watching Panic Room--a psychological thriller that still freaks me out. I know that there are a lot of great scary movies out there that I've never seen (case in point: Psycho. Is it really as scary as they say?). So, I'm asking all of you to post your favorite scary movies. Classic or more recent, which movies scare the shit out of you?

When submitting your picks, I ask you to keep the following guidelines in mind:

1) They should be movies that scare you as an adult. For example, Freddy may have given you nightmares when you were at sleepovers as a 12-year-old, but maybe now you realize that Nightmare on Elm Street is more cheesy than scary. (Then again, maybe not. If it still scares the crap out of you, then by all means, submit it.) Which brings me to point #2

2) I'm looking for scary, not campy (case in point: Night of the Living Dead, etc).

3) There is a difference between "suspenseful" and "scary." The Sixth Sense had me on the edge of my seat, but it wasn't necessary SCARY. (Then again, maybe some would disagree.)

And last:

4) They should be universally scary. Maybe you have a phobia of traveling, and so Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants freaked you out. Or maybe your name is LCB, and therefore any movie about commitment, fidelty, or being a non-shithead terrifies you. (LOL.) You get the point here.

To get us started, I submit:

Panic Room
Arachnophobia (this does violate guideline #4, because even if you're At One with spiders, this one is still scary)
Candyman

Now it's your turn: what scary movies do I HAVE to put on my Netflix list?

Hancock

So I know that this movie has gotten mixed reviews, but I really liked it. REALLY liked it. Yes, the first part was definitely funnier than the second half (Will Smith and Jason Bateman play off of each other very well, and I lost count of the number of times I laughed out loud), but the entire movie kept my attention. There was a weird little subplot including one of the bad guys that never really went anywhere, but that's really my only major criticism. Oh--and the special effects seemed slightly cheesy ("cheesy" isn't really the right word, but they definitely weren't up to 2008 "summer blockbuster" standards).

But yeah, overall, I definitely recommend it (it does have a lot of swearing; it doesn't bother me at all, but I just wanted to mention it for those of you who may be more sensitive to that kind of thing or who were considering bringing older kids. Other than the swearing, I do think it's an okay movie for kids to see--but stick to 12 and older).

Has anyone else seen it yet? Agree or disagree?

Wall-E

I have to say, I didn't love this movie. Actually, that's not quite right. I didn't love it as a KIDS' movie.

You know that movie with Tom Hanks, where he's on the desert island and there's no dialogue for like an hour? This is the Pixar version of that movie. For the first 2/3rds of the movie, you just see this robot wandering around a trash-filled planet. You don't know where he is or what's going on. There are some visual clues, but they're a bit advanced for the average kid to pick up on. Other text-based clues, like what "Wall-E" stands for, are also a bit much for the kids to grasp--if the child is even able to read at all. (When my Little Sister asked me what was written on the front of Wall-E, I whispered back, "It says, 'Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class'." She looked at me like "Yeah, thanks for clearing that up." Telling her that EVE, the robot who later and mysteriously joined him, stood for "Exterterrestrial Vegetation Evaluator" was met with the same look.)

Then when you finally learn where Wall-E is (Earth), where all the people are and why they've left their home planet, you've already answered the questions "What's going on?" "Where are they?" "Who's that?" and "What is that?" a few dozen times. And the message of the movie--that humans will make Earth completely inhabitable if they don't (literally) clean up their acts--with a side helping of "our society is on its way to becoming a bunch of fat and lazy slobs"--is a bit heavy. In fact, most of the kids in the theater didn't even seem to be picking up on any of that. They just thought Wall-E was cute (and he was. Very much so).

In many ways, Wall-E is a masterpiece. I just think that the factors that make it so are lost on the majority of the audience. For older kids and grown ups, though, this is a great movie.

So tell me what YOU think. Am I completely off base? Do you totally disagree with me? Was I just in the "slow" theater? Or was this representative of theaters across the country?

Cloverfield

is a really good movie. Go rent now.

This one's for Anna

DUDE. Sex and the City movie. SO. GOOD.

Two more days....

Till the best EVER, aka the opening of Sex and the City: The Movie.

Fans have been waiting for years--literally, YEARS--for this. Tickets are ALREADY selling out. I'm watching 2 local theatres very closely, as each have sold out many of the earlier showtimes. Shawn and I (and I barely even had to twist his arm; he watched the show and liked it, too. I now have his Man Card in my purse, LOL) are going on Friday night, and I'm ready to buy tickets online tomorrow, if necessary.

I CANNOT WAIT. If I had realized that there was an 11:59 showing on Thursday night, I would have saved my last day off for that. You know how the dorks lined up for days for Harry Potter, Star Wars, etc? That would've been me for SATC, cosmo firmly in hand.

I know Anna's with me on this one. Does anyone else plan on seeing this on opening day? Does anyone else even care?

WTF?

So we finally watched The Prestige last night. This was Shawn's Netflix pic about two rival magicians. (The "prestige", incidentally, refers to the final part of a magician's trick, the "wow" moment. Sound intersting? Yeah, not to me either.)

Let's just put it this way. After the big, climatic ending, as the final credits rolled, we sat in silence for a minute. Then I turned to him and, very succintly, summarized my feelings on the movie:

"HUH?!"

Then, to clarify, I added: "What the fuck just happened?"

He sat there for a minute, formulating his thoughtful, insightful, explanation.

"I have no fucking idea," he finally answered.

So there you have it. Yes, there were parts of the movie that were cool, interesting, attention-holding, dramatic, etc. Due to a tragedy early in the movie, they basically hated each other, and spent their whole careers not just stealing each other's tricks to ruin their rival's shows, but, as it escalated, to trying to take each's lives. It was an interesting premise. However, we should have known we were in trouble when we had to stop and replay the movie from the beginning about 3 minutes in--because we were already lost.

He said he'd try to get online today to the message boards and find some kind of explanation or summary of the ending--because so many things happened that we were absolutely clueless.

Score 1 for Shawn

Finding Neverland (his debut Netflix choice) was actually INCREDIBLY good. In fact, it's one of my new favorite movies.

Go rent it if you haven't already seen it. (Stock up on Kleenex, though. Seriously, it's actually quite chick-flicky, especially at the end.)