Each of us spent the long weekend fighting sinus cold; for me and Kiddo it peaked yesterday. Today, though, we maintained “hang mode” and ended up watching a collection of movies back to back. All were films we’d seen before and there was no real connection from one to the next, but it feels good sometimes to ignore whatever is on television — the news and the prime-time and crap reality series — and just watch more long-form storytelling.
Spirited Away — we started with Miyazaki, thanks to the Simpsons’ whirlwind tour through his films in Sunday’s episode [there’s a clip on YouTube if you missed it]. I love this film for its animation and its story and if you haven’t already seen it, it is on my “must see” list.
Star Wars — I have no clue how many times I’ve seen this movie. Thirteen times in the theatres in its original and return runs but countless times since on VHS, DVD, and television. Today, we were in no mood to take Luke’s whining seriously though so we were heckling the characters heartily.
Wall-E — only the second or third time viewing for me. While there is something loveable about Wall-E, it’s never quite lived up to the hype. We almost followed this one with Idiocracy though, because of the matching towers of garbage.
Despicable Me — the original definitely “Gru” on us. When we originally saw trailers for it we all collectively rolled our eyes but the actual story is both funny and heartwarming. Barely a week goes by that Kiddo or I doesn’t exclaim “IT’S SO FLUFFYYYYYY!!!”
Julie and Julia — considering how little hubby likes Meryl Streep, I was shocked when he selected this one, but I do enjoy it. I love it a little less knowing how things worked out later for Jule, but overall, I love the way it follows both women’s lives and their relationship with food and with those around them.
Then since Kiddo was off to bed and hubby was out, I picked a movie for myself. While I debated taking a detour from the feel-good theme of the day, I stuck with it.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel — when the trailers for this one came out, I took one look and said, “Nope.” But for whatever reason when scrolling through Netflix tonight, I decided it would fit the bill; I figured the cast was good enough to make up for any shortcoming in the plot. In the end, it was perfectly satisfying.