John has asked what I liked so much about Crazy, Stupid, Love and it's forcing me to consider my off-the-cuff year-end reflection a little more closely. Was it a "slow movie" with one good scene? First, I'll admit that I don't judge all movies equally, but my tastes often overlap with John's. So where did we depart on this one?
Was it expectations? It was advertised in line as a sort of offbeat romantic comedy and it delivered what I was looking for on that front with some laughs and the promise of happy enough endings.
I'll admit that it wasn't amazing on the comedy front and I do think the one scene John referred to was the big moment of the film, but what got me was something else. In my highly unscientific movie rating scale I usually rate two factors higher than the rest. Those factors:
1. Character connection or chemistry and
2. believability- that the rules of the created universe are followed.
Crazy, Stupid, Love succeeds on both of those fronts. In a romantic comedy, two is always very much a part of one, and I thought every relationship (every major one anyway) was well connected and believable. The connections didn't blow me away like Lost in Translation, but the solid performances by all the actors and the connections they created kept me entertained until that scene which caught me off guard.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Sunday, January 01, 2012
Happy New Year! Books 2011
1. Captain Freedom
2. Going Long
3. Once a runner
4. Just Revenge
5. I Capture the Castle
6. The Guernsey Literacy and Potato Peel Society
7. Going in Circles
8. The Science of Single: One woman's grand experiment in modern dating, creating chemistry, and finding love
9. Mantle and the end of America's childhood
10. The Year of the Flood
11. Plainsong
12. Three cups of tea
13. Yugo: The rise and fall of the worst car in history
14. Better Off
15. Corelli's Mandolin
16. Diary of a Bad Year
17. The Dip
18. What now?
19. The Lacuna
20. The Hunger Games
21. Catching Fire
22. Mockingjay
23. A Little Bit Married
24. The Help
25. Tao of Pooh
26 . Made to Stick
27. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
28. Devil in the White City
29. A visit to the goon squad
30. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
31. The Upside of Irrationality
32. Lance Armstrong's War
33. Superfreakanomics
*Sex on the Moon* (audiobook)
34. Divine Justice
35. I'm Down
36. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
37. The Runner's Rule Book
I was blown away by The Hunger Games trilogy (especially the first two books). Plainsong is a sleeper hit. If you have to pick one book about running, I think Going Long would edge out Once a runner.
2. Going Long
3. Once a runner
4. Just Revenge
5. I Capture the Castle
6. The Guernsey Literacy and Potato Peel Society
7. Going in Circles
8. The Science of Single: One woman's grand experiment in modern dating, creating chemistry, and finding love
9. Mantle and the end of America's childhood
10. The Year of the Flood
11. Plainsong
12. Three cups of tea
13. Yugo: The rise and fall of the worst car in history
14. Better Off
15. Corelli's Mandolin
16. Diary of a Bad Year
17. The Dip
18. What now?
19. The Lacuna
20. The Hunger Games
21. Catching Fire
22. Mockingjay
23. A Little Bit Married
24. The Help
25. Tao of Pooh
26 . Made to Stick
27. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
28. Devil in the White City
29. A visit to the goon squad
30. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
31. The Upside of Irrationality
32. Lance Armstrong's War
33. Superfreakanomics
*Sex on the Moon* (audiobook)
34. Divine Justice
35. I'm Down
36. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
37. The Runner's Rule Book
I was blown away by The Hunger Games trilogy (especially the first two books). Plainsong is a sleeper hit. If you have to pick one book about running, I think Going Long would edge out Once a runner.
Happy New Year! 2011 Movies
1. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
2. The King's Speech
3. Toy Story 3
4. Easy A
5. The Winning Season
6. Rear Window
7. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (I slept through part)
8. The Social Network
9. 100 Girls
10. Cedar Rapids
11. The Good The Bad The Weird
12. Never Let Me Go
13. Youth in Revolt
14. Monster
15. Tangled
16. 61*
17. The Road
18. It's Kind of a Funny Story
19. Source Code
20. The Dilemma
21. Rough Riders
22. Morning Glory
23. Changeling
24. How do you know
25. Black Swan
26. Somewhere
27. Super 8
28. The Green Hornet
29. Bad Teacher
30. Midnight in Paris
31. The Fighter
32. The last kiss
33. Paper Heart
34. Roman Holiday
35. Crazy, Stupid, Love
36. Duck Soup
37. ExTerminators
38. Blue Crush 2
39. Casino Jack
40. The Princess and the Warrior
41. Hall Pass
42. happythankyoumoreplease
43. Reservoir Dogs (re-watch)
44. 127 Hours
45. Red Cliff
46. Adjustment Bureau
47. You Again
48. Last night
49. Everything Must Go
50. The Flying Scotsman
51. Get Low
52. Something Borrowed
53. Waiting for Superman
54. Inside Man
55. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
56. Scream 4
57. Bridesmaids
58. Thor
59. I love you too
60. The Help
61. Horrible Bosses
62. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
63. The Descendants
64. Chipwrecked- Alvin and the Chipmunks
65. Once (re-watched)
I think I re-watched several others as well the week I was sick, but I didn't track those. I usually only track the new-to-me ones. If you were going to watch three movies from my list, I'd suggest happythankyoumoreplease, 127 Hours, and Crazy, Stupid, Love. If you want to avoid three movies, I'd suggest Chipwrecked, The Good The Bad The Weird, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
2. The King's Speech
3. Toy Story 3
4. Easy A
5. The Winning Season
6. Rear Window
7. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (I slept through part)
8. The Social Network
9. 100 Girls
10. Cedar Rapids
11. The Good The Bad The Weird
12. Never Let Me Go
13. Youth in Revolt
14. Monster
15. Tangled
16. 61*
17. The Road
18. It's Kind of a Funny Story
19. Source Code
20. The Dilemma
21. Rough Riders
22. Morning Glory
23. Changeling
24. How do you know
25. Black Swan
26. Somewhere
27. Super 8
28. The Green Hornet
29. Bad Teacher
30. Midnight in Paris
31. The Fighter
32. The last kiss
33. Paper Heart
34. Roman Holiday
35. Crazy, Stupid, Love
36. Duck Soup
37. ExTerminators
38. Blue Crush 2
39. Casino Jack
40. The Princess and the Warrior
41. Hall Pass
42. happythankyoumoreplease
43. Reservoir Dogs (re-watch)
44. 127 Hours
45. Red Cliff
46. Adjustment Bureau
47. You Again
48. Last night
49. Everything Must Go
50. The Flying Scotsman
51. Get Low
52. Something Borrowed
53. Waiting for Superman
54. Inside Man
55. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
56. Scream 4
57. Bridesmaids
58. Thor
59. I love you too
60. The Help
61. Horrible Bosses
62. Rise of the Planet of the Apes
63. The Descendants
64. Chipwrecked- Alvin and the Chipmunks
65. Once (re-watched)
I think I re-watched several others as well the week I was sick, but I didn't track those. I usually only track the new-to-me ones. If you were going to watch three movies from my list, I'd suggest happythankyoumoreplease, 127 Hours, and Crazy, Stupid, Love. If you want to avoid three movies, I'd suggest Chipwrecked, The Good The Bad The Weird, and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
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