J: Movies of 2011

Um, I watched so few movies this year that I can just rank them all!

Released this year:

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2

2. Crazy, Stupid, Love 

3. Jane Eyre 

4. The Muppets

5. X-Men: First Class

6. Captain America: The First Avenger*

7. Thor*

8. Source Code

9. Limitless*

10. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (This was dreadful. Really really dreadful.)

*Watched on DVD/Blu-Ray

Movies I want to watch but who knows when I'll get to:

Cedar Rapids, Win Win, Water for Elephants, Bridesmaids, Midnight in Paris, The Tree of Life, Beginners, Winnie the Pooh, Friends with Benefits, Another Earth, The Help, The Inbetweeners Movie, One Day, The Debt, Drive, Moneyball, 50/50, Margaret, The Ides of March, Footloose, Margin Call, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Like Crazy, Melancholia, The Descendants, Hugo, The Artist, A Dangerous Method, Tinker Tailer Soldier Spy, The Adventures of Tintin, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Iron Lady

recommendations continued: crazy, stupid, love.

It has been a really long time since I've seen/read/heard something that inspired me to blog about it right away. I just got home from watching Crazy, Stupid, Love in the theater and... wow. All I could think as the credits were rolling was, 'I can't wait for this to come out on DVD!' It was *that* good. At least, I really, really, really enjoyed it.

A great cast; one of my current favorite actresses is in it; one of my favorite actors to look at (when he's all cleaned up) is in it; it has "ships" to root for; it made me laugh, tear, want to applaud; it made me excited with anticipation and nervous about what was going to happen next... I enjoyed every minute of it, and I think you will, too. So if you get the opportunity to see it, in theater or DVD, don't turn it down!

I absolutely cannot wait to watch it again. (Resolution 2011: check, check!)

M+J: Jane Eyre

M: Jenn and I went to see Jane Eyre last week after having talked about it for a few weeks. We thought it'd be a perfect opportunity to do a joint post! :)

Overall Assessment:
M: I really enjoyed it! I thought it captured the story really wonderfully and I was immersed in every second of it. There were a few scenes that worried/scared me, but I thought it was beautifully done without trying to make everything look so Hollywood beautiful, if that makes sense.
J: I appreciated the craft of this movie (acting, cinematography, music, etc) but I don't think I really loved it. I'm used to watching much longer BBC/Masterpiece Theatre miniseries productions of these kinds of classic novels and I felt like this was just too...short. The romance in Jane Eyre is the epitome of "slow burn" and there just wasn't enough time for that. I was a bit mixed on Mia Wasikowska as Jane. She was really good in scenes where Jane was allowing her "passion" to come through but the rest of the time I thought she was too bottled up and a bit too frail and delicate looking.

Book vs. Movie:
M: So I've read Jane Eyre at least twice, but both times were well over a decade ago. Given that I can barely remember anything in books I read 10 months ago, 10+ years ago = I remember nothing. I have a vague sense that there was a crazy lady in the attic and I knew the main characters were named Jane Eyre (no duh!) and Mr. Rochester, but that was about it. What I remember of reading the book was that I thought it was a bit boring. I thought the movie did a good job of staying interesting. :) I probably should re-read the book sometime soon...
J: I remember the book pretty well. The movie took some liberties and shortcuts in the story (which I think it had to) but I wasn't upset over any of that. The book does get a little boring at points...there's actually a lot of stuff about religion...

Favorite Thing About the Movie:
M: Uh, Mr. Rochester. Michael Fassbender was extremely good-looking, almost reminiscent of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy in Pride & Prejudice (5 hour BBC version). I cannot wait to see him (the actor) in X-Men: First Class. Also, given that Jane is supposed to be plain, I did like the fact that Mia Wasikowska was not made to look beautiful all the time, just sometimes. Other times with her weird hair, she really did look plain.
J: Ditto on Michael Fassbender, although I'm pretty sure Mr. Rochester was described as not being very handsome in the book. I also liked the scenes with young Jane, and the landscapes and grand houses in these kinds of movies are always wonderful.

Least Favorite Thing:
M: The goatlike Mr. Rivers. I couldn't stop thinking about how he'd make a fantastic satyr/faun.
J: I thought the ending was rather abrupt. After all that I think a little bit more explanation or time with the reunited couple would have been nice. Also I thought Judi Dench was pretty much wasted as Mrs. Fairfax. I've never thought of that as being a particularly interesting or important role. Oh, and the hairstyles in this movie were all pretty unattractive, though I can't comment on whether they were historically accurate.

New Movie vs. Previous Adaptations:
M: Um, yeah, unlike Jenn, I have not seen any previous adaptations...
J: I'm a big fan of the 2006 BBC miniseries with Toby Stephens and Ruth Wilson. Like I said before, the four hours just gave it more time to develop. The performances are slightly different...Toby Stephens is a bit wilder and Ruth Wilson's Jane had more poise and actually smiled on occasion. In general I liked the miniseries better. Not that this was that bad...

Miscellaneous:
M: Really glad I got to see it! Yet another movie for my 2011 resolutions!
J: I enjoyed it but when I'm in a Jane Eyre mood I'll reach for the miniseries or the book (both of which I own) instead.

2 Movies!

One of my new year's resolutions was to watch more movies... So I'm finally starting to!

Unknown: My friends jokingly called this movie Taken 2. Liam Neeson in an action-packed movie where something important to him is taken away -- his identity. Truthfully, until I actually got to the theater, I didn't know what the movie was called, just that it was "Un-something" and I only had a vague idea what it was about. Obviously I had low (or no) expectations, so as is often the case, I came out mostly satisfied. If you enjoyed Taken, this movie was pretty much satisfying in the same way. There were a few "why the heck would someone do that?" scenes, but that's to be expected of any movie! (20 February)

I Am Number Four: The concept of the movie interested me but the biggest reason I did not want to see this movie initially was because of the name of the movie; I thought it was stupid. Then I learned it was a novel by the same name and I forgave it a little. Reviews all panned it but a few girl friends wanted to see it, so we went and saw it. Surprisingly (or not so surprisingly?), I liked it! Quite a few scenes made me jump; the ugly bad guy things with the gills next to their noses grossed me out; and I couldn't stop thinking about how crazy Alex Pettyfer is rumored to be in real life. Dianna Agron is kind of like Alexis Bledel; no matter what role she plays, she's still Quinn like Alexis was Rory. Other things I liked: the little details in the movie made me happy; Number Six's powers were really cool; and changes between the book and movie (according to wikipedia.org) made me really glad I saw the movie and have not read the book. In any case, not a stand out movie but it was enjoyable. At least worth adding to the Netflix queue when it comes out on DVD. (10 March)

Up next: The Adjustment Bureau and Jane Eyre (Hopefully!)

[2011 Resolutions 1 and 3!]