Sugar & Gravy Movie Mania #7

Whoa (a la Joey Lawrence)!!!  Why has it been nearly a month since I last posted???  I'm not sure, but I'm fixing that... right now.

It's time for another installment of Sugar & Gravy Movie Mania.  Over the years at S & G, I have reported on a variety of movies via Movie Mania... the good: "Temple Grandin" and Sofia Coppola's "Somewhere", and the oh-so-very-bad: "Secretariat" and "The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2".

Now it's time for 2 pretty darn good movies...

This past weekend I saw "Like Crazy" at the Varsity Theatre in Toronto.  I've heard of their VIP theatres before, but have never been in one before.  (Un)fortunately, "Like Crazy" was only playing in the VIP theatre, so the ticket was $18.99.  That said, the increased ticket price = popcorn delivered to you at your seat & a licensed theatre.  It was worth the money to drink a pint of Mill Street Organic while watching a movie.

I highly anticipated this movie after seeing the trailer before I saw "50/50".  Considering the trailer made me cry, I figured the movie itself would be a winner.  I heard from a friend whose film tastes I really respect that the trailer was better than the movie and that the movie actually sucked, but I went anyway, and I have to respectfully disagree.  I thought the movie was great, and the more it sinks in, the more I like it.  It wasn't perfect by any stretch, but it had many great qualities.

1. It seemed very real.  I learned before I saw it that there was no script and it was fully improvised.  This fact was very apparent in a good way.  Actions and dialogue were really realistic and made everything much easier to relate to.
2. The arc of the story was very real, too.  It didn't clean up nicely like you maybe want it to, but then the other part of you wants it to be messy, because that's what life is like.  The outcome you have your heart set on isn't always/usually the way things end up, and it's awkward and unfortunate, but it's real.  I thought the ending was spot on.
3. I thought the acting was splendid!  My sister didn't think the male lead was as good, and I have to agree, but overall the main two actors were very real (again... realness) and improvised extremely well.

Arbitrary S & G rating = 4.5/5

The weekend before that my sister and I saw another movie together -- "The Descendants".  The trailer for this movie also looked fantastic, but the movie left something to be desired.  It was an interesting enough story, there were interesting and funny parts of the movie, but it just didn't leave you with much.  There was some great interaction between the family members, beautiful shots of Hawaii, and the two young actresses who played George Clooney's character's daughters, I thought, were fabulous!  But... it just didn't give you much, that's all.  It wasn't a smash hit by any stretch, in my opinion, and I can't elaborate on it much more than that, I'm afraid.

Arbitrary S & G rating = 3/5

...until next time!!!

Ear Candy & Eye Poo

What's the opposite of candy? Apparently poo.

Sugar & Gravy Movie Mania #6

I wanted to spend some time with my Mom this weekend, so she rented us a movie. We recently watched "Temple Grandin" together, which we LOVED, so we were hoping to replicate that experience. She rented us "Secretariat". I hadn't heard anything about it, so I was happy to give it a try.

I rarely see a movie I don't like. Or at least, there's not many movies I can't tolerate.

"Secretariat" was the worst movie I've ever seen. We (my Mom and I) decided to stick it out for the full thing, but the experience was only made fun by the continuous jabs my Mom and I made at the writers, director, cast, crew, and any single person involved with the making of this TERRIBLE, terrible movie. My Mom took no shame in tearing Diane Lane apart, for instance. It's true though... she really was terrible. Agh. Just a torturous movie watching experience.

I give it...
Rating = 0.5/5
...and that might actually be too generous.

In other news... "Temple Grandin". I'm not sure that I ever commented on this amazing film. Well I won't go into details, but I will say these few things:

• Temple Grandin is an amazing, inspiring individual
• Temple's story is incredible!
• The writing, directing, and everything in between was top-notch
• Claire Danes... I knew she could act, but she out-did herself as Temple. She showed incredible respect for the real Temple in her portrayal of her. I thought it was absolutely perfection.

So that was the Eye Poo... "Secretariat", obv, not TG.
Danes > Lane

As for the ear candy...