on movie reviewing

I'm on a movie review/film critique/whatever you want to call it kick. This is because 1) I have been watching many a movie lately (I have ample time, and I decided to do the one-month free trial of Netflix, which is going to be very hard for me to cancel in a couple of weeks!) and 2) (and most importantly) I love movies. If you know me at all, you probably know this. I love to watch them, talk about them, quote them, and learn about the stories and people behind them. I love them so much that I'm embarrassed about it. When I was 14, I started a list to record every movie that I had ever seen up to that point and every new one that I saw from then on (I stopped recording a few years ago). I have kept every movie ticket stub from every theater visit since 2004. I'm a huge imdb.com advocate.

And so what is it that I love about the screen so much? I'm discovering that it's a combination of several things. I'll go ahead and say they're entertaining (it is the "entertainment business", after all). Oftentimes, we want to just relax and see beautiful new places and faces. We want to laugh when life isn't so funny. But that is not all they can do for us. Some will say movies are an "escape" of feel-good bliss, but I'm finding the movies that are sometimes best are the ones that challenge the viewer to face something, some truth or difficult question. Also, film is an art form, a visual and audible story-telling. And what would we do without story? Through movies, we have the opportunity to digest stories in a visually-stimulating way. Screenwriters have a story to tell, whether it's their own or a famous novelist's or playwright's, and directors and producers and a multitude of others make that possible, with moving pictures. I think of movies as a reflection of human life, of our minds, our thoughts, of the questions we have and the joys we have seen and want to see.

It would be amazing to be a part of movie-making, but for now, I will enjoy sharing what I love, along with what I don't, about the films that are already out there. I have no formal way of reviewing, I just want to share a simple recording of my thoughts after viewing a new film (new for me, not necessarily new). And I promise that there will be no spoilers.

movie review: the kite runner

I watched The Kite Runner Friday night, not knowing anything about it except that it is critically-acclaimed. I would have to agree with them - it was A+. I love movies that give me global perspective, even though that renewed perspective is often accompanied by recognition of my own ignorance. For instance, I didn't know that the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in the late 1970s. In fact, I know hardly anything about Afghanistan.

The Kite Runner is the story of two young Afghan boys growing up in the late 1970s, one very wealthy and one very poor, who are first separated emotionally by a horrible injustice and then physically due to political events. After living in the United States for over a decade, privileged Amir is called to go back to his homeland, and once there, finds an amazing chance to help his childhood friend. It is both heartbreaking and joyful, disturbing and beautiful. The acting, music, cinematography, dialogue, everything, was exactly as it needed to be for this story. Each element breathed the film's message, summed best in it's tagline: "There is a way to be good again."

I couldn't help but become attached to these characters and their struggles, unimaginable struggles. It made me angry, and I love to feel angry sometimes, when it's about the right things. And these things really happen. They are the result of the twisted mind of man, hungry for power, fueled with pride, serving self. But with hate comes the opportunity for righteousness to appear, to make things the way they're supposed to be, the way they will one day be, the way God intended them to be. This movie, to me, is a small celebration of that truth!

I would like to read the book one day, but now that I know the story, I am hungry for another by author Khaled Hosseini. So I'm going to check out A Thousand Splendid Suns, his second novel, which tells the story of two Afghan women and how their lives intertwine. It sounds kind of like the "girl" version of The Kite Runner, so that's exciting.

Oh, and I kind of want to fly a kite now. When was the last time any of us did that?

the autumnal equinox

Today is the first official day of fall. Hooray! I celebrated by going to Michael's. Didn't really buy anything especially festive, only a scrapbook to record my adventures in Italy from over a year ago and other small things, but just being in there was enough of a treat. The store is just so celebratory of the seasons, wouldn't you agree?

I did not know that the first day of fall was called the autumnal equinox until this very year. Where have I been? Maybe I'm a dummy. I find this kind of funny because I probably wouldn't have even noticed this year if I had not listened to a new (I think it's new) song by Death Cab for Cutie called "Meet Me On The Equinox" last night, which will be featured in the much-anticipated New Moon, and thought, "What's an equinox?" They mentioned it on the Today Show this morning. There was that same funny word again, obviously having something to do with "equality" and the beginning of fall, so I looked up the term. Here's a portion of the def (from Wikipedia, my new best friend):

An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the Sun being vertically above a point on the Equator. The term equinox can also be used in a broader sense, meaning the date when such a passage happens.

Many people think we will see 12 hours of sunlight and 12 hours of night over this day and the next, but I did some research and the people who know say that doesn't really happen except for people actually on the equator (my sources could be faulty...I don't really know what I'm talking about) but this slice of information is kind of neat to think about:

On the Northern Hemisphere's autumnal equinox day, a person at the North Pole would see the sun skimming across the horizon, signaling the start of six months of darkness.

On the same day, a person at the South Pole would also see the sun skim the horizon, beginning six months of uninterrupted daylight.

Gives me the creeps. I'm glad I'm not on the North Pole. Anyway, yay for sweet autumn days.

and the search continues

I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you. - Psalm 32:8

I can't believe it is mid-September already. I had a silent goal to be employed by the end of the month, and I think I have to let that go. Not because it's already the 17th and I still don't have a job and there aren't any shimmering prospects, but because I'm putting unneeded pressure on myself. I am walking with the Lord, seeking His will, applying for jobs, sending out resumes and cover letters, and talking to people. In short, I am trying. I could be a bit more bold, though, as is usually the case with me, so I am working on that. In the meantime, I am enjoying the rest God is giving me! Right now, for His own reasons, He is calling me to a time of quiet with my family. As much as I want to already be in the workforce and have a routine, I can't pick the date as to when that happens. I'm thankful that I have a family that loves me and is supporting me as I try to pursue the things that actually interest me. To get to those things, of course, I must. have. experience. Isn't that always the case? And to be honest, I really haven't even had enough experience to know what those things are that "actually interest me", as I said before. I think I have some hints, and I think I know what my interests are not. So, my goal for the coming weeks, month, whatever, is to be employed somewhere - to get experience.

I had an interview with a company last week, for a position I knew I didn't really want, in the area of accounting. I interviewed for the aforementioned reason - to get experience. Not only general job experience, but job experience relating to my actual degree (wild, right?) And that has been my logic up until really this week. Get a job that relates to finance or accounting - even though you were never really energized by the work in your classes and you never seemed as interested in the work as your peers and your favorite classes were your English, Writing, and Art History classes - so you can attach some meat and some value to that degree you got. Before the interview, I was a little worried that my true interests would come out based on the questions my interviewers would ask and the fact that I do not want to be an accountant and that I do not really like accounting at all might be discovered. And that was exactly what happened. I was found out. I was honest. I cannot "fake it 'til I make it". I couldn't lie to them and tell them I wanted to be an accountant with them for the next five, ten years. The interview confirmed what I already knew about myself. If I have to lie about myself to get a job, I do not want that job. So now, I am on the edge of abandoning the business side of me once and for all....but you should know I tend to weeble wobble on that issue.

Am I a bore with all this "job" talk? Being human, that's the job we all have. And it's a good job. Quite challenging, though!

ba de yah, dancing in september...

Ba de yah, never was a cloudy day... - Earth Wind and Fire

Sadly, it is a bit cloudy on this first day of September. But no matter, September has finally arrived! I have been pretending it is fall since mid-August, but now I am considering Fall 2009 to be officially here. The beginning of fall just makes me want to go out to Michael's and buy a bunch of art and craft supplies and fake flowers and pumpkins and all sorts of festive decor that I don't need. There is a freshness about fall that I never really appreciated until college, and I am excited to spend my first fall in my hometown since then. Have I said "fall" too much?

With the beginning of autumn comes the end of summer. The summer could not have closed in a better way for me than spending a blessed weekend in Fairhope, AL with some friends, relaxing by the bay, plus a little celebration of a friend's birth : ) Michelle's grandparents live in an absolute oasis in my opinion, a beautiful lot right on the bay, complete with a fantastic wharf. And oooh the food we were spoiled with...it was wonderful.

Two things I have become a big fan of as of late/at summer's end: Anne of Green Gables and (500) Days of Summer.

Let's start with Anne. I have always loved the movie, but had never read the book until now, prompted by my book club. I finished it this Saturday on the wharf in the late afternoon sunlight. It was such an "Anne moment" for me, surrounded by nature and all its vastness, beautiful friends, and quiet peace. I guess I call it an "Anne moment" because the heroine of this story makes one appreciate things, everyday things, that are actually of infinitely more importance than the things which often seem so important. For example, Anne, while in uncomfortable anticipation of year-end exams, "Girls, sometimes I feel as if those exams meant everything, but when I look at the big buds swelling on those chestnut trees and the misty blue air at the end of the streets they don't seem half so important." Anne Shirley is full of universal truths and inadvertent comments on society, and she is just plum funny. Lucy Maud Montgomery's style of writing is so whimsical and it matches perfectly with her title character's personality. And that is why I love this story, and plan to read the rest in the series.

I saw (500) Days of Summer about a week ago and wish I had written about it right after when it was fresh on my mind. But I do remember that I loved it. From opening (especially opening!) to ending credits, the experience was everything a "romantic comedy" cinema experience should be. As in, this movie proves that romantic comedies can be unpredictable, and they are usually better that way. (I do believe that there are many good romantic comedies that are predictable, also). I was very impressed with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who is not new to acting but is definitely new to leading roles, I think. He was surprisingly funny, too. Zooey Deschanel is one of my favorites and did not disappoint. She's so "spacey", and I love her for it. The style of the movie was brilliant. Very artistic! I don't have the proper words to describe why it was so brilliant, but it was. And we all know the soundtrack kicks. Just go see it, and don't watch the trailer first. I've found that movies, for me, anyway, are better when you don't know much about them first.

So goodbye summer, and hello fall. I am hoping it will be an adventurous one.