movie.reviews.

I made great headway in my oscar movie viewings this weekend. I saw little children at the end of the week, the devil wears prada yesterday at home (*nn* and *tm* came over to watch with me), and both volver and notes on a scandal today at the coolidge theater. I even renewed my membership to the theater, so the tickets were only $6.50 instead of $9.50. I paid for both movies, because I only believe in two-for-one at large cooperate movie theaters. The first movie (volver) I saw by myself, and really liked. It was definitely a darker, less commercial movie, but I thought it was well done, and I'd be happy if penelope cruz won best actress because of it. If you like almodovar's stuff, and feel like doing some reading (or better yet, understand spanish), I'd recommend that you check it out. For the second movie, *ah* met me since we watch the awards together and she'd been wanting to see it for some time. I loved this movie. It was incredibly intense, and I understood why someone had recently said it was "so scary". My body was tense for most of the 110 minutes, and I think I even bit my hand several times. Judi dench's character was a whack job, and right now, she would be my top pick to win for best actress. (The only one left to see in this category is helen mirren in the queen.) Little children was better than I expected. I read this book while traveling in europe, and thought it was so bad that I left it on the train from switzerland to italy, even though *tm* and I were trading books. I thought it was so poorly done that I didn't want her to have to read it despite our limited number of english books. I was a little disgruntled when I realized that I'd have to see the movie since kate winslet was nominated for best actress. While I definitely don't think she should win over the other nominees, the narration and direction helped to pull some otherwise very random story lines together, which helped the movie flow better than the book. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. Last but not least- the devil wears prada. I also enjoyed this one, and also wouldn't be disappointed if meryl streep won for best actress (although I doubt she will), but it wasn't anything that will make a lasting impression on me. It was enjoyable while it lasted, but that's about it. We also watched the deleted scenes, and felt that there were several scenes that should have been included in the movie. They were fairly short (so wouldn't add too much extra time) and would have helped to make sense of other things that happened. So there you have it. My overall ratings:
little children- C
the devil wears prada- C+
volver- B+
notes on a scandal- A