Steph and I have been watching tons of movies this summer and enjoying the return of TNT's The Closer.

We saw two films at the theater this weekend, Evening and Ratatouelle. The reviews follow.

Evening: A cast filled with notable and award winning actresses, intrigue ("Harris and I killed Buddy."), and promises of hanky worthiness (tear factor high). All in all, the movie was a great disappointment. A woman in the throws of dying revisits a past regret, what she considers her greatest mistake. Her daughters try and make sense of her ramblings about people they've never heard of, the name Harris grabs the attention of the younger daughter.

I think the biggest problem was the expectations I had after reading then seeing The Hours. I loved that movie and the way the scenes were shot were so beautiful, seemless. Evening shifts from present time to flashbacks in a way that I think is supposed to represent the main character in the process of dying. One of the first flashbacks shows Redgrave in a white gown with what look like stagelights above her. Given her stage prowess, I thought this might be interesting if those scenes where she is in that in between place, not dead, not alive, not in the present and not in her memories, might be represented by that stage like essense. But no, and there is a later scene in which she follows a moth down the stairs and out of the house at night and the scene looks as though it should have been shot on the stage. I'm not sure what they were going for, but it was a mystery to me.

In addition to the clunky mechanics, the symbolic elements felt like cliche, the moth, the boat, white gown, white light, fireflies. The night nurse was interesting, but ultimately the fantastic elements and reality clash in a way that falls flat rather than inspires.

The trailer looks like this movie is about the relationship between these women, but really it is about this dying woman hangning on to a one night stand who she claims was the love of her life. It's all about Harris. The problem with this is that she is presented as flighty, kind of selfish, maybe even unlikable, also, there is very little about their coming together that would make it seem like it was such an amazing thing that she would be hanging on to this in death. The mention early in the movie about this woman and Harris killing Buddy is HUGE! And yet the mystery unfolds to be not a mystery at all. Mentioning the possibility that she killed someone and not hitting a note higher than that is a mistake. They could have done without that element. It was unnecessarily misleading. Buddy is who she should have been thinking of if she was thinking of that time and what happened. And yet, when Buddy's sister visits this woman on her deathbead, neither women mentions Buddy at all, only Harris. I mean, Harris must have been a stone cold stud or something, but in the movie he was just another guy, kind of good looking but not extraordinary. I don't buy Claire Danes as a singer, though this is a minor point, as is Glenn Close's performance that harkend back to the Stepford Wives, freaky red lipstick, crazy eyes. The back breaking bones of this story are the messages. Women can't count on or hope for the sparks flying kind of love. That kind of love is a myth, something not worth pursuing. Along with careers as anything but homemakers Additionally, Harris is a stud and we should all want him. I am so glad we saw this at mantinee prices. If you go to this movie expecting to see these women at their best don't bother. If you go expecting them to be powerful and empowering, don't bother. However, if you too think Harris is a God among men, by all means see this film.

Ratatouelle: This movie kicks so much butt! It could be that after suffering through Evening, this animated gem was exactly what we needed. Our expectations were met. It was funny, the main characters were guys (and gal) we could root for. I heart Pixar. I think Pixar is much much more sexy than Harris. I would rate this as really good. Not great like Finding Nemo, but totally worth the price of admission and the outrageous cost of drinks and popcorn. Now I will tell you why it isn't as good as Finding Nemo. Death, threat of death, death defying feats, death. That little ditty always ups the anty, particularly in an animated movie. I saw the barnyard movie with my nephew and the death scene in that movie sucked ass. In Nemo it's what moves the scenes forward, it's what makes our characters heros. There are no real heroics in Ratatouelle unless you count fighting for your dreams, and that's where I give the furry guys the win. If you like food, see this movie. If you like cooking, shows about cooking, Top Chef, anything on the Food Network, see this movie. If you think rats rock (Cortney and Jillian!) see this movie. If you just got out of Evening and want to scoop your eyes out with a spoon, go see this movie, order a large popcorn, a beverage, and enjoy. Bon Apitite!

Okay, so if you've been reading you know my sister is going through a crappy breakup. We talked today, a bad day for her. She's sad and a little bit lost and thinks she's all alone and there is nothing to do. I can't do anything from here but listen. And then I thought about the things that kept me from being too lonely when I was in Virginia away from Steph and all our friends. Blogs. I know it might seem lame to some, but I really love blogs. Duke City Fix is on my links because it is a blog dedicated to all the happenings and people in Albuquerque. The minute I knew Steph would be relocating temporarily to Minneapolis I found a list of Minneapolis blogs. It's such a great way to keep up with everything that might be happening in your area, music and other entertainment, hobbies, other groovy people who lead interesting and fun lives.
I get great ideas from them, recipes, heads up about a concert, local grower's markets, you name it, someone is blogging about it. Most of all it's a reminder that we aren't all alone, and there are tons of things to do. I typically don't do lists, but since Steph is going to be in Minneapolis for approximately 9 months I am going to make a plan to do the following in her absence:

1. Write a novel. (I'm serious about this. I've made enough excuses. I've done enough playing around with writing. I have a start. Most importantly, it's time to stop being a chicken shit.)

2. Practice my guitar/take lessons. (I love the idea of playing music. I love listening to music, particularly guitar driven music...and I will have plenty of TIME.)

3. Cook at home as much as possible. (Once she's bringing in the bucks it's going to be too easy to eat out all the time and I live in walking distance of most of my fav. places to nosh. That said, I would like to cook from scratch more, choose fresh ingredients, and develop my own recipes.)

4. Continue to play some kind of sport or recreate in some way. (I like playing softball. I'm not good, nor do I pretend to be, but I've gotten better and it feels good to be out there and part of a team.)

5. See live music more often. (Albuquerque has a ton of opportunites to see live music.)

6. Urban Hikes. (I must do this, maybe take Chloe (our intrepid basset/retriever mix) and the camera. I love this city so much, every glorious inch and I would like to capture and experience as much as I can before we have to move on.)

7. Continue gardening prowess. (I'd like to get creative this fall and winter, try and keep some greens growing, maybe make a small cold frame.)

8. Do some kind of art. (Anything using my hands. I haven't really done anything for awhile. It's too expensive a hobby for poor students. But since this next year will be us raising our heads out of that doom and gloom of perpetually broke ass student life, maybe this would be a good time to revisit this.)

9. Train Chloe. (It's true that she's seven. It's also true that she does not have good boundaries, and is still acting out when we leave. So Chloe and I will work on this by increasing daily walks and firmly establishing who is the pack leader and who needs to be calm and submissive.)

10. Read. (Reading is one of my most favorite things to do. If I could get paid for reading stuff I would be so happy. The next new book will probably be Annie Dillard's new book.)

I will, of course be roaming the internet in search of anything of interest.

That's it for now. Now I play dominoes with friends and kicks some booty. ta da!