I was never sure where this movie was going to go. It had so many different aspects and depths; unusual. But in the end it is a wonderfully acted film about the life and emotions of a 17 year old. This role was played most superbly and intensely (sometimes too intensely) by Anna Paquin. She is Lisa, a precocious and highly dramatic teenager; the child of an actress mom who is divorced.
At the beginning of the film, there is a tragic and graphically suddenly gut-wrenchingly realistic bus accident which Lisa witnesses. The lady who is hit dies in her arms and as Lisa eventually finds out, this pedestrian thought Lisa was her dead daughter also of the same name. so this connection and the fact that Lisa (anna paquin's lisa) feels partly responsible for the accident (she was flirting with the bus driver (Mark Ruffalo) who ended up running a red light, leads to many consequences in her life.
We get to see the effects on her blossoming sexual life and her relationships with some of her teachers (Matthew Broderick and Matt Damon), the horrendous angry scenes with her mother, the sadness over her lack of a bonding with her dad who has remarried, her contacting the bus driver wanting him to take responsibility, her involvement with the police department, Lisa's urging the best friend of the dead lady and her cousin to file a wrongful death lawsuit. This movie is quite a journey of dark twists and turns in Lisa's life.
Both of us gave it a 9 though it could have been shortened by about 30 minutes. Too many slow motion group and crowd scenes. Lots of opera music too which isn't my favorite. and there is no character in the film named Margaret.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
PICTURES FROM OUR AUG-SEPT PORTLAND TRIP - 2012
click august phjotshere to see photos from our recent trip.
google has changed their viewing format a bit so here's some tips.
click on the first picture of me by the trailhead sign; my caption will be in the column on the right and when you want to see the next picture just click on the picture on the screen.
i think you can just view the pictures as a slideshow or individually but you won't be able to see my captions. which of course you WILL want to see.!
google has changed their viewing format a bit so here's some tips.
click on the first picture of me by the trailhead sign; my caption will be in the column on the right and when you want to see the next picture just click on the picture on the screen.
i think you can just view the pictures as a slideshow or individually but you won't be able to see my captions. which of course you WILL want to see.!
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
THE WORDS
SPOILER ALERT: (though it ain't any earth-shattering twist or ending!)
Dennis Quaid is an author who has written a book about Rory (acted by Bradley Cooper; and what a hunk he is and a really good actor too with beautiful eyes; unlike Quaid who has taken acting lessons from Keanu Reeves - a sleepy Perry Como technique) who is a struggling writer. Rory is married to Dora who is inexpertly and misguidedly played by Zoe Saldana (she had no chemistry with Cooper at all and was unbelievable as a wife. she mostly slithered her body over Cooper's and rubbed his head and batted her big eyes).
Rory accidentally finds a manuscript of a book in an old briefcase he buys at an antique store. and through a series of events, he sort of unconsciously falls into the huge dishonest act of passing it off as his own. And of course it is a big hit and he is feted royally around town and wins lots of awards.
Well, one day the REAL writer of this book (wonderfully acted by Jeremy Irons) shows up. During his meeting with Rory, he tells the story that he had written and that Rory was passing off as his own. and it is a true story of his time in the war and his falling in love and the death of his child and about including all these incidents in the book he wrote which was left on a train in a briefcase found years later by Rory.
Jeremy Irons doesn't want to be paid off or given any credit. He just wanted Rory to know where those words came from.
and at the end of the movie, Dennis Quaid who is reading from the book he wrote about the above story is confronted by a student who wants to know if its a true story or not. In other words, is Quaid the guy who published the book as his own? like it wasn't a fiction book that Quaid wrote but an autobiographical piece.
Confused yet? i got a little mixed up at the end. and I don't think there was ever any conclusion as to Quaid's honesty or not.
I gave the movie a 6.5 and Bill gave it an 8. It was too long and a little slow and had too many words.!
Dennis Quaid is an author who has written a book about Rory (acted by Bradley Cooper; and what a hunk he is and a really good actor too with beautiful eyes; unlike Quaid who has taken acting lessons from Keanu Reeves - a sleepy Perry Como technique) who is a struggling writer. Rory is married to Dora who is inexpertly and misguidedly played by Zoe Saldana (she had no chemistry with Cooper at all and was unbelievable as a wife. she mostly slithered her body over Cooper's and rubbed his head and batted her big eyes).
Rory accidentally finds a manuscript of a book in an old briefcase he buys at an antique store. and through a series of events, he sort of unconsciously falls into the huge dishonest act of passing it off as his own. And of course it is a big hit and he is feted royally around town and wins lots of awards.
Well, one day the REAL writer of this book (wonderfully acted by Jeremy Irons) shows up. During his meeting with Rory, he tells the story that he had written and that Rory was passing off as his own. and it is a true story of his time in the war and his falling in love and the death of his child and about including all these incidents in the book he wrote which was left on a train in a briefcase found years later by Rory.
Jeremy Irons doesn't want to be paid off or given any credit. He just wanted Rory to know where those words came from.
and at the end of the movie, Dennis Quaid who is reading from the book he wrote about the above story is confronted by a student who wants to know if its a true story or not. In other words, is Quaid the guy who published the book as his own? like it wasn't a fiction book that Quaid wrote but an autobiographical piece.
Confused yet? i got a little mixed up at the end. and I don't think there was ever any conclusion as to Quaid's honesty or not.
I gave the movie a 6.5 and Bill gave it an 8. It was too long and a little slow and had too many words.!
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