I am going to start filtering some of my more private musings. Since blogger does not have a tool for that, you will need to visit my Live Journal and ask to be friended there. I will continue to post Daily Gratitude and other subjects here. There is also a FAQ for my Journal at the same link.
movie weekend -- with short reviews
| Monday, January 19, 2004 @ 09:11 Since this is a three-day weekend for me (and, therefore, boy) we decided to make use of a Blockbuster discount card and catch up on some movie-watching. While boy was at his PBoL sleepover, I pulled out our copy of "Serendipity" and watched it again. Saturday evening we watched "Real Women Have Curves" and "Secretary" and yesterday we saw "Daredevil" and a cute made-for-tv romantic comedy "I Want to Marry Ryan Banks" on ABC Family. Today we have "Scary Movie" and "Scary Movie 2" on hand and have "Cecil B. Demented" for tonight or tomorrow. The rented movies are ones we have wanted to see for a long time and we're looking forward to using this discount card for the next month to cross off a chunk of our "have to see movies" list. ABC Family has been producing a series of these romantic comedies for the last year or so. We've managed to catch most off them simply because we like the actors involved, or want to see how the premise is played out or both. "I Want to Marry Ryan Banks" had the combined appeal of Jason Priestly and Emma Caufield (alum of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") with the added attraction of poking fun at the whole reality dating show genre. It was uneven, but it had some good dialogue and we were both relieved to see that Emma had much better hair and wardrobe than they gave her on Buffy. And we both found the theme song for the reality show hilarious. Next month is a "makeover" storyline with Nicholas Brendan (another Buffy alum) which we'll probably try to catch as well. We tried to find the money and time to see "Daredevil" in the theaters. After finally watching the dvd, we agreed we're glad we didn't waste the money ($16 at the theater, plus snacks vs. $1.99 for the dvd). Although we both like comic book movies, Ben Affleck, and "Spy Barbie" aka Jennifer Garner (the nickname comes from Television Without Pity recaps & forums about "Alias"), this just fell flat for us. We agreed that both villians were cool -- esp. BullsEye--and we loved the Kevin Smith cameo. However, other than Spy Barbie being beyond sexy fighting and crawling around in leather and a few really great action shots, there wasn''t much that entertained us. We're very glad that the "sequel" will focus on Spy Barbie's character and not Ben's. "Real Women Have Curves" is a movie I've wanted to see since it was released, but boy hadn't heard of it. We both loved it. About the only problem we had with the entire production was that while Spanish conversation was translated for the audience, the songs were not, even though it was obvious that they were key bridges to the development of characters and relationships. We enjoy watching independent films and discussing the art of the filmakers as well as the plot and characters. This is the kind of movie I wish would get enough attention to be nominated for writing at the major awards shows and not just at the film festivals. "Secretary" just blew us away. We were both amazed at the intensity of character and emotion presented and the choices made by the filmmakers in music (or lack thereof) and camerawork. I know there's been a ton of debate within the bdsm community as to whether this is an "accurate" or "acceptable" or "positive" way to introduce bdsm as more than a titilation to mainstream audiences. My feeling is that the "bdsm community" is never going to agree on what's a "good" representation of us in the mainstream for the simple fact that all our relationships and interactions are individual. An accurate portrait of the slave mentality isn't going to reflect the life of a switch, a gay leather top, or even a heterosexual dominant/submissive married couple. This movie offered honest insight into the development of a specific master/slave couple who are also sadist/masochist. Did the characters look in any way like myself and boy who are also M/s and S/m? Not at all. We found each other through a leather/bdsm e-mail list and local group. We are both women, though our gender identities are more fluid, and we both spent a lot more time examining our motives, philosophies, and desires *prior* to meeting each other than the characters of Lee and Edward. However, their drives, fears, strength, and vulnerabilities resonated deeply with ours. We've spent a lot of time discussing both the filmmaking and the film content Saturday night and yesterday and will continue to do so for quite some time. And, no doubt, you'll find more written about it here, on boy's jounal, and perhaps on DM's Realm. -- esp. after watching the movie a few more times and with the commentary from the director and screenwriter discussing the choices they made.
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