At Home Movie Reviews

The best part of Hubs' job is the free movies. Yesterday was stormy--rainy and cold, with heavy winds. Hubs and DS#2 were camping with the Boy Scouts, so I stayed home with the girls and worked on Christmas presents. And caught up on a couple of movies we hadn't seen.

1.) Jane Eyre: this is the 1995 version directed by Franco Zeffirelli. DD#1 has read The Eyre Affair, but has never read Jane Eyre. It's been 20 years or better since I read it. This movie version was a good introduction and is pretty faithful to what I remember. Young Jane is played by Anna Paquin. Fiona Shaw (Aunt Petunia) plays Jane's mean Aunt Reese in this production. Joan Plowright plays the housekeeper, Mrs. Fairfax. William Hurt plays Mr. Rochester. Charlotte Gainsborough plays Jane as an adult and seems young and plain and strong-willed--a very difficult combination to pull off. Zeffirelli also directed Romeo and Juliet back in 1968 and I fell in love with his ability to use the outer scenery to reflect what is going on in the interior of his characters. He does the same here to great effect.

2.) Hitch: Will Smith as the "Date Doctor." Funny and poignant. If available, watch the outtakes. And the dance scene through the credits. Will Smith is a great romantic comic and plays off Eva Mendes perfectly. There is also a terrific supporting cast, who are very important in this type of movie. Adam Arkin, one of my favorite underused character actors, plays the voice of reason to Mendes's character. Wish I could see more of him--but then I wish I could see more actors and actresses my age! A fairy-tale ending is just about called for and doesn't disappoint. My favorite scene is the Benadryl scene.

3.) The Notebook:A three hanky movie. It was pretty obvious who the story was about. Features James Gardner and Gena Rowlands, with Rachel MacAdams and Ryan Gosling who name is unfamiliar to me (although his face is familiar) playing the young couple. A story of true love and faithfulness. I found that it was a nice change that Lon, the third man in the young couple's story, was a good and sincere man, which gave Allie a really difficult choice to make at the end. I want to read the book, though, because the movie summary refers to Duke, the James Gardner character, as a "salesman" and that's not mentioned in the movie.

4.) Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason: Bridget is a girl after my own heart. Madly in love, basically insecure in it and with herself, good-hearted and loyal, her impulsiveness gets her into all kinds of trouble. Renee Zwelleger has the body of a normal 30-y.o. woman and looks good wearing it. Colin Firth plays Mark Darcy (and, I confess, is the primary reason I watched this movie again) loves Bridget, including her "wobbly bits," but doesn't quite know what to do with her joie d' vivre. Hugh Grant is back as the thoroughly charming rake, Daniel Cleaver. Mum (Gemma Jones) and Dad (Jim Broadbent) are back for comic relief. Bridget's friends include James Gallis (Dr. Gaius Baltar from Battlestar Gallactica) and Shirley Henderson (Moaning Myrtle in Harry Potter 2 & 4). I didn't recognize Ms. Henderson until she spoke. All-in-all a nice bit of fluff on a rainy night.

5.) I (Heart) Huckabees: Very strange movie. I was put off by the first 90 seconds of incredibly foul language, which occurred again later in the movie. This movie got all kinds of rave reviews for originality and comedy. And while it's clever, IMHO, the movie is too self-aware of its own cleverness to be truly funny. Lily Tomlin and Dustin Hoffman play a husband-and-wife team who are existential detectives who Jason Schwartzman hires to determine if the coincidences in his life are truly coincidences or if they mean something. And the movie sort of goes from there with a lot of New Age overtones. While the philosophy stuff was played too broadly to be taken completely seriously, it wasn't exactly played for laughs, either. A bit too modern for my tastes, thankyouverymuch.