Movie Madness

We've been on a movie-watching streak lately and I am very pleased with the three we have seen most recently:

1. The Wrestler: A realistic glimpse into the life of a washed-up wrestler who is not an inherently bad person, but who has made some bad choices, is suffering the consequences and ends up living a lonely, sad existence. Apparently, the movie parallels the life of actor Mickey Rourke, which adds depth to the story. The movie was a bit depressing, but also not one to sugarcoat the realities of a life gone astray. Cory and I both enjoyed it and think that Mickey Rourke deserves props for his comeback role. Revisiting the eighties, the wrestler's hair and the comical (and ridiculous and somewhat gruesome) things the wrestlers would do to create their "spectacles" were painful to watch at times, in the shaking-your-head-and-covering-your-eyes-and-smiling-because-it's-just-so-funny-and-did-we-really-dress-that-way-and-listen-to-some-of-that-music sense. On a side note, I don't know why anyone would want to bash up their body in that way.

2. Changeling: Set in the 1920's, Changeling is the true story of a single mother's refusal to give up in the search for her missing son, despite a very corrupt LAPD and her wrongful commitment to an insane asylum. The movie sheds light on the absurd practices in the law of the time and on the evil of some society members and greed of those in power. For the first time, I actually enjoyed watching Angelina Jolie star in a movie. She looked great in the period piece (I love the 20's) and played the passive and hopeful mother who endured in the end very well. Warning: There are scenes in the movie that are incredibly difficult to watch due to the horrific realistic and graphic nature and I imagine anyone with children of their own would find those scenes that much harder to deal with. A very thought-provoking movie, though, about the inherent good vs. evil in our world.

3. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: An interesting idea, based on the short story, which casts Brad Pitt as a man who ages backwards. The movie moves at a snail's pace, which turned off most of the people we have talked to, but Cory and I found the events interesting enough to stick it out. You could rent this one.

I am still hoping to see Marley and Me, Revolutionary Road (despite the bad reviews), Australia and a few others. I'm loving all the great movies out right now and thank goodness fore them because I am, once again, sick with some sort of mutated version of the bug that I had just before the holidays. Which is highly unfortunate given that a friend we used to teach with in Egypt was in town last night from Beijing and would have rallied through her exhaustion and enjoyed a night out. At least we were still able to catch up over a nice dinner outside in the gloriously-pleasant-at-this-time-of-year evening weather.