Last week was a movie-rich week. On Monday, we were excited that our friend Ami (aka Dubbs), who had recently had ear surgery, was cleared to go out of the house for the first time. We decided it would be fun to go see X-Men: First Class. Dubbs’s sister, Chris, also came along, and in a pleasant surprise, so did our colleague David. David is wry and has an understated sense of humor, so I was happy to see him. The theater had a special on Mondays where a film only cost $5.00, so that was good.
The movie was fun and entertaining. For an old comic book fan such as myself, it was a little disappointing that the movie stayed mostly clear of the original X-Men from the comic. The only original member in the movie was the Beast. Still, the focus was on Professor X and Magneto in their early days, and that was interesting to see. The movie had lots of action, and some pretty good humor. The negatives of the film were weak acting in some places (especially the actress who played Emma Frost), and the fact that the main villain in the film (played by Kevin Bacon) was very Magneto-esque in his mutant-first philosophy. That felt a little overused. Still, I found the film to be a good evening out.
On Tuesday, Mer and I broke out a DVD that I had bought a few months ago called A Midwinter’s Tale. The movie was written and directed by the Shakespearean actor Kenneth Branagh, although he did not act in it. A Midwinter’s Tale is the story of a poor out-of-work actor who decides to put on a production of Hamlet at Christmastime in a rural village. He gets together a group of eclectic actors, and they begin rehearsals. It is wonderfully funny, especially if you love theater. The actors are very British and talk super-fast, so we did not always understand them, but for the most part, the dialogue is fine. I highly recommend A Midwinter’s Tale for any theater buffs.
On Thursday, Mer and I broke out the modern-myth story Big Fish. We had seen Big Fish before, but not in a long time. I had forgotten much of the story. The film tells the life story of an old man as he recalls his life, and it is not clear where he is telling the truth, where he is exaggerating, and where he is lying. It is a brilliant movie, and I loved it again.
On Friday, on a whim, I called up Dubbs to see if she was up for ice cream at Handel’s. She was, so Mer and I drove over to her place to pick her up, and headed over. After we ate and chatted, we went back to Dubbs’s apartment and watched the wonderfully wacky comedy Waking Ned Devine. Waking Ned Devine is the story of a small Irish village where one of the townspeople wins a huge lottery jackpot. Although it was filmed on the Isle of Man instead of Ireland, it still has gorgeous scenery, and the soundtrack of the film is amazing (if you like Irish music, which I do). The accents of the actors are charming, and the storyline is ridiculous enough to be wonderfully funny. Great movie.
I do have to say that I like summer – since Mer does not have grading to do, she has time to do fun things in the evening, which is one reason the ol’ blog has been a bit neglected of late. I like to chronicle what is going on in my life, but I like to actually live my life more. Summer is a good time.