Good for Now

1. It's allergies and taking one benadryl seems to make things easier - so no more whining.

About that.

2. I didn't make it to the groomers because - nocturnal. I don't believe in risking other people's lives and limbs to head out my driveway when I should be crawling into bed. So Emma is still fur-a-licious.

I'll re-schedule her for next week.

3. I haven't finished my book yet but that's on tap for next week some time.

4. Movie reviews?

Thought you would never ask!

Revolutionary Road and Quantum of Solace were rented out of sheer boredom. Nothing left on TV to watch and at least a few hours a day to be burned up.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed both of these movies.

Quantum of Solace - I've talked of my lack of love for James Bond a few years ago when the last one came out. As I kid I never saw the appeal of a man who would sleep with any woman at a drop of a hat and who didn't seem to take anything seriously. It was probably my need for HEA and Bond is not a HEA character.

Let's just say that Daniel Craig can be James Bond forever as far as I'm concerned. Although I imagine the credit has to go to the writers of these scripts for realizing finally that the James Bond of my youth was really just a one note character and he needed a good scrub up.

In the last movie you discovered how James Bond had found love and been viciously betrayed. In this film you get more closure on that but also some insight into how Bond becomes a man who refuses to be entangled emotionally in the future. Even still, he can't seem to stop himself from caring and I found that part of Bond appealing.

All the same the movie does not really tie up loose ends within the suspense sub-plot. I think it was more about Bond proving himself to his boss M and getting at least one of the bad guys out of the picture. As far as I'm concerned there were another 6 baddies that didn't get their finish but whether this will be an ongoing plot for a few more movies or whether I'm supposed to assume that the Quantum fails, I can't say.

I did find a few scenes to be a little slow (the scenes at dockside - until the boats come) but the technical stuff with the touch screens and such played brilliantly. In that I mean there were something new and the actors who interacted with the computers didn't feel the need to over-exaggerate their hand movements (think Minority Report with Tom Cruise) so the interest in that kind of technology, at least for me, was peaked.

I might be the last person to actually watch this movie but if not, I would say it's a nice night in.

Revolutionary Road was a surprise for me.

Turns out I did understand every thing in the movie but I did re-watch certain scenes with the director's commentary to see if I was right. In the end, I thought the director should have left some of the deleted scenes in the film as they would have added more texture to how the characters were feeling and given the viewer more insight into the heroine's impulses at the very least.

Apparently the novel (according to all who worked on the film) was brilliant and had some scenes that were the best of any literature ever read. Since I've never read the book I can't say. I did however notice the repetition of dialogue and I guess that was a trademark of the writer. All the same, if it pulls you out of a movie and makes you wonder why Alice and Frank are constantly saying each others names even when they are screaming at each other, maybe some repetition can be taken out.

Is the movie happy? No. But I do think it shows how life was in the 50's and doesn't hold back in telling a tale of desperation. We grew up hearing about the 'good old days' but in reality the good old days weren't as free or wonderful as people have made them seem. This movie also translates to modern life in people wondering if this is all there really is. Is this what life is? Where's the excitement, the adventure?

Maybe I was just in a good enough mood to handle this movie cause normally, movies like this just piss me off and make me mad. Or maybe it was this particular movie.

So there you have it. Two movies that I didn't feel were a complete waste of time and yes, I have rented many in the last month that I did think were a waste of time. Problem is I can't remember any of their titles.

Maybe I've blocked them out of self-preservation.

The Changeling - A Warning

Onto something completely different.

If you haven't seen the movie The Changeling - I'd just like to warn people who are like me.

Edited to Add: I should be clear that I thought this movie was excellent. This movie is about so many things that are intertwined but I wanted to warn people about one aspect of the movie I wasn't prepared for.

You may remember that I watch true-crime documentaries and such. I do it to honour the person who was killed (some have been so upsetting I have almost threw up a few times). I like knowing how the person who committed such horrible acts was caught and sometimes I'm looking for the why.

I've learned that in the truly horrible tragic stomach turning crimes there is no why. There are people out there who are just sick. In the case where a motive is found I feel like all the pieces have been put on the table. I don't understand how someone can kill another human but if someone can give me a why (even a twisted, mentally ill reason why) I seem more able to cope.

It's the murders without motive that haunt me and the ones involving children upset me to no end.

I'm heading into spoiler territory for the movie so if you would rather watch the movie without influence from me or knowledge of things that happen in the movie then don't read any further.

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First, the movie opens with A True Story. It does not say 'based on a true story' which I thought a film had to do if 'dramatic' license was taken. Thus, I can assume this story, in all it's parts are true.

Again, the previews gave me no clue of what I was about to learn (from what I can see, there are no other previews - from this preview I figured it was about a corrupt police organization and possibly the mob. I was thinking the boy got caught in the middle.) Actually, the preview is brilliant in not showing the audience all that they will experience in the film. Being a non-spoiler type of person I would normally have loved this.

Onwards.

I had never heard about the murders that The Changeling movie touches on. I'm still horrified and feeling sick. For some reason I thought The Changeling was about the mix up of a police force over a missing child. This movie is eye opening and really it's excellent. It is about so many things - with power corruption, women being treated as second class citizens (huge part of this movie - at least to me), propaganda and horribly, about a serial killer who it is believed killed up to 20 boys in little over a year.

The serial killer part alone was horrifying and upsetting, it was hearing the events from a boy's mouth in the film that had me squirming in my seat feeling sick to my stomach. Knowing myself though I couldn't stop the movie. I have walked away from documentaries or real-life crime shows when I couldn't handle the horror. When I do this, it takes me days to recover and yes, my over active imagination plagues me with 'what ifs'.

I've learned I have to sit and see it through.

I was so jumpy and sick after this movie even Bob was worried. Those little sounds a house makes in the night had me freaking out and jumping out of my skin. I know I had a few nightmares about children but I came out of my sleep feeling more like myself. When I see something through I can usually shake off the physical sensations in a day and a bit.

When I saw Shindler's List there about 2 years ago I was a mess physically and mentally for almost 2 weeks. I watched it with the belief that I needed to know and honor those who died in Nazi Germany during WWII. I had no idea the level of evil I was going to encounter in that movie. Sure, I had an idea but OMG, the movie messed me up something fierce. And seriously, it should mess up a normal person.

For The Changeling, I was broadsided by the real life horror that occurred in 1928.

So for those who are too sensitive to real life tragedies I would say either pass on this movie or go in knowing you will encounter a scene unlike any I've had to sit through in cinema. That said, I have never seen Private Ryan and have no plans to ever see the movie.

Okay, end of public service announcement.

Anyone else see this movie? What are your thoughts?