Critical Summer

Edited: I finally gave this post a title. So much for blogging while very tired.

Lee's mom gave us a one-month free trial of Netflix. It's probably not the best idea for two pre-tenure professors who aren't teaching this summer so they can focus on research. But it's a great idea for two still-relatively-new parents who never, ever, make it to the movies. (A note to Jeff and Jenny and any other new parents out there: I just found out that a local theater has "baby films," with baby-friendly amenities like stroller areas and lowered movie volume. I bet Columbia has s.t. like that.)

Seen so far:
The Queen
Notes on a Scandal
Little Children
Arrested Development, Season one, disk one (#2 on the way)

Up next:
Stranger than Fiction

I actually though The Queen was pretty good. It was clear the filmmakers liked some of the characters (Elizabeth, Blair) and disliked others (Philip, Charles, Cherie Blair/Booth, Blair's top adviser whose name escapes me), and the little thread--more of an interlude, really--featuring the queen and the stag was a bit heavy-handed. But--aside from the queen/stag interlude--the movie never tried to be much other than a simple "here's what happened," with good acting, makeup, wardrobe, and sets. Not a masterpiece, but simple and well-done (if also with an agenda--but what such film doesn't?).

Notes on a Scandal was tolerable but annoying. Again, great acting, especially the boy at the heart of the scandal, who gets little notice. It's just hard to like a movie that has no likeable characters (unless that's the whole point, and in this case it wasn't).

Little Children was also pretty good. I read recently--maybe on a blog somewhere in the rhet/comp/communications sphere?--that the film was just another suburban-angst film, with the implication being that you can skip it. It's definitely got some standard-fare suburban and midlife angst, but it's also got some nicely unpredictable comic touches that make it worth at least a look: the grade-school documentary-style narrator is a hoot, as are some other great moments (like the slo-mo football game--really funny) that are strung throughout what would otherwise be too much misery and wallowing.

That's all for now (with apologies to Collin for lifting his sign-off, but I really gotta go.)