Movie reviews

I’ve been laying low these past few weeks. Pregnancy is getting the best of me (I just hit 36 weeks!) and I’m exhausted. Most nights I just curl up on the couch with Netflix and if I do go out, it’s usually just to the movies. Here’s what I’ve been watching lately.

Black Swan

I've been wanting to see this movie since the minute I saw the preview a few months ago. I finally got to see it on Christmas Eve. The movie was AMAZING, but it totally freaked me out and made me a nervous wreck while watching it. I loved every character. They were all super creepy in their own way. But Natalie Portman stole the show. It's one of those movies where it's hard to tell what's real and what's in her head and I really liked that about it. My friends didn't though. She kept asking me through the whole thing, "Is this really happening?"

Boy A

This movie got a lot of hype, but not much mass recognition when it came out in 2007. It's been sitting in my Netflix queue for two years, then I remembered that my newest crush, Andrew Garfield was in it and moved it right up to number one. It was really touching and Andrew was amazing! It made me cry three times (I don't think I can blame all of that on pregnancy hormones), including during the first two minutes! It really made me think and stayed with me for a few days. Maybe because I was a criminal defense paralegal for years. Whatever the reason, it was a good movie and I highly recommend it.

The Kids Are All Right

I liked this movie a lot. I didn't love it, but it was good and I can see why it got such rave reviews. It was the first mainstream movie about a lesbian married couple with a family. So I guess it shocked a lot of people that the characters and the marriage was so "normal. " Both Julianne Moore and Annette Bening were really great and the kids were good, too. They were all just the right amount of awkward without it looking like bad acting.

The Fighter

I took my husband to this movie on his birthday. He loves both Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale and he used to be a competitive kickboxer so I knew it was right up his alley. (Plus, I knew we'd have to see a boy movie and I really didn't want to see Tron). Thankfully, now he just owns a gym, teaches MMA and coaches new fighters instead of getting in the ring himself. We both loved the movie. Jacob said the technical side was done really well, which doesn’t always happen in the movies. It looked so real to me that I had to close my eyes during the fight scenes. Based on a true story, the movie was completely heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time. And Christian Bale  totally transformed himself once again. I think it's a must see.

All About Eve

Every once in a while, I like to throw a classic in the mix. This movie was definitely the “Single White Female” of it's time. Old movies are so dramatic, from the way they talk to the way the women throw themselves on the bed or couch while crying. Sometimes it's really hard for me to watch, but I liked this movie despite all that.

Joan Rivers: A Piece Of Work

I loved this movie. I've never been a huge fan of Joan Rivers, but I do like her and her sense of humor. She is always over the top and pushes buttons. It was really interesting to see her go about day to day activities. She never turns a job down, no matter how small it is because she’s afraid of not working. That’s pretty amazing at 77 years old!

127 Hours

I've always liked James Franco, but used to think he was just the guy from Freaks and Geeks (which he was amazing in, if you haven't seen that show, watch it NOW), the Spiderman movies and other random comedies. But after recently watching Howl and now this movie, I've realized he is one hell of an actor. He was perfection, but I thought the movie was little slow at times and felt kind of long. I’m wondering if that's because we already know how it ends. I didn't really like the hallucination scenes and the parts where he’s video taping himself for loved ones got kind of cheesy. The cutting off of his arm scene is really intense and just plain gross. James Franco was really great throughout the entire film and he deserves all the praise he is getting!

Exit Through The Gift Shop

I really loved this movie. It’s a documentary about street art. It starts with artists I've never heard of, talks about Shepard Fairey for a while and eventually leads up to Banksy, a brilliant anonymous street artist in London, who I’ve been following for years. I even have a replica of one of his works on my wall above my computer. The story then takes a strange turn and focuses on it's filmmaker who wants to become an artist out of nowhere. People have wondered since it premiered at Sundance if it was real or just an art piece in itself. Either way, I loved it.

 

All Good Things

Ryan Gossling can do no wrong. I don’t know what I expected when going into this movie, but I do know I wasn’t prepared to hate Ryan’s character so much. He was truly creepy. I’ve been a fan of Kirsten Dunst for a long time, so I’m sad to say her performance was just alright. I liked the movie a lot though and because it was based on a true story, it made me feel even more scared when it was over.

The Strangers

I love scary movies, but Jacob hates them, so I have to rely on my two scary movie buddies to go with me. Neither of them were available when it came out and since I hate watching them alone, I put off renting it. I finally decided to watch this in bed on a Sunday afternoon with the sun shining into my room. That didn’t matter. It was one of the scariest movies I’ve seen in a long, long time. If you like horror movies, check this one out for sure, but make sure you have someone to cuddle with!

Yesterday, I had an NST for the baby and he failed because although his heart rate was normal and he was accelerating just fine, he kept dipping down to 100 bpm for a second or two after each big movement. But I had an ultrasound right after and everything looks fine. My doctor still wants me on limited bed rest to make it to at least 37 or 38 weeks. So I had to cancel all my fun weekend plans (dinner/baby sprinkle with the girls, hockey game with my husband and my nephew's first birthday party) and it looks like I’ll be lying in bed for the next few weeks, watching a ton more movies.

These movies are next up on my Netflix queue: The Town, Buried, Whatever Happened To Baby Jane, Nowhere Boy, Twelve, Freakanomics, You Don’t Know Jack and Crude. Let me know if you have any movie recommendations for me!