Movie Review: Blended [SPOILERS]

My second Redbox rental was the latest Barrymore-Sandler romantic comedy. I LOVE The Wedding Singer, so how could I pass this one up?

Picture from imdb.com

First of all, I love Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler each on their own. Some of my favorites from Barrymore include: Never Been Kissed, Ever After, and Charlie's Angels. And from Sandler we have Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison, and Grown Ups. (I own all of these on DVD, btw). And the aforementioned Wedding Singer is in my DVD collection as well. So I clearly was going to watch this movie at some point in my life. And I'm glad I did!

Although I'm not sure this film measures up to any of the others I've mentioned here, I was entertained and did laugh out loud at moments. I think it was that this film emphasized the fact that these two are parents, so a lot of the focus was on the children and their shenanigans rather than these two actors. Yes, there is a love component (with Kevin Nealon chiming in about romance, much like his cameo in Happy Gilmore about golf), which I thoroughly enjoyed; I just wanted more! I think the best part of this movie was the fact that half of it was filmed in South Africa, so the shots of the wild animals and the scenery were just breathtaking. Definitely made me want to go on safari! This is a feel-good rom-com, so it's hard to go wrong. Was it my favorite? No. But it was not a waste of my time (unlike the movie in my next blog post...). I liked it!

Movie Review: Obvious Child [SPOLIERS]

This past weekend, Redbox was quite a friend to me. I rented several movies, so my next few blog posts will be about them.

Picture from imdb.com

My sister and I rented Obvious Child, a movie I might call an Indie Rom-Com. This movie is about a young, Jewish comedienne (played by Jenny Slate) who lacks a sense of direction and maturity in her life. She completely falls apart when her boyfriend breaks up with her, and in response has a one night stand with a [albeit very nice] stranger (played by Jake Lacy). She realizes this sexual interlude has left her pregnant. She already knows she wants to have an abortion, but spends the latter half of the film trying to figure out a good way to tell this stranger that she is pregnant with his child before she has the procedure.

The rom-com half of my description obviously is the girl-meets-boy part and their awkwardly hilarious yet endearing "relationship." The indie part is the abortion twist, in that this movie is not about the female protagonist's conflict about whether to keep the baby or not. That decision is immediately made in a very matter-of-fact, practical way, which I think leads to a feminist thread in the movie. The focus is also not upon how this abortion will change this woman's life forever, but is rather portrayed as just an event that happens in her life (and in the lives of many other women as well).

I thought this movie was very well cast. Slate is completely convincing in her role, and you want to be her friend and hope everything works out in the end even though she is, personally, a mess. And Lacy does a great job of playing the "nice guy" who you're rooting for (even though you're wondering why he didn't call her back for a second date sooner). The chemistry between the two is very sweet, with her falling for him because of how nice he is, and him being nice not just to impress her or sleep with her again but because he genuinely is a good guy. The movie has a happy ending with these two, which of course makes me love a film even more.

If this movie ends up in the Walmart $5 movie bin, I will buy it. This means I think this movie was worth watching more than once and not that I think it's only worth $5. I just don't pay more than that for a DVD.

Fashion Rant

The other day I received my usual Shop It To Me email, and it mentioned a huge BlueFly sale. Lord knows I don't need anymore clothes, but I figured I'd do some online shopping anyway and check out the deals. Although they have hundreds of items under $50 (which is awesome!), there are just too many items that I can't get behind. Cosmopolitan just published an article about why your clothes look cheap. Here are a few Cosmo didn't mention that I'm seeing all over the BlueFly website.

1. Exposed zippers. I realize this has been a trend for a couple of years now, but I am just not into it. I think an exposed zipper can completely ruin the effect and silhouette of a beautiful dress. Why not just put in a small, unnoticeable zipper, either down the back or even along the side, where it's even less likely to be seen? It's like someone just didn't take their time and just slapped a zipper onto the dress.

2. Unmatched seams. If you're going to make a shirt or dress out of a printed fabric, you need to match up the seams! Otherwise you're stuck with a flower or feather cut in half in an odd place. I'm sure many of you are thinking, "No one notices that!" But I notice, and I can't purchase an article of clothing knowing that there's some bird missing its head or daisy missing half its petals.

The zipper goes right through these eyelet flowers!

The feathers are not aligned at the neck line here.

3. Unfinished backs. Lately I've seen a lot of pieces that have a beautiful print featured on the front of the garment, but when you look at the back, it's just plain black! It's like someone didn't have enough fabric to finish the whole thing, so they just threw together some random fabric on the back to make a complete piece of clothing.

You'd think the back of this dress would match the front, right? Nope. Just black.

*All photos are from the BlueFly website.

Why boyfriends are better than roommates

I'm not sure anyone likes having roommates. I mean, a lot of us need them to help pay the rent, but if we could afford our apartments on our own, many of us would be quite content living alone. But then I think I might get lonely. I don't want to live with my boyfriend (yes, I'm old-fashioned that way), but here are some reasons why he'd be a better roommate.

1. I wouldn't have to remove his hair from the shower drain. His short hairs would just slip through the drain out of sight, rather than end up at the bottom of the tub like a blonde nest that I have to pick up because somehow that has been designated as my job.

2. I wouldn't come home to my apartment smelling like foreign cuisine. For one, it's unlikely he's cooked anything. But even if he had, it would probably just smell like normal chicken or beef. I don't need the pungent smell of some funky fish or spicy sauce permeating throughout the place.

3. There wouldn't be smears of mascara in my bathroom sink. How black make-up in a white sink goes unnoticed is beyond me.

4. The toilet paper would last a lot longer, and I wouldn't be left with just two squares. AND the toilet paper would be replaced facing the right way.

5. I wouldn't have to hear that annoying alarm clock sound in the morning. He wakes up on his own without any music or tweeting or beeping!

6. The dishes would be loaded into the dishwasher correctly. Probably because I put them there, but at least they came directly from the sink, rather than me rearranging them when they're already in the machine stacked on top of each other like some dish orgy.

7. I wouldn't have to rewash "clean" dishes in the drying rack (hint: if there's still grease or bits of food still on there, it's NOT clean). Again, probably because I would have washed the dishes in the first place, although I think he does a good job at this.

8. My clothes drying rack would always be available when I need it, since he dries all of his clothes in the machine or gets them dry cleaned. I wouldn't have to realize that, just when I've finished a load of delicate panties, I have no where to hang them up because the roomie is borrowing my drying rack. Again.

First World problems, I know. And temporary problems, because I will at some point A. marry and live with a man or B. be able to afford a place by myself. It just seems like A or B can't come fast enough... #NeatFreak #OCD (are hashtags allowed in blog posts?)

Taylor Swift Song "Shake It Off"

Now I do consider myself a Taylor Swift fan (see this earlier blog post I wrote about her songs). I love her country music, and even some of her pop songs like "I Knew You Were Trouble." But I have to say: I do NOT like her newest single, "Shake It Off." I have my reasons (in no particular order):

1. The lyrics are so repetitive and boring. She uses the word "shake" more than 70 times in this one song! The imagery in the lyrics of some of her other songs are so vivid and emotive, while this song is just full of simple rhymes. There's not much a story here: it's just a rant about shaking "it" off ("it" refers to many things, all of which are superficial like haters hating and players playing. Ugh, cliché, gag).

2. In the video she makes herself to look like other singers. In a way I can see why she would do this, because she's trying to change her image into a pop singer rather than a country music star. But why doesn't she create her own pop identity rather than mimicking other singer divas?

Taylor looks oddly like Lady Gaga right here, don't you think? 

This cheerleader routine is so reminiscent of Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl"

Only Gwen looks way hotter.

With these booty-shaking ladies behind her, Taylor could be any R&B/Rap singer. Ew.

 3. And while she doesn't look like Avril Lavigne, this song certainly has parts that sound like they were taken right from Avril's Best Damn Thing album. 

4. She makes fun of dancers the whole time in this music video. I don't know if she's just trying to make herself look cute, but it comes off as rude and uncultured. How can you make ballet into something silly? The same goes for the rythmic gymnastics shown, which is an Olympic sport! And I don't even like modern dance, but she mocks that art form in this video, too. Music is Taylor Swift's art, not dance, so she should stick with what she knows.

This is Swan Lake, Taylor, not the bunny hop.

Pretty pathetic jeté.

Maybe Taylor's hinting that she's going to dress up as a ghost for Halloween this year?

And she knows country music. Check out her early songs on YouTube. Those show her talent, not this rubbish.

*All the photos of Taylor are screen grabs from the music video.

Movie Review: "Thanks for Sharing"

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Last night after my yoga class I didn't have anything to do. So of course I turned to Netflix. I had already put Thanks for Sharing on my "Watch Instantly" queue (I like Mark Ruffalo and Gwyneth Paltrow), so I got snuggled up in bed and watched.

A movie about addiction doesn't really resonate with me, mainly because I don't have an addictive personality because I like to be in control of every facet of my life (and addiction seems to make you lose all control). So it was hard for me to relate to many of the characters in the movie. I probably am most like Gwyneth's character who doesn't understand her boyfriend's addiction and doesn't really want to deal with it. The film goes into some dark places, especially when Ruffalo's character completely loses it and gives into his addiction after five years of sobriety. But I certainly like the theme of self-improvement, with the addicts supporting each other in their AA meetings, so I can appreciate that. All in all the film has a happy ending, which I always like!

I was most impressed by Pink/Alecia Moore's performance. I love her music, and I didn't even know she was in movies. She did an excellent job! I completely believed her character, and if I didn't know who she was, I would have thought she was a renowned actress rather than a Grammy-winning singer. I will say that it was hard to see Tim Robbins as an old man. I picture him as Nuke in Bull Durham! But Joely Richardson, who plays his wife, looks absolutely amazing. I might argue she's even prettier than Gwyneth Paltrow!  So if nothing else, watch this movie just for the beautiful women in it.

Play review: "Marie Antoinette"

Photo from: http://www.woollymammoth.net/performances/

Last night I went to see a performance of "Marie Antoinette" at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre in DC. I've always enjoyed the story of Marie Antoinette (well...what little I actually know about her: the luxury and glamour of royalty, particularly the fashion and the hairdos!), so of course I bought tickets to see the play. My first (and perhaps only) real taste of Marie Antoinette was the Kirsten Dunst film, which I thought was absolutely beautiful.

And I thought the play was quite good! The play opens to show the queen (played by Kimberly Gilbert) with two courtiers/friends, lounging by the hot tub/pool and discussing fashion and the petty way the peasants are acting toward the royals. The scene is very funny and light, with the women walking around like runway models and posing every once and a while for the paparazzi. Then it goes on to show the (sexual) issues between Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI and the problem that no heir exists to take over the throne. Throughout the first act the audience gets to know Marie Antoinette as a confused woman-child: she was taken from her pastoral childhood home in Austria to wed the French king as a teenager, and now has serious insecurity issues due to the fact that she is always in the public eye and cannot please the French people. Although we know Marie Antoinette as a frivolous woman who cared more about her clothes and hair than the starving people of France, this play allows you to feel sympathy for her, seeing the story from her point of view.

The second act is much more dark, now that the revolution/rebellion has begun and the royal family has had to leave Versailles. They run away and are staying with some farmers they come across during their travel, and it is all downhill from there. Throughout the story Maria Antoinette is visited by a talking sheep, the symbolism of which is over my head but still is very moving (the actress who plays the sheep, Sarah Marshall, is very good!). This dark ending is the part of her history that I don't know much about, but we are shown that she was kept as a prisoner for some time before finally being beheaded. A sad ending, but at least we all already knew about that.

With the modern twist on this story, I was afraid that I might be offended or turned off by the performance (see my blog post about the Synetic Theater's take on "The Picture of Dorian Gray"). But even with the warning that the performance would include "nudity [and] simulated illicit drug use," I thought everything was done quite tastefully. The nudity was minor, the "simulated" drug use actually smelled pretty real, and the foul language was only used when appropriate. My prudish side was satisfied.

I definitely recommend this show! I will be returning to Woolly Mammoth for two more shows this season. Click here for a list of their 2014-2015 season shows.