Weekend movies

Terrific movie weekend.  I saw 2 movies in the theater, on the same night!  My friend suggested we stay for the 2nd movie (something Larry and I used to do regularly), and since I used a free pass for the first movie, I actually saw both of them for free.  Naughty, but delicious.  I also saw a couple of good movies on video.

Crazy, Stupid, Love - very fun; the cast is marvellous and the story is engaging; I did not see the big plot twist coming either, which is a testimony to the restraint of the marketing campaign; the only thing that keeps this from being a perfect movie is a couple of key scenes that occur in public, which felt very contrived, and took me out of the story, but this is a quibble and a minor complaint.

One Day - this was well done, but not excellent; the structure is clever and used to good effect, but the overall story feels disjointed, and you don't get to know the people as well as you could; also, the male character is such a pill that you're not really rooting for the couple, so when they (finally!) get together, it's not as satisfying as it should be, and when the inevitable tragedy occurs, it's not as moving as it should be either.  Not a bad movie, but it won't stick with me, and it wasn't engaging enough to make me want to read the book.

HappyThankYouMorePlease (2010) - adorable rom-com, typical of all independent rom-coms, in that it's actually romantic and actually funny, bonus is that it's moving too; terrific cast and a clever story about a commitment-phobic young novelist who takes in a boy abandoned on the subway; the only thing that keeps this from being a perfect movie is that the writer/director/star (Josh Radnor from How I Met Your Mother) includes too many reaction shots of his own face - he's cute, but it got a bit distracting; this is a quibble though - this movie is wonderful.

Flipped (2010) - utterly charming coming of age movie about a lively young lady and her years-long crush on the boy next door (the movie switches perspectives between the two main characters - one of the reasons for the title); perfectly cast and full of quite lovely messages; very enjoyable (no fart jokes at all!); based on a book I would want my kids to read.

Globehunters (2000) - another offbeat animated movie that I picked from the Netflix Instant Queue; fun, with great animation and surprisingly catchy songs (far better than the saccharine numbers in most straight-to-video fare); even Caleb, who considers himself above this type of movie, got caught up watching.