As many of you know, P and I love to head off to the movie theater when we have some downtime, and since the movie lineup this Christmas was billed as the "best in some time," we decided to frequent our favorite spot several times in the last week. We began with Marley and Me, which was by far the best film we saw. It isn't going to win awards for its brilliant writing and complex characters. It is funny, touching, and if you, yourself have a Marley (a.k.a. Bruchi) unbelievably emotional. I am not prone to crying over films, and you all know how P reacts to sad stories, but we were both pretty teary-eyed coming out of the movie. It is worth seeing on the big screen, if you have the inclination.
Next, we saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Hailed as the best film in the theaters, we actually found it to be lacking in many respects. In P's words, it was too long. In mine, the absence of strong character development made the plot fall on its face. The sad thing was that the film began brilliantly and philosophically. The cause for Benjamin's age reversal was a handmade clock, which was set to run backwards in honor of the young men who were lost in WWI. Button's age reversal was then articulated through his experiences at the retirement home where he was abandoned. These threads, which ultimately reflect on our experiences of death, are ultimately dropped, however, as if they simply weren't good enough or, perhaps, because they were too serious. The cinematography is beautiful, and the cast is, of course, beautiful. But if you are looking for a really good movie, I would look for something else.
Finally, we saw Doubt. I very much wanted to see this film because it is an adaptation of the pulitzer prize winning play, and because its cast was tremendous (Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Meryl Streep, and Amy Adams). Although there were some very interesting and complex scenes in the film, notably from the less lauded actors/tresses, it was ultimately disappointing. Again, it was predictable mainly because it lacked character development. As with Benjamin Button, the blame doesn't rest on the actors, since they all did an exceptional job. For me, the writers really dropped the ball on what could have been an exceptional and interesting topic. Not having read the play, I am not sure if the root is the playwright. Even if it was, however, the director can always enrich the film with additional facets.
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On a different note, I would like to formally apologize for the shutter/shudder error in our Christmas letter. Although, I would say that imagining life without Bruchi might feel like getting hit repeatedly with a shutter. I could also say that I inserted the error as a Christmas present since I am told that many of you squealed when you realized that you had seen something that had been overlooked by a so called writing specialist. Well, I'll have you know, and P can attest to this, that I make many errors both in writing and in life. And my response to you is simple, did you get what I meant? Then that's all that madders...
We are doing well, staying relatively warm, and eager for spring to come. Hope you all have a wonderful new year.
KJ
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