Wow, I've been busy. Not so much time for movies. Although I have managed to fit a few in here and there.

I tried to have a Gilmore Girls moment on Saturday night but I ended up wimping out. I felt like crap on the river Saturday but fortunately we were at the Green River which is only about 45 minutes from my house so I got to come home. By the time I got home I was feeling a bit better. I ordered enough food for three of me and rented Tuck Everlasting. I ate a bunch of the food but only watched a few minutes of the movie before I fell asleep. Note that this was at the super late hour of 8:30...

Buton Sunday I had a bit more energy and watched the movie then instead. My reaction? I liked it. It was fun, and wholesome, and well made. It's a great innocent young teenager kind of movie. It's not a great movie, but it's not a waste of your time either. However, I haven't read the book. I've been told that this is one of those where if you liked the book then the movie will fall short - but chances are if you really liked the book you would have already seen this. The storyline was quite interesting, maybe I'll find a copy of the book and give it a read.

Then tonight I watched Phone Booth. I was really looking forward to this, although not for why you may think. Ebert and Roeper gave it two thumbs up. Rotten Tomatoes has it at 75%. But my friends who saw it on Friday night universally panned it. So of course I had to go see it to striaghten this all out.

I really enjoyed it. I thought it was fresh and original. I thought Collin Farrel, Forest Whitaker, and especially Keifer Sutherland did a great job. I thought it was an intruiging look at a scummy PR guy and a true psycho. However, I can see why my friends didn't like it. Not much happens. Everything happens in one place (trivia note: the movie was filmed in 10 days on one set.) The movie doesn't tell a story so much as it hints at a story.

That last part is what I feel like talking about most. This movie could be in real time. I actually got the distinct sense while I was watching it that it was meant to be in real time (fortunately they didn't gimmick it like they did in Nick of Time.) They even used some of the same editing tactics they use in the TV show 24, which also uses the real time gimmick (quite effectively I might add.) Anyway, because the story happens in real time it's essentially just a conversation between two people. Not a lot can really go on in 81 minutes of time. But we do get hints at back story. The fun part is the movie doesn't show us the backstory, it lets us fill it in. I had fun thinking about the prep the psycho put into this stunt. We got to know Stu by hearing about what he did and watching him react to his current situation.

You may not like it. But I had fun. No I'm going to have to figure out how to explain all this to my friends who straight up didn't have a good time.

Yikes, it's a good thing I'm not on deadline, cause I can't write well tonight...

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