Real Things

So, I liked Rachel Getting Married. I don't think it was perfect, but I liked it a lot. I just thought it was so real. I liked the screenplay, although it was flawed. I liked the story and how real it was. I read one assessment of it that it "added something new to this overdone genre." I could sort of get behind that statement. I'm not sure I agree with the premise that this is an overdone genre, but I have from time to time thought that there are a lot of gritty, independent movies out there that come off as very knowingly provocative about drug use and it's annoying, like, "Ooooh, I'm going to show someone shooting up and it's going to be so EDGY and daring and AWEsome." This movie has zero of that, but not just because it's about the recovery side of addiction but also because I feel like that attitude is entirely missing: it's saying real things about the addict and, crucially, her family instead of just trying to be all knowing about the worldliness of drug use.

In fact, I would say this film does a lot to point out that for all her being "out there" the addict didn't get too much out of her worldly life, whereas the non-addict sister seems to have truly seen the world.

I liked the performances. I am not really in the Anne Hathaway camp, but I at least like her a little better when she's all dressed in black and messed up instead of this princess/sweet girl nonsense. I am going to have to draw a line, however, on the "fat" thing. Anne Hathaway is not fat, and this is the second movie in a row (did she do anything between this and The Devil Wears Prada?) where she prattles on about being fat, and then it's sort of "part of the story" as if she really is not fat but maybe a few pounds over whatever ideal weight she has in her head. It's crap. In this one, it was all "Oh, rehab makes you fat" and it's passed off as just this character's neurotic thing, but it's suspiciously similar to Devil...Prada when she is, ostensibly, the "fatter" one compared to Emily Blunt's character who's on a starvation diet. No wonder people have unrealistic bullshit body image concepts if they go around accepting the likes of Anne Hathaway as overweight. It bugs me. It has no purpose in either movie whatsoever. It tries to pretend it does in each case, but I swear it's like Anne putting it in there or something.

Anyway, bonuses include Robyn Hitchcock in the movie, and he sings! plus a fun blue elephant wedding cake.

I am nearly through with the "major" categories of the Oscar noms. Still two more Best Actress to see, Angelina Jolie in Changeling and Melissa Leo in Frozen River, and they are waiting atop my Netflix queue for when they are released on DVD the next two Tuesdays. In theaters, I still have to see Happy-Go-Lucky (screenplay), Defiance (score), and whatever foreigns and shorts I can get.

So that's the movie update. What else? Finished Ishmael (see my literary supplement)and am trying to get all caught up and ahead in my law school things so I don't have to worry about school. I am totally opposed to worrying about school right now; I just want to coast along in my senioritis learning but not fretting.

However, I have to do a great deal of fretting about where/how to get a job. How tiresome. I'm leaning more and more toward moving to a cheaper city as soon as humanly possible, but then it's like, why am I taking the bar exam in New York? Not that I know where else to take it -- so that's why I'm taking it in New York. It's a big vicious circle.

Oh yeah, and I find it really hard to care about the Grammys. But I am on the verge of officially becoming a fan of Taylor Swift. Just putting that out there.