Thursday, January 21, 2010

Say Anything

January 20, 2010
I love John Cusack! He plays such awesomely quirky guys and in “Say Anything” he plays a girl´s guy. Let me explain that. In this movie there is a role reversal. Instead of the girl chasing the guy and getting her heart broken it is the guy. Sometimes I wonder if what we saw truly happens. I mean on the girl´s end it´s all true. We cry over the guy and talk about it with our girlfriends and hope that things can change. But do the guys cry as well and have doubts? I haven´t been as persistent as him but maybe I could be. Maybe that is the trick. Show them you really want to be with them and “there” for them. Is that what they need? The girl was such a guy in this movie. Telling him that she loved him but wanting to end it. Made me laugh. And it was also her that brought them back together, even though it was because of a family tragedy. Well not so much a tragedy as a problem. All in all I just love John Cusack and all the characters he has ever played. Also the music is always great. Cameron Crowe really knew what he was doing in writing this movie. He always knew, in all his movies, how to get to the basic truth of whatever theme he is writing about. In the end Diane says “Nobody really thinks it will work” and Lloyd says “You just described every really great success story.” I think that is the truth of it all. We never know if it´s going to work, whatever we may be doing be it school, work, or relationships. But if we try hard and follow our gut feeling then it will end in a success. What a great movie that gives us insight into ourselves and the other gender and also into our personal endeavors.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Sydney White

January 19, 2010
I´ve watched this movie many, many times and loved it more each time but now I have a new found appreciation. It´s so wonderful to be doing this new blog thingy for me because I´m learning new things for myself in a fun way, especially since I love to watch movies. Tonight I watched “Sidney White” a modern day take on the old Snow White fairytale. It had all the normal fairytale elements like pretty girl meets charming “Prince” and evil witches and dorky sidekicks but this version had more, at least for me. It teaches a strong lesson about believing in yourself and being yourself. So many times in the course of our life we try to change who we are because of what others believe the best of us is. Well I have learned time and time again, and what this movie truly teaches us, that being ourselves is the best we can be, no matter what others think. Yah we all have our faults, our “ugly” parts, but that shouldn´t matter because when we are liked for who we are the best of us always comes out strong. Like a butterfly. It doesn´t start as the pretty insect that we see right before it dies, no, it starts as an ugly caterpillar. A creature that many people kill because they don´t know what it will grow up to be in a very short time. How would we feel if someone tried to squash us before we could blossom into the beautiful being that we can be with a little time, patience and hard work? Well, honestly, people do squash us, a lot. That is sad to say but so true. All my life I was pushed down, led to believe that I was not as pretty, smart, or likeable as others. Now that really does a number on a girl´s self-esteem. Heck I had the worst self-esteem because I believed what everyone told me. Even now there are some that can´t even see that it happened and think I have lots of issues. Well I do have issues that I work through everyday. Like I said it was a lifetime of hurt and it will take a lifetime to overcome but I am a long way from where I was 10 years ago. And a lot of that has to do with the message of this movie. I tried to always “fit in” with all the others. Soon I realized that it didn´t work and it didn´t work because I wasn´t like all the others. I couldn´t stop being me and that meant I could never “fit in” with all the rest. I´ve learned that I must continue to be me and through being me I will find true friends and maybe, hopefully, even somebody that will love me for who I am and want to share the rest of eternity with me. When we decide to be who we are and not what the others want us to be we also must make a choice to accept others for who they are. No one is perfect and we all have little quirks that drive each other crazy. But that makes it fun! We need that to keep life balanced. If we were all the same or liked each other 100% of the time life would be boring. Who loves drama? Well I don´t love it but I do think that it keeps life spicy, full of flavor. Hey, let´s be ourselves and accept each other! We may end up liking each other and being friends.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

The Way We Were

January 18, 2010
Wow did I do a god job of picking the movie today!!! So since I watched all the recent movies I bought, I know no blog yet for them, I decided to watch one of my own tonight. I actually had bought this movie because it was 1. cheap and 2. I´ve heard a lot of really good reviews about it. The funny thing is that I had never seen it yet. I watched “The Way We Were” and boy does it fit right in with my personality and what is going on in my life right now. I feel a great connection to the Barbara Streisand character of Katie. Considering I am Jewish, really I am, it´s nice to see some of the same fight I have in her. We are both very strong willed about our beliefs. We don´t back down in a discussion about any topic like politics, movies, music; you name it. And right now I am having guy issues. I mean, really, would any “knocking on 30´s door”, single, beautiful, strong, girl not be having issues? Some questions that arose while watching this movie were: Are guys really that threatened by strong women?; Is it so wrong to have opinions about everything?; and Why do guys really cheat? I don´t know about you but I think those questions will probably never be answered because it is so hard to find a guy that can be 100% honest. Really that is the deep root of the problem. Guys are not 100% honest with women. Which brings on yet another one word question: Why? I think that deep down men are afraid. Yes afraid. They are just as vulnerable as us women but only because since the dawn of time they have been portrayed as tough, strong, independent, almost emotionless beings and they haven´t been able to get away from that. On the other hand it is natural for a woman to be weepy, moody, defenseless, and dependent. So of course when anyone plays against type, like emotional men or strong women, eyebrows are arched and questions raised against them. Also it is hard for us to understand what happened when this occurs in our presence. For me I get to see the emotional side of men right before they snap back into their “normal” frame of existence and cease to be the wonderful, sweet, cute and adorable creatures I grow to love. Yes they stop being what I love and turn into the creature that is selfish, dishonest (a better term is hypocritical), and male. I stop being the strong, independent, happy women and turn into the typical weepy, moody, defenseless and dependent girl again that is the best friend to all those guys looking for someone they can not be themselves with. My “relationships” end up like Katie and Hubbell´s with a polite “I still love you” look after not seeing each other for a few years. Even though in my world that happens after just a few days, ooohhh lucky me!!! Really though the main thing I learned from this movie is the importance to be who you are and not change for anyone or anything in the world. Katie never did. Heck she was still at it while the credits were rolling. So to all those guys (or for that matter people in general) that have maybe thought, or said that Melanie Rivers is too strong and needs to be more quiet, introverted, or subordinate I have to say sorry. I will never change. I will always be the same funny, loud, cute, extremely extroverted, silly, moody, trusting, honest person I have been since I was born but with a better self-esteem.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Julie and Julia

January 16, 2010
Since I came home from The States after spending Christmas there, much has happened in my life. One thing that has given me the strength to revamp this blog is watching the movie “Julie and Julia”. It is about the great cook Julia Child and an otherwise ordinary woman, like me, Julie Powell and how their lives changed. I think I would have to write for days to explain the connection I felt to this movie and, since I really don´t have that much time, I have decided to at least try and write everyday. Julie Powell decided to start a blog to give her something worthwhile to do and decided to follow the cookbook of Julia Child. These two women took food and writing to help them get through tough times in their lives. Now because I don´t have tons of money to spend on food to cook I have decided to write about a passion of mine which is watching movies. This is cheap and I definitely can watch movies often and then blog about how they make me feel or even just give my review. I know no one will care but I think I will be able to give myself something to help me get through this New Year without have a nervous break down or doing something rash. Of course the first movie would be “Julie and Julia”. It is so inspiring obviously since I am writing this now. I think the acting was great. How could it not be?? You have Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. Two women who are very empowering and bright lights in an otherwise dismal lighting store, aka Hollywood. I mean we really don´t have a lot of great actresses to choose from but they are among the best. I have loved all their movies they have been in and probably will be in. Then we have their supporting actors because really the girls are the leads in this movie and the men are just there to support. Still, they are great. Stanley Tucci is just an amazing man. Even with his small features and bald head you can´t help but love him. I know that sounds superficial, even though I am not a superficial person, but I try to speak honestly and the truth is not many people would be attracted to a man who looked like that but some are. I think he is very adorable. Please don´t take offense Stanley or any man reading this that looks like that, which I don´t there will be any. The actor that plays Amy´s husband is just cute even though I don´t know who he is I hope to see more of him in the future. All I can say about this movie that I haven´t already said is how much I loved it and how everyone should get it and watch it and learn from it. Here´s to a new year full of bright hopes and possible dreams. If Julia Child was so optimistic in life I think I can at least try to be a tenth of what she was and look forward with much hope to what might happen, that´s great, this year. So forget what has happened in the past 16 days of the New Year and on to the next 349 days ahead full of mystery, pleasure and happiness and, I´m sure, problems, heart ache and failure. Because we cannot have one without the other, life wouldn´t “work” if we did.