Thursday Already?

We are so close to the weekend I can smell it... thank goodness. This week has whizzed by so far, and between training at work and an internet outage in my neighborhood, I have felt a little disconnected for the past few days. In the time that I haven't been facebooking, twittering, and otherwise engaging in social media, I've caught up on some movies:

Good: Bridesmaids. All I've been hearing for weeks is how absolutely hilarious this movie was, and I'll admit there were parts that had me laughing, but more of a oh-my-goodness-I-can't-believe-this-is-actually-happening-on-screen-how-awkward kind of laugh. I had a hard time finding humor in the characters and spent a lot of the movie feeling a little sad that people get such a kick out of watching someone completely self-destruct. I couldn't feel sorry for poor Kristen Wiig though, no matter how hard I tried.
Better: Valentine's Day. I expected lots of story lines badly tied together, with big names thrown in and expected to balance the lack of plot, but I was pleasantly surprised. While there were a few parts that felt contrived, for the most part each little dramatic arc weaved seamlessly into the next and the actors were surprisingly strong, despite their small parts. It was light and heartwarming but also honest, and the conclusion of the Julia Roberts story may have made me tear up... just saying.
Best: Blue Valentine. I've been wanting to see this one since it came out, but knew that no one would really want to watch it with me. I rented it and curled up in bed, expecting that no matter how good it might turn out to be, I'd fall asleep within 10 minutes as per usual. When it finished 2 hours later, I was very much awake. This was an absolutely incredible movie: heartbreaking and raw, dark and perfectly understated. I was not a huge fan of Ryan Gosling before, but he really knocked this one out of the park. I had heard an interview with Michelle Williams when this movie first came out about how she and Gosling prepared for filming and truly became their characters (they lived together for almost a month on their characters' budget and with their on-screen daughter), and all of this intense and in-depth work definitely paid off. The relationship between Gosling's and Williams' characters is complex but infinitely relatable and is captured artfully and simply. Probably not a date night movie, but a must-see nonetheless.
Next in my Netflix queue is the quasi-documentary Milk with Sean Penn, which I've been dying to see for quite a while. For now, though, I'm off to take full advantage of our restored internet access and catch up on some blog reading!

   Love,

    Meg