Movie Commentary: The Devil Wears Prada

Not a full review, but just a comment. This movie is being regularly aired on one of the movie channels right now - can't remember which one. I am Hamptons bound this afternoon, so I watched while I packed my weekend bag last night. It reminded me how much I love this movie.

If you saw the trailer way back when and thought this wasn't for you because it's a ridiculous chick flick about fashion, you should reconsider. Meryl Streep's performance is so deliciously complex and the result is thrilling to the core. She is the master of communicating a range of emotions with a subtle arch of the eyebrow, and this film showcases her prowess. Adrien Grenier's character is a little mopey and annoying - but pretty to look at nonetheless. Stanley Tucci is adorably lovable. The inside look at fashion is a healthy dose of vicarious glamour. It's all good.

Even my husband loves it (most likely due to the fact that Anne Hathaway is corseted to within an inch of her life almost entirely throughout, but still.)

A personal homage: I was dressed as The Devil Wears Prada at our Oscar party this year.

Movie Review: Thank You For Smoking

Thank You For Smoking is a hilariously dark satire of the marketing world shown through the eyes of Big Tobacco. It makes you laugh out loud at things you know you shouldn't find funny, and by the end both Terry and I were questioning the societal value of our meaningless jobs. We spend a lot of time thinking of new ways to make people buy things they don't really need. (Upon further reflection, we realized the bank that holds our mortgage appreciates what we do).

The "villain," Nick Taylor, is completely likable and I was in his corner while he extolled the glamor of smoking and even as he taught his young son about the virtues of "moral flexibility."

In my opinion, JK Simmons (aka Skoda from Law & Order) absolutely stole the show as the hardened cigarette executive leading the charge with quips like:

"We don't sell tic tacs for C#$%# sake. We sell cigarettes. They're cool. And available. And addictive. The job is almost done for us."

"Slam your f#$%ing brains against your desks until something useful comes out."

"What we need is a role model."
"Indiana Jones meets Jerry Macguire."
"Yeah. On two packs a day."

Rent it. It will crack you up.

Movie Review: Shut Up and Sing

In the interest of full disclosure: I have been a fan of the Dixie Chicks for a long time. I don't know how long - at least 10 or 15 years. By the way, you might not suspect it, but I am a huge fan of a wide range of country music. (OK, maybe you're not surprised, but it seems off Brand to me. Maybe this is another desperate attempt to convince myself I'm mysterious.) Anyway, I have seen Dwight Yokam in concert several times. Ditto for Lucinda Williams, Alison Krauss and Union Station and even a little known band called Southern Culture on the Skids. Amongst the CDs in my office: Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, John Denver and Emmylou Harris.

So all this is to say, YES. I was predisposed to love this movie about one of my favorite down home country bands. So take it for what it's worth, but I loved this movie.

For those that don't know, "Shut Up and Sing" is a documentary that focuses on the period of time when the band The Dixie Chicks found themselves at the center of a national controversy. The imbroglio began after a live London performance in 2003 when lead singer, Natalie Maines, uttered the sentence, "Just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas." The US invaded Iraq 10 days later.

Clearly remembering the ensuing political uproar, I thought "Shut Up and Sing" would be just about politics. I thought I was in for a Dubbya-slamming-free-speech-shilling documentary with a kick #$s soundtrack. And that would have been fine. But to my pleasant surprise, the story ended up being a lot more complex than the trailers (or this movie poster) gave it credit for.

First of all, the film allowed a glimpse into the creative process that I found true to life. Not that I've worked in the music industry, but I've spent my career peripherally involved with art directors, copy writers, film makers and yes, musical artists (despite evidence to the contrary, I'm sure that Office Depot whoa-whoa jingle didn't write itself). Any time I've seen the creative process depicted in a film or TV show, it's completely unrealistic (my favorite dramatization of an ad agency remains the classic Melrose Place. I still love that Alison worked her way from receptionist to President in less than one year and that they would frequently find out about new business pitches at around 10 in the morning and then they would happen over lunch that same day.) Seeing the behind the scenes of one of my favorite albums ("Taking the Long Way") only made me love it more.

Secondly, the film did a great job of humanizing these women by depicting the mundane and not so mundane challenges of managing family life while juggling an impossibly busy schedule. They're just like us. They struggle with their careers. They love their kids. They negotiate with their husbands about which one can sleep in on a Sunday morning. They're not professional hate mongers.

The film also covered another theme that was so fascinating to watch in the context of the Imus scandal. How should a radio station respond in the wake of public outcry? What's offensive? Who gets to decide? Actually, the radio execs came off looking pretty good in this film, I thought. You could sympathize with their plight and it was obvious their actions to boycott the band were driven by rational business decisions. Hard to make money off a station if you have no listeners. A related topic, the film showed hints of the complex business changes that lay ahead for a music industry who's power was shifting from radio programmers to fans with ipods. Nowadays, a radio ban is not quite the death knell it once was.

The film doesn't end on a completely victorious note for these gals. But if you watched the Grammy's, you know how the story really ends.

Four week status report

The Wednesday status reports are getting boring. I apologize in advance. I can no longer spice them up by throwing around exciting sound bites like, "Good news, I'm out of the cerebro-spinal fluid leak danger zone!"

The milestones of recovery are becoming more mundane and more spread out. I am SO over my recovery. I can't even imagine how uninteresting this is to you. I forgive anyone who stops reading the status report postings in favor of Bachelor updates and gossip tid-bits.

Still reading?

Really?!

How 'bout now?

Come on! Seriously?

Ok. Well in that case...

I learned a few important things during week four. Allow me to share:

Week Four: Eight Key Learnings

Key Learning #1: Healing is not linear

Some of the things I thought were history have reared their ugly head again (not that there's anything wrong with ugly heads). Like why does my jaw hurt? I know they sawed through bone, muscle and nerve, but that pain went away for at least three days in a row during week three. I thought the statute of limitations was over? And why is the rice crispies noise inside my head getting louder after it had almost nearly subsided? And what about the voices that tell me it's time to turn on Dr. Phil?

Key Learning #2: Jazz is not always relaxing

Note to self: when going out to "quiet" neighborhood restaurants, call ahead to make sure it's not jazz night. Oh, and make sure that they don't have a special treat on that particular jazz night: opera singers performing their favorite show tunes. We planned a dinner out this past week - my first! We had planned to meet a good friend (and former neuro nurse) who helped me out enormously through this process. So we purposely selected a restaurant that I could easily walk to and that is very quiet. About an hour into our meal, we heard musical instruments being tuned just on the other side of a small wall dividing our table from the front room. We poked our head around to see what's going on. Sure enough. Live music. Three feet from me. Awesome. I spent the rest of the evening with my finger plugging my good ear while the rest of the diners enjoyed rousing renditions from such classics as South Pacific. That remains our only dinner out to date.

Key Learning #3: Zagat is omniscient

Zagat publishes an annual movie guide (Thanks, Daphne). Includes reviews of 1,600 movies in alphabetical order, and in traditional Zagat format, breaks down "Top Lists" by relevant categories: Favorite Films of All Time, Best New Releases, Overall Quality, By Genre, By Decade, By Director, By Lead Actor, Top Story, Top Production Values, Foreign Language. It's a great reference.

Key Learning #4: Broadway is noisy

I can walk 17 blocks. But I can't walk 17 blocks on Broadway. Many trucks. Many sirens. Now I know. (It took brain surgery to figure this out? I'm a New Yorker. I never noticed before.)

Key Learning #5: I still don't cook, but I am better than ever at obsessive cleaning

Oxi Clean works well on glass that you can't get inside of to clean. I have a dual chamber balsamic/olive oil dispenser with very small openings. No way can you get a sponge or even a bottle cleaning brush in there. I swished some Oxi Clean and a little water around inside, and it got off all the residue left behind by the dishwasher.

Key Learning #6: I'm a lucky, lucky, lucky girl

I have the best friends on the planet. This has been proven to me many times over the course of my life and especially over the past few months. I had one of the best examples yet during Week Four. My friend Lisa, whom I have been friends with since we were 12, was coming in from Long Island to see me this past Saturday. The minute I answered the door, I began crying. (So, sue me! I've been through a lot, she's a good friend, it was emotional.) So then she says to me: "I left the bagels in the hall." Ok. That's weird, but fine. Let's get the bagels. What do I see? There are ALL my girls. They had traveled in from all over the country to see me.

Here's a funny picture. When I discovered I was the target of the best surprise visit ever I said, "I'm floored," just as I very nearly was. I lost my balance with almost perfect comedic timing.

Here's the whole gang

Key Learning #7: Google is scary

I have known these girls for over 20 (something!) years. No matter how much we've been through, the minute we're all together, it's like we're right back in high school. So of course we spent the visit eating and gossiping. What better tool to fuel the gossip session than Google? We got out the year book and began Googling (this word is spell checkable now) random folks from high school. You'd be surprised what we were able to find out. Can't wait for our 2009 reunion where I plan to surprise a certain now resident of North Carolina with my knowledge of what he paid for his home. I barely spoke to him in high school, and he hasn't entered my conscious thought in decades, but I now know he has a terrace AND a deck.

Key Learning #8: Re-read hospital discharge papers at regular intervals

I read the instructions in the hospital (Right after blowing my nose. One of the instructions is "Don't blow your nose.") I read them again when I got home. Haven't read them again since. But I read them tonight and realized that I have violated several key directives. Most notably, I was supposed to make an appointment to see my neurosurgeon again during week three. Notice this is a "Week Four" learning. Ooops. (Could they have called!? I paid a lot of money for that operation. I'm just saying.)

Movie Review: Office Space

I know I am the last person on the planet to have seen this movie, but I finally caught Office Space. So many people have told me for so long how hysterical this movie is that I'm sorry to say it suffered a bit from the hype for me. Don't get me wrong - I thought it was funny - but I had higher expectations.

For those that don't know the premise, it satirizes the droning existence of holding an unsatisfying job in both a generic corporate atmosphere as well as in the cartoonish, over the top context of a chain restaurant like TGIFs. It really did capture some ridiculous kernels of truth and made me laugh at the (at times) absurdity of my own office life. And I now have greater sympathy for the Appleby's waiter who once accompanied each plate delivery to my table with the enthusiastic assurance: "That's good eatin' right there." (By the way, for those shocked to hear I ate in an Appleby's, this was 10 years ago, and I was in South Carolina. The gourmet restaurant pickings were slim at the time.)

For anyone who has ever worked for someone you thought to be of questionable intellect and/or competence, yet suffering from no lack of disdaining superiority, this movie demonstrates you were not alone. You will laugh out loud with self recognition. (To any of my current or former bosses who may be reading this blog, I am not talking about you.)

I will say, I think this movie was probably funnier before the sitcom The Office came out. That show is so well written, and they've had the luxury of several seasons to make their characters complex and totally lovable for all their quirks. Office Space was, I'm sure, ground breaking in its day (that being the day of the floppy disk and reliance on a fax machine). The Office picked up where they left off.

Movie Review: Hitch

Mindless fun. Loved it. I could be biased because I happen to love Will Smith - so he could read the phone book in a movie and I would love it. This is a chick-flik, but guys will like it too because that Eva Mendes is not hard to look at. Don't expect too much and you'll enjoy it. Perfect movie for when you have a splitting headache and you can't concentrate too hard on something like a plot.

Movie Review: We Were Soldiers

I am a chick, but I can still appreciate a good war movie. I have seen many over the years that I would even call favorites. We Were Soldiers is not one of them. This is a terrible, over-acted movie with no story and no compelling reason to like a single one of the characters. It was so overdone, I couldn't even bring myself to feel sorry for the widows. It was a totally over-the-top Hollywood shoot-em-up complete with an embarrassingly overwrought soundtrack. Mel should be ashamed.

Terence read the book and said it was really good, but he hated the movie, too. So did my mom.

Movie Review: Shop Girl

If you are in the right mood, this movie is great. The film is absolutely gorgeous - I don't know who the cinematographer is, but the imagery is amazing. And the characters are so sad and funny at the same time - unmistakably Steve Martin. It's very slow moving - with not much story, but still involving. It's all about the characters. If you're a Steve Martin fan - try it. By the way, I remembered the book as being much more depressing than the movie. So if you read the novel and didn't think you could sit through the whole film - give it a shot.

Movie Review: Mad Hot Ballroom

Just caught this one on TV again yesterday - although I had it at home from Netflix for almost two months and watched it over and over. I love this movie. If you have not seen it - you must rent it immediately. It's a documentary about a ballroom dancing program being run through the New York City public schools. These kids are so funny and insightful - it's just the most fun movie. Plus, it makes me LOVE living in NYC. Rent it immediately.

Teachers - you will love it especially, but anyone who remembers junior high will really get a kick out of it. And if you don't remember junior high - well, then all the more reason to watch.

Movie Review: Zodiac

We decided to spend my last day of freedom watching "Zodiac". We're trying to appease the karma gods: the star, Mark Ruffalo, had an acoustic neuroma and had it removed by the same surgical team that will be removing mine. (Interesting trivia: Mark was supposed to have had Joaquin Phoenix's role in "Signs," but had to give up the part when he was diagnosed with what I have.)

Anyway, I spent the whole movie watching for signs of facial paralysis instead of paying attention to the plot. Mark had no signs of facial disturbance, so I enjoyed the movie very much. Terry reports the movie itself was also very good.

Movie Recommendations?

Ok - I just increased my Netflix subscription. A fellow brain-surgery-club member has already recommended "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (thank you, Kevin). Any other recos?

My current Netflix Queue:

• The Corpse Bride
• Hitch
• We Were Soldiers
• Office Space
• The Thomas Crowne Affair
• The Notebook
• Miami Vice
• Flight Plan
• An Inconvenient Truth
• John Tucker Must Die
• Thank You For Smoking
• Glory Road
• You, Me and Dupree
• The Breakup
• Derailed
• Sherrybaby
• Maria Full of Grace
• The Thin Blue Line
• Blood Simple
• Monster
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind