I remember a time when I was in high school and my bf and I went to the movies every week. Now, I hardly ever go to the cinema, ever since I realised that I was no longer a teeny, that the term 'teenies' were so ten years ago and rabid 'fangirls' took over. I lost my patience with the girls who measured the mall in their crazy outfits and the boys who just stand around at the mall, crowding the aisles for no apparent reason. Of course, it doesn't help that the cinema smells like foot in between carpet steams. I am also one of those heartless people who are not big fans of parents who carry their babies to late-night movies and refuse to take the child outside when they start to fuss over the noise in their ears at 10p.m.
Nowadays, if the movie is something I have to see in theatres like the next HP installment or any 3D animations, I go. Otherwise, I wait for it to come out on DVD or on HBO, because I am patient. At least I tell myself that.
This is why I have only now just seen Easy A, starring Emma Stone and Dan from Gossip Girl Penn Badgley. Have you seen the movie? Did you like it? I loved it.
The smart, witty, pop-culture-referenced banter reminded me of Juno and the Gilmore Girls and much of the sillyness was like a less crude version of American Pie. It was the Ten Things I Hate About You for the teenagers of today. If you loved John Hughes movies and awkward teen romances like She's All That, you'll love this movie as well.
I'm not the biggest fan of anime, save for the Rurouni Kenshin series, since then I have only been exposed to my younger cousins' Pokemon, Yugioh and Naruto obsessions. These make me shudder. Nevertheless, I was surfing through the recommendations on Rotten Tomatoes and I saw a movie called Spirited Away, which received rave reviews. Spirited Away is a Japanese anime film from 2001. It is a strange and interesting little story about a 10 year-old-girl, Chihiro's adventures in a hidden village in the woods. Chihiro and her parents were moving to a new house, and made a wrong turn. Her parents' curiosities lead them to what seemed to be an abandoned amusement park. Their greed allowed then to indulge in a meal that would basically put them out for the rest of the movie. As it gets dark, the amusement park changes - it turns out that it is a spa of sorts for the spirits in the world. And they do not hold humans in great favour. Chihiro is aided by Haku, a young boy who doesn't remember his real name, who advises him to ask for work from Kamajii, a creature who works in the boiler room. Chihiro meets the witch who owns the spa and she is renamed Sen, and then she slowly forgets who she is and where she came from. The rest of the story is about how Sen tires to get her parents and herself out of the village and help her new friends. She is a kind and sweet little girl even if she is too innocent at times. It is a nice children's story, without too many obvious 'lesson teaching' Disney mumbo jumbo or overly bright storybook graphics. She is 10, so any mentions of love have strictly innocent undertones - I highly recommend it.
