Movie Marathon, Marginally Improved
Why do I have all this free time in the first place? Well, it may help to know that the first 9-hour movie marathon started as an attempt (success!) to stay awake for the full 9 hours of a 9-hour international flight. The second movie marathon, which I am about to describe, was an attempt (fail!) to stay awake for the even longer return flight. I don't think I can remember all the different programs I tried. I do know that I at one point watched an episode of Say Yes to the Dress - Atlanta. Sad.
While on my trip, I described the outbound flight to another person including the stipulation that I wanted to watch things that Christopher and I would not watch together. She recommended that I watch The Ugly Truth on the way back. "But isn't Gerard Butler a jerk?" I asked. And I may have used a less polite, insulting common noun. "I don't know about that, but his character is that way through the entire movie, so it works." She replied. So, this was my first film on the trip. I give it a yawn and a single smirk. Gerard Butler isn't recognizable from his 300 breakout. (Was it a breakout? It was the first time I'd heard of him anyway.) And, I felt oddly distracted by his manner of speech. Katherine Heigl (sp?) was ok. She was a little less goofy than I would have liked. I feel like she's trying to fill Meg Ryan's shoes. But Meg Ryan does a much better job at playing neurotic romantics. So anyway, I gave it a smirk, because there is a scene where Katherine's character gets stuck in a tree, and that was humorous. It's a rom-com, so I'll let you fill in the plot, and you'll likely be right.
I briefly tried to re-watch When Harry Met Sally. This was a movie I thoroughly enjoyed between the ages of 16-18. In this case, it insisted on including Chinese subtitles and a black border bar on the top and bottom of the screen. I had little patience, so I turned it off.
After that, I moved to.... let's see, what was it? Oh yes, Vicky Christina Barcelona. I liked the music in this one. Penelope Cruz was in it, as was Javier Bardem. They both did great work. I really like Penelope Cruz; she played a very believable manic ex-wife. The plot revolved around two friends (Americans) who spent a summer in Spain. This one was more a drama than rom-com. In fact, it was all drama, no comedy. Scarlett Johanson (sp? - I have no idea how to spell these actors' names, and I don't care enough to look it up, even though I'm clearly on my laptop as I type) played a flirty open-minded girl looking for love. This was the same character she played in He's Just Not that into You, which I watched in my previous movie marathon. These being the only two things I've seen her in, I have to wonder if that's all she can do. Anyway, this was a pretty good drama, and I stayed awake. You have to be ok with voice-over narration, and the plot is very (VERY) simple. But Penelope Cruz's performance really did it for me. So I'd have to say I can recommend this one.
I thought, "Ok, you just made it through a drama. A drama, Lexie. Good girl. Let's try another." I enjoy a good self pep talk, don't you? So I clicked Larry Crowne without restraint. It has Julia Roberts in it, and I love her. Christopher and I definitely would not watch it together as he doesn't like her. My apologies, Julia, I've tried to convince him. Sadly, I didn't make it far enough into the movie for Julia's character to make an appearance. Larry Crown (Tom Hanks) is a middle-aged man who loses his job and decides to go back to school. I think I got through 20 minutes before turning it off and sleeping. It moved so slowly! So, if you're trying to stay awake, I don't recommend it.
And that's it. It was a very poor attempt on my part to stay awake. After waking, I moved to TV episodes. I figured I'd set smaller goals. That way, I could just stay awake for 50 minutes at a time, rather than pay attention for an entire movie. As I mentioned, this portion of the trip included episodes of reality TV not limited to Say Yes to the Dress. To be honest, I'm actually a fan of TLC, I think that some of their reality shows are fun. But I was just not in the mood for it, so it was almost a chore to get through the show.
After my layover, I slept for the full 3-hours of my final leg. Thankfully, on both legs, I was in a row of three with no one in the middle seat. Score!
Jet-lag and general apathy towards housework led me to spend the day following my trip on the couch, scrolling through Netflix. I started with 28 Days and remembered how much I like Sandra Bullock's hair. I ended my movie marathon with Girl, Interrupted (I know, drama!). I didn't realize how old his movie was, but the information on it said it won an award in 1999. Winona Ryder plays the main character with general issues coping with life. I thought the movie was good overall, but I wanted more of the time leaps that displayed Suzana's illness. That, and it didn't quite keep me fully awake. Luckily, Christopher called at some point in the middle and that woke me up so that when we were done talking I could finish the movie.
And there you have it. Hopefully now you can add or avoid a movie or two in your own Netflix queue. I don't have any more international flights in the very near future, so I can thankfully know that my rom-com watching days are over, for now.
