23 Jan- "I think the point is to make us despair. To see ourselves as animal and ugly. To reject the possibility that God might love us"

The Exorcist (1973)
dir. William Friedkin

CAST
Ellen Burstyn (The Wicker Man, 2006)
Linda Blair
Max Von Sydow (Minority Report, 2002)

I managed it on the second go this afternoon. And like most things, it wasn't as scary as the anticipation, and it's good that I can cross this off the classic movies I haven't seen yet list (Maybe Taxi Driver will be next).

I was surprised though, by the degree of sexual violence implied by possession. There's one part where the mother runs into Reagan's bedroom and she's bleeding as she stabs the crucifix into her crotch repeatedly, shouting, "Let Jesus fuck you!" after that, Reagan grabs her mother and pushes her head down, saying, "Lick it!" I guess the perversity was startling to me. It's not something I've seen in the more modern movies about demonic possession.

On that note, why is it that only girls are possessed? There's Exorcist (1979) and The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), The Last Exorcism (2010). Or how about The Reaping (2007), End of Days (1999), Ghostbusters (1984), Stigmata (1999), or that chick who needs to be rescued in Constantine (2005).

Can we think of men who are possessed? Sort of, maybe Constantine can be used again, since Keanu is sort of walking the line between life and afterlife in that one. For the same reason we could use Hellboy (2004), and Ghost Rider (2007), there's also Fallen (1998).

What's the difference? Besides the fact that the first bunch are, on the whole, better movies, the men who get possessed continue to act from a position of power. They use their new evil powers to fight MORE evil, or maybe they just go on a killing spree. They certainly don't get tied to a bed and wait for the evil to be beaten out of them - because they're men they get to do some beating of their own. Men gain control, women lose control.

I also have a rant about superheroines in movies as compared to superheroes. If I ever subject myself to sitting through Catowoman (2004), you'll get to hear it; unless someone wants to propose a superheroine movie they think it actually good.

22 Jan- "You know, I bring out the best in the men who fuck me"

 Leaving Las Vegas (1995)
dir. Mike Figgis

CAST
Nicolas Cage (The Wicker Man, 2006)
Elizabeth Shue (Back to the Future II, 1989)
Julian Sands (Arachnophobia, 1990)
Richard Lewis (Robin Hood: Men in Tights, 1993)
French Stewart (Stargate, 1994)
Mariska Hartigay (Lake Placid, 1999)
Laurie Metcalf (Toy Story 3 (voice), 2010)

Danny Huston (Children of Men, 2006)

I'd like to recommend this movie as one NOT to watch when you're feeling a little blue. I tried to watch The Exorcist for the first time last night. But I couldn't even get past the title menu - too spooky. The funny thing is that I'll bet it's not even THAT scary. I mean, it was made in the 70s and I think I've got at least a lot of that jadedness towards cinematic horror that the old folks are always complaining about. So I started Leaving Las Vegas and I finished the last forty minutes or so this morning and, damn, I think it's going to be one of those days where I stay in my pajamas and don't wash any of the dishes. It was depressing.

If you're unfamiliar, it's about a man who travels to Las Vegas with the intention of drinking himself to death. He hires a prostitute to stay with him on his first night there, and they fall in love, but he makes her promise that she won't interfere with his agenda, which is to be drunk until he's dead.

It reminds me of a line by Kurt Vonnegut, from the preface of Welcome to the Monkey House, he says something to the effect that he smokes. and he thinks that may other people smoke for the same reason, because, "smoking is a fairly sure, fairly honorable form of suicide." Do you think that might count for drinking as well? Here's another line: "Death will be an awfully big adventure." That's Peter Pan. The whole time you're watching this movie it's like nothing matters. Because he's still going to die at the end, and nothing is going to change that and you sort of get mad at Elizabeth Shue's character for putting up with his ridiculousness, for not trying to stop him and not leaving him either, she just tolerates it and he's dying and she's not doing anything about it. And you know before it ends that the finale is going to be very sad.

Which makes me wonder if he really loved her all that much. Since he didn't love her enough to stop drinking. But I think I'm misinterpreting. I suppose the point is that two flawed individuals (she's engaged in her own willfully self-destructive profession) were able to accept each other for exactly what they were for a brief period of time. I guess the romance is that Elizabeth Shue was able to love Nicolas Cage even though she knew it was going to end in tragedy. Although the he was kind of a dick to her when she was heading out to work, and she kicks him out after he brings home another prostitute. They make up in the end though.

I always like movies about Las Vegas because they never fail to take advantage of that contrast between the falsity and opulence of the Strip and the beautiful starkness of the desert. A silly example I always think of Fools Rush In, with Matthew Perry and Salma Hayak. That movie could have been really good, but poor Matthew Perry always takes down the classiness a few notches. All the same: deserts. I should get out to one of those someday.

Jan 17- "one that will make my unborn children grow gills

Party Girl (1995)
dir. Daisy von Scherler Mayer

CAST
Parker Posey - Broken English (2007)
Liev Schreiber - X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

John Ventimiglia - Flypaper (2011)
Dwight Ewell - Dogma (1999)

I got this recommendation from another blog which said something along the lines of "this is pretty good and you can watch it instantly on Netflix," and since my queue is always short on the light-hearted not-too-thinky stuff, I gave it a go.

I like Parker Posey, I think she's cool. Even though I always confuse her with Elizabeth Banks.

Oh my gosh! Which is which! The only thing I have to go on is that E.B. is usually blonde and P.P. is usually brunette, but you know these actresses and their looks always be a-changing. At least P.P. tends to stick to the indie stuff, so when push comes to shove, Banks is usually the better guess.

Sooo, this movie is a lot like Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) or maybe Clueless (1995) or Legally Blonde (2001). What I mean to say that it's about a ditzy girl who is alarmed when shit gets real, but manages to pull through by cultivating some sort of practical skill. In this case, it's library science. Other than that, there's an awkward romance which is even less developed than the aforementioned movies, and some colorful side characters who are mostly just irritating.

January Movie Wishlist!

Ah! I guess with all the excitement of the new year and such, I forgot to post my wish list for this month, which is already about halfway over! I guess that it's especially important to do this now, in these dark wintery times when there seems to be so little to look forward to.

1) Green Hornet (Seth Rogen, Jay Chou)
Do I know anything about Green Hornet? No, but I didn't know anything about X-Men, or Transformers either, and those movies were kickass. Plus Seth Rogen is a funny guy, and I'm all about that. Even if it seems my movie choices are mostly high drama and ill-fated romance (just wait until I post the next one).

2) The Rite (Anthony Hopkins, Ciarán Hinds)
I think I've mentioned before my obsession with the more arcane elements of Catholicism. It reminds me of the mother from The Poisonwood Bible, a book by Barbara Kingsolver (I wonder why no one ever thought to make a film adaptation of that one?) who had, "a pagan's appreciation for the Bible, being devoted to such phrases as "purge me with hyssop," and "strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round," and "thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness." Likely she would run through the fields dressed in sackcloth, hunting hyssop amongst the wild bulls, if not obligated to the higher plane of Motherhood" (p.30)

3) Kaboom (Haley Bennett, Thomas Dekker)
This one's coming from IFC films, which I usually like. It's a scifi-comedy about a bisexual girl who discovers something sinister in her Southern California town.

4) Burning Palms (Zoe Saldana, Paz Vega)
I think Inception or maybe Scott Pilgrim maybe unlocked this current trend of movies that play around with altern-reality, although I'll admit that the trope has been around quite a long time. Thia appears to be one of those movies with randoms people who have intersecting lives. It's also set in Los Angeles (Crash?).

5) The Absent (Damon Abdallah, Samuel Ball)
I'm just going to copy the synopsis from Movieweb.com: "The town of Liberty has many secrets but the darkest is hidden between twin brothers. Vincent and Oscar Burton are only 10 years old when Oscar finds out his parents are trying to kill him for insurance money. Oscar takes it in to his own hands to protect himself and his twin. He makes a breakfast that will be his parents last. Twenty five years later Vincent Burton is the best science teacher at Liberty High School until he falls for his prize student Katie Anderson. Katie has just ended a relationship with her cheating jock boyfriend Karl Pierce when she seduces Vincent. He takes her to his parents summer cabin and they cross the line when they enter into a sexual relationship. Vincent's twin brother Oscar is released from prison and decides to help Vincent avoid doing hard time. First Katie disappears then Vincent's list of absent students grows as Oscar does anything he can to take care of anyone who has knowledge of the relationship. Parents and teachers start to worry as the body count rises. The local Sheriff starts hunting Oscar but Vincent keeps him well hidden. The game of cat and mouse has the whole town involved. Innocent bystanders even start paying the price until the three face off in a bloody ending where only one remains standing."

16 Jan - "But he's so cautious. He won't go into dark places"

Lust, Caution (2007)
dir. Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, 2005)

CAST
Wei Tang
Tony Leung Chiu Wai
Leehom Wang

This movie is set in WW2-era Shanghai, and it's about a college drama club in 1940s China who discover and attempt to murder a high-level traitor collaborating with enemy Japan. The youngest member of the club, Wong, ingratiates herself with the traitor Yee's household and quickly becomes his mistress. The club gets drawn into the REAL resistance movement and the conspiracy deepens. Wong delves deeper and deeper into her make-believe role, rejecting her own true love for the farce of romance with the sadistic Mr. Yee. All of the heroes die.

You guys, this movie was super-sad. The heroine gave up everything to become the perfect spy, only to fall for her own act, and betray the people she swore to protect and die for. There's one part where the gang realizes that in order to carry on their scam, Wong is going to have to sleep with Mr. Yee. And so one of the other club members, the only one with any experience, is elected to show Wong how it's done. That's the part where Wong becomes a real outsider in the group, and her commitment to her alter-ego begins to overpower her own true self.

I think this was marketed as an "espionage thriller," I don't think that's right at all. I guess it's a "wartime romance," but a really twisted one. Lots of explicit sex scenes in here, but that's pretty much the name of the game with these foreign films. Plus, I think I watched the uncut version (it was 2:40 long)

Jan 15 - "Hold still, or it'll get messy"

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

dir. Neils Arden Oplev

CAST
Michael Nyqvist
Noomi Rapace

I guess Scandanavian (I'm not even going to pretend to know anything about that corner of the world) cinema is on the rise. First there was Let the Right One In (2008) (recently remade in America, haven't seen that yet), then the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, and this year another movie which I'm eager to see called Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, about a very wicked and sinister Santa Claus.

Well, I didn't read the book even though it's been all over the place and on the front shelf at Borders for what seems like my whole life. I did read the first several chapters of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest on my Mom's kindle on an airplane until she made me give it back. It was pretty cool: fast-paced, mysterious element, quirky characters, etc. The characters are sort of one dimensional but at least they're consistent. Mikael Blomqvist is so dull he might be well casted with Kevin Costner, but I'm pretty sure they got Daniel Craig for the American remake so maybe he'll be able to pull some complexity out of his butt or something.

Sorry for being snarky. Too much coffee today. I'm gonna apply a "Don't watch with your Aunt" warning sticker to this movie, unless your Aunt is super cool like mine, because there are lots of sexy parts. Even worse, they are almost exclusively non consensual. Although this movie still has a lot more going on than appealing someone's perverse fascination with perversion. I think Noomi Rapace will be showing up in a lot more American movies, including a SciFi flick for 2013 that may or may not be a prequel to Alien (1979).

11 Jan - "He doesn't have a name so death can't find him!"

Waterworld (1995)

dir. Kevin Reynolds (Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, 1991)

CAST
Kevin Costner (JFK, 1991)
Jeanne Tripplehorn (Big Love (TV), 2006-2011)
Tina Majorino (Napoleon Dynamite, 2004)
Dennis Hopper (Choke, 2001)
Jack Black (King Kong, 2005)

Robert LaSardon (Bubble Boy, 2001)

My brother says that Waterworld is a knock-off on Mad Max. To that I say, I never really cared for Mad Max anyway, but I DO like Waterworld, even though it's commonly referred to as the worst movie ever conceived. And to be sure, there are an awful lot of plot holes, like how all that contemporary stuff remains preserved on the surface of the water for thousands of years. And the whole "Smoker" culture seems terribly unsustainable. I mean - imagine a whole world utterly devoid of natural resources besides fishies and dirt derived from decomposing bodies. There shouldn't be any wood, there shouldn't be any metal. None of it makes sense and certainly they can't be affording to decimate the scant stuff they've got at the rate that occurs in this movie.

Kevin Costner is a particularly dull actor. Really, he can pretty much suck the emotional reaction out of any scene. Waterworld isn't awesome because of the acting, although I think Dennis Hopper does a fine job, it's because of the crazy atmosphere and the technical scenes of sails unfurling and gears grinding. Waterworld = what a whacky place!

11 Jan- "In your face, camel cake!"

Hook (1991)
dir. Steven Spielberg (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, 2008)

CAST
Dustin Hoffman (Tootsie, 1982)
Robin Williams (Flubber, 1997)
Julia Roberts (Eat Pray Love, 2010)
Bob Hoskins (Who Framed Roger Rabbit, 1988)
Maggie Smith (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, 2009)
Dante Basco (But I'm a Cheerleader, 1999)
Gwyneth Paltrow (The Royal Tenenbaums, 2001)

This movie is one of my childhood favorites for unclear reasons. It certainly isn't because of Robin William's stellar performance as either a workaholic father or a whimsical and cocksure Peter Pan. Another paradox is why I've fostered a lifelong obsession with Dante Basco, because I don't really think he deserves it (These days he does a lot of voice work for the Disney channel, including Avatar: The Last Airbender, and American Dragon: Jake Long). He was also really unconvincingly gay in the cult comedy But I'm a Cheerleader (1999). He was also in one of those inner-city kids dancing movies with Antonio Banderas.

On the other hand, I will go to my grave insisting that Dustin Hoffman gives the best performance of his career as Captain Hook. While Peter's character is derivative and formulaic, Capt. Hook is so awesomely insane and narcissistic. Maybe this is a little sick, but my favorite scene is where he threatens to kill himself and he's holding the gun to his head and he says "Don't stop me Smee! Smee, stop me. Stop me Smee!" Such high drama!

Here's a little something extra I learned - there's a scene where a man and a woman are kissing on a bridge: that's George Lucas and Carrie Fisher, wild huh?

11 Jan - "Squirt? I'm a king!"

The Chronicles of Narnia: the Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)
dir. Michael Apted (Gorillas in the Mist, 1988)

CAST
Ben Barnes (Stardust, 2007)
Georgie Henley (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, 2005)
Skandar Keynes
Liam Neeson (voice) (Batman Begins, 2005)
Simon Pegg (voice) (Star Trek, 2009)
Anna Popplewell (The Little Vampire, 2000)
Will Poulter
Shane Rangi (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, 2008)
Tilda Swinton (Broken Flowers, 2005)


My favorite part about Voyage of the Dawn Treader was the kid who played Eustace. He was so funny! A perfect little snotty kid. Except I didn't like him so much after Aslan got to him and he turned nice. That doesn't bode well for the upcoming Silver Chair, which features Eustace and his school chum Jill Pole on a quest to rescue Caspian's son, Rillian.

Tilda Swinton was in the movie, as an illusion haunting Edmund from time to time. I'll tell you, they will do anything to keep Tilda Swinton in these movies. Luckily for Disney, The Silver Chair has the perfect role for her. I will be totally surprised if they don't cast her as the Green Witch keeping Rillian prisoner (spoiler alert!)

If you're a smartypants like me, or if you read the Chronicles of Narnia anytime after age ten, you probably know that C.S. Lewis was a big deal Christian and really the Narnia books are all about how awesome God is. Voyage of the Dawn Treader is, I think, where the evangelical message gets laid on the thickest. There's a bit near the end where Aslan tells Lucy that she won't be coming back to Narnia (Actually, the whole team comes back in The Last Battle) and he tells her that he exists in the normal world, and that he brought Lucy to Narnia so that she could know him better in the other world. This is where I leaned over to the fella sitting next to me and whispered, "He's talking about Jesus!"

Because Aslan is Jesus.

Jan 9 - "I get so cold. It's desert cold."

Good Dick (2008)
dir. Marianna Palka
starring
Marianna Palka
Jason Ritter (Joan of Arcadia (TV), 2003-2005)
Mark Webber (Broken Flowers, 2005)
Martin Starr (Adventureland, 2009)


Here's a sweet independant romance about an impossibly awkward girl fascinated by soft-core porn being courted by a homeless video store clerk with a past history of drug abuse. For serious.

This Marianna Palka girl seems AWESOME! She's from Scotland, and moved to New York to act in plays, and then all the sudden she decides she's going to make a movie (She wrote, directed, and starred in Good Dick) which gets accepted into the Sundance Film Festival! Good on you, girl! It's just a pity that she chose a title which prohibits ever bringing this up in casual conversation without a detailed explanation: No, this isn't a sex movie. There's no nudity and no sex scene, not even one that classily pans out the open window.

I really thought this was a good movie, even the side characters seem to have important stuff going on without overwhelming the central plot, which is concise but sincere and touching. My one unanswered questioned was about the guy's motivation for courting the girl. I mean, it's clear he's fallen in love by the end, but at the beginning it's possible he was just looking for a place to stay, because he was living in his car. Was he tricking her? Maybe he just found this lonely, socially inept girl and thought he'd manipulate her into letting him into her life. Because he goes to such great lengths to get into the apartment of this girl who doesn't even wash her hair until halfway through the movie, and then he starts sleeping on her couch, and then he tricks her into letting him sleep in the bed. I'm not positive that his motives were pure, that's all, because it seems like he puts up with a lot of abuse before the end of it, and if he didn't need a place to stay, I don't think he would have stuck around.

Probably no one knows what I'm talking about because no one else has seen this movie. But you should!

9 Jan - "These days, dying is easy. Living is harder"

The Warlords (2007)
dir. Peter Chan, Wai Man Yip

CAST
Jet Li (Fearless, 2006)
Andy Lau (House of Flying Daggers, 2004)
Takeshi Kaneshiro (House of Flying Daggers, 2004)

Jet Li is the coolest name ever. Do you think he thought of that hiself? I think so, because his real name is more Chinese.

The story is abot a disgraced military commander who joins a band of robbers and convinces them to join the army under his command. The twist is while that guy (Jet Li) was supposed to be the ethical one, his own rotted sense of pride turns him into a real jerk. So when he starts out by executing two of his own soldiers for raping girls in a conquered city because, "everyone should be free," he ends up ordering an entire city of unarmed people be executed so he can hustle out of there and capture the next city, the rebel capital. As a result, the former leader of the robber band gets all moralistic and goes up against Jet's character. They're also both in love with the same girl (the only female character).

There's lots of really intense fighting, but I don't think an of the subsequent fights compared with the first, in which Jet Li gets stabed with a really long spear, but still kills a WHOLE LOT of guys, and then lets the spear run through him so he can kill the guy who's holding the spear. AND THEN HE SURVIVES!

Maybe it's the translation, but I thought this movie was a little heavy-handed with the metaphors. There's one scene where Jet Li walks out onto a crackly frozen lake, and some other guy goes, "General Pang! Be careful!" and then he says, "I have walked on thin ice all my life" End scene.

Lame! In that sense it reminds me of a book I read translated from Vietnamese. It was about the Vietnam War, and was all critically acclaimed and shit, but all I could think was, "Is he seriously comparing his life to a river???" For serious?!

I forget what it was called.

Jan 05 - "I don't need to be a real man. I'm an actor!"

I Could Never Be Your Woman (2007)
dir. Amy Heckerling (European Vacation, 1985)
starring
Michelle Pfeiffer (Stardust, 2007)
Paul Rudd (Knocked Up, 2007)
Saoirse Ronan (Atonement, 2007)
Fred Willard (Epic Movie, 2007)
Jon Lovitz (The Stepford Wives, 2004)
Tracy Ullman (The Corpse Bride (voice), 2005)

Why didn't I ever hear of this? It's at least as good as some other romantic comedies I can't seem to escape from (How to lose a guy in ten days) and actually had some nice sassy banter and engaging characters.

The problem is probably that it's named after a song, and movies with song title names are hard to explicitly remember. Bonus points though, on this one, because White Town's "I Could Never be Your Woman" is an awesome song, even though I'm pretty certain it's about a gay man in love with a straight man (listen to the lyrics and tell me I am wrong) and therefore not super-relevant to this movie, which is about a 40 year-old woman who is in love with a 29 year-old man, and since he cares for her as well, she is fully capable of "being his woman."

I guess the flaw is that Paul Rudd's character is not fully developed, but I guess that's sort of refreshing from a feminine perspective. While it's clear that he is indeed into Pfeiffer's character, it's never clear why, or at least why he isn't into the eligible younger characters (well, they're all bitches), or at LEAST some imaginary younger character that isn't as bitchy, there must be some out there.

Lots of snarky pop culture references, especially by Saoirse Ronan, who plays the daughter in a girl-punk band that sings parodies of girl-pop songs. So yeah, definitely a chick-flick, but a snarky, funny one that is way more worth rewatching than The Wedding Planner, which really, really needs to just go away (especially that dumb ass line about brown M&Ms, because it's stupid and it doesn't make sense)

Dec 29 - "I'm almost sure she did it on purpose"

Black Swan (2010)
dir. Darren Aronofsky (Pi, 1988)
starring
Natalie Portman (Where the Heart Is, 2000)
Mila Kunis (American Psycho II: All American Girl, 2002) --OMIGOSH THIS EXISTS
Winona Ryder(Girl, Interrupted, 1999)
Vincent Cassel (Shrek (Voice), 2001)

I can't believe I forgot to write about this! I guess probably because my mom took me right before New Years in a desperate attempt to cheer up my glum self. She also took me to a super fancy bistro afterwards where I ordered something super-fancy called Meatloaf Strudel and yes, that was as wonderful as it sounds. The trick though is that when we arrived in the restaurant it was utterly empty, and the waiter/host (a jack-of-all-trades, evidently) asked us about the movie and then practically squealed about how he hadn't been able to talk it over with anyone yet. So we had a chat.

At it was that guy who pointed out to me that Baclk Swan was intended to be a companion piece for The Wrestler (2008), both emphasizing the athlete's struggle with the limitations of his or her body. The gradual degradation of the dancer's body was the key theme in this movie. Then the waiter went off about other Aronofsky films, but I only saw i (1988) and parts of The Fountain (2006), which I did not care for.

Our big debate though, and I hate to spoil this for those who haven't seen the movie, but whatever...spoiler alert! Did Nina imagine sleeping with Lily or not? I leaned toward the conservative interpretation and said no, Nina was just batshit crazy and imagine Lily to be a subversive, but my waiter-pal thought otherwise, that Lily drove Nina to crazy heights by toying with her sense of reality. Ah! I'm still not sure, I think I have to see it again and watch for subtler clues, including the use or mirrors as symbols, which I'm thinking was more important than I first thought.

IMDB tells me that Aronofsky is directing another X men movie, called The Wolverine, which is about Wolvie's pre-x-men days in old-time Japan. In which, if I'm remembering my cartoons correctly, is when he falls in love with the girl who later become Lady Deathstrike, who I think was that Asian chick with the claws who died in X2: X-Men United. Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but let's all hope that it's better than X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Anyway, at this point there are so many holes in the canon that I guess it doesn't even matter anymore.

Sorry, I'm talking about comic books when I was supposed to be talking about the movie that will probably sweep the academy awards. blah blah blah, it was wonderful! whatever everyone else said blah.

Jan 1 - "Shot, huh? That'll do it everytime"

Ghost (1990)
dir. Jerry Zucker (Rat Race, 2001)
starring
Patrick Swayze (Tall Tale, 1995)
Demi Moore (The Scarlet Letter, 1995)
Whoopi Goldberg (The Associate, 1996)
Tony Goldwyn (The Last Samurai, 2003)
Vincent Schiavelli (A Little Princess, 1995)
Stephen Root (Crocodile Dundee 2, 1988)

When I'm feeling down, there's really only a handful of movies I feel like watching, depending with the source of anxiety. When challenged by matters of the heart, I think Ghost is a pretty obvious route to catharsis, unless you're like some anti-geeks who can't stand supernatural themes, then I guess you might watch Notebook (still haven't seen it!) or some other Nicholas Sparks crap. I like Ghost.

First of all, and this used to be privileged knowledge, "Unchained Melody" is my favorite love song. It really slays me. Right in the guts, and the version by Il Divo sung in Italian is impossible to sit through without at least a little wistful sniffing. Here we get the Righteous Brothers version, which is the most familiar to everyone. I think it's the part where the lyrics stutter a little "I-i-i need your love."

Gosh.

Here's another thing: I think Whoopi is awesome. I'm a big fan, I think she's the real deal. Class act all the way. I love the scene where Sam takes her to the bank and she's trying to act all cool and casual, although I would think that a professional con artiste would have more grace under pressure and be able to roll with the punches. I wish I were psychic.

The whole initiative may have gone better if my momma didn't ruin the MOST PIVOTAL SCENE (besides when Sam spooks out on his frenemy Carl) by pointing out that the in the scene where Sam and his girl reunite from beyond the grave! (and Unchained Melody is crooning full blast) and I'm supposed to be all impressed because their LOVE TRANSCENDS THE BOUNDARIES OF THIS MORTAL COIL-- my mom points out that even though Patrick Swayze is getting all intimate with Demi Moore on the screen, in the story world it's really a possessed Whoopi Goldberg doing all the cuddles, and wouldn't that feel weird to Molly?

Ambiance ruined?