Watched: The Help (2011)

The Help (2011)

As soon as I saw the first trailer for The Help, I knew it was going to be another white savior movie. At the same time, I was a tiny bit excited at the appearance of another woman-centered movie on the horizon, and I hoped that it would belie my rather low expectations. There are so few movies about women’s lives and stories, and even fewer that manage to be made and distributed nationally. Fewer still are movies about women that aren’t centered on our supposedly eternal and imperative search for a man to put babies in our bellies. So. You know. I was excited, though pessimistically so, when I saw the early previews of this film.

There are few times when I hate to be right, but I definitely was about this movie, and I definitely hated to be. The Help isn’t just a white savior movie—there’s also an insidious thread of misogyny throughout it. It’s not surprising. I expected it, mostly, but it never ceases to be disappointing.

Watched: No Strings Attached (2011) and Friends With Benefits (2011)

No Strings Attached (2011)

Friends With Benefits (2011)

A few nights ago, my partner and I watched Friends With Benefits with more than a little trepidation, since it was obviously going to be pretty much the same movie as No Strings Attached, which we had already seen. Frankly, we expected Friends With Benefits to be just as painful a train wreck to watch as its predecessor.

Surprise! It wasn’t! At all! It was actually really enjoyable!

Watched: Bridesmaids (2011)

Bridesmaids (2011)

I completely loved this movie.

It was incredibly refreshing to see a woman-centered story and even better to see some of the funniest women in the acting business get to be funny together with relatively little interference from men. It’s a little sad, I think, that this is such a novelty. It’s as if we get so used to seeing movies with little or no female presence that it’s incredibly striking to see a movie about women in which men are really only on the periphery of the storyline–in Bridesmaids, the men are the bit players in the fascinating lives of the women at the center of the action.

Kristen Wiig is absolutely perfect as Annie, a directionless 30-something struggling with feelings of inadequacy, frustration, and resentment as her best friend, Lillian (Maya Rudolph), tries to plan her wedding, the process of which provides a brilliant backdrop for the film’s clever commentary on friendship, relationships, and the entire wedding-industrial complex and its effects on women. Rose Byrne is Helen, who intimidates Annie with her beauty and wealth, but who is just as dissatisfied as Annie is with the way her own life is turning out.

The competition between Annie and Helen is at the center of the story, but the rest of the cast is populated by ladies who are just awesome. Everyone gets great lines, and none of them were abused in the script, possibly because this movie that is about women is also by women–Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo co-wrote.

Watched: Red Riding Hood

Red Riding Hood (2011)

My partner and I watched this and found it surprisingly enjoyable, in a guilty pleasure sort of way. I’ve been saying for years that everyone enjoys a good bodice-ripper sometimes. I usually like mine in book form, with shirtless pirates on the covers, but werewolves can do in a pinch. This movie, until you think about it too hard (as I always, always do), is good mindless fun. Just like a trashy romance novel.

As I sit here thinking about it, however, I’m just feeling more and more frustrated with this movie. It’s not that it didn’t live up (or, rather, down) to my expectations. Indeed, it pretty much was everything I expected, only with better CGI for the wolf than most similar films. Catherine Hardwicke turns an ancient rape parable into a Twilight-esque fantasy for adults–there aren’t bound to be too many surprises there.

Watched: 127 Hours

127 Hours (2010)

I’m not even going to put a spoiler alert on this one. There’s not that much of a story here to spoil. Aron Ralston (played by James Franco) falls in a canyon while rock climbing, sits around trying to escape for a few days, and finally cuts off his own arm in order to get free.

Intellectually, I can say that this was a very good film. It was well-crafted, with superb acting and lovely camera shots throughout.

Emotionally, I’m not really sure what to feel about it. Maybe it’s just me, but I think I just don’t get it.

Watched: The Kids Are All Right

The Kids Are All Right (2010)

(Spoiler Alert)

So, uh, there was SO MUCH going on in this movie. Unfortunately, not a lot of it made any sense because it was basically just a 2-hour string of semi-related vignettes and unfinished character sketches.

Annette Bening: Mostly believable as Nic, part butch lesbian, part harried matriarch, part bad cop.

Julianne Moore: Not believable at all as Jules, Nic’s flaky, directionless, desperate housewife.

Note: Bening and Moore have next to ZERO chemistry. Every intimate scene of the two of them is awkward and forced, to the point of being embarrassing for the viewer. Whatever the exact polar opposite of sexy is, Bening and Moore seem to have achieved it. Maybe, you know, they could have gotten actual lesbians to act in this movie? Hm?

Joni and Laser are a whole other story. These are the most boringly normal teenagers ever. Which is, perhaps, part of the point? That a same sex couple can raise kids that are just as average as the rest of the mid-portion of the white upper-middle class bell curve? In any case, these kids are a snooze fest. And not because they don’t have problems. They have the same first world problems as any other white middle class teenagers, only the movie declines to deal with any of them. In any way. Seriously.