Movies

I thought I'd write about movies today. Mac and I really have a hard time finding movies we like. It seems like they are so predictable, though that might be a factor of age. I think someone said that there are really only 5 plots (can't remember what they are, but Lord knows I've seen them).
Americans make good action movies, but I really am not crazy about their romantic movies. Either they're, again, too predictable or they're teenage gross. Thank goodness for Netflix, I sit at my computer and study films from all over the world, and of course still manage to pick clunkers.
One of our favorite movies is "Once". It takes place in Ireland and it's about a musician. The song from it Falling Slowly won an Oscar and I really liked the movie. The people seemed so real instead of Hollywood phony.
We like Tim Burton the director, he directed "Big Fish", a wonderful movie starring Ewan McGregor and Albert Finney. It has a line in it about love, the character says there was her and then every other women in the world, and that's exactly how love should be. He also directed Johnny Depp in "Edward Scissorhands," " Ed Wood" ( a wonderful cheesy movie),"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (Depp says he got Charlie's voice from playing Barbi dolls with his daughter), and "Sleepy Hollow". We enjoyed all of these except "Sleepy Hollow".
Johnny Depp is one of our favorite actors and we've seen him in the Tim Burton movies mentioned above as well as "What's Eating Gilbert Grape"(also starring a very young Leonardo diCaprio), "Don Juan DiMarco" , "Chocolate" , and "Cry Baby". I'm really looking forward to his interpretation of the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" (note the picture).
One of the most visually stunning movies we've ever seen was "The Fall". It's the story of a stunt actor in the early 1900's who is injured and while he is in the hospital he tells stories to a little girl (best child actor I've ever seen) and the movie is how her mind interprets what he's telling. Absolutely gorgeous.
Speaking of child actors, there is a British movie called "Millions" that tells the story of 2 little boys who find a bag of cash that criminals have thrown off the train. Very touching story.
My latest find is "Lost in Austen", a story of a modern London girl who accidentally trades places with Elizabeth Bennett, the heroine of Pride and Prejudice, absolutely hilarious. I understand that the American rights to it have been bought, no telling what Hollywood will do with it.
Saw a German movie that won the Oscar for best foreign film in 2003. It is called "Nowhere in Africa". It's the story of a Jewish family that immigrates to Kenya just before the Second World War to escape the Nazis. Excellent movie.
A French movie we liked was "My Father's Glory", about a French family that rents a summer home, beautiful family movie and there's a sequel "My Mother's Castle".
A hilarious foreign movie we saw was "The Great Match" about 3 very different groups of people (a group of Amazonian indios, a group of Mongolian nomads, and a group of Tuareg people from the Sahara) all trying to get to a t.v. set so they could see the World Cup in 2002.
Movies with subtitles aren't always easy to watch, but I judge how good a movie is by the fact that I forget I'm reading the subtitles.
I wish Americans made better movies. I keep ordering them from Netflix and being disappointed. They need to remember we don't all live in New York City or LA.