Cups of Good Cheer

It's really really gray in Seattle, and January is usually the time the seasonal affective disorder takes hold on the entire region. While doing the dishes, my music player played an entirely appropriate song that I couldn't skip with wet, soapy hands.

Wintertime is usually when I try to watch comedies. Unfortunately, with the holidays, I forgot to reorder my Netflix queue, so the funny happiness hasn't arrive by mail yet.

Finally watched The Cider House Rules. I didn't read the book, so I have no idea how good it was in relation to that. The movie was pretty bleak, though, both in terms of the stories and the visual scapes. Maine landscape can be gorgeous (and the movie takes place almost perpetually in the autumn, so you'd think there'd be good scenery), but instead a lot of the movie focuses on shots of dreary trees and fields, isolated buildings (farmhouses, orphanage, etc), and empty roads.

I wasn't really impressed. I got the metaphor for the "cider house rules" early on, about rules being created by people who don't necessarily live the life they're intended to govern (the main issue obviously being abortion). I didn't think Charlize Theron conveyed the complexity her character required. Toby Maguire was a little too bumblingly happy. Michael Caine alone was great, but then he always is.

Watched Better Off Dead a few days ago. It was kind of wacky. But in a good way. The heroine was refreshingly unlike the Molly Ringwald-type girls who always seem to be in most '80s teen films. This heroine could fix cars! Anyways, it was a good movie for vegging after New Year.