movies, i guess

Wayne and I saw 1408 yesterday. I love John Cusack. A lot. I've adored him since my teenage years in the 80s. Since before Say Anything, but Say Anything is one of my favorite movies.

1408 has received pretty good to excellent reviews; I love a good thriller and Stephen King and John Cusack, so it seemed only natural that we go see it in the theater, even though it is a PG-13 movie. Generally, we avoid PG-13 because those movies usually have a young and obnoxious audience who have no business watching a movie in public without parental supervision.

Ok, 1408 had my palms sweaty and had my crying-- or close to it. John Cusack's performance was so, so, so good. He dominated the screen time, and he sucked you right in. His character felt so real and raw and...angry. It twists and turns, and I got a chill at the end. Go see it.

And speaking of movie ratings, we watched This Film is Not Yet Rated. This movie made my jaw drop-- the opening sequence alone was like, wow:


Actually, I just rewatched it, and it didn't seem so shocking anymore. It probably didn't help that Paige and her friend were in the room with us, and Maya and her friend were upstairs, which meant I was watching from the bottom of the stairs to run interference, if needed.

It was really eye-opening. I have always paid attention to the ratings and sometimes, even when I paid attention to the ratings, I was annoyed about how inconsistent ratings tend to be. Raunchiness gets more and more tolerated as does violence. Some R movies make me wonder why the heck they are R, and some PG-13 movies (or PG) cause me to wonder how they got away with those seemingly benign ratings. I never really thought about who is rating these movies, but now I know. Nine people rate the movies we see, and if a film-maker want to appeal a given rating, a board consisting solely of people who are employed by various movie studios and movie theater companies will hear the appeal.

There is even an amusing part about piracy, which the MPAA is fighting against full force. I've decided I don't like the MPAA.

So today was party day.
Maya had two over-lapping brithday parties to attend. They were fun-- bowling at one and a circus themed party (with bounce house) at the other. During the first party, one of my friends (a mom of one of Maya's friends) and I went to the farmer's market, which was so fun. I ate a freshly made pretzel and a doughnut that was the best doughnut I've ever tasted. I also got a bouquet of stunning red lillies for only $10. I'll have to take a picture. After the parties, two of Maya's friends came over for a few hours. It was busy today.

Once the kiddos left (a successful playdate, I must say), Britt, Maya and I watched Howl's Moving Castle (Rated PG for frightening images and brief mild language). We love Spirited Away, which is another Miyazaki film, and this film was so layered. I have to say that some of it went over my head, so I could use another viewing. I love movies that require more than one round through to catch everything.