Yep, you’re pretty much looking at what I did for six days.

I somehow managed to watch several movies, between the LONG plane trips and a day stuck in due to either a sun or chlorine allergy and I’ve done a “witty” one/two sentence summary of each below for your edification (I love the word edification…isn’t it great?)…anyway here they are:

Step Brothers: Funnier than Semi-Pro, less funny than some of the other Will Ferrel vehicles, it’s a bit lacking in plot, like all of ‘those movies’, but with some choice lines you’ll find yourself repeating probably for the rest of your life. A solid 3 Stars.

The Namesake: A beautiful and poignant film, with an ending that slightly let me down, and previews that kind of led me astray, and ultimately made me want to read the book, which I bet is at least ten times better. A good 3.5 stars.

Married Life: A lovely looking period piece about relationships, friendships, and marriage, with excellent performances by everyone except the bootleg Parker Posey (Rachael McAdams for the uninitiated), with the especially brilliant Patricia Clarkson driving the heart of the film, as always. 3.5 Stars.

Sidenote: McAdams wasn’t TERRIBLE, I’m just a little biased and she’s not good here, just acceptable.

Flawless: A hideous film that I never would have finished had I not been belted in at thirty thousand feet and coked up on too much caffeine to fall alseep easily, Demi Moore’s accent is atrocious, and while Michael Cane is pretty solid, as always, the plot and writing are dry and horrible, and the ending is atrocious. I don’t know why anyone would have thought this film could/should be made. 1 Star.

Blue State: An equally hideous little film, that I was tricked into watching by the beguiling Anna Paquin. Breckin Meyer is the lead, who I feel lukewarm about in general, but hated with a firey passion here where he is devoid of chemistry with Paquin (how can you be devoid of chemistry with Anna Paquin?! Even I would have chemistry with Paquin for christ’s sake!) and he is not aided at all by the horrible plot, script, and direction. Yay. 1 Star.

While not technically viewed on my trip, I watched my Netflix rental of Green Street Hooligans upon my return to New York. It was pretty good, and by that I mean that it was sometimes awful and sometimes pretty great in alternating turns. I did expect more from it and found it hard to become to emotionally attached to what was going on considering that the main characters were basically in gangs (called ‘firms’) based on local football (US=Soccer) alliances. Silly. I know it’s true and accurate that many people feel so passionate about sports, and particularly in Europe it has become a problem with violence and alcohol, but I just couldn’t stop thinking about the film The Wind That Shakes The Barley that I watched late last year, and which was so painfully about REAL war, war that can’t be avoided…I don’t know, it just seemed ridiculous to care to much that these kids (and adults) were so stupid to be killing over something so silly as sports loyalties. That said, how is Charlie Hunnam not a HUGE star by now? Gorgeous and very talented. Even standing next to the pretty much always solid Elijah Wood he was a powerhouse in the acting category. I was totally in love, with him, if nothing else. And based largely on that love, I’m giving it 3 Stars.

I also read two excellent books that I’ll be posting hopefully later this week…in case you’re looking for an excellent book