The first movie I saw on the NYC trip was Marie Antoinette. It was for Mikki's birthday and so a group of ladies went. And I was so bored. It is quite pretty, and Copolla had access to amazing locations that no one has ever filmed before (says things I've read) and most of it would make a pretty photo if snapped into a still........ but, nothing happens. It's 2 hours long and probably has a 30 page script. Almost no one speaks, no action happens and even the new wave music was used pretty poorly. The most action in the movie was a 10 minute scene where she seduces someone. Finally! Something happened! Then ten minutes later it was over and that was that. I also thought that Dunst and Schwartzman were horrible in it. Just wooden, boring performances that would have been better from actual French teenagers, I'd hope at least.

One positive thing I will say is that there were cute doggies in the movie. Pug bellies galore for the first 15 minutes I'd say. And all the pretty cakes around did make me hungry. Afterwards Mikki said that it was her birthday and no one would be allowed to not like it- so, I guess that means I liked it afterall.

Then I saw Borat last weekend. Luckily, I didn't pay for it, so I was in a better mood even though I was sitting in the first row (harumph). The first thing I noticed was the fact that many people saw fit to bring their children to this movie. There was even one (8-10 yr old) boy who clearly didn't want to come into the theater and kept telling his mom he wanted to see a kid movie. Yikes. I can't imagine that a kid would be interested in this movie at all, or anything but terrified by some parts. And yes, during the naked wrestling, there was crying and a loud "what is happening!?" being cried out by a child. All this did was make everyone uncomfortable. Even more uncomfortable than they were already being made to feel by the movie, I mean.

Okay, so I didn't love this movie. I thought it was okay, but I was told this was the funniest movie ever made, so I think my hopes were too high before it even started. The best stuff was the interacting with people stuff, and not the jerking off/poop stuff, but unfortunately there seemed to be more of the latter. I also found myself worried and then consoling myself with knowledge of the film business. Particularly when he breaks all of those antiques (for really, a lame slap-stick part) in what appeared to be a small business. I made myself happy by thinking that production most likely paid those people in full, off camera. I also think that this movie gave away too many of the good parts in trailers and promos for the last 6 months. I felt like I was watching something I had already seen every few minutes. I will say that the enormous black box that they used to black out Cohen's weiner was hilarious. Even if that scene went out about 3 minutes too long.

And now everyone wants to sue, which makes sense. Too bad it's the people like those horrible stains on society (ie. those frat boys) and not people who actually seemed a bit exploited by the movie (ie. the actual poor people in the beginning). Seeing how they lied to people to get them to sign releases really bugs me, since I often have to do this for my work, and I fear this movie may have made my job harder. Thanks a lot, stupid liars.

Mike saw the Tenacious D movie (I have not) which we both saw trailers for and thought looked horrible (though we had had high hopes before). He said it was surprisingly good and not the pot fantasy that the trailer made it out to be. Could it be, that they know fans like us will see it anyway and so they marketed the trailer towards pot smoking teenagers? I really do wonder.

I will leave you with a trivia question- specifically for you Office fans. My sister went to see Death Cab (Ted Leo opened, dammit!) and I missed it. She then went backstage because she has only lived here for 2 months and has more connections than anyone. Backstage was Jim from the Office- which of the following is true:
a) he smells pretty bad and is very bland and unfunny
b) he is very petite in person, kind of strange looking
c) he loves him some indie rock groupies
Tune in next time to find out the amazing conclusion!