Project 289 - Day 187 : More Flicks Than a Cow's Tail in High Summer

Another full on day in the pursuit of art, fun and weekend enjoyment!

After a hearty lunch - yes hearty... who knew a tandoori burger could be hearty?! - at Foodarama on King Street, we caught the train to the City (in and of itself a thrilling and exciting.... nah, only if you're three!) and watched not one, but two movies (one in 3D, "UP" which meant I got to wear very funky glasses (see the picture above)! Normally my friend Jason and I would watch three in a row but decide to err on the side of non-sensory overload and stick to a more manageable two, in the hope we may actually recall the movies afterwards! (Although a narrative mishmash is kind of fun, and a challenge to recounting the movies to your work colleagues around the water cooler the next day!)

In between the movies, we grabbed some dinner at BBQ King in Liverpool Street - lemon chicken and tangy shredded beef that sounded cliched as hell as I ordered it but tasted original and delicious... go figure - and fortified ourselves with lollies, which as everyone knows is an essential part of any cinematic experience. As you can see below both the movies were fabulous, as was the time spent with my beautiful guy and my very good friend Jason.....

UP

What a gorgeous movie! It has it all - emotional resonance (more touching than many real life movies I have seen lately!), exquisite characterization, spot-on dialogue and innate sense of slapstick and verbal humour that had me laughing out loud. This is a movie that tells a story of the longing for adventure only to discover that you were living the very adventure you really wanted all along - that of loving somebody, and then channeling that realization into letting love move you to new and unexpected places again. Inbetween all these heartfelt realizations are brightly birds with slapstick skills most circus performers would kill for, a talking dog ("Squirrel!" is my new favourite diversionary word!), and the necessary villain to remind everyone that you need to often fight for what you truly value. All in an animated feature? Yes! It's one of the best movies I have ever seen and you need to take the time to go see it.

(500) Days of Summer

I will say at the start that I love traditional romantic comedies. Yes they are predictable, schmaltzy and over the top but hey we flock to them because for a second we can believe that love actually happens like that! Having said that, I also like movies that subvert the standard approach to anything (even if I love it) and this movie reinvents romantic comedies beautifully! It does nod it's head to the discovery of real true love, but not between the two protagonists! It also messes with a standard narrative jumping liberally between days 1 to 500 in exactly the same way the heart and mind do when recalling events. Neither party comes across badly - just as a flawed human beings doing their best to craft lives that make sense and connect with their dreams and expectations, and failing and succeeding in equal measure. It's the sort of movie that actually gives you hope about life and love because it is so grounded in the reality of loving; while tipping its hat to an optimistic outlook, it also acknowledges life isn't as cotton-candy bright and Pollyanna chirpy as we we'd like to believe it is. You can relate perfectly to these people, beautifully acted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, understanding what drives them, and why they do what they do. Ultimately it restores your faith in life and love, because it makes all the things you long for seem achievable. Just perhaps not in the way you expected.