Work In Progress

The current movie meme! Seen everywhere.

Below the cut is Entertainment Weekly's list of the top movies of the last 25 years. Go through the list and BOLD the ones you have seen and UNDERLINE the ones you own on video or DVD.


That's 79 seen. I feel like a movie slut.

I still can't believe I've never seen Out of Africa.

I *just* watched Brokeback Mountain for the first time last night. Yeah, yeah, I know, a bit behind the curve. But man, am I glad I finally saw it.

First, BEAUTIFUL. The photography, the lighting, the tone. (And yeah, the geography certainly helped, but still.) Second, BEAUTIFUL. The performances were fantastic, with the possible exception of Anne Hathaway (whom wasn't given much to work with) and Jake Gyllenhaal's sideburns and mustache, which were obviously campaigning for a nomination themselves. Heath Ledger deserved every nomination he received -- his peformance was gorgeously restrained, but very intense. Lovely, lovely work.

And the story! Christ, I sobbed through the last twenty-five minutes. You all know at what, I'm sure, and even though I had absorbed some of the movie's key moments through cultural osmosis, it didn't dim their impact at all. Those shirts. God.

What was interesting, too, was that it made me a bit homesick. Homesick for a place I loved and hated, where I lived for only one year, but homesick nonetheless.

Stephen and I spent April of 1996 to April of 1997 in Powell, Wyoming, about two hours north of Riverton, where much of Brokeback takes place. Same enormous sky, same slightly barren landscape (in Riverton, that is, not on the mountain), same faded melancholy to aging buildings and streets, same circumspect realism to the people.

We didn't like it much when we were there. We were two kids from Jersey in a town of 2,500 people, two hours south of the closest mall and completely ignorant of hunting, ice fishing, and ranching, a bit unnerved by the empty stretches of land surrounding town on all sides. But there was a definite peace to life out there, and a lot of beauty -- hello, Yellowstone, and the ranches out on the South Fork past Cody.

Ben was born there, our "cowboy" baby. One day, we'd very much like to go back and show him where we lived, and visit Yellowstone again (when I'm not pregnant and therefore slow and cranky).

Also? If you haven't seen Brokeback Mountain and you can stand a romance without a happy ending, see it NOW.

Got our first DVD on Saturday (and didn't watch it till last night, but hey). Packaged it up and stuck it in the mailbox for the mailman to take when he comes by today. I could get used to this.

Our first selection was Nanny McPhee, which was an absolute delight. The set design and costuming alone were gorgeous, and then, of course, there's Colin Firth. So sweetly endearing here.

The kids were fabulous, it was quickly paced, and Emma Thompson was perfect as Nanny. The ending was over-the-top romantic in the very best way, and although I predicted it about twenty minutes in, I didn't care a bit. So good! I must own this.

I think we're getting Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit next. Either that or S2 Deadwood.