At the movies.

It's been a banner weekend at the movies around these parts. With my aunt and cousin and son, I saw Source Code, on the one hand one of those generally well-made thrillers with a sci fi edge, on the other hand one of those movies where you're hitting your forehead with the heel of your hand, because they're all, "We don't have time for these questions, soldier! Keep your focus on the mission! We're wasting precious time!" and the soldier is all, "But can't I talk to my dad? But where am I?" And you know that, 30 minutes in, there's going to be a big exposition-y chunk, because they're going to have to explain things sometime. So why not just get that explaining out of the way, already? But that Jake Gyllenhaal, he's a cutie. And that's enough explanation for everyone, at least most of the time.

Then today, on the spur of the moment, my daughter and I saw Red Riding Hood, a fantastic hot mess of a movie, much in the vein of the first Twilight, and what do you know? The wolf is no wolf. No, the wolf is a WEREwolf. Of course. Amanda Seyfried looked very fetching in her cloak. Julie Christie was beautiful and a little scary as the grandmother.

And tonight, the historian and I saw Hanna, which I may or may not have wheedled him into. It was definitely more on the action side of the movie-going spectrum than he usually likes. (Last weekend we saw Win-Win, which I highly recommend for the non-action side of the movie-going spectrum. It was great.) But I kind of adored Hanna. I love that actress Saoirse Ronan, and she is beautiful and compelling beyond all reason in this movie.

The first part of Hanna is set somewhere in the north, sub-Arctic. The credits, which, inexplicably, we were the only viewers to stick around for, said that part of the film was shot in Finland. These sequences were exquisite. Beautiful. There's a fairy tale valence to the whole thing that really gets set up perfectly (not quite like the wacked out Red Riding Hood, which has a medieval slash Renaissance Faire slash Dungeons & Dragons vibe), with its house in the forest of tall, tall trees, and the fierce brilliant cold, and the snow sometimes drifting beautifully, lazily down.

"Standby Snow," is the credit one craftsman gets. Maybe it's not a coincidence that there was a fair amount of that going on in our neighborhood last night and this morning:

p.s. someday, someone should cut that grass. but it has to stop snowing first.

Things I am enjoying right about now.

1. The first-thing-in-the-morning sun, and the last-thing-at-the-end-of-the-day sun.

2. The moon in a nest of clouds.

3. The last tomatoes.

4. The last peaches.

5. Walking the dog in the late evening.

6. My adult children, with their full beautiful lives and the little connections I have with them almost every day.

7. A bagel in the morning.

8. Re-acquainting myself with how sentences work (the subject matter of one of my classes).

9. Choosing clothes to wear every day.

10. Looking forward to a movie tomorrow night. What movie? Who cares?

Wait for it . . . the annual Best Movies So Far post, coming up this weekend.

I have had an all-day headache and it better not be the swine flu.

Otherwise known as: the Premature List of Notable Films of 2010.

Who knows if I will ever finish the movie reviews themselves, but here is the list of awards I would bestow if I had an awards show, which I don't, but seriously, maybe I should:

Best movies that are like jeweled artifacts: Duplicity and A Serious Man. These movies, because of their formal ingenuity and deft, crafty plotting, are entirely pleasurable, whether or not they are meaningful or important. Although, as it happens, I think that A Serious Man is both.

Best movies that are like a perfect day: Bright Star, Eternal Moments, Summer Hours. As it turns out, each of these films has a quality of pathos as well, but they are all full of life and what would ordinarily be unobserved moments, making them feel open and unforced and utterly beautiful.

Best movies that include covers of Cheap Trick songs: Rudo y Cursi. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, the moment when Gael Garcia Bernal sings "I Want You to Want Me" in his video-within-the-movie is perfection. But there are other covers of the song, most of them in Spanish, and the movie, which sometimes seems a little facile, hits an unexpected emotional note as it ends. It's a movie about love and it is lovely. Not quite as amazing as Y Tu Mama Tambien, but worthy nonetheless.

Best movies that have the suffix -land in the title: Adventureland, Zombieland. Fortunately for movielovers everywhere, both films feature Jesse Eisenberg, with his chemistry with Woody Harrelson in the latter a joy forever (see also: thing of beauty). Zombieland isn't quite Shaun of the Dead, but it is in the same class, which is a very good class indeed.

Best character studies: Goodbye Solo, Sugar, Big Fan. Goodbye Solo is about an African immigrant living in Winston-Salem; Sugar is about a Dominican baseball player who comes to the U.S.; Big Fan is about a guy who's a rabid New York Giants fan. Each is closely observed and surprising and absorbing. Of the three, I think Goodbye Solo is the most haunting, but all of them are worth your time.

Best voiceover: The Informant! I thought that Matt Damon was very good in this, an odd and not entirely satisfying film, but I thought he was especially good in the very well-written voiceovers. To me, they were the best thing in the movie. Except Scott Bakula, who was also brilliant, frankly.

Best little performance: Jason Bateman in State of Play. This movie also underwhelmed while simultaneously being quite entertaining--it just should have been better, is all, given Russell Crowe and Helen Mirren and whatsername, Rachel MacAdams and Robin Wright Penn and even Ben Affleck. You kept catching a little glimpse of--is that Jason Bateman? you'd ask yourself, as the movie tried to reconstruct the ins and outs of the twisty-wannabe plot. But when you finally get to have the awesome scene, and you confirm that it is indeed Jason Bateman, you are in for a treat. A treat and a half. Too bad the scene's so short, but maybe that's part of why it's so good. (and speaking of underwhelming, and Jason Bateman--two terms I have never linked, and hope never again to link--why was Extract not more wonderful? Why?)

Best animation: Ponyo, mainly for the underwater life. Also, Up, for everything. Maybe the two should be reversed? (Also, Coraline--just like "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah"--spooky! scary!)

Quietest movie: Wendy and Lucy. This movie was so minimal it was on the verge of hardly being a movie. But it stayed on the good side of that verge.

Movies that shook me up, shook me down, spun me all around: Sin Nombre, Hurt Locker. Sin Nombre is much more straightforward, narratively speaking, more workmanlike than brilliant--but its representation of its subject matter, the conditions under which Central Americans come north to the U.S., was brutal and frank and, for me, unforgettable. Hurt Locker is really quite unbelievably good. It is brainy, emotional, and kinetic. One of the very best things I have seen this year, and maybe in any year.

Most romantic and tragic at the same time: Two Lovers, Bright Star. Are "tragic" and "romantic" redundant terms? I will leave that to the literary critics among you to discuss. Each was close to perfect.

Funny: The Hangover, Zombieland. All I ask of a comedy is that it make me laugh. I prefer it if it doesn't also make me feel bad about myself for having laughed. I can't really say, truthfully, that the latter criterion can be said to describe The Hangover, but reader, I did laugh, boy howdy how I laughed.

Best movie with George Clooney in it so far this year: The Men Who Stare at Goats. Somehow, I feel it is my responsibility to defend George Clooney against all comers, because you know, a handsome guy like that, with piles of money, who's worked with a ton of good directors and has enough industry clout to direct and produce, and who's won an Oscar--a guy like that just doesn't get enough respect. Haters, desist! George Clooney was good in this sort-of-a-trifle of a movie, and still to come are Up in the Air, not to mention The Fantastic Mr. Fox. In conclusion, George Clooney is a very good actor. Also, handsome. The end.

Movies that wasted my precious, precious time: The Time Traveler's Wife, The Ugly Truth, He's Just Not That Into You, Easy Virtue. Go ahead, see these movies, but don't say I didn't warn you. (Not to say that I didn't enjoy seeing these with, respectively, my daughters, my daughter, Dr. Write, and the historian.)

Best music movie: It Might Get Loud. Kind of a modest thing, but I found it deeply pleasurable and also moving.

Best dance movie: I am sorry to report that there is no best dance movie, at least not so far, in 2009. My daughter and I saw Fame, and I won't say that there wasn't some enjoyment there, and popcorn, but dancing? not really.

Best movies overall: Bright Star, Eternal Moments, Summer Hours, Hurt Locker, A Serious Man. You will not go wrong with any one of these.

Without peer.

Tonight we saw The Class, which is pretty much the best film I have ever seen about teaching, classrooms, students, and education as a social enterprise.  Everyone should run to see it, as fast as you can, so we can all talk about it.

This was but one activity in a pretty much terrific Saturday that involved: 

• a long and loving reading of the sports pages, post the Jazz win, with
• muffins, after which 
• a walk with the dog under a perfectly clear, perfectly blue sky, and then
• dropping clothes off and picking clothes up at the cleaners, and then
• buying vegetables and eggs from Chad and Chad's dad, followed by
• a lunch with the historian's son and his family, which led to 
• visits to several furniture consignment stores at which we were looking for nothing at all, and 
• a visit to Ken Sanders, then
• the movie, after which we drove to the Red Iguana which had scads of people milling around waiting to get in, so we skedaddled along Redwood Road, and had
• dinner at a new-to-us Mexican restaurant.  

Just as we were sipping (in my case, guzzling) the last of our Cokes, the historian said to me: "I wonder how late that new Nordstrom is open?"  

I said I figured it'd be open till 9.  

He said, "Would it be okay if, after we finish here, we went and looked around a little bit?"

The historian does not like to shop, a dislike which extends to pretty much all places where shopping takes place, such as department stores, malls, and department stores located in malls. But he loves me, which is why this brought tears to my eyes.  Yes, the people, I was brought to tears over a Coke in a west side Mexican restaurant because my husband offered to take me to the mall.  So we went, and it was glorious and shiny, and then we came home, to find that West Jordan took the 5-A state championship, which I find absurdly gratifying.  Actually, I taught their coach in an Intro to Lit class at the University.  I'm pretty sure, therefore and ergo, that I had A LOT to do with their victory tonight.  Boo ya!