“Couple quick things before we get started here. One is that I got ExpletiveDleted added to the list of Boston blogs on Boston.com I dont know that anyone actually goes thru the list reading blogs, but I know Im not the only Bostonian who spends a good chunk of the day punting on that site. Personally, the highlight of my day is when a new Love Letters gets posted. A bit out of character for me, I know, but the writer, Meredith, is pretty cool.
Next, AFI posted their top ten list for 2009. Particularly psyched to see The Hangover and The Messenger on the list. The former because I like that they’ll actually acknowledge that type of flick as quality (by some definitions of the word) entertainment. The latter makes me happy cause I dont think that movie’s gotten too much notice. And I really shoulda given it a full four \m/ instead of 3 1/2.
Right. Invictus. Almost didnt make it tonight. Work’s been insanely tough and all I wanted to do was veg out. As motivation, I decided I’d finally try those cupcakes that they’ve had at the theater for a few weeks now. I’d been regretting that I didnt get them when they woulda been free at my Cirque du Freak screening. Verdict on those? The red velvet one had killer cream cheese frosting, but otherwise not really worth three bucks a piece.
Okay I know, this blog is about movies, not cupcakes.
Im actually really glad I dragged myself over to the theater. I left there so happy. Although, it took a while to get to that point. The first half dragged on, and their accents were so bad (at least Im assuming they werent exactly accurate) that I couldnt understand half the dialogue. Im still not even sure what the rugby team was called. But the pace really quickened and the overall mood picked up just past the halfway mark. By the time the rugby team had that coaching session with some of the local kids, the history and tone had been set and we could just coast on the “”Mighty Ducks”” story.
There were some really beautiful images in the movie. That coaching session was a great one. Although, my favorite was the little kid at the end listening to the world cup game with the security officers. I also really liked how they used the work relationship between the black and white members of Mandela’s security staff to illustrate the relationship between the two halves of the country.
Fan-\m/-tastic acting from Morgan Freeman, as if we’d expect anything less. By now, we’ve seen him play a US president in Deep Impact (second best fictitious pres after Dennis Haysbert on 24), win an Oscar for Million Dollar Baby, and of course play God in Bruce and Evan Almighty. Apparently Nelson Mandela said that the only actor he thought could play him was Freeman. Now I know absolutely nothing about the man, but I definitely saw him, not Freeman on screen. And that’s saying something for such a recognizable and loveable actor. I also know nothing about his politics or character other than what we saw in the film, but at least here he was such an admirable and inspirational person. To have gone thru hell in prison, and then draw from that experience to try and unite a country could not have been easy. Ew, Im starting to get all gooey. I’ll stop
Love Matt Damon as always, but I dont know if it was the accent or the extra blonde hair that really threw me off. His character grew on me by the end, but it took some getting used to.
As far as the whole rugby thing, that’s a sport that’s intrigued me for a while. I never actually heard of it until high school maybe. Woulda been kinda nice if I knew the game a bit better since a lot of the time when they were playing I had no freakin’ clue what was going on. Makes me wish I woulda gone to see a game back at MIT when I had friends on the team, especially the girls’ team annual prom dress rugby. By the time we got to the final game in the film, I really was on the edge of my seat. Can’t really elaborate much more without getting spoilertastic.
Guess thats about it for now. Hoping to get an AFI movie in tomorrow, but I gots some errand running to do after work. Hopefully I’ll get outta there at a decent hour with an acceptable amount of brainpower left. Just gotta get thru this week and then Im off on Christmas vacay.
Invictus – \m/ \m/ \m/ \n