A Look Back on The Bachelor/Bachelorette

The other night I got into a conversation with some friends about The Bachelor/Bachelorette, and apparently I know more about it than I thought. I go through spurts of watching the show religiously (I used to love to read EW's recap the next day along with all the comments) and of not watching at all. I'm sadly currently in a non-watching period. 

Tonight, though, I am watching The Bachelor at 20: A Celebration of Love, which is obviously airing on Valentine's Day. Because, you know, when you think of love you think of a reality television show. I won't be entirely cynical, because weddings and babies have come out of the show occasionally.

But really, watching can be fun and can sometimes lead to real emotions. I chose to blog about it occasionally. (Each link is a blog I wrote abut that season.)

--Jason and Molly (and Melissa) had a gut-wrenching ending full of lots of emotions (and the classic Mesnick-crying-over-the-balcony).
--The start of Jillian's season (she was in the final three of Jason's season). This season had me straining for believability when Jillian just happens to choose the guy that had to leave in the middle of the show (but was magically able to come back at just the right time....).
--Brad Womack's second go at being The Bachelor, when I ranted about him getting so much flak for not choosing either girl the first time. Apparently it's better to lie and fake a proposal.
--Ben Flajnik was pretty loved when he was a contestant on Ashley's season, especially when he was rather unceremoniously dumped after getting on one knee. He was a super lame Bachelor, though, and chose the toxic model.
--Desiree found love after a truly crushing break-up. That was tough to watch.

I watched a bit of Juan Pablo's season (worst Bachelor ever) and most of Chris Soules' (he made the wrong decision); Desiree was the last Bachelorette I watched. I skipped out on seasons 5-12 of The Bachelor, mainly because 2005-2008 was a busy, crazy, strange time in my life. Those are also some pretty crappy seasons (the Prince one, the doctor one, the famous actor one, the football player one). Maybe I'll star watching this current season....

My Mom Came To Texas

My mom was in Texas earlier this week. I decided she needed to come out and visit me, but thought I needed some reason. So I checked the Jazz's schedule and discovered that they would be in Texas playing the Mavericks right around her birthday, which is February 5. I decided to combine Christmas and her birthday into one big present - a trip out to Texas and a Jazz game!

She arrived early Monday morning and we headed straight to Fort Worth to check out the famous Stockyards. We got there right as the first cow herd down Exchange St was getting ready to start. Then we took a guided tour of Fort Worth, which is a pretty cool town with lots of "old west" history. Fort Worth was once a major player in the cattle drive from southern Texas north to Kansas, and it was really neat hearing all the history. My mom, who grew up on a "spud farm in Idaho" and whose dad was a farmer, loved all of it.

We had dinner and ice cream in Denton (obviously Beth Marie's would make an appearance; anyone who visits me must get local ice cream).

Before heading down to Dallas for the day, I took her into City Hall to meet some of my coworkers. We rode the train down to Dallas and headed first to the Sixth Floor Museum, which back in November 1963 was the Book Depository and was the employer of Lee Harvey Oswald. It was from a sixth floor window of that building that he shot and killed President Kennedy. The building is now a museum, and it's extremely well done. It takes you on a tour of not just the assassination, but provides background on his presidency, the state of the nation and world, and the aftermath that followed. 

Once finished with the museum tour, we headed down to the street. The roadway is marked with two Xs where Kennedy was shot. The street is surrounded by Works Progress Administration structures and is quite beautiful.

 

We then walked over to Reunion Tower and went to the top to check out some spectacular views of the DFW Metroplex.

We had pizza at Campisi's before walking over to the game. The Jazz trailed for much of the game, at one point by 15 points. We struggled with getting over that 5 point deficit. But then we did, and the game went into overtime. The Jazz came out victorious and it was awesome. Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday, mom!

And then she left Wednesday morning. I love having people come visit me.

Mad Max: Fury Road

Much like Bridge of Spies, I never would have bothered to see Mad Max: Fury Road if it wasn't nominated for Best Picture. I haven't seen any of the Mad Max movies. When this newest installment came out during the summer, the previews didn't make me clamor to see it. Even the many positive reviews didn't make me want to see it.

And now I've seen it (thank you RedBox) and my life isn't any better for seeing it. I thought the movie was pointless and plotless. Dialogue was mumbled. I had no idea what was going on, but didn't care. The movie was just one incomprehensible car chase interspersed with moments of stopping to sort of talk about things so the characters could get moving to the next car chase scene. The "car chase" scenes aren't like Fast and Furious or the Bourne series car chase scenes, which either show off cool car stunts to cunning maneuvers through a city. These "car chase" scenes are really a band of weirdos chasing after a rig inhabited by the characters we're supposed to care about.

In a way Fury Road is similar to The Revenant in that both are very in love with their visuals - that sand storm was kinda cool - but the former is far less reverent about it. Both are "Hey, look what I can do!" concoctions of their directors (although George Miller is less showy about his in interviews and such).

Also, I am honestly baffled as to why Tom Hardy keeps getting these plum roles in huge movies. He is utterly unimpressive to me. This could be that the only movies I've really seen him in require him to wear a mask, but I just don't get the love for him.

This movie might be at the bottom of my Best Picture list this year...

Inside Out

Saturday night I checked out the "dollar" theater again to finally see the Pixar summer-hit Inside Out. The film is incredibly clever and lots of fun. I love the concept of different personality traits as actual figures in our head trying to work together. Joy, voiced by Amy Poehler, is the one in charge, but she has to work with Anger, Disgust, Fear and, rather importantly, Sadness (who is perfectly voiced by Phyllis from The Office) to make Riley a functioning person.

This movie is a such a delight and really hits all the important aspects of being a person - joy, anger, disgust, fear and sadness, along with core memories, imagination land, dream world, personality islands. It also gives a little insight into the crazy life for pre-teens and teens - their emotions are just all over the place! It definitely a tough time (a few of my nieces and nephews are teenagers now, and dang was there a change when they hit 13!).

Definitely see this movie.

That's Not My Job (It's My Hobby)

Sometimes I wish that my life was just watching movies and talking about them. This usually happens after I've had a weekend of seeing awesome movies, such as the recent MLK weekend when I saw Brooklyn and Room. Last week I had a conversation with a co-worker just about movies and the Oscars and the attached controversy to this year's telecast. This week is the Sundance Film Festival and I wish I was in SLC just watching movies all week long.

Then I realized that the last five of seven blog posts was about movies. So, yeah, a lot of my life is movies. It's just not my job. I'm pretty happy that I have a lot of free time outside my 8-5 job to see movies.

Bridge of Spies

I had absolutely no interest in seeing Bridge of Spies. Had it not been nominated for Best Picture it would never have been seen. But it was, and I lucked out that it's still playing in the dollar theater here in Denton. I went in hoping I would be pleasantly surprised and at least a little entertained.

I was not. This film could not capture my interest. Tom Hanks, to me, was phoning it in. Spielberg didn't do anything unique or interesting. Neither did his frequent collaborate, D.P. Janusz Kaminski. I understand the decision to shoot the film in monochromatic greys, but the over use of white light at the windows really bothered me. The film looked incredibly dull to me.

I didn't particularly care about any of the characters. I know I'm supposed to, but I didn't. I am supposed to care about the pilot, Gary Francis Powers, and the detained student, Frederic Pryor, but the film didn't spend a lot of time establishing them as characters to care about. I needed more than "They are Americans." I also wasn't particularly invested in Jim Donovan, the insurance lawyer chosen to first defend a Soviet spy and then negotiate a swap of prisoners. I know he has a wife and a family, but I never quite connected with him as a character.

The film is straightforward and lacking in subtlety. Donovan actually says, "Every life matters." I believe that too, and I appreciate what he did. but every thing was a bit too on-the-nose. The film was written by the Coen brothers, which surprised me when I was watching the credits. They are generally better at creating interesting characters and thoughtful dialogue.

Bottom line: I don't really recommend this movie. However, the people in the theater with me all seemed to really like it; they even laughed. . They were also all a lot older than me, so I think the demographic skews older.

Room

I did a double-header on Monday and saw Brooklyn (again) and another Oscar-nominated film, Room. This was my first time going to the Angelika Film Center in Plano and I was very impressed. I believe I will be making more trips there (although, I'm also quite impressed with the Cinemark in Denton to get a fair share of the so-called "indy" movies).

Room is the story of a woman and her son, she taken against her will and held captive in a 10'x10' shed for seven years and he the child born to her while living in captivity. They live in Room. Well, Jack is living but Ma is just surviving. She has created a world for Jack in Room; she's taught him to read and wonder about things. But it's clear that she is near the end of what she can handle.

She devises a daring escape plan, and I admit that my heart was POUNDING as it all played out. I was so concerned for Jack and if he'd make it out. Then I was concerned about Ma and what would happen to her. I was scared for them, and then overwhelmingly happy for them when they were reunited.

I went into the movie not knowing much about it, and I'm glad that only half of the movie was in Room. I was already starting to get bored of it and wondered how the film would spend the entire time there. Thankfully we get the second half of the movie, wherein Ma and Jack adapt to the world outside of Room. The real world.

And I'm glad the film goes this way (based on a book, so I guess I'm glad the book went this direction), because the conflict and sadness of the outside world is moving. Jack can't believe this whole other world exists, but he seems to be adapting well. Ma, known as Joy in the real world, is the one who really struggles. And why wouldn't she. She is the one who knew what was outside Room, what was happening to her inside Room, and was psychologically beat down.

The film is emotional and I cried quite a bit. I always like William H. Macy and his role as Joy's father is terribly sad. Joan Allen is wonderful as Joy's mom, Nancy, as is her boyfriend, Leo, and his dog. When Nancy is cutting Jack's hair and he says he loves her my little heart burst and tears of joy ran down my face. Love is love.

I especially like that the film is seen through Jack's perspective. His voice overs were my favorite part, as they so perfectly captured the world as seen through a five year-old's perspective. I think it's a shame he wasn't nominated for an Oscar - his performance is marvelous.

When this movie and its star, Brie Larson, started getting a lot of buzz, I confused her with Alison Brie. The names are similar, and even though everything said "Brie Larson" my mind still went to Alison Brie. So when I saw a picture of Brie Larson getting an award for this film, I had to do a double-take. My instant thought was, "That's not Alison Brie!" Then I realized I had the wrong actress.

Bottom line: this is an emotional story that I think is done quite well. I'm glad it doesn't spend too much in Room. The performances really make this film worth it.