It has come back to me that I saw a couple of movies over the holidays that I omitted to write about.
The first one is “Volver” an Almodovar film with Penelope Cruz. A riveting film about the relationships between a woman, her daughter, her mother, her sister and her aunt…and many family secrets… Granted I am a fan, but I truly enjoyed this movie.
http://www.sonyclassics.com/volver/
Another was “Babel.” I don’t know if my popcorn was bad but I did not enjoy the movie even if the critics rave about it. I found it exaggerated and way too heavy handed, lacking in subtelty.
The next film was “The Queen”, again great critics. I found the actress playing the queen to be excellent, but the film was a bit boring for anyone who has followed the media coverage of all those events. I confess my grandmother took me to “see” the Queen when she visited Montreal when I was about 6 or seven years old. I still remember the pain of the pin curls she had covered my head with the night before…so I have alwasy kept an eye on royalty out of loyalty for my Nanny.
The fourth was an unpretentious romantic comedy called “The Holiday” about a transatlantic house swap between two girls going through a rough time as the holidays approach. Beacuse I had no expectations, I enjoyed it.