Summer Movies

I didn't go to very many movies this year, in general, but who can get through a summer without seeing at least one during the season? Certainly not myself. The selection is thankfully short for my readers. I went to see Alice in Wonderland (the remake, of course, with Johnny Depp in it) at the dollar movies and how could I resist seeing Salt when I heard the preview on television say, "I'm Salt. My name is Evelyn Salt" ? I've never seen but one movie with Angelina Jolie in it prior to this summer and that was Hackers. Yes. A very long time ago. So, I suspended my basic feelings of seeing any of her movies and went with all female family members to see this sleeper of the season.
I wasn't prepared for the Lara Croft treatment and so here I was trying to stay focused on the action as she landed flat on her back from great heights several times within seconds of each landing for the space of about five minutes of humanly impossible action. This was very nearly the beginning of the movie. Needless to say, I couldn't help but laugh at the most inappropriate time of the movie. How could I help it?

The actual beginning of the movie was horrendous and I won't go into why but it seems to me that as I watched her receive brutality after brutality on the screen for everyone's so-called viewing pleasure I started to actually feel sorry for all women by the end of it. The violence was so bad I couldn't get over the trauma of viewing more than an hour of this thriller. I'm especially bothered by senseless murdering onscreen of which this celluloid blunder contains a plethora. I don't know who I'd recommend this movie to or why. I suppose it was the finest of its genre but I believe my problem is with the genre itself- not its expertise. A funny paper cartoon pretty much says it all for me:

(Please turn off your brain cells ! ! )

Conversely, the grown-up Alice movie was a delight from beginning to end with some real thought provokers contained within the now somewhat fractured story through an adult onset viewpoint. In it the 19 year old Alice (played by Mia Wasikowska) goes through the same moves (and not without a comment made about her apparent inability to remember the mistakes she made the first time !) It was so darkly colorful ( with Depp as the Mad Hatter !) that it was absolutely charming and would be fun for children and adults to watch together. If you are a parent you may have to explain a few things to your child about what they are viewing but it's all good and in good taste with a little sexy playfulness that is absolutely innocent. If you don't believe me on that count please view it first (it's on DVD already !) before showing it to your child. The viewing should convince you.
That should get you up to date with my limited viewing. There are so many I miss anymore but after seeing Salt I'm convinced that in many cases I'm probably saving myself a lot of grief after all.

The Castle Lady with no grief

and lots of love !