Well, *that* was surreal.

[weaselmom]

So we finally saw "Big Fish" tonight, being too tired to do anything else. Not many people in the theater, but for some reason we were all clustered together in all the desirable seats. Right in front of S and me was a mixed race couple (not particularly germane, but in it goes anyway) -- a guy who was pretty much way up there in years along with his "date" for the evening, who was obviously the silver medalist in the 2003 Crack Whore Olympics. She was behaving oddly through most of the movie, but maybe halfway through, all of a sudden we smell this incredible, horrible smell. How to describe it... think Lysol mixed with a gallon of "Jungle Rape" cologne. My eyes are burning, my nose is burning, my heart is racing, I'm dizzy, it's hard to breathe. The stranger a seat away from me leans over and goes, "What IS that? Do you smell it?" I nod, face buried in my coat. He and his friends move about three rows away. I'm thinking, help! terrorists! ricin! anthrax! But apparently it wasn't immediately lethal, because here I sit, and it went away eventually. Anyway, after everyone left and we're watching the credits, S says, "Hey, I know what that was! It was Rush!" Those of you who know what Rush is, well, will know what it was we were smelling. Apparently the whackazoid in front of us had a bottle of it and must have spilled it down the front of herself.

Maybe it was the full moon.

At any rate, PMB, I'm thinking maybe you could remember to drop a gentle hint in future movie reviews, something along the lines of, "Warning: Contains Graphic Scenes of Jumping *******!" I'm just sayin'.

Comments

[woadwarrior.livejournal.com]

J and I saw Big Fish a while ago. We both liked it. Although I was a little disappointed, I mean really!, 318ci, no positrac, and springs and shocks soft enough for a couch! (good color though!)

Scott

[cupcake-goth.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry I didn't warn you about the jumping s*****s. I was so enchanted by the movie that I forgot about them (tho' I suspect the forgetting was helped by the fact that I didn't see them, because as soon as I saw the sign I covered my eyes).

Re:

[weaselmom.livejournal.com]

All is forgiven. S says they weren't overly realistic and were kind of funny, actually. But I'm still glad there was a sign!

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

I'm really looking forward to this movie, and may I say that I'm pleased to be pretty darned certain NOT to have to sit behind "the silver medalist in the 2003 Crack Whore Olympics." Might get a bit too much Target perfume or something, but Midwesterners tend to be a courteous lot.

LOVE your anecdotes. Miss you.

Chris

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Whoah, you want surreal? Check out this post (and go to the article).

Nekkid booby = big deal? Ha.
http://www.livejournal.com/users/c3fyn/28551.html

Figured you'd appreciate this.

Chris

[weaselmom.livejournal.com]

The black metal bands and their fans really do take this stuff pretty seriously. They make our so-called shocking bands like W.A.S.P. look like Donny & Marie by comparison. I'm a little unnerved by the fact that this is all happening in Norway and Sweden because you know, you can take the boy out of the Viking tribe, but you can never really take the Viking out of the boy.

Maybe the sheep all died of natural causes?

Re: Plague Goats

[mckitterick.livejournal.com]

Um... Natural causes...? That would sorta defeat the purpose, I think. Of course, now that I think about it, wouldn't it be "cool" (I mean, emphasize their theme) if they all died some horrific death, some kind of brain parasite, the plague, like that?

Chris

[kijjohnson.livejournal.com]

I love when people act like major idiots in such a way that the proof, um, marks them.

We haven't seen it yet. The first time I read "jumping s******," I thought you meant, "jumping shit," and I thought, "man, if they posted that, I'd have to have it tattooed on my forehead."

[weaselmom.livejournal.com]

If you do see it and have time to post about it, I would love to read your thoughts. You always see so much more in the stories than I do and I learn things from you. I liked "Big Fish" and enjoyed watching it, but I think I missed a lot of the messages. What's interesting is that I cried at the end, and you know me--I do not cry in theaters, not even for LotR. There were many places where I kept thinking I knew what was about to happen, and I always anticipated something sinister, as if the movie was going to become dark and disturbing at any moment, but it never did. Hope this isn't a spoiler. Perhaps Tim Burton's reputation is to blame.

Re:

[kijjohnson.livejournal.com]

I cried like a baby all the way through RotK, but the two things that moved me most weren't the end -- they were the watchfires and the part in the coronation where everyone bows.


After your comments I really really want to see Big Fish. It just sounds fantastic, in every sense.

[mark356.livejournal.com]

In movie theaters where not all of the seats are equally good, it's natural for the desirable ones to fill up first. I like to arrive fifteen minutes early to the theater or half an hour early in the popular evening and weekend showings to be sure of getting a good seat. Only in the really terrific movie theaters where the view and sound is beyond amazing in every single one of the seats are people spread more evenly throughout the theater.

I would love your thoughts on "Big Fish," since the movie has had good things said about it, and it's in several theaters that are fairly easy for me to get to, but I don't like watching movies without hearing recs or thoughts on them first. :-)

Welcome to my dusty little corner of LJ!

[weaselmom.livejournal.com]

Hello there! If I had known you were coming, I'd have baked a cake. Actually, I wouldn't have, because my cooking skills are limited to microwaving Stouffers frozen dinners (badly--still cold in the middle). Maybe you could bake yourself a cake and pretend it was from me? I checked you out and you do sound like quite a good cook.

Anyway, on movies. Well, first you have to know that I am pretty critical of most movies and can come down awfully hard on them (see Kij nodding her head off over there?). Some people think I need to take movies on their own merits and stop over-analyzing them. That said, I would give "Big Fish" a solid B, three out of five stars. The performances were engaging and fun to watch, especially Ewan McGregor in full "boyishly charming" mode, but not too challenging. There was whimsy in both the story and the cinematography, but not the, the grandiosity of vision that brings me back again and again.

For a Tim Burton movie, it feels very safe and conservative. Granted, it's an adaptation and he was thus constrained in where he could take it. Let me plant an example in your mind--the scenes that introduce us to Spectre (a place). Go see the movie, come back and tell me what your reaction was as the sequence unfolded. What did you think was going to happen?

I wanted "Big Fish" to be more like "O Brother Where Art Thou." Something that was just a little more cohesive stylistically, where everything was taken up a level. "Big Fish" is fun, enjoyable, moving in places. A good movie, but not a great movie. Lest this seem too harsh, let me reiterate that I am glad I saw it and would certainly recommend it. But nothing about it made me say, in the immortal words of Keanu Reeves, "WOAH!"

Thank you for coming by! If we're going to have visitors, I had better put out the nice guest towels and try not to say "fuck" too often, right?