So starting with Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. It's a chick flick to the CORE. It is a story of true friendship and it is gut wrenching. I really liked how they didn't hold back on the full details of how girls feet were bound and how they were the property of the men (not good enough unless you bore a son, able to beat you at his whim, and you HAD to OBEY him...even if that meant going to bed with him early despite the presence of your laotong). It is about a Chinese tradition of laotongs. It is basically girls who are bonded at childhood and are best friends/sisters through a strict code. Bingbing Li and Gianna Jun are the lead actresses; they play both the modern story and traditional story of loatongs. Snow Flower and Lily are bonded to each other through a matchmaker. Lily is an impoverished girl; however, her saving grace is the perfection of her bound feet. She is paired with the wealthy Snow Flower and they are taught the secrets of a laotong. Life flip flops on them, ending with Lily a wealthy woman and Snow Flower impoverished. Their friendship is really tested through these times. The story of Snow Flower and Lily closely mirrors the lives of Sophia and Nina - two modern day loatongs. Their friendship is also tested....
Crazy, Stupid, Love was just a spectacular movie. Ryan Gosling, Steve Carrell, and Emma Stone were brilliant. I have to say my least favorite moment was the appearance of Josh Groban; my favorite was when he got dumped :D I so can't stand that man! Anyways...Steve Carrell's character, Cal, has a bomb dropped on him one night: his wife wants a divorce because she slept with another man. He is devastated and pretty soon he's spending his nights at the bar telling the air his sob story. Jacob, played by Ryan Gosling, is a suave and seductive man that takes pity on poor Cal. Jacob is giving Cal his manhood back - he's turning him into a suave and seductive man just like him. Both men end up finding exactly what they need.
Conan the Barbarian - I am so sorry Jason Momoa....you couldn't even make that movie better. It just seemed like every actor and actress was just trying a little too hard to be convincing in their roles. There were some funny/witty lines and some intense battle scenes, but just badness everywhere else. Ugh - it is really all I can say. It's depressing to me since I really wanted to see this remake. At least I hear that Thor really sucks it too. Story: young barbarian "prince" sees his dad brutally murdered for a piece of some ancient mask that was divided up long ago because it's power of bringing back the dead got too dangerous. He's pissed off by it and spends the rest of his life looking for the man who did that - he finds him and keeps trying to kill him. I'll give you a hint, he gets what he wants...and the woman too! ...before he rides off without her.
The most recent movie I watched was Water for Elephants. The book is way different and just better in the plethora of detail you get from the book that can't transfer to film. It was an overall good movie even if I didn't like a few of the character changes they made. The story is about an old man remembering his circus days with the Benzinni Brothers. He went to Cornell to study veterinary science and then work with his father. The day of his exams, he is informed that his parents have died in a horrible crash. He breaks down at the loss of his family and all of their possessions, so he tries to head for the city - he ends up on the circus train. There, he is taken in as the show's "Ivy League Vet." He diagnosis a terminal disease in one of the shows main attractions. The loss of this main attraction leaves the circus leader searching for a main attraction. He finds it with Rosie...an elephant. There's a love story, a cranky midget clown, a sweet old man, a bipolar header, and Rosie. It's a wonderful story, plus, I love Reese Witherspoon.
