Project: Blog Different

This past Saturday with my friends and roommates all off doing their own thing, I turned on the TV and watched two films which I had heard much about, but never seen.

The first was the sort of mainstream sort of cult hit “Waiting”. The premise is a veteran table waiter played by the very one dimensional Ryan Reynolds gives a rookie played by John Francis Daily (who will always be Sam Weir to me) a crash course in the restaurant. Over the course of the day we learn about the lives of four or five of the main waiters, the other main one played by Justin “Mac Guy” Long. Quick side story, before I return to the movie- my buddy mike was in a Fairfield Ct. (area-ish where I’m from) diner when he squirts ketchup all over himself. He starts to clean up the ketchup and he hears people laughing at him. He looks up, it Justin long and some of his friends. They chatted a bit, said he was a nice guy. Ok, back to the Waiting.

Anyway, I always stayed clear of the movie due to my usual opposition to Ryan Reynolds and my fervid hatred for Dane Cook (who plays a line cook), but it actually turned out to be a pretty solid movie. It’s raunchy, crass, and doesn’t have quite the redeeming sweetness that Kevin Smith or Apatow work in to their flicks, but it was still a fun watch. Daily, while he doesn’t say much is fantastic, and the movie a really great ending which gets a lot of laughs.

So, I finish Waiting, and eventually put in the DVD for Amelie, a movie which I have heard raved about from so many people oh so many times, but just never got around to seeing it. I have a bit of a hang up with foreign movies since I always miss visuals while I’m reading subtitles, but after loving Pan’s Labyrinth, I thought I definitely had to give Amelie a shot.

and I’m glad I did.

It was great. It was definitely non-traditional, at least by American standards, but just had such fantastic characters who were all so extremely unique in a truly genuine way which you just don’t see in movies enough. The overall premise is this girl Amelie grew up with almost no social interaction and developed an incredible imagination which she spends the bulk of her life in. As an adult she begins to make connections with a handful of interesting people who affect how she sees the world and interacts with others. I don’t really know how else to describe it, but it’s fantastic.

I’ll have more blogs coming in coming days! Til then, check out Amelie, and if you’re really bored, Waiting.