Busy, stressful week last week for me, but it improved toward the end. I went out with four of my closest friends for dinner Thursday and came home feeling relaxed and happy - nothing like some girl talk to make you forget all your problems!
We saw a couple of good movies this weekend:
Friday night Craig had a friend sleep over, so Ken and I watched
Silver Linings Playbook (yes, finally!). It's a funny, frantic, big-hearted drama about mental illness. Bradley Cooper plays a guy recently diagnosed as bipolar who has just been released from a court-ordered stay in a mental hospital after severely beating his wife's lover. Cooper does a fabulous job playing the often-manic Pat who has moved in with his parents in Philadelphia (his dad is played by Robert DeNiro) to try to recover and put his life back together. He is still in love with his wife but unable to see her because his restraining order is still in effect. He meets his best friend's sister-in-law, Tiffany, played also fabulously by Jennifer Lawrence. Tiffany has her own problems - she is trying to recover from severe depression (and compulsive sex) after the death of her husband. Pat and Tiffany become friends and enter into an agreement to help each other: Tiffany will help Pat contact his wife, and Pat agrees to help Tiffany with an upcoming dance competition she wants to enter. Although there are plenty of funny moments in the movie, the lead characters' mental illnesses are dealt with realistically and sensitively. The movie's setting in Philly is also done perfectly (we live just south of Philly) - they really captured the local color and Eagles' fanaticism! Great casting, great acting, great dialogue - it's just an excellent, satisfying movie from start to finish.
Sunday night, Craig and Ken and I took a totally differently tack and watched a comedy,
Guilt Trip, starring Seth Rogen as Andy, a chemist, and Barbra Streisand as his mother, Joyce. Ken and I aren't huge fans of Rogen, but the movie was pretty good. Joyce is an overly attentive mother who has been widowed for many years and has given up on love. Andy asks his mother to join him on a cross-country road trip as he tries to launch his own business, though he has an ulterior motive in asking her along. Although the smothering Jewish mother jokes got a little old for me at one point, the movie is more than just an on-going series of gags (thankfully) - it actually has some heart in it and some underlying emotional depth as the mother-son relationship evolves. It's not Oscar material, but it was a pleasant 90 minutes.
Have you seen any good movies lately?
(If you are also interested in what we are reading this week, check out the Monday post on
my book blog).
Sunday night, Craig and Ken and I took a totally differently tack and watched a comedy, Guilt Trip, starring Seth Rogen as Andy, a chemist, and Barbra Streisand as his mother, Joyce. Ken and I aren't huge fans of Rogen, but the movie was pretty good. Joyce is an overly attentive mother who has been widowed for many years and has given up on love. Andy asks his mother to join him on a cross-country road trip as he tries to launch his own business, though he has an ulterior motive in asking her along. Although the smothering Jewish mother jokes got a little old for me at one point, the movie is more than just an on-going series of gags (thankfully) - it actually has some heart in it and some underlying emotional depth as the mother-son relationship evolves. It's not Oscar material, but it was a pleasant 90 minutes.
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