First Exciting Experience Post! Just Kidding. (Boring Movie Reviews)

Remember in my post exactly one week ago where I promised I was going to have one new experience every week this year and blog about it on Saturdays? Well, that will probably be starting next week. I'm still at home for winter break- I'm headed back on Monday. And it's kind of difficult to have grand adventures of any sort in tiny New Jersey suburbs of hell. All I did this week was: shopping for various items with my mom, doctor's appointments, and a sleepover with my best friend. I watched some new movies, if that counts. Well, since I have literally zero (0) readers, I say it does count. I'll review all the new movies I watched this week. THIS WAS MY NEW EXPERIENCE.

When Harry Met Sally (1989)- My best friend made me watch this movie because according to her, it's "the greatest love story ever told." Well, I'm not a fantastic judge for that, but it was a pretty great movie. I kind of hate romantic comedies because they rely on tired tropes and stuff, (and they're often kind of absurdly sexist), but I guess Nora Ephron knew what she was doing. It's a very funny movie. Every time I mention it to someone they go, "OH MY GOD THE RESTAURANT SCENE" and like, that wasn't the funniest scene in the movie, even. There's a lot of pretty great jokes.
But besides the humor. I liked that it took two genuinely flawed characters and made us see all their ugly sides and crappy emotions. I liked that it acknowledged some of the ridiculous things that men apparently think about love and sex. And I liked that even though it was predictable, it wasn't so predictable that my mind fell asleep. There were some unexpected moments, which is good in a movie.
I do wish they had resolved the issue of "can men and women ever be friends?" Harry and Sally argue about that in the start of the movie, which makes the viewer feel like the movie's going to explore that question. Sure enough, the man and the woman who have the argument become friends. And then, naturally, they do end up romantically together. Which is totally fine; friends can fall in love. But that story structure makes it seem like their relationship was answering the question, and the answer was, "men and women can't be just friends." Which is wrong because they can. And I know what you're thinking- "Ariel, just because one couple got together in this movie doesn't mean the movie was saying that!" I know. But it implies it, and people who produce popular media have a responsibility for what their work implies.

Anyway. Good movie, though. And the other movie I saw this week (well, besides movies I've already seen- I saw Mulan with my family and I forgot how good it was, geez):

The Art of the Steal (2013)- I watched this today because my dad liked it and because I like art history. (Read: I took an art history class in ninth grade and did super well, I still like the subject but everyone thinks I'm some sort of art history god when to be honest I couldn't identify the difference between a Rembrandt and a Caravaggio most likely). Anyway, so this is an action-y heist movie. It's pretty fun to watch, not super serious, despite starting out with a Dark Gritty Voice-Over Flashback. But it's basically about a bunch of geek criminals who want to pull off the coolest art theft they can think of. It's also about two brothers backstabbing each other several times over. I liked it- the intricacies of the theft were pretty fun, and there were a lot of genuinely funny moments. The characters are all pretty cool, if not 100% fleshed-out, but whatever, it's an action movie. Not a whole lot of art stuff, but it's dashed in there, which gives it a little more color than your average heist movie.
The one main problem I had with it is that there were like a hundred layers to the plot, and there were several twists. At first the twists were like "aha! pretty cool!" and then it got to the point of, "are you kidding me." Despite that, it's fun to watch it unfold.

So, yeah. I'm sure I'll have something a little more exciting next week. It might be something incredibly mundane, like "I've never gone grocery shopping on my own before!" or "I've never eaten this particular kind of sandwich before!" but there will be something.
In the meantime, I'm going to try and gather some real live readers.

See you on Wednesday,
Ariel