Movie Reviews: I'm ALL EARS
Movies are a great day-off distraction after a busy week at the clinic. Since this was Super Bowl weekend, we thought it would be a good opportunity to see a few newer movies. Unless the Steelers are in the Super Bowl, I am not the least bit interested.
My wife picked the first movie to see - Juno. Since she is a PA in an adolescent health clinic, she was very interested in the movie about teen pregnancy. Apparently, she is not getting enough of those at work (not!).
My Review: Juno was absolutely fantastic. I enjoyed every moment of this unique film. It was both poignant and funny, and definitely reflects our adolescent clinic population. While it is sad that recreational sex often results in an unwanted pregnancy, this film shows that teenagers, while reckless and irresponsible at times, are surprisingly intelligent and very, very sensitive about these issues. Our culture predominantly blames the sperm-makers for teen pregnancies, but in this film, he was a passive (albeit, enthusiastic) recipient of random sex. I laughed and even silently cried during this wonderful picture. I can see why it was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
I had a 15-year old in my clinic this week that requested birth control pills to regulate her irregular menses that were interfering with her competitive basketball. Her mother was against it for "moral" reasons. She did not want to give her daughter permission to have sex by allowing her to take the pill. I reminded the mother that her teenage daughter did not need her permission to get birth control pills, nor do teens routinely ask parental permission prior to having sex. When I informed her that she was entitled to a confidential visit to discuss these issues, she jumped at the opportunity. No parent wants their teenagers having sex, getting a sexually-transmitted disease, or having an unwanted pregnancy. Abstinence is always best, but unfortunately, unreliable in many cases. In confidence, this 15-year old was NOT having sex and had no intention of having sex anytime in the future. I believed her. She just wanted to stop having periods three times per month.
The second movie that we saw this weekend was nominated for 8 Academy Awards and had Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood. Damn, it had to be good. I was expecting it to be twice as good as Juno. Wrong. I must be missing something, but this stinker was among the worst films that I have ever seen in my life. The musical score was perhaps the most annoying part of the film. It was loud and caused my tinnitus to go crazy. During the rare quiet scenes, when that crappy music was not blaring, I fell asleep a few times. The other dozen or so people in the theater did not even notice when I snored. I suspect they were sleeping too. Three teenagers behind us walked out half way through the film. They probably went to see Juno again.
The only poignant part of the film was when the main character's son suddenly lost his hearing from an explosion and was shunned by his uncaring father. As I impatiently sat through this 2 and a half hour movie, I found myself wishing I was deaf, too. My ears were ringing terribly from that strange score and I was getting nauseated. The movie title was There Will Be Blood, but I didn't think it referred to my own ears.
The only thing that stunk more than this movie was my other "job" this weekend. I had to dispose of a real skunk that suddenly died when I shot it. Before you judge me, I have to say that the skunk was very sick and acting strangely. It was just sitting there in the rain all day and not moving when I tried to frighten it away. I suspected it had rabies, so in order to protect my pets, I had to do the humane thing. The skunk of course, did what skunks normally do, and sprayed everything in 100 yard radius. It is going to take days to get the smell out of the yard and out of my nose hairs. I buried him deeply. There were no kind words said.
Granted, I am a clinician, not a movie critic. If one overlooked the overall stink of the film, Daniel Day-Lewis did a wonderful acting job portraying someone that we would all hate. If this film gets Best Picture over Juno, I am not going to go to the movies for one year in protest. I will just stay home and rent select DVDs, adjust my own volume levels, and eat cheaper popcorn, freely sharing with my dogs.
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: movies, Juno, There Will Be Blood, Oscars, ears
Photo Credit: dizznbonn
My Review: Juno was absolutely fantastic. I enjoyed every moment of this unique film. It was both poignant and funny, and definitely reflects our adolescent clinic population. While it is sad that recreational sex often results in an unwanted pregnancy, this film shows that teenagers, while reckless and irresponsible at times, are surprisingly intelligent and very, very sensitive about these issues. Our culture predominantly blames the sperm-makers for teen pregnancies, but in this film, he was a passive (albeit, enthusiastic) recipient of random sex. I laughed and even silently cried during this wonderful picture. I can see why it was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
I had a 15-year old in my clinic this week that requested birth control pills to regulate her irregular menses that were interfering with her competitive basketball. Her mother was against it for "moral" reasons. She did not want to give her daughter permission to have sex by allowing her to take the pill. I reminded the mother that her teenage daughter did not need her permission to get birth control pills, nor do teens routinely ask parental permission prior to having sex. When I informed her that she was entitled to a confidential visit to discuss these issues, she jumped at the opportunity. No parent wants their teenagers having sex, getting a sexually-transmitted disease, or having an unwanted pregnancy. Abstinence is always best, but unfortunately, unreliable in many cases. In confidence, this 15-year old was NOT having sex and had no intention of having sex anytime in the future. I believed her. She just wanted to stop having periods three times per month.
The second movie that we saw this weekend was nominated for 8 Academy Awards and had Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood. Damn, it had to be good. I was expecting it to be twice as good as Juno. Wrong. I must be missing something, but this stinker was among the worst films that I have ever seen in my life. The musical score was perhaps the most annoying part of the film. It was loud and caused my tinnitus to go crazy. During the rare quiet scenes, when that crappy music was not blaring, I fell asleep a few times. The other dozen or so people in the theater did not even notice when I snored. I suspect they were sleeping too. Three teenagers behind us walked out half way through the film. They probably went to see Juno again.
The only poignant part of the film was when the main character's son suddenly lost his hearing from an explosion and was shunned by his uncaring father. As I impatiently sat through this 2 and a half hour movie, I found myself wishing I was deaf, too. My ears were ringing terribly from that strange score and I was getting nauseated. The movie title was There Will Be Blood, but I didn't think it referred to my own ears.
Photo Credit: Matt MacGillivray
Granted, I am a clinician, not a movie critic. If one overlooked the overall stink of the film, Daniel Day-Lewis did a wonderful acting job portraying someone that we would all hate. If this film gets Best Picture over Juno, I am not going to go to the movies for one year in protest. I will just stay home and rent select DVDs, adjust my own volume levels, and eat cheaper popcorn, freely sharing with my dogs.
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: movies, Juno, There Will Be Blood, Oscars, ears
2 Comments:
I saw and enjoyed Juno, although I'm not sure it deserves Best Picture. It's interesting to hear the viewpoint of someone who works with children every day.
I've heard raves about There Will Be Blood but most agree it's not a "fun" movie and praise Daniel Day-Lewis' performance.
finally got to see the infamous There Will Be Blood... Daniel-Day Lewis takes well to the overbearing, violent father-figure role -- he also did this in Gangs of New York.
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