Renting in the New Year

This is my new way of reviewing what I've been watching and reading and listening to. I lost my will to do my monthly "in reviews" and my obsessive compulsive side is still stressing over that so I would imagine I'll have to go back and add in an Oct/November/December post on what I was watching and reading and listening to. I've unofficially been talking about movies and books this way since Dec. 2008.

As the Golden Globe Awards are approaching I feel an increased interest in watching some of the buzz-worthy films. Perhaps I'll even knock a few off my list this weekend. The following films are ones I've watched in the past week or so.

Autism: The Musical

This is a documentary recommended by Emma. She was right, it was inspirational and quite good. It was interesting to realize that one of the parents was Stephen Stills of Crosby Stills Nash and Young. I always enjoy a good musical and in this one I felt tremendous compassion for the kids and their families and their struggles. It's not an easy life, nor do we live in a world that is very understanding. I hope this film begins to change that. It was wonderful to see the variety of child all under the label of "autism" and to see their unique gifts and personalities. I loved them all, but I felt that Wyatt's conversations with us were at times the most heartbreaking because he could express himself so well. Watch this if you are in the mood for a good documentary. I enjoyed it, you might too.

Burn After Reading

I had so been looking forward to this one, but I have to admit that I was disappointed. It's hard to believe with the star-studded line-up and the Coen brothers directing, but it wasn't my favorite of their pictures. I thought that each of the characters were pretty awesome. I felt that, as usual, Frances McDormand did a fantastic job in her role. I just didn't LOVE her role. Does that make sense? The film's ironic twists and even its dark ending was just fine by me, and really did make the whole thing a bit more complete, but even with those elements in place I just can't embrace this one like I want to. If you like the Coen Brothers, don't mind some violence, and are fans of dark comedy, then you may like this one a bit more than me. It has promise. For you, maybe.