Cinematic Undertakings

Since we have been at La Giraudiere here in France, we have been able to watch an assortment of movies and t.v. shows as part of our classes and just for fun. The Green Room downstairs has a projector with a big screen where we play our movies.

Our moviewatching started with a Meg Ryan "classic" rom-com called I.Q. recommended by Doc to emphasize our studies of Romantic and Classical personalities. Meg Ryan is the niece of Albert Einstein who tries to set her up with a common car mechanic, Ed. Ed is a hopeless romantic who immediately feels the spark of love when he first lays eyes on Meg Ryan. Meg, on the other hand, is already engaged to a boring, scientist and fills her time studying and contemplating the wonders of physics: a classic Classical mind. This unlikely pair is pushed together with the help of Einstein and his motley crew of physicist friends. Ed masquerades as a genius scientist to attract Meg's attention, while Meg tries her best to ignore her growing feelings for this new man. Finally in the romantic setting of a sailboat with hair blowing in the breeze under the moonlit sky and with no fiancee in sight, Meg confesses that she truly loves Ed! Ed of course is estatic and the two lovers share a kiss under the comet that Meg's father discovered.

The acting in this movie was sub-par and the plot was a little contrived, to put it lightly. However, the lesson that the movie presented, though in an elementary way, of the balance between Romanticism and Classicism came off crystal clear.

Mary and Anna's Rating: B-

Our second required watching was a bit more heavy. 3 hours of biopic epic in the form of the 1983 Academy Award winning Amadeus. This movie was a huge step away from the light comedy that preceeded it. Amadeus is the story of Mozart's life told from the perspective of his jealous rival composer Salieri, who lived with the guilt of driving Mozart to his grave. Salieri was jealous of the genius musical mind of Mozart which was bestowed on an almost childly immature man. The acting in this movie was amazing and the film painted a historically accurate(ish) portrait of Mozart, who wrote some of the most textbook Classical music but lived a rather Romantic life. The interesting contrast of these two elements of Mozart, and his continual difficulty putting together his yin and yang was very interesting.

We accidentally watched the director's cut of the film which added a "bonus" thirty minutes of run-time. These extra scenes amounted in a three hour epic with long operatic numbers that seemed to never end. Although long, the movie was entertaining and informative, we give it an A-.

Now we get into student choice. Last night we watched the Bachelorette in which Ali visited the homes of her four remaining suitors and was forced to eliminate one at the end of the show. Roberto, Chris, Frank, and Kirk all vied for the love of Ali. Roberto is a fan favorite with the SMS girls, although there are some Chris fans among us. Frank keeps questioning the relationship and none of us really think he is right for Ali. Kirk is kind of immature, and he has never actually had a serious girlfriend before this show. Also, his father is a taxidermist which Ali found kind of creepy. After visiting four families, Ali was forced to make her decision and she eliminated Kirk because she thought he needed some heartbreak. This seemed like the best choice for her although we all hope she gets rid of Frank next episode.

Roberto and Chris are both super sweet and will be great with Ali. Some of us are worried though that Ali will choose no one at the end of the show because she dropped some hints this episode about her "cold feet." We are two hoping she finds love!

Mary and Anna's rating: B+

Pretty Little Liars. This is our personal favorite. We can't tell the entire back story because the show is ridiculously confusing but it is also amazing! Four best friends witnessed the kidnapping of their fifth friend Allison one year ago. Now Allison has been found dead and a person named "A" has been harassing them anonymously through text messaging threatening to tell all of the friends' secrets, including what happened to Allison. In this thriller of an episode, the four friends go to prom together where one is elected homecoming queen, and another finds out that her date played a role in Allison's death. Just what that role could have been remains unknown until the next installment. The episode started out pretty chill but built up to a climactic ending in which one of the girls is locked in the chemistry lab with Allison's killer! As the friends on the show all tried to run together for safety, we SMS girls in the green room also huddled together for safety fearing what would happen next.

Then our worst fears were realized as we heard a clamor coming from the back window. Could it be "A" or even a BAT?!? We screamed in terror, knocking over chairs and cups in our rush to find safety. On the screen, a gloved hand marked the death of one of the citizens of the sleepy town in which the show takes place while we counted and recounted our own numbers to ensure we were all still breathing! We were still reeling in shock and terror when we heard an unmistakeable chuckle coming from the door. Doc Millen slyly slunk inside laughing openly at our fright. He had been at the window, but could someone else still be watching?

We give this an A+ because we were too scared to leave it at an A.