Movie Review: The Kids are All Right

Last night I saw a free advance screening of the movie The Kids are All Right, which I think opens today, at least in select markets. I had heard rave reviews about the film and I agree that it was pretty good. It tells the story of a family - two lesbian moms, an 18-year-old daughter about to leave for college, and a 15-year-old son - who deal with the changes in their family after the children get in touch with their sperm donor "father." The acting is amazing but that goes without saying when you have Julianne Moore, Annette Bening & Mark Ruffalo in the leading roles. It was interesting to see the dynamics of the two mom household and Mark Ruffalo has never been more appealing. He was so friggin' hot in the movie, totally sexy. I thought a lot of the dialogue was realistic and really funny in a lot of places but overall, I did have a few issues with the storyline so while I liked it, I wouldn't quite say it lived up to the reputation of the reviews I read.

Strangely, the worst part of the movie was that the boom mic was evident in nearly every scene shot inside the family's home. You could see it creeping into the screen from above to the point where it was completely distracting and where you would look and wait for it during any indoor scene. My friend was totally annoyed with it and went so far as to say that the movie was ruined. Every time it happened, she made a loud comment (which ironically kind of ruined the movie for me). I suggested to her afterwards that perhaps that is not the fault of the director or the director of photography but rather the fault of the projectionist. See, in the beginning, when the opening credits were rolling, the bottom parts of the names were hidden. Therefore, my theory is that if the projectionist had adjusted the picture up a little that not only would we have seen all the names but so too would we not have seen all the boom mics. My friend (as she always does) told me I was incorrect. And, yes, perhaps that sort of obvious error shouldn't show up at all on the tape, but I definitely think it was exacerbated by the crappy job of the projectionist. I'm curious to see how it would look at another theater. I just cannot believe, I don't care how low budget or independent the film is, that they would intentionally okay all those appearances of the boom mic. Crazy.

My First YouTube Upload

I know I haven't been online for a few weeks but I had my birthday, a librarian conference, and then a trip home for 5 days that kept me very busy. My trip home was okay. Perhaps the highlight was the Indians game I went to with my dad on Saturday night, where they had post-game fireworks that were completely awesome. I daresay they were one of the best fireworks displays I've ever seen. And, yes, I've seen those in our nation's capital a few times now. Anyway, I got the urge to record five minutes or so of the fireworks on my digital camera and then uploaded it onto YouTube. Voila! I know it's better to watch fireworks in person but it's my treat to you for my absence.