J’s been under the weather, so we’ve spent the past couple of days watching movies snuggled on the couch.

On day 1 we watched Once (see post below).

On day 2 we watched The Hudsucker Proxy.

The film’s been around for nearly 14 years but neither J nor I had seen it. Like so many other potential viewers, I’m sure, the odd title turned us off from it. But there wasn’t much else playing on HBO on Demand that we wanted to see, so we gave in, and now we both regret having waited so long to see it. It was very amusing, and Tim Robbins and Jennifer Jason Leigh were terrific in their roles. I was dumbstruck by how quickly JJL was able to recite her lines. See it.

On day 3 we watched Death at a Funeral.

Holy shit. This is now one of my favorite movies. I adore British humor. I was feeling a bit grumpy before we started it, but scene after scene I laughed my ass off, and by the end I was in a fabulous mood. Alan Tudyk, who played “Steve the Pirate” in Dodgeball, nearly stole the show just by his facial expressions. See it.

On day 3 I ventured out of the apartment to see The Other Boleyn Girl with LB.

I wanted to love it. At the very least, I wanted to like it. I enjoyed the novel on which the film was based (though not as much as those who recommended I read it did) and was curious to see how the filmmakers would condense 650+ pages of material into a 2 hour movie. Here’s how they did it — by leaving out all of the details that made the book interesting. The film was like the Cliffs Notes version of the novel, and I was disappointed that they skipped over major storylines. And Natalie Portman and Scarlet Johansson weren’t even convincing as sisters. Skip it.

Have you seen any good movies lately?

J and I finally got around to watching Once. It was such a beautiful love story without actually being a love story. It was a modern day musical that didn’t feel like a musical.

Go rent it.