Easter snoozing

Besides eating too much chocolate, which I know I'm not supposed to anymore, I also watched a lot of movies this Easter weekend despite the lovely sunny weather. We went to the park as well, worked a little, visited the gruesome twosome aka my mother and grandmother but mainly we just chilled.

I also started reading Ian McEwan's Solar on Sunday but I fell asleep even before I reached page 30 which isn't a good sign, I guess I just wasn't in the mood for environmental issues, besides I've always had a love-hate relationship with McEwan. I truly loved The Cement Garden and On Chesil Beach but hated Amsterdam and Atonement, both utter abominations if you ask me.

Anyway, we kicked off the weekend with Monsters on Friday. It's a low budget Sci-Fi / thriller / drama in which a cynical journalist agrees to escort a shaken American tourist through an infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the US border after earth has fallen victim to an alien invasion. The director, Gareth Edwards, created all the special effects with his computer and simply followed his two main characters as they backpacked through Mexico, using the footage they just happened to stumble on. With “subtle” reference to the illegal aliens who want to enter America, Monsters for me, was more of an atmospheric and offbeat romantic indie with some death and devastation to spice things up.

Next up Management, again an offbeat romantic indie. Why aren't you surprised, right? This time it's one that went straight to DVD in the States and straight to the 1€ bin in Belgium. A very dowdy Jennifer Aniston plays a traveling art saleswoman who tries to shake off a flaky motel manager played by Steve Zahn, who falls for her and won't leave her alone. This tale of a stalker turned lover was charming, understated but lacking any pezaz making it easily forgettable.

Julie & Julia starring Amy Adams and Meryl Streep is based on two true stories: that of cooking legend Julia Child and of amateur cook turned blogger turned author Julie Powell. Julie Powell decided to cook every recipe in Julia Child's famous Mastering the Art of French Cooking during the course of a year and blog about it but little did she know that her pet project would be her ticket to stardom. I just loved both stories in the movie: two women cooking their selves to fame, as well as Julie Powell's book / collection of blog posts which the film was based on. It was a cute, entertaining and above all inspiring movie, perfect for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Greenberg, finally, is Ben Stiller's first attempt at some serious acting. I'm not a big Stiller fan but the Pumpkin adores him so when he stares in the latest Noah Baumbach, we're both happy. Stiller plays a recently released mental patient who moves to Los Angeles in order to figure out his life while he housesits for his brother and falls for his assistant played by Greta Gerwig. There's not much going on really, just two tortured souls living their lives and annoying themselves and each other along the way.

I was basically in indie heaven this weekend.