Movie Night(s)

Since Tony's out of town, it's been all about me.  Last Thursday I stopped at the library and got movies to watch.  I got to pick out what I wanted and didn't have to take anyone else's tastes into consideration.  Half the time when I get videos from the library they go back unwatched, but this time I was determined not to let that happened.

Saturday night I watched Julie and Julia, the movie from last year that contrasted the life of Julia Child at the beginning of her culinary career with the life of Julie Powell, a New Yorker who in 2002 cooked all 524 recipes in Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking cookbook.  I really enjoyed the movie, especially the "Julia" segments. Meryl Streep did a great job. She really nailed Julia Child's distinctive voice and mannerisms, and her relationship with her husband Paul (played by Stanley Tucci) seemed genuine.  I finished the movie hungry after looking at all the food, and had to get myself a snack!

After watching that movie, the DVDs sat on the coffee table in the family room.  Today the calendar reminded me that I needed to return the movies tomorrow, so it was take in another one tonight or return them unwatched.  Other than work, right now my schedule is completely my own, so at 4:00 this afternoon I sat down to watch another movie.  Because I could.

Tonight's feature was the classic Metropolis, the 1927 German science-fiction film. The capsule plot summary, compliments of IMDb:

In a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences

When it was released, Metropolis was considered too long for American moviegoers, and it was cut substantially.  Over the years there have been different releases (with different running times).  The version I watched was from 2002, which is not the newest or longest version (there's one that's 30 minutes longer that was premiered earlier this year).  Even so, the movie's running time was a little over two hours.  It was still sunny when I fired up the DVD player, turned on the surround sound speakers, and got comfortable on the couch.

I started watching more out of a sense of obligation, like I "should" see this classic movie, but soon I was caught up in the spectacle of the sets, soundtrack, and special effects, and by the end of the movie I was sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to see if  the "good guy" or the "bad guy" would win.  I did get a little tired of the silent picture overacting, but for the most part it was quite an enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours.  When the THE END screen came up it was dark in the family room, and time to start on dinner.