Christmas Movies

We didn't get to watch as many movies as usual this Christmas - dog and everything - and I am definitely getting lazy about reviewing them.

So, let's mix our pleasures and have a journal page about the movies!

In no particular order:

Cloud Atlas - the movie of the book. I had read mixed reviews. And yes, you need to pay attention or the movie will completely confuse you. But, just like the book, it's well worth the challenge. Makes me want to read the book again. And makes me want to watch the movie again!

Amour - Not a Christmas movie at all. And probably not one to watch with elderly parents! But excellent. Jean-Louis Trintignant is fantastic as an elderly husband caring for his wife after she has a stroke. She is afraid of hospitals, and he looks after her on his own. True Love!

The Way, Way Back - the lighter of the lot, but a lovely movie all the same. A coming-of-age movie. A teenage boy (Liam James) is on holidays with his mum (Toni Colette, I think she's a brilliant actress) and her new boyfriend (Steve Carell - very different from his Michael Scott role in The Office). The boy is awkward, reserved, unhappy. He discovers himself at a run-down water park, run by Sam Rockwell (another favourite of mine - remember Moon).

Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight - We watched all three over a few days. Julie Delpy plays Céline, a young French woman, who meets Jesse (Ethan Hawke), a young American man. The three movies follow their encounters at three points in their lives. Before Sunrise is the more romantic of the three stories - the hopes and aspirations of youth. Before Midnight takes us to the point where real life has damaged some of those hopes. Great dialogue, great light, Vienna looks great. Paris looks great, Greece looks great. Witty, Funny, Bitter-sweet. Typical Julie Delpy material. Before Sunrise takes place on Bloomsday - a nod at Leopold Bloom walking the streets of Dublin, no doubt. And how do they manage to do those long rambling walk-and-talk scenes in one shot? Three movies to watch again.

As for the journal page, it incorporates a gelli-print brayer clean-up background, golden snail eraser stamping, watercolour tree, white pen detail, origami paper and Korean stamp collage, origami crane sticker, and collage of printed titles (using ScrappyStickyInkyMess's idea of fixing the print with a light layer of acrylic medium applied to my gelli plate)