Love American Style

“Better Than Chocolate” is a love story, sort of. It is a story about family, sort of. It is an independent film, sort of. Better Than Chocolate is a love story as long as you can let go of whatever preconceived notions you have about love, and relationships, and especially the traditional love story. The same can be said about the portion of this movie that is supposed to be about family, it is, but not in the traditional way. This is an independent film only in the fact that is was made by “independents,” and not by a major studio, but this film is beautifully director, beautifully filmed and exquisitely acted, not to mention that the camera is not rotated thirty five degrees for any of the shots just to pretend to have artistic integrity. Sorry, but I support the idea of independent films being made to tell stories that big studios won’t touch because of a lack of “political correctness,” and I support independent films being made to give writers, directors, and actors a certain amount of creative freedom, I just have trouble with independent films that are made to look like they are overly creative, or made on a budget, “artsy.” This film is just a really well done movie.

Sarah McLachlan’s “Ice Cream” is used for the end credits, and if you know the lyrics, or listen to them after this, you will know that this was chosen for obvious reasons. I was glad Ice Cream was chosen because I very much enjoy her music and I had allowed myself to forget this. Her music is so easy to listen to, her voice so soothing. At one point I had all of her “albums,” but with each relationship CDs vaporize, DVDs cease to exist, and bank accounts shrivel. That is just the way life is, and so I am without so much of the music I once enjoyed. Thank god for Last.fm. If you do not know Last.fm please Google it when you are done reading.

I also watched a “blockbuster” earlier today, my typical Sunday. I watched a movie called “Knowing.” The only reason I watched the entire movie was because I wanted to see just how bad it could get. This was Nicholas Cage, and every time I see one of his movies I find myself wondering what he did to get to be so popular in Hollywood. Nicholas Cage can’t act. In the movie Face Off where he and John Travolta play characters that have their faces switched, what you end up with is an actor with real talent, John Travolta’s face and Nicholas Cage’s mannerisms. Travolta does a great job mimicking the ways of Nicholas Cage; thankfully he does not mimic the way Cage acts.

Anyway, Knowing is a story that if done well could have been really entertaining, but it had action scenes that were nowhere near the quality of a Die Hard, or even a Money Train, and they used CGI, computer graphic imaging, in spots where is was not needed, not appropriate, and/or poorly done. It really was a shame to see because I do think that this story could have been quite enjoyable.

Enough of the movie thoughts for today. My day started with a check of the Tour de France, and unfortunately it appears that Lance is too old. Not that I will count him out until all of the mountain stages are done, and the individual time trial, but when it came time for the duel at the top of the mountain, Alberto Contador did to Lance what Lance is used to doing to others, took off and left everyone behind. Contador is a little more than a minute and a half ahead now and Lance is sounding like he is beaten. It would have been nice to see one successful return, which I guess says a lot right there when Lance is in second place and has a good chance to finish that way and I am viewing that as not successful, but when you get accustomed to a certain outcome by a certain athlete, anything less is a not acceptable.

The same was true of Tiger on Friday when he missed the cut of the British Open, but that was not the news there. Tom Watson winning his sixth British Open title and becoming the oldest man ever to win a major title was the big news, that is until his putt for par on the 18th hole, or really the 72nd hole, went just slightly astray. Watson then he wound up in a playoff that went terribly wrong. I don’t know that there was anyone rooting for Stewart Cink, the eventually winner, and unfortunately when he did win he became the Villain, but how could anyone root against a fifty nine year old Tom Watson who was simply amazing on day one, steady on day two and three, and then did just enough through seventeen and a half holes on Sunday to win.

This has been a tough weekend for nostalgia nuts, a tough weekend for sentimental favorites, a tough weekend for those that root for the underdog, but I guess that is why they are underdogs.

Thank you again for getting this far with me.