Ugly Cry

As I was perusing the movie story today I saw P.S. I love you. Probably one of the saddest movies I have seen in my life. Mae and I saw this Hilary Swank, Gerrard Butler movie in the theatre. Bad Move. We left looking like we had just been in a fight with a mascara wand and lost…badly. This was seriously NOT cute, ugly cry to the 100th degree.

However, sometimes a good, ugly, snotty movie cry is just what you need. I started thinking about movies that make me weep like a fawn no matter how many times I’ve seen them. I am a huge fan of the movie cry, it’s so much better than the real life cry because you aren’t really sad, just lost in the story.

So in case any of you are in the need for a nice weeping sob fest here are some of my favorite sad movies.

1.  Terms of Endearment. This is THE sad movie of all time. It stars Shirley Maclaineand Debra Winger as mother and daughter. This movie came out in 1983 but has lost none of its relevance. Let me set the scene for you..Debra Winger has three children with a real asshole husband (Jeff Daniels) she has terminal cancer and is in the last stages. Her mother Shirley Maclaineis taking care of Debra, the kids and dealing with the husband. There is a scene in the hospital where Shirley Maclaineruns around the nurses station screaming “My daughters in pain, she needs her pills, get my daughter her pills!!”.This might be the most heartbreaking moment in cinematic history. And we still have deathand custody of the children to deal with!

2. The Notebook. The undisputed best love story of all time. Allie and Noah. You’re a bird, I’m a bird. Life-long love. Die at the same time cause they can’t live without each other. WOAH. GOOD MOVIE! This movie is great because it spans these people’s entire lives, it invests you in them. Too often there are movies where the people meet in one day and love each other madly. This does not ring true. Noah waited 14 years for Allie, then spent his entire life making her happy and moved away from his home to be with her. It doesn’t get much better than that. This movie is what I think every women on earth secretly yearns for. And if they say differently they are lying to you!

3. Steel Magnolias. Sally Field is the best freaker outter in the history of the universe. When she screams “I was supposed to go first, I was ready to go first” It rips your heart out and stomps on it. Add Julia Roberts, Dolly Parton, Shirley Maclaine (she’s a common theme in this post), and Olympia Dukakis and you have got an all star cast, ready to make you cry so hard you throw up. This movie is not only sad it is funny, has great lines and has a great message. The whole package. Some of the aforementioned great lines–

“Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion”

“If you don’t have anything nice to say..come sit by me!”

“You know I love you more than my luggage”

“I’m not mean, I’ve just been in a very bad mood for 40 years!”

4. Rent. This is lesser known than the others and a musical so you might not have seen it. If not, you NEED to!!! This movie has the most fantastic music of all time. The music makes this movie. The subject matter is touchy and might turn some people off, but it teaches empathy and understanding for people that are not necessarily like you but have feelings and problems nonetheless. This story is about a group of friends living in NYC in the late 80s-early 90s. Most of them are HIV positive and they are all poverty stricken. When Angel dies and the group is fighting at his funeral it is all I can do not to throw up from crying so hard. This movie feels more real than the others on the list and I am partial to musicals so that could have to do with my attachment to it. And of course my friends and I are total Rentheads (15 years too late..ah well!)

5. Lastly, I am putting When a Man Loves a Woman. This has Meg Ryan and Andy Garcia. Two of the cutest kids on the face of the earth played their children, Mae Whitman and Tina Majorino. These children make this movie. Quick background for you, Meg Ryan is an alcoholic, it is about how they deal with it and all the underlying issues that go with alcoholism. These children abslutely break your heart a million times in this movie. There is a scene where Andy Garcia has given up and is moving, he goes to tell the older girl (who isn’t his, he adopted her) he’s leaving and she asks him since she’s not his real kid will he still come visit her…Sweet lord, I’m tearing up just thinking about it. This movie is poignant and has exceptional acting. Andy and Meg are both fantastic and the kids, of course, steal the show.

 

Go to the movie store right now and get some of these, or queue em up baby!! But be sure to get the tissues, it’s gonna get ugly!

 

Did I miss any really great sad ones?

Help Me!

I need help. I signed up for Blockbusters version of Netflix a few months ago–I paid $9 to rent two movies and with this plan I get unlimited movies for $11 a month! No Brainer!–

Don’t get me wrong I saw some awesome movies for the first month or two,

Gone Baby Gone–heartbreaking and excellent, Casey Affleck is my new favorite actor.

Enchanted–SO SO cute!

Dan in Real Life–ahhh Steve

Elizabeth–Cate Blanchett, best freaker outer in the history or losing it!

However, I have been treated to a string of unadulterated crap crap crap for the past couple of weeks. Last night took the cake, I watched about 2/3’s of a movie about these sick bastards that sell young girls in the sex slave trade in Mexico. Seriously disturbing, and not even good. I expect more of you Kevin (Kline that is)! I mean come on man you were in A Fish Called Wanda!!!

Please send me your suggestions! I’ve resorted to getting Lions for Lambs (if it’s not Far and Away, I’m not interested Tom). Send me anything, old, new, funny, sad..just as long as it is GOOD!

I’m Desperate!

 

                                                                

 

Kite Runner

I just watched the movie version of the Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. I loved the book when I read it the first time. Khaled Hosseini is a hauntingly beautiful writer and the story is absolutely heartbreaking. The subject matter of this book is not pretty and Hosseini doesn’t try to make it so. He showed the reader the good the bad and the ugly. He let you see that sometimes you have to risk the ugly to give someone else a little bit of the good. He also shows that sometimes being a witness is just as bad as being the wrongdoer. I did not cry when I read this book, I think there are some things that are too big to cry about. Sitting in my nice home in my free country without a real struggle to my name it just feels trivial to weep at what these people live in and with every day.

That said; this movie was good not great. This movie did not live up to the caliber of the book. I felt they left out pertinent information, such as the fact that Hassan had a cleft palate and Ali had a leg that was rendered useless from Polio. I felt these little additions to the story were what made the story what it was.

This story was not only about Amir’s betrayal of Hasaan but also about the class system that was in place in Afghanistan during this time. The children taunting Ali in the street because of his disability and ethnicity were major parts of setting the story for me. I missed these details in the movie.

The movie also left out Sohrab’s struggle with what was done to him, his attempted suicide and the struggle to get him out of Afghanistan. The movie jumped right from Amir rediscovering his faith to the men arriving in sunny California. Sohrab’s story was really not told, save for a 2 minute scene in a stairwell. This movie also did not tell the story of all the orphans left in Afghanistan because of the laws about adoption and the red tape involved in helping these children. Once again making the story solely about Amir and Hassan and not about Afghanistan and the struggles the country as a whole has had.

I did enjoy the movie, but am glad I also read the book. I highly recommend the book BEFORE the movie!

I have arrived!

I’ve been flirting with the idea for a few months. I have read all my friends and a good amount of randoms posts. I’ve laughed, cried, cringed and now I want IN! I want my very own blog. So here I am baby!

The thing that finally pushed me over the edge- I remembered a movie with Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez and Susan Sarandon. Seen it? Not exactly a top fiver but there is one unforgettable quote:                

 ”We need a witness to our lives. There’s a billion people on the planet … I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you’re promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things … all of it, all of the time, every day. You’re saying ‘Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness’.”     

Ok ok i get it’s not exactly fitting, but work with me! While this is not a marriage nor will you be witnessing the mundane things (what would be the fun in that??) you will all still be a witness to my life. The thought is somewhat soothing to me, to know all my successes, failures and foibles will be recorded and (hopefully) witnessed. And hey maybe I will get picked up and have the book of my life on the shelves at Borders (Hello Jen Lancaster!!!).  I will be the ”famous” author stalking the book shelves (blog comments) to see who cold possibly actually want to read about my daily life!  

Hmm Maybe I should give you a little background on me in this first, groundbreaking, maiden blog. I am a 25 year old single girl living in Nashville. I am originally from South Africa, but am Lebanese. As in both sets of grandparents are Lebs. But Moms and Pops grew up in South Africa. I like this because I can claim to be Lebanese, Arab, African, African-American, Caucasion and an immigrant all at the same time! Talk about confusing people at job interviews. It has been a constant source of hilarity my whole life. 

I am hoping for this to be a funny blog about lifes little jokes. However, I do tend to get riled up on a daily basis so I’m sure I won’t be able to resist a few good old rants, but I’ll try to curb them for your sanity and mine!  

Ok lets get this baby started! Thanks for stopping by!