THE HIATUS

It's so sad, I've been gone so long, I've considered not coming back. You see, it's time I explain my hiatus. As my long-winded soujourn in France dwindled to a close and I began hopping from apartment to apartment like bees to flowers, I just didn't have the TIME to keep up with all the movies I was seeing. But movies, I did see.

I never intended for this blog to be one of those online "this is my life" journals, but my life entered a sort of upheavel at the end of July (leaving one apartment to house-sit in another, to vacation in another, to finally, eventually leave Paris), and I got more caught up in that than the meat of this blog, so I just quit writing. The blog was started for me to document the movies I'd seen, and my life was turning into a movie. So the question became : to write or not to write ?

Well, here I am. And I will write, still, about movies. My life is a little steadier now--I'm back in the US and planning my Westward journey to the land of milk & money, so I again have the time to write. Limited, but it's something I want to do. Movies make my world go round (is that cheesy ?), so I have the express desire to remember which movies I've seen, when and why. It's my ego. Blame my ego.

During my last two weeks living down the street from the Louvre (or "up" the street if you consider walking away from the Seine heading up--which you should, because that's north) and attending the #1 movie theatre in France, UGC Cine Cite Les Halles, I saw seven films.

1. HOT FUZZ - British cops against the neighborhoood. - 4/5 stars
2. HEAD ON (rental, German, otherwise known as GEGEN DIE WAND) - Love is a car wreck. - 4/5 stars
3. A VERY BRITISH GANGSTER - This gay, British thug's life. - 3/5 stars
4. YOU KILL ME - Sir Kingsley is Sir Awkward. - 2.5/5 stars
5. TRANSFORMERS - Mmm, I heart Shea LeBoeuf. - 3.5/5 stars
6. SIMPSONS - Like the show, but longer. - 3.5/5 stars
7. RAISON D'ETAT (otherwise knows as THE GOOD SHEPHERD) - Made sense the second time. - 3.5/5 stars

During the month of August while living two streets over from the Bastille (one of Paris' most historical and most night-party-friendly hotspots), I saw four films, most at UGC Bercy Village, a beautiful, new theatre off the lovely line 14 metro.

1. MISE A PRIX (otherwise known as SMOKIN ACES) - Good until the feel-good ending. - 2.5/5 stars
2. LES FANTOMES DE GOYA (otherwise known as GOYA'S GHOSTS) - Art shouldn't be this boring. - 2/5 stars
3. CARAMEL - Sticky and sweet, like life. - 4/5 stars
4. RATATOUILLE - Mmm, that rat made me hungry. - 4/5 stars

I saw one last film at the end of August, again at UGC Les Halles, because I was living in the Marais, the gay/Jewish district of Paris...meaning it's the cleanest, safest and has the best food. Excellent. The movie of choice :

1. 3 AMIS (look, a French film !) - Where are my French friends ? - 3.5/5 stars

And finally, since returning to the good ol' US of A (I've been here two weeks), I've seen three films, all in the Dallas area.

1. HAIRSPRAY - Song and dance on sugar high. - 3.5/5 stars
2. SUPERBAD - Wedding Crashers meets American Pie - 3/5stars (I really wanted to like it more...but it just was too over-hyped for me)
3. THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM - Hey, Bourne, ya done yet ? - 4/5 stars

I'm still wanting to catch KNOCKED UP and ACROSS THE UNIVERSE. Anyone know where I can find 'em ? Anyone ? Anyone ?

Now that I'm back in the States, the movie-watching is sure to slow down. I mean, in Paris, it was "gratuit" (that means "free"), and here...well, I have no job. Maybe I'll turn to Netflix, Greencine or Blockbuster.com. Who knows ? But I still love a good movie. So I'll be back.