Thoughts on Atonement

So the kids and I saw Atonement last night because the Lowes at Boston Common randomly decided to stop airing No Country for Old Men. Whatevs, Javier Bardem! Manbob.

I've been rather strongly resisting going to see this movie, despite loving the first (and only) Ian McEwan book I read, Saturday. I mean, that novel was delightfully intelligent and his prose is incredible, but this movie stars Kiera Knightley. Typically...not the biggest KK fan. She's got that whole Zoolander face going on and tends never to eat, which bothers me a bit. But she actually looks quite beautiful in this movie, and were I inclined towards cross-dressing, I'd be very jealous that I don't own her fantastic green dress. Hot mama. And come on, sex against the stacks, amazing.

So anyhoo, saw that movie last night, which far surpassed my expectations of it. I get the feeling, just from having read Saturday, that they probably upped the schmaltz factor, but they might not have. It just seems that epic love story ain't really his bag. If it is, then kudos to McEwan for being very versatile. Yay him. It's shot wonderfully as well, with lots of focus on the characters' eyes. Appropriate, given the point of the movie. I'm glad I didn't have the ending ruined for me ahead of time, because it had quite an impact as you're watching and suddenly Vanessa Redgrave graces the screen. Seeing her in this and Evening (which was fairly crappy all and all) still makes me want to go rent everything she's been in. I think she's gorgeous and her eyes are wicked, plus she's got some hardcore acting chops on her.

Saoirse Ronan is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for this film, which in a year without the much-lauded performance by Cate Blanchett would pretty much be a shoe-in given how much the Academy loves to give that award to debutantes. Still though, she was very impressive for such a young woman. I keep trying to write what was so great about her performance, but I can't really find the words for it. She just managed to take the part (which, admittedly, was great) and invest it with even more depth and complexity, but all in a very subdued sort of way. Very awesome, and worth seeing the movie if only for her.

That's about all I've got for Atonement at the moment.

In other news, it's Valentine's Day, so enjoy that all of you with peeps. I will be enjoying it with some gym action (the workout kind), some Xbox360 purchasing action, and a giant heart-shaped brownie courtesy of TBell. And maybe an episode or two of Lost. And maybe five hours of Mass Effect once everyone goes to bed. I need to work on buffing up my gamerscore from scratch. Sad day! It'll be good times though.

Til next time, kids.