Open Door #4: Lunch-Hour Netflix

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Lunch-Hour Netflix

Lately, I've been trying to take a break for lunch. Work gets busy for some reason right around the time I'm supposed to leave for lunch so more often than not, I wind up eating my sad sandwich at my desk while typing contracts. At a certain point, it became clear to me that I may actually need to take that time to re-group. In the past two weeks, I've watched three movies on Netflix while on my lunch break at work, using the iTouch that Anthony bought me in January. I think that I've definitely underestimated the benefits of a 30-minute midday break. I'm not only refreshed for the remaining five hours of the day, but I'm also watching movies that I know Anthony wouldn't want to see, including:

Brief Conversations with Hideous Men: a John Krasinski-directed adaption of a short story by David Foster Wallace which was dark, scattered and extremely intense and was probably better as a short story, no offense at all to John Krasinski, who bravely cast himself in a very unlikeable role against type.

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work: although I did feel like much of this documentary was scripted, parts were quite raw and emotional. I had no idea that Rivers' husband had committed suicide, I didn't know much about her relationship with Johnny Carson, and this was an interesting view into the life of a true legend, a female comedian doing things in the 1960's that no one else was who is trying to stay on top as she gets older.

Please Give: I really enjoyed this movie about a New York City family and their elderly next-door neighbor. To me, the characters were all flawed and 3-dimensional, and overflowing with emotion and guilt, although they couldn't always explain why, which made the film even more realistic. Catherine Keener is wonderful, as always, and I appreciated what the film was trying to say (money isn't everything, but if you have it, it can't always make you happy, etc., etc.) even if there were uneven moments.