Movies: The Bad, the Really Bad and Breasts

I love movies...crazy about 'em. Drama, comedy, documentary, animated, subtitled (preferred over dubbing), chick flicks, suspense, some horror, action...even many "bad" movies. A friend of mine once said that there is a purpose for every yarn and critics be darned, I think there is a purpose for every movie. Some purposes escape my understanding or taste, but I'm open to those possibilities. I will see panned movies if I like the actors or I'm interested in the story and I just go in with low expectations. I also like very good and critically acclaimed movies others find boring. At my best, I'd say I'm ecclectic and at my worst I'd say I don't filter my choices as well as I should. That being said, lemme just fill you in on my latest movies from Netflix, a service that makes it easy for me to choose any movie, watch it in part or in full and return it mostly guilt-free.

Last Days, directed by Gus Van Sant (My Own Private Idaho) and starring Michael Pitt (little movie crush) loosely based on the last days before Kurt Cobains suicide. I knew this wouldn't be a happy movie, but between the director, lead actor, and the story of a talented musician who I actually saw in concert, I thought it was a no-brainer. Still, I went in with low expectations because I hadn't heard too much enthusiasm about it. I was so underwhelmed, I think I watched less than a half hour (very unusual for me). There was virtually no dialogue, just M.P. roaming around a house and grounds in the country looking very drugged. Turned it off sent it back.
Someone told me there's a surprise at the end of The Illusionist. Well, I tried watching this movie and just couldn't get into it. I kept thinking "it has Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti and Rufus Sewell as a bad guy and the cinematogrophy is interesting" and I sat and watched. I guessed the surprise about 40 minutes into the movie and thought "this can't be the surprise". Yeah, it was. I thought this movie was kinda lame.

I thought the DVD of A Prairie Home Companion that I received in the mail was going to be the one with Meryl Streep and since she's one of my favorites, I was looking forward to it. This was instead the 30th Broadcas Season Celebration. This is the kind of thing I think I should watch because it's on NPR and everyone talks about how good it is, but I just haven't found it to be that entertaining to me. I watched about 20 minutes of it thinking that it seemed more like a taped show than a movie. I mean where was Meryl? Duh! It was a taped show. I'm a mid-westerner, but I just couldn't get into it. Maybe once I see the movie version, I'll enjoy the show more.
Then there's Breasts: A Documentary. I put it in my que on Netflix not knowing too much about it. I hoped it would be funny, thoughtful and interesting but worried it would just be salacious. It was intensely intimate, funny and profound as the cover claims. I was pleasantly surprised. If you get it, make sure you also look at the "extra footage". I wasn't exactly sure why that didn't make it into the movie, but I'm not a director.

So, there you have it. A few movie reviews. There is a purpose for every movie, but some of these have me stumped. If you saw any of these movies and would like to share an opinion of the movie, I'd love to read about it in the comments.