Czech Republic is a gorgeous country

The Movie: Last Holiday, directed by Wayne Wang
Recommendation: Dee's mom
Reason: She thought it was a very funny movie, and also very good.

I'm very fond of recent trends in filmmaking that involve going to Czech Republic. The architecture and scenery is wonderful to look at, whether the movie itself is any good (ahem, xXx, Van Helsing...you get the picture). Not to say that Last Holiday was a bad movie. It was sweet and easy to watch, with Queen Latifah putting forth her usual entertaining performance.

The original movie starred Alec Guinness, and I haven't any experience with it. The premise was interesting, and there were some intriguing subtexts to several scenes in the film. I was struck, in particular, by the church scene. As Georgia calls out to God, asking why she's been singled out for punishment, the parishoners begin to take up her call. She walks through the church, singing and praying, and the congregation builds to a crescendo...but none of them know why she's questioning God, and so none of them can really share in her emotion in that moment. They're parroting, following along, saying what they think they should. Kind of the way people tend to act around the sick and the dying. If that was the intent of the scene, I actually thought it was well done. If it wasn't...well, I'm obviously reading too much into what was otherwise a sweetly forgettable popcorn flick.

Liked the movie. It was a nice, light evening's entertainment. I'd like to see the original, being a fan of non-Kenobi Sir Alec Guinness (please don't come back from the dead and smite me, sir). Maybe I'll pop it onto my list.

-15/365 down, 350/365 to go