 To be honest I never thought he had it in him. A serious flick with Jim Carrey? Puh-lease, don't make me laugh.
Or perhaps do, since that's all he has ever done. Sure there was the Truman show, but even there the humor shone through clearly. I would never have thought it possible. But this time I'm sincerely glad to be proven wrong. Hell, this guy can actually act!
I've been a Jim Carrey-fan since .. well, forever, really. His acute and - let's continue with the honesty - loud form of humor never fails to make me laugh. Ace Ventura - his visit to the mental hospital never fails to bring tears of mirth to my eyes. Liar, Liar - his meeting with the police officer: priceless! The Cable Guy - Wonderful! Gotta love the Amok Time fight, with music and all. Bruce Almighty, Me, myself & Irene, Dumb and dumber, the Mask... the man's a genius, and as with all geniuses there are only two options; you either love him, or you hate him. I fall into the first category (or have you already guessed that?)
And perhaps because I fall into that category I never got around to see the Majestic when it first came out. I heard people hated it, that it was a terrible movie - and I didn't do anything to find out otherwise. In my mind Jim Carrey was the loud funny-faces Ace Ventura-type, and was not suited for a serious role, so I put the movie back in it's place at the shelf at Odin's, and rented another movie instead.
It was actually a series of unfortunate events [Author's note: Hah! The best puns are the spantaneous ones! I saw it first after I had written it!] that lead me to stumble across the movie. Well, not all of them were unfortunate, like the exceptionally short school day I had today, but the last and the one with the most impact was definitely unfortunate.
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you are eating your newly-made sandwich, and realize you are tasting something funny? You sniff at the sandwich, but can't smell anything out of the ordinary. (Or in my case, anything at all.) You continue eating, but can't shake the feeling - nor the taste - that there is something wrong with the food. You sniff it again, and decide to remove the cheese. It's probably the Jarlsberg; you're used to Norwegia which is milder in taste, and the stronger-tasting cheese might be just a bit too tasting for your choosy palate. You put the cheese on the table where it is immediately snatched and eaten by Tam the second your focus is shifted back to the telly and the Simpsons. Another bite. Chew, chew, chew. Still that funny taste. Weird. You consider removing the ham as well, when you suddenly - with a startling sense of clarity - realize what you've been tasting. You turn the sandwich ever so slowly around... there. The dreaded green spots. Mold.
You barely make it to the bathroom before the sandwich resurfaces.
 You can imagine how lousy I felt after such a traumatic experience, and after drinking some coke (coke is wonderful for settling an upset stomach), and brushed my teeth thoroughly I sat back down in the sofa and picked up the remote. Now to find something to get my mind off the dreadful experience just moments before. After another episode of the Simpsons and two Bugs Bunny cartoons I came across the Majestic. I'm not sure how much of the beginning I missed, but I watched from the moment the car went into the water, and couldn't take my eyes off the screen the rest of the movie.
I love this movie. It's genuinely sweet, and I was fighting back tears more than once. My heart ached for 'Luke' in his struggle to reclaim a life that turned out to not be his own. And when he's saying goodbye to Harry ... I was this close to breaking down in hysterical sobbing.  This one is definitely going on my wish-list.
And speaking of wish-list, I've had more than one "movie epiphany" since my last entry...
I must admit, I have always been a true dreamer at heart. And I sincerely hope to remain that way. Like most of my fellow dreamers I'm also a true romantic, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I can be moved to tears by a genuine portrait of love (I'm not talking about those sappy pocket-books with the heroine in the embrace of her lover brightly illustration on the cover. Puh-lease. Don't even get me started. That's a topic for another day.)
No, I'm talking about those who manage to capture the essence of a love we all have, have had, or wish to have someday. Or for that matter love we hope to avoid; destructive love, lost love, or unrequited love.
 All of this is featured in one of the most romantic movies I've seen in my life; Sense and Sensibility. It is a pure joy from first moment, a strong and well-written story (nicely done, Jane Austen! I'll definitely check out your work when I'm done with the book I'm reading now.), and with one amazingly talented actor after another to bring the written words to the screen.
I wish to tip my hat especially to Emma Thompson who not only wrote the screenplay, but also gave a wonderful, no amazing acting performance, and brought Elinor to life with style and realism. A deep bow to Alan Rickman; ever so subtle, ever so handsome, ever so delicious voice. This man, ladies and gentlemen, is nothing short of an ACTOR with capital letters; his face and body language speaks as much, if not more, than the lines he delivers and it just takes my breath away every single time. Notice those small moments when Miss Marianne looks his way... you just ache at the look in his eyes. Oh, and a bit of discreet applause for Hugh Grant and Kate Winslet, excellent work guys! The chemistry between the four of them (or rather three of them, as I don't think we see any actual meeting between Mr. Ferrars and Colonel Brandon...) is a pure joy to watch.
And in closing, to sum it all up, here are some pictures from the movies I've ranted on about today.
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