Sunday, Jan. 30, 2005
Sideways and A Very Long Engagement, posted at 9:44 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com I had a great day today. The workout was incredible, the kind that makes you want to shout Hallelujah to the sky on your way out. I ran for 4.4 miles, over the course of 45 minutes (my third 3-4 mile run of the week, and I'm getting a little faster), then had a superb, unrushed legs/shoulders/triceps workout afterwards. I was at the gym for two hours and had to pull myself away to leave. It's so nice to workout with no time limit.I then came home, cleaned up house concert junk, and received a call to go to the movies with co-workers. It was decided that we'd see A Very Long Engagement at 7pm. That's a movie I wanted to see - the director and star of Amelia are in it - but not on the top of my list, especially in my hopes to prepare for the Oscars.
So... I decided to head early to The Charles and see Sideways, which was near the top of my list. Unfortunately, while I found the acting and writing to be superb, the movie fell a little too close to me and I was depressed watching it. It's the type of movie that says that teaching 8th grade English means you're a failure, and the Paul Giamatti character reminded me of myself in more ways than that. Luckily, the film ends on a hopeful note, and, again, the performances were so good that I had a very strong reaction to the film. Giamatti is certainly one of the best actors working today. This scene that he has with his ex-wife blows me away.
And you know what? There are a lot of people who see movies at The Charles alone. And no one knows after the lights go down. Still, this particular movie about lonely people probably wasn't the best choice in the world to see alone. I should have gone for uplifting Hotel Rwanda, I guess. (That one's next. Or Million Dollar Baby, which I hear is at The Senator, where I still haven't been in my four years of living in this city.)
That movie finished at 6:30, leaving me time to sit in the lobby and grade some papers while I waited for my friends to arrive. They did, and we watched A Very Long Engagement. It was a very good movie, as well.
I'm now home and hope to get an hour of grading in before hitting the sack. Off I go.