2 Movie Reviews

This past weekend I saw two movies:

Star Wars 3 - Revenge of the Sith
I saw the first Star Wars movie in 1977, when I was just 12 years old. It was absolutely amazing; as were the two sequels. But then time passed and I grew up.
When the 4th movie came out in 1999 I was 34. I enjoyed it but, as an adult, I'm no longer so focused on special effects but more on the story and the acting. It just wasn't as exciting. The next one was even worse. And unfortunately this trend continued with Revenge of the Sith. The story was weak and boring at times, the acting continued to be horrible, and the action scenes were just not credible - maybe to a 12 year old they would be, but not to an adult. For the second half of the movie I found myself browsing the Internet while the movie was playing.

L'Auberge Espagnole
This is a French movie about a group of early 20-something Europeans who
end up living together in an apartment in Barcelona. They hail from Italy, Germany, Denmark, France, Belgium, Britain, and Spain. It's like a mini-United Nations. The story is well written & charming and the acting is superb. There are so many touching, memorable moments that made me recollect and think about my own experiences - not just when I was that age but even more recently. Highly recommended!

An interesting side-note is how different distances (& cultures) are in Europe compared to here in North America. The distance from Paris, where the main character comes from, to Barcelona is 1,107km. This is almost exactly the same difference between San Diego and Redding, in California. I dare say that the cultural differences over the same distance are MUCH more pronounced in Europe ... though some San Diegoans may beg to differ! :-)