Reviewing life and movies

Saturday I watched two movies. The first, Premonition, was a suspense drama. I found the suspense part of it to be a bit annoying. At first it was like "we'll be suspenseful and unexpected by not letting the audience in on anything we're doing." Seriously, I had no idea what was going on. Then all of a sudden I figured it out. I thought it was a bit obvious and then felt annoyed that it took the character so long to figure it out. (I think I had biased feelings going into it. Jeff's dad and sister argued about it the last time we saw them. His dad thought it was dumb and a girlie movie where his sister and her mom thought it was great and watched it twice to figure it all out. Of course Jeff had to side with his dad and refused to even watch it with me). The end, or the final climax, was also upsetting. You know me and happy endings. But the actual end of the movie, moral of the story was pretty good. I even cried.

The second movie I watched was High School Musical on the Disney channel. It was exactly that- a musical about high school. It was full of impossibly happy coincidences, kids being kids but then learning their lesson and all pulling together, and in the end (don't let me ruin it for you) the main characters not only land the lead in the school musical, they also win the academic decathlon AND the basketball championship AND resolve things with their rivals. So happy that there's even a sequel coming out for it. Yay.

Usually, even into my 20's, I like this kind of sappy, sugary stuff. It inspires me to wear a cute outfit, do my hair and go out and take on the world. Maybe I don't want to star in the musical, play basketball AND win the academic event, but, it's nice to know I could if I wanted to and maybe I do hold back.
But this weekend, I found it boring and annoying. Throughout the day, I found myself thinking about the first movie, not so much for the mystery and story, but because I liked seeing the woman buy the house, take her kids to school, do the laundry and grocery shopping, exercise, and figure out her relationship with her husband. I really enjoyed watching her do the day to day stuff. (Okay, and I really liked her outfit and hair in the last scene- even better than the kids on the Disney channel). The weird thing is, I could relate to her MUCH better than the kids. Surprise, I'm a grown up.

In spite of being weird and a bit sad at the passing of my adolescence, this was a good thing. Even going out to walk the dog, I felt a weight lifted. Being a grown up means I am comfortable with where I'm at and where I've been. I'm okay with the fact that I was never the popular cheerleader, like I might have daydreamed about when I was seven. I don't have to dress to impress others with my trendiness; I can look like a grown up- comfortable in my own skin. My body doesn't have to look like the teeny tiny fourteen year old's body. It's good and exciting that the important things in my life are doing the laundry and grocery shopping, not winning competitions and making friends.

My genius little brother has made quite a hobby out of movie watching and critiquing in the past. I think it's cool and he's taught me a lot. He has, at times, criticized some of my favorite movies for their simplicity. I can see and, I'll admit, even agree with what he has to say. But I think what makes them my favorite movies is having a character I can identify with. My mom and I have talked a lot about heroes. There doesn't seem to be a lot of women out there, especially in the media, that inspire me to be what it is I want to be. Sometimes, unfortunately, it's hard to be my own hero and it just helps to have someone you can look at and say, that's how I want to be.