What I Did Today - Sunday, January 27, 2008

1. I cleaned up my kitchen, which needed it.
2. I went to see Atonement, and in spite of all the hype, I didn't like it at all. Keira Knightley is gorgeous, but except for Bend It Like Beckham (an excellent film, made moreso by Parminder Nagra's terrific performance) I haven't seen evidence that Knightley can act, and this was no exception. As for the highly hyped, so called chemistry between her and James McAvoy...well, they're both great to look at, but I never had the sense that there was anything more than an attempt at acting going on between them. A more interesting film (although also dissatisfying, for different reasons) is There Will Be Blood, which I saw on Saturday. The movie is based on Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel, Oil! Daniel Day-Lewis gives an incredible performance, as does Paul Dano (the brother in another good film, Little Miss Sunshine) and the musical score by Radiohead guitarist Johnny Greenwood is amazing, reminiscent of Philip Glass (whom I first thought had composed it, but I was wrong). Interesting bit of trivia about this film: Paul Dano was originally cast as Paul Sunday, and a different actor was cast as Eli Sunday. That actor (unnamed on IMDB) left, and with less than a week's time to prepare for it, Paul Dano stepped into the role of Eli, and the storyline was changed to say that they were identical twins. Too bad these terrific actors didn't have a decent script to work with. These could have been fascinating characters, but there was absolutely no character development in the film, and I found that incredibly disappointing and frustrating.
3. I stopped by Target, where I had the unpleasant experience of witnessing a woman paddling her two-year old because the child was crying. The logic escapes me and the act disgusts me, but no, I didn't intervene, beyond loudly voicing my disapproval with two other women ("Where's the number for CPS when you need it?") which seemed to have some effect, although heaven only knows what happened once the child was outside the store. If one adult were to haul off and hit another in the middle of Target, people would be alarmed. Why do people still think it's OK to hit a child?