In reading a “Best of 2007” movie list on Moviefone, I had a bunch of random thoughts about the films and the actors that I thought I’d bore you with:
- Why do all actresses–even the naturally voluptuous ones like Scarlett Johansson and Kate Winslet and (most alarmingly) Jennifer Connally–have to be rail-thin? First of all, every guy I know likes women who are shaped like (gasp!) women. You know: with breasts and hips and a backside and so on. But second of all, what on Earth is someone thinking by taking a womanly knock-out like Christina Ricci and trying to make her look like Kate Hudson? Yeesh. Does anyone find that attractive?
- Speaking of Johansson, did anyone think that her appearance in Home Alone 3 would be the steppingstone to massive stardom? You never can tell.
- Do Ethan Hawke or Timothy Hutton ever comb their hair? Do they even have combs?
- Having Cate Blanchett play Dylan is genius. But it’s not enough to get me to watch “I’m Not There.”
- What the heck do people love so much about Naomi Watts? I admit I’ve only seen her in a couple of movies, but she’s a) a block of wood, and b) totally generic looking in that “skinny blonde Hollywood actress” way. I mean, there have got to be a million of them (and I mean that literally) in L.A.; why so much love for this one?
- Am I the only guy in the world who feels sorry for Chris Cooper, who always seems to be stuck playing dicks?
- Speaking of feeling lonely, while I like Knocked Up, I certainly didn’t find it as hilarious as The 40 Year-old Virgin or Wedding Crashers (to name a couple of recent comedies I liked). Did I miss something?
- Every critic in the world seems to love The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and I may well too, if I ever see it. But honestly, I would have to be pretty worked up to want to see a movie about a guy who can only move his eyelid, for crying out loud. All the reviews I’ve read sound a lot like my mother when I was 10, telling me that I would love those lima beans, if I only gave them a try. (I tried them, nearly gagged, and ran outside and spit them out, in case you were wondering.)
- I’m a big animation fan and I love Brad Bird, but does anyone really think Ratatouille was better than The Incredibles or Iron Giant?
- I’m still waiting to see Juno, but the backlash against it kinda leaves a bad taste in my mouth. My guess is, 7 years of Bush has made reviewers grump.
Tune in to my next fluffy offering, weeks from now!
Random Blather 
you apparent liking of scarlett johannson and kate winslet explains why you dislike naomi watts. it’s all a matter of taste, i mean low taste and high taste, in that order.
[Doug scratches head] I can roll with the “matter of taste” thing, but how is Naomi Watts “high class” and Kate Winslet not? Or vice-versa?I neither like nor dislike Scarlett Johannson; I merely saw her in a couple of photos in the “best of” list, and had seen her in “The Prestige” and (heaven save me) “Home Alone 3” recently. And I think she has a great figure that shouldn’t be shrunken to fit some weird Hollywood “ideal.”But I still maintain that more guys respond to a (say) Jennifer Connally at 18 figure more than (say) a Kate Hudson figure (or lack thereof). I could be wrong, but that there be my opinion. Rocky Horror didn’t go after Little Nell; he went after Susan Sarandon. But your mileage may vary, of course.
What i’m saying is it’s not a heck that people love Naomi Watts so much. These people have good taste about beauty and class and Watts is a beautiful, stylish and decent actress both on and off screen. I’ve seen all her 40+ movies and she’s one of the most unique and talented actresses of this generation, agreed by more than 30 renowned film critics around the world. So I think your 2 comments on the actress, though entirely personal, is factually misleading and insulting and must be corrected.
I’m not sure what you meant when you typed “not a heck.” But naw, this is just an opinion blog, and frankly I don’t give a hang about what critics think. (How many critics liked the hilarious, ridiculous, sick, over the top “Shoot ’em Up?” Few. But *I* got a bang out of it.)In the movies that *I’ve* seen with her (“King Kong,” “Le Divorce,” “Mulholland Drive”), she’s been a block of wood, in my opinion. Which is pretty much exactly what I said.If you don’t agree, that’s fine. But believe me, so few people read this blog that I misdoubt that I’m going to influence anyone’s opinion. Not to mention that, given that you’ve seen so many Naomi Watts movies, it seems likely that you’re not exactly objective. Which is not a problem; I *know* I’m not objective.(And with regard to Hollywood’s weird standards of beauty, even *Angelina Jolie* is trying to make herself skinny, for the love of pete!)But hey, you want to bang on me because of a silly opinion I have that I expressed in a piece with the word “fluff” in the title, that’s fine, too. I think you’re going overboard, but life takes all kinds.