Day #10 - February 14

OPINIONATED SAM AND KEIRA KNIGHTLEY
Sam actually liked the first Pirates of the Caribbean and Pride and Prejudice, but he had no kind words for poor Keira...

BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM – Bag of Bones plays soccer.

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN – Johnny Depp is the best thing about this movie. I know a lot of people lust for Keira Knightley, but I just don’t see it. If Peter Sarsgaard is Quiet Rage then Keira Knightley is Bag of Bones. Without charisma. Like her co-star Orlando Bloom.

LOVE ACTUALLY – This was like a greatest hits album for all of the British romantic comedies of the past ten years. It also promoted the wonderful theme of the-only-way-to-get-a-man-to-

fall-in-love-with-you-is-to-work-for-him. There are at least three instances of this in this movie. Plus, Bag of Bones rejects Chiwetol Ejifor??? Gollum would not make the same mistake (see DIRTY PRETTY THINGS).

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST – About 45 minutes of this
is bearable, but most of it is not.  Johnny Depp does his gay Keith Richards thing again, but even more story is devoted to those two pieces of wood – Bag o' Bones and Orlando Bloom.

PRIDE & PREJUDICE – Bag of Bones plays Elizabeth Bennet. But who was the older sister? Is she the blonde Rachel Weisz? This movie is one of the best directed of the year.  For serious.

Mom's note: In honor of Valentine's Day, this entry actually started out as an homage to romantic movies that Sam reviewed.  However, it quickly devolved into a systematic trashing of Keira Knightley when I realized how many times he'd referred to her as "Bag of Bones."  

Back to Valentine's Day: Sam was the ONLY one of my Cassel boys (including my husband) who was a total romantic.  The first time I realized this about him occurred when he was trying to find a romantic gift for the first love of his life, and HE ASKED ME FOR ADVICE. A mother's dream.  I had seen this really cool book called GRIFFIN AND SABINE, which was an unusual epistolary book, called by a reader "equal parts romantic, impressionistic, and surrealistic."  He bought it; she loved it.  Score for Mom.  Sam was the only one who ever bought gifts for his significant others on Valentine's Day, and he always put a lot of thought into those presents...  ♥