2 movies in one day

Today I watched both Lars and the Real Girl, which I hadn't seen, and The Curious case of Benjamin Button, which I had. Reviews or at least reactions to each pending...

I'll start while I'm behind

I have so many half-written movie reviews from this past year that I'm not even going to try to start this thing caught up. I'll catch up eventually but for now I'm just going to do what I can.

Most recent movie watched:

The Sandlot.

Crazy, I remember seeing this movie in THEATERS when it first came out, which either makes me really old or the movie a lot younger than it seems. I saw it with my kindergarten co-ed soccer coach and her daughter (my friend) Dagney. I remember my coach asking afterwards, "Did you think it was better than Mary Poppins?" Our response was yes, that it was better than Mary Poppins, but not as good as Beauty and the Beast. This may seem like sacrilege to the Mary Poppins fans out there (or painfully obvious to the die-hard Sandlot fans), but I was never a huge Mary Poppins fan myself (no romance!), so this is probably still an accurate personal assessment.

Anyways....some things I remember about that first viewing:

...thinking that my mother would probably not have wanted me to see this movie (seems silly now, but at the time there were some things that I knew were crude or pervy even if I didn't understand what they meant...like when Squints makes out with Wendy. Exciting but shocking to a 5 yr old!)

...having the phrase 'pee-drinking crap face' outlawed by Dagney's mother as a result of this movie (she used it on her brother Ryan in defense for him calling me 'a little piece of poop;' he thought she should get in trouble but not him because his insult had not been SPECIFICALLY vetoed)

Some things I don't remember thinking/noticing the first viewing:

....how cute Benny "The Jett" Rodriguez is....wowza. I'm allowed to acknowledge that he appears as though he would grow into quite an attractive man. Thus, the mustachioed actor they chose to portray him at the end is wholly disappointing.

...that it was set in the 50's/early 60's. I guess as a kid, time period is something a little more difficult to pin point. I just always remembered it being set in the year it was released in.

...how charming of a movie it really is. I know this movie is so oft-quoted and such a cult classic that constant references can get somewhat annoying, but after my recent viewing, I realized that despite its popularity, it really is something special. If this movie were to be made now, it would either be too precious or too serious. As it exists, it seems to have been created with complete obliviousness to target markets...a little too crude to truly be a "kids" movie, but lacking a heavy-handed historical nostalgia that would make it an adult film. In summation: I liked it. I'm sure I saw it once or twice, at least in part, between kindergarten and two nights ago in my 22nd year, but I really only recall my first viewing and this most recent one. Both were memorable.

And, as a fitting end to this blog post: my current housemates all call me Smalls. I was vaguely aware that this was a Sandlot reference, but never really put two and two together. After having rewatched the movie with such satisfaction, and after my initial dismay at being nicknamed after the wimpy kid, I can now say that I am honored to be called Smalls.

And also that I am going to imdb Benny 'The Jett' Rodriguez as soon as I post this.