"It's been a long December and there's reason to believe that maybe this year will be better than the last." ~counting crows

I uploaded a new video on youtube. Watch it, because it's such a beautiful, beautiful version of this song. It's Counting Crows' performance of "A Long December" from their Abbey Road Sessions. Adam is incredibly sick, which, to me, makes his voice sound particularly gorgeous in this song. And they add the "I am feathered" alts (from "A Murder of One"), which makes me so incredibly happy. Those lines inspired my feather tattoo. AD keeps stretching out the song as if he doesn't want it to end; I love it when he does that, because I never want it to end, either.


I have movie reviews, but I don't really have time to go into detail. So I'll be quick.

1. Brothers
Two things really made this film for me. #1 is the use of U2's music. Two characters bond over the U2 song "Bad," which is probably my favorite song of all time. Jake Gyllenhaal's character says something like, "I used to listen to this song all the time when I was 17 or 18" and Natalie Portman's character says she did, too. I got chills, because so did I. I remember lying in bed when I was in high school just playing it over and over and over before I went to bed. Every night. I was obsessed with it. So any movie that asserts it's brilliance is okay by me. The U2 song "Winter" plays over the closing credits, so of course I had to stay until the very end and listen to the whole thing. It's a great song. It's a Jim Sheridan film so I wasn't surprised by U2's presence, but I was happy.
The performances are the other brilliant aspect of this film. The three leads (Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Natalie Portman) give very solid performances. Tobey Maguire really, really surprised me (in a good way). He's a strong Oscar contender; he makes an unbelievable transformation. He scared me. And I'm in love with Jake Gyllenhaal. He's just so charming. Oh, and the girls! The two girls in this film, especially the older one, were so good!
"Bad" is the U2 song playing in second half of the trailer.

2. Up in the Air
You can't help but be charmed by George Clooney. He just has that certain something, that je ne sais quoi. I had a couple problems with the movie (the main one I won't write about here because it would give away part of the plot), but overall, I enjoyed it. I'm not so sure it deserves the best picture honor it just received from the National Board of Review (that honor goes to "Nine" in my mind right now). But it definitely has a great shot at the Oscar for best song. Sad Brad Smith's "Help Yourself" is beautiful. It's in the trailer and you can listen to it here.

3. When in Rome
This was an advance screening. Is it a good movie? No. It's predictable and conventional and mostly nothing special, except for it's leading lady. I love Kristen Bell. She needs to get offered some meatier roles! The movie did have its moments, though. There was one car scene that I loved. And it made me smile, so that's a good thing, right?