Movies vs. Books

Okay, I admit I am not reading as many books as I used to. I was reading 52 books a year. Average one per week. Except for Diana Gabaldon's which count as three books on my lists. In 2010 I was a bit below that goal. I have a lot of excuses. My grandkids live here...so I'm busy, distracted, interrupted, too tired at night to do anything but fall asleep. I had a serious illness and stroke in 2008 and had to learn how to read again...knew the meanings of the words but read really slow at first. I had open heart surgery and my husband died in 2009. I sit around crying a lot with grief. Going places and doing more, I think. Worrying about getting old. Who me? Never.

So. Watching movies and TV is getting me out of myself for awhile. Does it solve problems or cause them?

Anyway, I read a review someplace about Amy Adams where someone said Amy looked and sounded, in Leap Year, exactly like she did in Enchanted.

WHAT!??!?!

I'm watching Enchanted now and (besides it being a kid movie) Amy Adams isn't even recognizable in Enchanted. Not only doesn't she look and sound the same as Anna in Leap Year, she doesn't even look and sound like Amy Adams.

In Enchanted, I think she sounds and looks more like Brenda in Catch Me If You Can. Except for the braces. I think putting her in Enchanted was akin to casting a grown-up in Wizard of Oz, but okay...

Having mentioned Amy Adams my thoughts jumped right to her costar in Leap Year, Matthew Goode. I realized tonight that I when I said in an earlier blog I have never seen Matthew Goode's other movies, I was wrong. At least I have seen a couple of them. I just never noticed him. First of all, it's that British accent. I simply cannot understand, out of all the accents in the world, the British accent in movies or on TV. At least if I'm in a conversation with a Brit, I can ask them to repeat. I have to rely on closed captioning for British accents. Unfortunately they don't usually have CC on foreign movies (filmed and DVD'd in other than the United States.) And they never have closed captioning in movie theaters. YET.

Anyway, Matthew Goode has had some supporting parts in a few movies and TV shows I have seen. (Inspector Lynley on PBS for one, Match Point.) But he's starred in some artsy movies that I never considered watching. I guess I'll have to go back and try them if even to verify my assertion that he is an amazing actor.

I am sad to say, without that growling, knitted eyebrow look he used in Leap Year, he's really not appealing to me. He's so youthful looking, way too slender, and, what is it? Clean-cut? White-bread? British? And witty to the point of sounding sarcastic. Oh well. It's not like anyone is going to set me up on a blind date with him. (And good since I am old enough to be his mother. In fact, I have kids older than he.)

Regarding Enchanted. Did Amy Adams really do her own singing? (I can't believe she even did her own talking.)

I guess Amy Adams, Matthew Goode (and even Leo Dicaprio) are the lucky ones that will still look 16 when they are 50. Sigh.