Two movies that werent what I thought they'd be.

From Netflix, we had I'm Not There (2007), in which six actors portray different facets of Bob Dylan's life and character. I was intrigued, but it turns out it's just not my thing. I prefer stories told in a more linear, less fragmented, way than this film did. I like the narrative to make more ( some?) sense. Which isn't to say I need hand-holding, just... well, I don't have a lot of patience with the incomprehensibly artsy. In retrospect, the words "stylized portrait" in the Netflix blurb should've tipped me off.

In retro-retrospect, maybe this is why I'm not a huge Dylan fan anyhow. I thought his story would be interesting to learn, but I'm Not There is much better suited to people already familiar with it, who are fans of it, and who want to see it portrayed by great actors. Cate Blanchett is a great actor, no doubt. So I was doubly disappointed when I had to declare "this is just dumb" and quit watching the movie halfway through.



On the other hand, I was ready to be disappointed by Yes Man. It seems like one of those comedies that puts everything it's got into the trailer, so there's no need to see the whole thing. Jim Carrey plays Carl, a divorced, depressed bank loan officer who likes to tell people no, he doesn't want to [whatever]. He runs into an old acquaintance (John Michael Higgins, familiar from Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, et al.) who seems Really Into Life, and who hands Carl a flier for a self-help seminar called YES! Carl goes to this thing, has some kind of epiphany, and starts saying YES to everything he's asked or offered to do, with amusing results (only one of which is actually, um, disturbing, and if you've seen the movie you know the one I mean).

Yes, you can predict much of what happens, and it's not ingenious or anything. But fun! Cute! Entertaining! Sure, all that. Yes.