Weekend update.

Fashion forecast! I'm guilelessly excited for the florals trend for spring, even if it does mean that all of NYC will be wearing the flowery dresses I already love; but can the ongoing obsession with platform heels go away? Like, who is so short that they have to make platform shoes, even/especially hidden-platform, the only ones available? Those of us over 5'6" could use a break.

Chris and I went to see Atonement on Friday night. It was about what I was vaguely expecting: gorgeously shot, to the point of Anthropologie-esque porn (those floral wallpapers? Keira's green satin gown? Wow); many of the touches--various close-ups, the score, which echoed the typewriter theme that is so central to the story--were similarly beautifully executed, despite a lack of subtlety; and mostly well-acted, particularly by Romola Garai and Saoirse Ronan, both playing Briony at different ages. But, also faintly unsurprisingly, it left me emotionally cold; I teared up at the very end imagining what it must be like to be Briony and to have lived a lifetime under that burden of unimaginable guilt, but otherwise I felt mostly untouched by the central love story, and even, guiltily, by the surrounding war themes. The famous sevenish-minute scanning shot had me enraptured BECAUSE it was such an extraordinary, one-camera shot, NOT because I was horrified at the tragedy of war, and that conceit was a mistake on the filmmaker's part; likewise, loath as I am as a since-Bend It Like Beckham-Keira Knightley fan to admit it, but she did a terrible job, and her performance wasn't just a minor weak link in the film, but THE weak link that led to me not feeling anything for these war-torn lovers. How can I believe in their already tenuously-based passion if when James McAvoy was being carted off to prison (spoiler alert, sorry) Keira's standing there with her arms BEHIND her shoulders to make sure her (lovely, lovely) green dress still falls perfectly? I read an interview after Pride and Prejudice (same director, same star, excellent movie) came out that said the director had various folks on "pout alert" to make sure they reshot any scene in which she pouted too much; did these fellows not get hired this time around? Listen, I still really like her (Chris hates her, he thinks I'm insane) but she really dropped the ball on this one, I'm sorry to say.

I don't entirely blame her. The writers didn't give her character ANY backstory, and since she is so central to the plot, this was unfortunate. All in all, I thought it was a decent, even good film; I'd recommend it, and if it was playing on TV I'd watch it again, and I'm going to B&N tomorrow to buy the book and belatedly read it (anathema! A book person saw the film without reading the book!). But I wouldn't give it a Best Picture Oscar, even if I can't think of any other film that particularly deserves one either.

Today Chris and I hung our curtains and some of our pictures, and now we're watching the desperate Giants-Packers game and hoping New York makes it to the Super Bowl. I'd say "cross your fingers," but why do I have a feeling some of you are rooting for Wisconsin? :)