Weekend report

We saw two movies this weekend: "Cheri" on Friday night and "Away We Go" on Saturday.
I thought "Cheri," with Michelle Pfeiffer was just so-so. The costumes and interiors were excellent; but I felt Michelle’s performance was very bland – like the tired courtesan that she plays. On the other hand, Kathy Bates who also plays a has-been courtesan, was terrific. But then I always find her acting terrific. Otherwise, I found the love story uninteresting. So, if you haven’t seen it yet and still want to experience a Collette piece on film, rent it. It’s perfect for the small screen.

"Away We Go" is very worth seeing. The acting is great and natural and the writing is smart. Also cameo appearances by Jeff Daniels, Allison Janey, and Maggie Gillenhal steal this picaresque film. I loved the whole thing and highly recommend it.

And, for those of my readers who live in the LA area, go to the Aquarium of the Pacific. We spent a couple of hours there yesterday afternoon and though it is pricey it’s well worth it. We saw the Southern California exhibit with the jelly fish and sea lions. But my favorite is the Tropical exhibit. There we revisited the waters we experienced during our days living in the South Pacific in the late 1970s. The coral, sea anemones, the fish in shades of deep blue, yellow, and hot pink are not to be believed. Plus there are lion fish, sea snakes, sea dragons that look like twigs, and stone fish that blend right into their surroundings. Go if you’ve never been there and go back if you haven’t been there for a while. It’s also great for kids who spent a lot of time pressing their noses up to the glass and squealing with joy as the fish seemed to react to them.

So, while we were on our way back from the aquarium we made a list of other attractions in the LA area that we need to go to – a mini bucket list, so to speak. These are:

the Pompeii exhibit at LACMA
the Huntington Library
the Norton Simon museum of art
the refurbished Getty villa

All these places are easy to get to and prove that there are other things to do here besides go to the movies.