I Didn't Get It

Sherlyn, Esther, and I saw Atonement this past weekend at the Tampa Theatre.  I have seen some great movies lately - Juno, Charlie Wilson's War, and Enchanted (ok, I'll clarify: Juno was amazing, Charlie Wilson's War was good but a little fluffier than I thought it should have been, and Enchanted was cute, but I got sick of Amy Adams by the end).  Anyway, I can't say that Atonement fits anywhere near the great category.  And yet, the night after I saw it, it won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Drama.  I think the biggest problem I had with the movie is that I just didn't care about the characters - I just knew that I didn't like one of them (won't give away which one).  I also didn't understand the depth of the relationship between Keira Knightley and James McAvoy.  All of that made it really hard to follow and really care about.  But as if that wasn't bad enough, I could not for the life of me understand what the actors were saying to each other.  The British accents were part of it, but the real problem (and this pains me to say it because I love the Tampa Theatre so much) was that the sound was absolutely awful.  Sherlyn and Esther said the same thing as we were leaving the theater, and as we talked, it occurred to me that I think every movie I've seen there either a) I've seen before or b) was a foreign film (so it had subtitles).  So I wonder if that's why I've never noticed it before.  Anyway, I still think the movie sucked, but the sound issue sure didn't help.