Brain Hurts

Seriously. This film critique stuff makes my brain hurt. Which either means this isn't my true calling or that I need more practice. However, Associated Content did publish my review of "The Town" but then Associated Content isn't exactly known for its high standards. Basically if you can string three sentences together, they'll publish whatever you write. So I'll keep practicing but I'm gonna include my movie reviews at the end of my blog posts so you don't have to suffer through them.

Crock pot news! Since the delicious stew, I've also made fantastic chili and wonderful beef stroganoff! I am VERY pleased. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this slow cooker stuff. In fact, the stroganoff was so good, the boyfriend's 9 y.o. rather picky son ate two plates.

In knitting / crochet news it's all about the squares. I've only done 24 though so I'm kinda bummed about that. I just have far too many rats to entertain and far too many movies to watch. I don't crochet while I watch movies anymore, instead I take notes. What the heck do I think I'm doing? My priorities may be all out of whack. On to the review ...

Theoretically, "Twelve" refers to the Ecstasy like drug being sold in this movie. However, it could also refer to the number of subplots going on in this hot mess.

Narrated by Kiefer Sutherland (Damn it, Jim, I need more time!), we first meet the main character, White Mike, played by Chace Crawford (Gossip Girls). Still reeling from his mother's death of a year ago, Mike has taken to the streets to sell drugs in an effort to help his father pay his mother's medical bills. Mike's best customers are the snooty Upper East Side kids he once attended high school with. There's Chris (Rory Culkin) who's guarding the family home while his drug addled mother and father cruise the seven seas. Unfortunately for Chris, his juvenile delinquent brother, Claude shows up, having made his escape from the latest in a long line of boarding schools. Next there's Esti Ginzburg who plays Sara Ludlow, the hottest girl in school. Sara's never met a man she couldn't manipulate and she's got her eye on Chris' parent's house as the perfect spot for her 18th birthday party. Last, but not least, is Molly (Emma Roberts). Molly has been in love with Mike since they were preschool pals.

But apparently the lives of rich kids do not a movie make so there's a murder thrown in there as well. Charlie, Mike's cousin, is gunned down in a drug deal gone bad. Mike's obviously not having a very good year. To underscore this, we are regularly subjected to scenes of Mike at his mother's funeral, Mike at his mother's bedside, Mike looking longingly at his mother in her casket. Which apparently all took place in a white room, in case there was any question about the significance of this event. To add to the visual confusion, director Joel Schumacher (St. Elmo's Fire, The Lost Boys, Flatliners) films every scene involving drug use as a 60's acid flashback.

Based on the novel written by Nick McDonnell, this is a story about excess. In this day and age, there's nothing new about that.