18. Ewan McGregor Movie Review: Nora (2000)

love this clip so much. Can't believe I forgot about it :)

happy sunday :)

12. Ewan McGregor Movie Review: A Life Less Ordinary (1997)

This is Ewan's last movie of 1997 and oh boy, is it a good one! And yes, the plot is just as zany as his previous two movies lol. Here are some fun facts before we begin!

Ewan's wife, Eve Mavrakis, is credited as Art Department Associate.

Once again the terrific trio of Danny Boyle, John Hodge, and Andrew Macdonald are reunited with Ewan to create movie magic! Sadly, Ewan and Danny's friendship took a huge blow after this project. The grudge would last for nearly two DECADES before they worked together again.

Stanley Tucci plays a minor role in the movie and will work with Ewan again in the future.

Genre: Comedy/Romance

Rating: R

Director: Danny Boyle

Starring: Cameron Diaz, Ewan McGregor

Synopsis: Robert Lewis is experiencing the worst day of his life. He gets fired, dumped, and evicted all within twenty-four hours! He decides his only option is to speak to the CEO and demand his job back. Instead, he ends up kidnapping the man's daughter, Celine! In the midst of this chaos, two angels are sent from Heaven to help Robert and Celine fall in love.

Ewan Review: Ewan plays the character Robert Lewis. Robert is a hopeless romantic and aspiring writer. He's a sweet guy who doesn't know how he ended up as a wanted criminal but thinks he's gone too far to turn back. Thankfully for him, there's one person who's willing to help him be a convincing kidnapper and get the ransom money he needs...his kidnappee, Celine! Ewan gives a great performance in this role. His chemistry with Cameron Diaz is even better than his with Nicole Kidman for "Moulin Rouge!" in my opinion. He has two kiss scenes and a shirtless scene. He performs a song and dance number which is really fun. He wears the kilt which to my knowledge is the only time he's done so on screen to date. Robert is more innocent compared to Celine so that brings about some cute moments of confusion. Best of all, he sobs like a baby in one scene and it was *chef's kiss 🤌*. He needs to do more comedy roles because he's genuinely good at it! All the actors had great chemistry and gave stellar performances.

Screentime Percentage: Ewan is on screen for a grand total of 53/104 minutes making his SP 51%.

To Ewan or not to Ewan: Is the movie worth watching for Ewan alone? Yes! I'm a fan of his raspy screaming voice (and he does a lot of it), he sings, dances, and seeing him cry in fear is always appreciated. Is the movie worth watching in general? Also yes! It's funny and the actors play off each other so well. The story is unique and the soundtrack is great too!

Warning before Watching: There are some bloody scenes in the movie. Nothing super graphic but I still want to issue a warning for those who are uncomfortable by such depictions. Two characters get shot in the head and there's a close up of their wounds. There's a scene of a character intentionally cutting them self and drawing a large amount of blood. Lastly, a character is cut by someone else and there's a close up of the wound.

Where to Watch: "A Life Less Ordinary" is currently available for rent on Fandango at Home. You can also watch on Amazon Prime Video if you have a premium subscription or you can pirate it on soap2day.

Closing Thoughts: It truly sucks that this movie wasn't well-received and was commercially unsuccessful. We need more movies like this that a take chance on a wacky story! I call them "silly goofy movies" and they are sorely lacking in Hollywood today. I implore you to give this movie a watch. It's a great time!

I found two Star Wars books at a thrift store today and it felt like I got some luck from your finds. Lol. 📚💖

Score! I love to hear it! May the thrift finds be ever in our favor 😉🤗

The Ewan McGregor Screentime Percentage (EMSP) List

I thought it'd be helpful to make a list for the movies that I've reviewed so far. I will update it as new reviews are posted. Unfortunately, I'm not yet able to add links to direct you to the full review. The letters EMSP stand for " Ewan McGregor Screentime Percentage" which is how long he spends on screen in a given movie. It is ordered from his highest screentime percentage to lowest. I hope this helps those looking for a new Ewan movie to watch!

1 Rogue Trader (1999): 69% (65 / 1 hr. 34 min.)

2. Nora (2000): 56% (60 / 1 hr. 47 min.)

3. Trainspotting (1996): 55% (52 / 1 hr. 34 min.)

4. Nightwatch (1997): 51% (52 / 1 hr. 42 min.)

5. A Life Less Ordinary (1997): 51% (53 / 1 hr. 44 min.)

6. Eye of the Beholder (1999): 47% (48 / 1 hr. 42 min.)

7. Shallow Grave (1994): 44% (41 / 1 hr. 33 min.)

8. The Serpent's Kiss (1997): 42% (44 / 1 hr. 46 min.)

9. Moulin Rouge! (2001): 40% (51 / 2 hrs. 8 min.)

10. Brassed Off (1996): 24% (26 / 1 hr. 47 min.)

11. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002): 23% (33 / 2 hrs. 22 min)

12. Blue Juice (1995): 22% (22 / 1 hr. 39 min)

13. The Pillow Book (1996): 22% (28 / 2 hrs. 7 min.)

14. Nothing but the Truth (1995): 21% (21 / 1 hr. 41 min.)

15. Velvet Goldmine (1998): 17% (20 / 1 hr. 58 min.)

16. Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999): 17% (23 / 2 hrs. 16 min.)

17. Little Voice (1998): 14% (14 / 1 hr. 37 min)

18. Doggin' Around (1995): 11% (10 / 1 hr. 29 min.)

19. Emma (1996): 11% (13 / 2 hrs. 1 min.)

20. Being Human (1994): 2% (2 / 2 hrs. 2 min.)

I received the news of the election from my friend. She texted me a somber message. So somber and random was it that I initially thought that she was in danger. I quickly realized why she would be sending me a message like that: we lost. There was a brief window of time between when I turned in my ballot yesterday and I read that message today where I was happy. I felt hopeful for the future. I was excited. We weren't going back. That happiness shattered in the blink of an eye.

On this day, November 6, 2024, hatred held in people's hearts for their fellow man conquered the love people have for their families, their communities, and those most vulnerable. Fear at the loss of the status quo for those in power defeated hope for a better future. Greed overpowered equality.

The people have spoken: Hate is bigger than anything in it's way.

Trigger Warning: Suicidal Thoughts

I saw some friends in my dream last night. One of them I haven't talked to in over a year, not for lack of trying. He just doesn't need my friendship anymore. Anyway, he was happy to see me in the dream and we hugged and fellowshipped. I was happy. It was nice.

Been really lonely lately. Been getting beat down by the cruelty of my coworkers. I don't understand why people are so mean. Wish I was stronger so it didn't affect me.

This life isn't worth living.

Feel like shit bothering my moots all the time. Not their fault I don't have a life. How do I explain that this is the only place I have to connect to people? My therapist would say, "Simple, you don't." All in all, I think I'm handling the isolation well.

"I think I'm gonna kill myself. Cause a little suicide." This song by Elton John came on shuffle yesterday... I'm not influential enough or powerful enough or whatever you wanna call it to make the world a better place. This was said as a joke, but I'm starting to believe it's true that the only positive impact I could make is if I go to sleep and never wake up.

Here's hoping.

𐙚 If you received this, you are a great mutual ⭑.ᐟ 🌷 Send this to 10 of your mutuals to spread love 𖹭

Love u 💓

New Venture!

For those that care, I'm pressing pause on writing fics for now. I already haven't been writing regularly due to changes in my personal life. I still might drop some here and there though. That brings me to a new idea I've been brainstorming: reviewing Ewan McGregor movies!

Now you might be thinking that's not very original and you'd be correct. @palfriendpatine66 has reviews of some of Ewan's movies and you should check them out! However, I want to do something slightly different. A friend of mine jokingly mentioned they wished that there was a way to see how much screentime Ewan was in so they could decide if the movie was worth their time. I've also seen this sentiment shared a few times here on Tumblr. So I thought it'd be fun to go through his filmography and tally the minutes of screentime myself!

Here's the plan. I will be reviewing movies and TV movies starting with his first role and working towards the present or for however long I stay invested. Cameos and guest appearances will be excluded. Also excluded are TV shows and documentaries. So Halston, the Long Way series, and such won't be reviewed here. The movie reviews will include a tally at the end of how many minutes of screentime Ewan was in compared to how long the movie was. That number will then be converted to a percentage. Example: Ewan had 30/60 minutes of screentime. His screentime percentage is 50%.

I'm very excited and would love to hear y'all's thoughts on the idea!

I ship you with Robert Lewis from A Life Less Ordinary because he's a passionate writer and a little goofy. You seem to really be into story analysis and fandom which some people might find goofy/nerdy. So I think y'all would get along.

(this is for your reblog of the anon shipping post but you don't have anonymous turned on so I hope this is still okay)

I have never heard of this character before, but passionate, writer, and goofy definitely speaks to me lol

Okay, I'm taking a break from the movie and gonna share my ramblings thus far. Spoilers ahead!

The Moulin Rouge establishing number really is fun! It's just a headache when you're trying to tally screentime. I like Zidler singing and dancing.

The patrons singing "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was awesome. Gave me chills.

Toulouse has my heart! I feel like he's edited to be shorter or something though. Something feels uncanny when watching him. Idk.

Nicole Kidman's singing doesn't do it for me. It's much to soft and she's consistently drowned out by others or the background music.

"Spectacular Spectacular" sequence was really fun.

Satine abruptly trilling and saying "I feel like dancing" to the Duke got the first laugh from me. That was 30 minutes in.

"Your Song" sequence was magical. I felt transported.

Surely Zidler could tell from his telescope that Satine was unconscious while (from his pov) she was being fucked. He was okay with that. And also with spying on an intimate moment 🤢. That made me sad for Satine. Zidler might act like a silly uncle but he's still a pimp at the end of the day.

Hot take: I like the Duke. Why is he the bad guy? Cuz he has a moustache and funny accent we're supposed to understand not to like him? Are we supposed to think he's ugly therefore bad? I think the actor is handsome. He's doing a good job.

Another hot take: why does Christian love Satine? Because she's the most beautiful out of Zidler's sex workers? If Satine was a Diamond Dog instead of the Sparkling Diamond then what would happen? Does he love her because she made him think she loved him and he just couldn't get over it? I'm confused and feel like the movie doesn't want me to think about it.

I could understand Satine loving Christian easier than the reverse. He's innocent, naive, genuine, and handsome. He's the puppy and she's the master. He's completely infatuated with her. Like a puppy, he can't help but want to follow her and shower her with kisses and cuddles. If I were in Satine's place, I would appreciate that sort of blind and gentle worship when I'm sure it's not common amongst her patrons. It's still not enough for me but it makes more sense. Maybe I'll elaborate later.

What is Nini's problem? That smirk she makes behind the Duke after cluing him in to what is happening under his nose made me angry.

The Duke is genuinely trying to woo Satine and keeps getting shut down. Let us see why we shouldn't root for him! Why is Christian the better choice??? How do we know the Duke wouldn't treat Satine the same if he actually got the chance? I actually feel sorry for him because he thinks he has a shot and they're just playing in his face.

Okay, so did anyone else watch "Come What May" and think "oh my god these are their wedding vows!" 😭 I can't begin to describe how precious that gesture is. My heart!

I will agree with Zidler that rewriting the play when the show opens TOMORROW is demanding the impossible.

Satine truly loves Christian. She's not doing this because Zidler owns her, or because her coworkers are depending on her to keep their livelihood. She's doing this for him. I admire her.

I'm sorry but can anyone tell me when in the world a couple would perform the Argentinian's tango? The thought seriously has me cracking up 🤣

On a serious note: That™️ scene is viscerally powerful. I mean damn. They didn't hold back. I think I want to talk about that more later.

But while we're on the subject, let's go ahead and address the Duke. There's 36 minutes left in the movie and NOW we see he's not the right choice. 36 minutes! Also, I understand him being angry. He's right. Satine DID make him believe she loved him. She lied to his face for months. He tried to be understanding about her work. He tried to make accommodations. They were betrothed and he trusted that she was being faithful to him and honest when she said wanted him. That is not his fault. She played him and the rug was finally pulled out from under his feet. I think his pain and feelings of betrayal are understandable. Now, how he deals with that pain is not okay. And this is a bit of a parallel between him and Christian. It's not a perfect comparison at all because Christian was lied to for only 5 seconds unlike the Duke. However, I can't help but think about the difference between Christian's response to rejection and the Duke's. If we remember that Satine says her job is literally to make men fall in love with her then I imagine that the Duke's reaction is one she has dealt with far too often...

Moulin Rouge Thoughts

So guys, I've been watching Moulin Rouge, and well, I've been thinking. I've had a lot of thoughts while watching and should've done this earlier. Maybe I'll start doing it for the other Ewan reviews. But I wanted to jot down the things that cross my mind while watching because, oh boy, have things been crossing my mind. I'm just afraid that I'm going to come across as a psychopath at worst, and a dumb dumb at best. I'm trusting that y'all have better insight into this movie since it's so beloved. I only just watched it for the first time recently. Stay tuned...if you dare ☠️