Wednesdays Movie Mashup No. 51

It took a little longer to get all 5.  If I thought I could keep up 5 every week I would.  Thanks to James, Red, Ryan, and Dylan who answered them all correctly.


1.  A guy breaks away from his rich upbringing to work on an oil rig while his girl attempts to put together a meal using all the apartments in her building to cook it.  
Answer: Five Easy Pieces of April -  RED
2.  A NYC cop learns that there really are little green men who become schizophrenic lesbian ballerinas. 
Answer: Men in Black Swan - JAMES
3. A little boy sees dead people who have to decide whether to marry for love or security
Answer: The Sixth Sense and Sensibility - JAMES
4.  A young man meets the girl of his dreams at a funeral where a couple of older couples spend their time rehashing their marriages and contemplating adultery.
Answer: ElizabethTown & Country - DYLAN
5.  A girl pretends to be her twin brother so she can play soccer while an assassin tries to protect a little girl from Mexican kidnappers.
Answer: She's The Man on Fire - RYAN


Well done guys!!!


Leader board
Hatter - 21

Rachel - 8

James - 7
Dylan - 6

David, Nick - 3

Red - 3 

Sebastian, Andrew, Andy, Keith - 1


And with 55 guesses I'm clearing the leaderboard and starting over!!  There is no prize this time, except the crown of being so far on top, it's crazy.  Well done.


New Clue: A writer spends time in the City of Lights and is transported to meet his heroes in short vignettes that show off the great neighborhoods and tell stories of happy, sad, tragic and touching relationships.   


The goal is to figure out the two movies who overlap in some words creating a new movie described by the clue.  Leave your answer in the comments. Good luck!

New Release: The Muppets

"Mah na mah na."  If reading that means you just sang "Do doo da do da" to yourself, this movie was definitely made for you.  Alternatively, if you didn't love the Muppets as a child, but now YOU have a child, this movie might also be made for you.  And if you just enjoy watching cultural icons reinvent themselves by going back to their roots, I guarantee you'll like the new film The Muppets.

Starring Jason Segel as Gary, who has been dating Mary (Amy Adams) for nearly 10 years.  They're going to go from Smalltown, USA to Los Angeles for their anniversary.  Gary's brother Walter has always felt a little different and growing up he bonded with "The Muppet Show" on TV.  He wanted to be part of them and has always felt the world just wasn't made for him.  Gary and Mary decide to bring Walter to LA to see The Muppet Studio.  While there, Walter overhears a plot by an oil baron (Chris Cooper) to tear down the studio and drill for oil unless the Muppets can come up with $10 Million in 2 days.  Walter convinces Gary and Mary that they must tell Kermit the Frog and make sure he knows what's going on.  And so the adventure begins.

That's pretty much all you need to know, even a bit more than you need to know.  If you've ever seen a Muppets movie or TV show, you know more or less how it's going to end.  The difference in this movie is that it takes you to some pretty great places along the way.  There are the requisite celebrity cameos, but unlike in many other movies of late, they attempt to drive the plot rather than just show us the famous people who like the Muppets.  Instead, it shows you famous people who embody what the Muppets attempt to stand for.

The best part of the movie is the music.  Some songs are written by Bret McKenzie from "Flight of the Conchords", and it makes such a difference to have a creative force like Bret and Segel behind this movie.  The music is completely over the top, but works perfectly with the Muppets.  Very tongue-in-cheek throughout, it's almost impossible not to sing along.  I highly recommend this movie for it's inherent entertainment, but if you also ever loved the Muppets, you'll love this for more reasons.  Check it out! My only criticism is of course the bad guy and his "scheme" that must be thwarted - it's ridiculous, but still keeping with the Muppets past.   4 of 5 stars/lambs

Oh, and if that's not enough, see this in theaters because there's a TERRIFIC short film that carries forward from Toy Story 3.  A little girl in my audience put it best after seeing the short, "That was all so funny."

Reel Insight Episode 67: Kirsten Dunst

There were some big surprises and a few duds (of course) in this week's movie list.  However, the previous sections were also more fun than usual - check out a discussion of Breaking Dawn: Part 1 and The Muppets.  Also, we seek advice on how to purge our DVD collections - anyone had success and managed to not regret sending away their DVDs?  It turns out Rach and I both treat them a bit like security blankets, even if we never manage to rewatch them.  Alas.  Enjoy!

New Movies with Kirsten Dunst this month:

Melancholia - Thankfully there has been a lot of buzz lately about this movie, though it is still available for rent on itunes (which is how I saw it).  I really expect that buzz will continue come Oscar time, particularly for visual effects, and perhaps for some acting awards for Ms. Dunst.  She plays Justine, a young women just married to Alexander Skarsgaard (seriously beautiful and kind in this - the opposite of his True Blood persona in many ways).  They've arrived at their reception, thrown by her sister (Charlotte Gainsbourgh) and brother in law (Keifer Sutherland).  It's wonderfully awkward and painful, but you watch Dunst going through the motions of trying to be normal and holding life together.  It turns out she suffers from terrible depression and a horrible family history of random evil.  The second half of the movie revolves around her sister, after Justine has completely fallen apart and gone into deep depression.  Meanwhile, the world might end as a gorgous star is on a collision course with earth.  We see the sisters reverse positions as Justine holds it together now that the worst has arrived and her sister falls apart.  Really wonderfully made.  Lars Von Trier makes some dreadful awful movies, but this one is particularly amazing and gorgeously shot.  Just go with it for a while and it pays off big time.  4.5 of 5 stars/lambs

Lover's Prayer - Dunst plays the daughter of a Russian princess who is a uber-tease trying to get men to swoon.  She befriends the neighbor son (Nick Stahl) and draws him into her web.  She's beautiful but the teasing is terribly annoying. Dreadful movie and painful acting.  Skip it. 1 of 5 stars/lambs

Deeply - An odd mixture of stories that I should probably rewatch, but I won't.  Lynn Redgrave lives on a coastal island (off Maine, I think), and is telling a story to a distraught teenager who has come to the island to recover from the death of her boyfriend.  The story follows Dunst and the curse that was put on the island causing the fish to disappear every 50 years and wreak havoc on the island.  2 of 5 stars/lambs (only doesn't get a 1 because I'm not sure I fully understood what was going on).  

Wednesdays Movie Mashup No. 50

Okay, I honestly can't believe today is Thursday.  I don't know how it happened.  I'm really sorry James had to wait a whole extra day to be declared the winner of last week's contest.  Oh, and did you notice this was the 50th?  So I'll put up 5 to try to make up for the oversight - I'm feeling creative today.  


Last week's clue: New Clue: A woman becomes engaged to someone in a coma when she saves his life and a prince battles to save the girl of his dreams from a maleficent force.  


Answer: While You Were Sleeping Beauty

Leader board
Hatter - 20

Rachel - 8
Dylan, James - 5

David, Nick - 3

Red - 2 

Sebastian, Andrew, Andy, Keith - 1


1.  A guy breaks away from his rich upbringing to work on an oil rig while his girl attempts to put together a meal using all the apartments in her building to cook it.  


2.  A NYC cop learns that there really are little green men who become schizophrenic lesbian ballerinas. 


3. A little boy sees dead people who have to decide whether to marry for love or security


4.  A young man meets the girl of his dreams at a funeral where a couple of older couples spend their time rehashing their marriages and contemplating adultery.


5.  A girl pretends to be her twin brother so she can play soccer while an assassin tries to protect a little girl from Mexican kidnappers.


The goal is to figure out the two movies who overlap in some words creating a new movie described by the clue.  Leave your answer in the comments. Good luck!   Also, just to encourage participation - if you guess one, don't guess the others.  Thanks.
 

Reel Insight Episode 66: Cillian Murphy

I know, you're probably saying WHO?  But I promise you'll recognize many of the movies he's been in.  But first, we have a guest, Nick from Random Ramblings of a Demented Doorknob, our final winner of quotable quotes.  He chose to join us on this particular actor's career.  We discuss a bit more from Tower Heist and Nick and Rachel talk Crazy, Stupid, Love and urge me to see it immediately.  Our random segment is about the new trend of making movies out of board games.  Let us know what you think!

New movies with Cillian Murphy

Peacock - Check this out as soon as you can.  A terrific look at multiple personalities - what would you do if people liked one of your personalities better than the others.  Our discussion about this one really opened my eyes.  Stellar cast including Ellen Page, Susan Sarandon, Bill Pullman and several other character actors you'll recognize. 4 of 5 stars

Red Eye - A thriller starring Rachel McAdams as a hotel manager taken hostage on a plane and told to move a senator to a new room in her hotel or Murphy will have her dad killed.  McAdams does a good job being terrified, but ultimately beats the crap out of Murphy, who starts out particularly likeable and ends up remarkably hateful.  Great movie.  4 of 5 stars

Breakfast on Pluto -  The story of Patrick "Kitty" Braden, a young transgendered orphan fathered by the local priest.  He grows up and we follow the adventures as he tries to pass as a woman and have adventures. Also starring Liam Neeson.  A tour de force of acting for Murphy, but too over the top on the whole.  Not a great cohesive story line.  

Disco Pigs - One of Murphy's first features, he's quite hard to understand behind the accent and never shutting up sort of running speech.  He's obviously a little disturbed trying to make his friendship with his neighbor, Runt.  Not good. 2 of 5 stars

New Release: Tower Heist

When watching the new comedy, Tower Heist, I couldn't help thinking that when this movie was created the producers and marketing people created a flow chart to figure out how many people would probably want to see this movie, since the concept is not particularly new or creative.  Since I now commute nearly 100 minutes M-F I have a lot of time to think, so I thought about the flow chart they might have created.  Here's a pretty simple version that I thought they would have grouped people into based on their interest.  It definitely starts with the idea that "heist movies" appeal to you.  You can follow it to see why I really liked it and if you might too.  Click on the image to get a larger version.    4 of 5 stars/lambs

Wednesdays Movie Mashup No. 49

I apologize for having nothing appear on this site for a week.  I'm as shocked and disappointed as you are.  But at least I seem to remember my blog every Wednesday (and every other Sunday).  Oh, and thank you to my 60 followers - it's growing!!!


Anyway, Rachel took another one, well done partner!


Last week's clue: We see variations on a girl's attempt to help her boyfriend who has decided to manipulate the outcome of a court case for his own reasons.


Answer: Run, Lola, Runaway Jury

Leader board
Hatter - 20

Rachel - 8
Dylan - 5

James - 4

David, Nick - 3

Red - 2 

Sebastian, Andrew, Andy, Keith - 1

New Clue: A woman becomes engaged to someone in a coma when she saves his life and a prince battles to save the girl of his dreams from a maleficent force.  

The goal is to figure out the two movies who overlap in some words creating a new movie described by the clue.  Leave your answer in the comments. Good luck!

Wednesdays Movie Mashup No. 48

And Ryan takes another one.  His lead might never be caught, but as long as I can come up with these, I'll just keep going.  


Last Week's Clue: An FBI dog escapes and encourages a down and out man that he can complete the London marathon.


Answer:  See Spot Run Fatboy Run

Leader board
Hatter - 20

Rachel - 7
Dylan - 5

James - 4

David, Nick - 3

Red - 2 

Sebastian, Andrew, Andy, Keith - 1

New Clue:  We see variations on a girl's attempt to help her boyfriend who has decided to manipulate the outcome of a court case for his own reasons.  

The goal is to figure out the two movies who overlap in some words creating a new movie described by the clue.  Leave your answer in the comments. Good luck!