Bad Romantic Comedies, not much worse

I've been re-reading some of my oldest posts to see if what I suspected was true: I like most movies. What I found out was that I usually just don't review movies I really dislike. They don't make enough of an impact if they're less than 2 stars or so. Also, I don't tend to go to movies that don't interest me - most horror movies and almost all scary thrillers (I won't be seeing Shutter Island in the theater). So like most bloggers, my opinion of movies is not always based on their intrinsic or historical value to cinema, but whether or not I enjoyed them. Usually I wouldn't bother reviewing either of these movies, but since I saw them so close together, I'll go ahead and add them to my list at the low end of the scale. I'm sure no one will be surprised that these weren't particularly good movies, one was a romantic comedy release in January and the other is a straight to DVD romantic comedy. I guess it also proves I'm a sucker for my favorite actors and a romantic comedy.
Leap Year stars Amy Adams and Matthew Goode. Amy plays a real estate stager (she arranges apartments to improve their sellability) dating a doctor who hasn't bothered to propose after several years. He goes to Ireland for a conference, and she meets up with her dad (a disappointingly underused John Lithgow) who reminds her how her grandparents got engaged: On February 29, there's an Irish tradition that allows women to propose to their boyfriends. This was the first place the movie went off the rails for me - what is stopping women from proposing any day they want if that's what it takes. It's not like men aren't allowed to say no on Leap Day any more than other day so the pressure is the same. So Adams goes running off to Dublin, but is diverted to Wales, and takes a boat across to Dingle in Ireland. Second place this movie lost me - Dingle is on the opposite side of Ireland from Wales. Dublin is close to Wales, so how the heck did she end up in Dingle? Then she tries to get someone to drive her to Dublin, which is crazy. There's a huge airport in Shannon that would have been an hour drive rather than driving across the country to Dublin. I've been to Ireland and driven myself across it - less than 6 hours. It takes them 3 days! Anyway, Matthew Goode owns what looks like the ONLY building in Dingle and is losing it to a money collector so he agrees to drive Adams in exchange for a lot of money. The rest of Leap Year follows the standard path of most romantic comedies. Their personalities clash, to humorous effect. They lose their transportation and are forced to stay in one room at a hotel and sexual tension increases to humorous effect. And finally, she has to decide between her previous boyfriend and the new guy who has changed her life in just a few days. It was a pleasant way to spend an afternoon, but unlikely I'll watch it again. Not worth the $10. 2 stars/5 stars.

An Accidental Husband is a direct to DVD movie with Uma Thurman, Colin Firth and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Thurman plays a radio love doctor who gives advice to Morgan's fiancee that convinces her to stop the wedding. To get back at Thurman, Morgan uses his tech savy friend to create a marriage license so when Thurman and her actual fiancee Firth go to get theirs, she finds out she's already married to Morgan (whom she's never met). Again, the standard fair of romantic comedies ensues. She ends up spending time with Morgan (a fireman from Astoria) trying to get the annulment papers signed and realizes he's a pretty great guy. Morgan meanwhile realizes his prank might have been a good idea as now he's married to a pretty great guy. Hijinks ensue and Firth gets to be the stand up guy (after all he's British) and lets Thurman out of their engagement. The one cliche that always bothers me in movies like these is the woman's hair. It's true in almost every romantic comedy of late - a tightly wound woman also ALWAYS wears her hair tied up, a bun or something that demonstrates visually how uptight she is. After the guy convinces her to relax and fall for the new guy suddenly she's wearing her hair down all the time. Now she's all flowy and relaxed, and so is her hair. Just an odd gimmick that I'm sick of watching. Note the change in the two leap year photos above. 2 stars/5 stars.

Good TV: Human Target

One of the many benefits to living on the Canadian border is Canadian television (CJOH and CTV for those who care). So far this has brought me full seasons of The Tudors (before the DVD release, but after the airing on Showtime), and allowed me to watch the shows that are shown opposite several others (they air CSI at 8pm, instead of 9, when I prefer Grey's or Fringe). This is what I like best, when they air a show on a better day, preferably an earlier day than it airs in the states. Right now, they air the new show "Human Target" on Monday nights, instead of Wednesday after Idol in the US. So I don't have to wait until Wednesday to see it. It stars Mark Valley (his father was my high school principal!) from "Fringe", and Chi McBride (recently from "Pushing Daisies"), and Jackie Earle Haley (seemingly attempting to remove the tarnish from his fantastic turn in Little Children). The three of them operate a body-guard for hire agency that runs just a little outside the law, not always, but sometimes (and I'm told is based on a comic book, though it's hard to tell). Valley plays Christopher Chance (one of his aliases) a former special forces military savant, and McBride is his straight-man side kick who makes things happen while Valley's in the field doing the action stuff. It has a small cast, though so far the guest stars have been lots of fun (Tricia Helfer - "BSG", Sean Maher - "Serenity") and speaks well for the future of the series. My only complaint is the opening credits. The design is terrific, but the music is awful, totally doesn't go with an action series at all. I like the series, and LOVE that I can watch it early (not sure why it matters, but it's fun to know I see it earlier than the rest of the States). I hope they keep it going for a while.

Fun things for movie lovers

First, I have no connection to either of the things I'm about to tell you about, I've just become kinda addicted, and thought I'd exorcise my addiction by passing it on to other movie lovers.

Swap a DVD is a website that lets to get rid of old DVDs, or just whatever DVDs you no longer watch. It's a partner to Paperback Swap and Swap a CD, so you can get rid of all your stuff if you're in a cleaning frenzy. The basic premise is you post a list of the DVDs you don't want. Once someone requests a DVD and you mail it off you have a credit to request any DVD in their list, and someone will mail it to you for free (the cost of a DVD is what you pay to mail one to someone else, so around $2). You can set up a wishlist to keep track of DVDs you want to get once they're entered into the system. I've been getting quite a few lately - I had a few leftover DVDs from college that were no longer of much interest (Girl, Interrupted can only be seen so many times), and I've even gotten a few TV series that I love to rewatch in return. The nice thing is you can also buy credits, but it's the same as the average cost of mailing a DVD, so for about $2 you can get a brand new (to you) DVD in the mail. I've heard it's great if you have kids who love a DVD for a while, and then don't watch it anymore.

The second thing is more of a fantastic time waster for the movie lover. Flick Chart creates your own personalized list of favorite movie by posing competitions between lots and lots of movies. You just pick the one you like better. The nice thing is you can check that you haven't seen the movie and it gets removed from your list. It's not perfect until you've had all the pairings compete, but it did make me think about which movies I actually like (versus the ones I know are good). Here's my top 20 list, also not perfect, but definitely includes my favs. Enjoy and go waste some time thinking about movies.

1. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
2. Toy Story 2
3. A Knight's Tale
4. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
5. Dead Poets Society
6. Jerry Maguire
7. Wall-E
8. Juno
9. The Dark Knight
10. The Notebook
11. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
12. Saving Private Ryan
13. Stranger Than Fiction
14. To Kill A Mockingbird
15. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
16. Closer
17. Fargo
18. X-Men
19. The Lion King
20. LA Confidential

DVD Round-Up: District 9, Music Within, The Maiden Heist,

I'm a bit behind in reviewing my DVD viewing, mostly because I haven't seen anything so amazing, I want to shout the news. However, I have seen a few I enjoyed, so here they are.

District 9 came out last summer and is another good version of a short film being extended into a feature film (the best recent example I can think of is Frozen River). It's a documentary-style film for the first 45 or so minutes, following a civil servant, Wikus Van De Merwe, in South Africa whose job is to go get the signatures of aliens who are being moved from their current squalor situation to a different one further from the human population of Johannesburg. The aliens arrived 20 years ago, starving, and unable to space travel any longer. They've been living in South Africa, existing on cat food and garbage, and being exploited, studied, and basically cast into the most subservient roles in society. Then the movie takes it's action movie turn. Our hero becomes infected with a strange liquid while touring the shacks of aliens. He starts changing physically and comes under the jurisdiction of a military-type company who wants to exploit him for the alien weapons. When he escapes, the only place he can find help is in the home of Christopher Johnson, a "prawn" who has been trying to find a way off earth. Lots of action sequences follow as the human military tries to capture Wikus, Johnson tries to get his space ship running, and Wikus tries to become human again. Most of the movie is really interesting, with some extended sequences that go on a bit long. The main character, played by newcomer Sharlto Copley, is compelling enough to keep you interested, and the novelty of the story makes any sci-fi fan come back for more. Overall, good movie, 3 of 5 stars.



The next movie I saw on DVD is Music Within. It originally arrived on my Netflix queue because I like its star, Ron Livingston, and his story seemed compelling from the preview on another disc. Livingston plays Richard Pimental, one of the writers and proponents of what would become the Americans with Disabilities Act. Pimental returns from Vietnam, where he went because he couldn't afford college, with severe hearing loss. He has trouble getting and holding jobs due to his disability. He is able to go to college thanks to the GI Bill, and meets Art, a brilliant man with severe cerebral palsy who also has difficulty getting around a college university in the late 1970s and early 1980s (he's played by the wonderful Michael Sheen). Pimental has learned to read lips, and because of that is able to understand Art better than most hearing people. While they spend a lot of time arguing, and Pimental has to overcome a particularly dysfunctional childhood that led to dysfunctional romantic relationships. It's an inspiring look at a time and situation that few born after 1980 would be really aware of. I grew up aware of the ramps, and the handicapped accessibility, or lack thereof of most buildings. A good family friend was once responsible for helping the NYC transit system become completely handicap accessible (I now know they were complying with the newly passed Americans with Disabilities Act). This movie, while inexpertly written, shows glimpse into how that all came about. 3 of 5 stars/lambs



The last movie I've seen recently was a straight to DVD release that I saw advertised in Entertainment Weekly when it was released. The Maiden Heist would likely have bombed at the box office, but the stars and story make for a very enjoyable Sunday afternoon. It's a simple story of 3 museum security guards (luckily not the same ones as A Night at the Museum), played by William H. Macy, Morgan Freeman, and Christopher Walken, who are each in love with a piece of art at the museum they protect that will be sent away in a new exhibit. Rather than move to Denmark, the site of the new exhibit housing their loves, they decide to steal their pieces. Their inexpert thievery and individual idiosyncrasies (Freeman is gay and lives with lots of cats, Macy likes to pose naked with the object of his affection, and Walken's wife, Marcia Gay Harden is awesome) makes for some very funny scenes and stories. It's almost an over the top farce, but still remarkably enjoyable. It's predictable, but watching four Oscar-worthy actors perform outside their normal roles is lots of fun. 3.5 of 5 stars/lambs

Things I learned from the SAG awards this weekend.

I enjoy watching the Screen Actors Guild awards because they don't bother with anything beyond the actors. They line up as many actors as possible, and rarely because they're promoting a new movie, just popular actors. The speeches tend towards the sincere and self-deprecating, but attempt at as much humor as possible. This year, I keep thinking about some of the things I learned from this year's ceremony.

1. Betty White has touched all kinds of people, has a racy mind, and is probably an incredibly good person and fun to be around.

2. The SAG voters only chose 1 (yes only 1!) category different than the Golden Globes - Tiny Fey took the actress in a comedy instead of Toni Collette, which I agree with, though maybe it is time to share the wealth. There are of course categories from each ceremony not included in the other, but all the winners of individual SAG awards also won a Golden Globe last week.

3. Julianna Marguiles taught me how to finally pronounce Matt Czuchry's last name - Zoo-Cray. Since he also appeared in Gilmore Girls for several seasons, I've often wondered how it was actually pronounced.

And for some fun, here's the trailer for Marguiles' new movie that I thought looked interesting, and very well cast.

City Island Official Trailer
Uploaded by thatsfunny. - Watch feature films and entire TV shows.

My best of 2010

I waited a little while to be sure I'd seen all the movies I thought I might want to include in my top 10, but I think I've mostly arrived at what I liked best of the 55+ movies I saw this year. I've made each title a link to my review over the past year. I'm not actually ranking them by number as each is good for different reasons. My favorite movie this year was The Blind Side, but Avatar was the most beautifully made, and Inglorious Basterds and The Hurt Locker were the best their respective genres have ever produced. So here is my grouping of the 10 best. Enjoy.

The Hurt Locker
The Blind Side
Sherlock Holmes
Invictus
Avatar
Inglorious Basterds
Up
Up in the Air
Julie and Julia
(500) Days of Summer

Honorable Mentions: Precious (even though I haven't seen it yet), District 9, Star Trek, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Taken, and The Proposal

Golden Globes Predictions 2010: And winners

The start of the big awards season has arrived. I love it. I thought I'd share all my predictions for winners of Sunday night's awards. I'm really excited to see Ricky Gervais host it given how funny and off the cuff he was at last year's award just presenting. Should be lots of fun to watch.

Best Motion Picture - Drama - Predicted: The Hurt Locker, Actual - Avatar (not surprised or dissappointed)
Nominees:
Avatar (2009)
The Hurt Locker (2008)
Inglourious Basterds (2009)
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)
Up in the Air (2009/I)

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy - Predicted - Julie and Julia, Actual - The Hangover
Nominees:
(500) Days of Summer (2009)
The Hangover (2009)
It's Complicated (2009)
Julie & Julia (2009)
Nine (2009)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama - Predicted - Jeff Bridges, Actual - Jeff Bridges
Nominees:
Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart (2009)
George Clooney for Up in the Air (2009/I)
Colin Firth for A Single Man (2009)
Morgan Freeman for Invictus (2009)
Tobey Maguire for Brothers (2009/I)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama - Predicted - Sandra Bullock, Actual - Sandra Bullock
Nominees:
Emily Blunt for The Young Victoria (2009)
Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side (2009)
Helen Mirren for The Last Station (2009)
Carey Mulligan for An Education (2009)
Gabourey 'Gabby' Sidibe for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy - Predicted - Robert Downey Jr., Actual - Robert Downey, Jr.
Nominees:
Matt Damon for The Informant! (2009)
Daniel Day-Lewis for Nine (2009)
Robert Downey Jr. for Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt for (500) Days of Summer (2009)
Michael Stuhlbarg for A Serious Man (2009)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy --Predicted - Meryl Streep (Julie and Julia), Actual - Meryl Streep (Julie and Julia)
Nominees:
Sandra Bullock for The Proposal (2009/I)
Marion Cotillard for Nine (2009)
Julia Roberts for Duplicity (2009)
Meryl Streep for It's Complicated (2009)
Meryl Streep for Julie & Julia (2009)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Predicted - Christoph Waltz, Actual - Christoph Waltz
Nominees:
Matt Damon for Invictus (2009)
Woody Harrelson for The Messenger (2009/I)
Christopher Plummer for The Last Station (2009)
Stanley Tucci for The Lovely Bones (2009)
Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Predicted Mo'Nique, Actual - Mo'Nique
Nominees:
Penélope Cruz for Nine (2009)
Vera Farmiga for Up in the Air (2009/I)
Anna Kendrick for Up in the Air (2009/I)
Mo'Nique for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire (2009)
Julianne Moore for A Single Man (2009)


NOTE: I finally went 4/4 for acting nods. It rarely happens.

Best Director - Motion Picture - Predicted - Kathryn Bigelow, Actual - James Cameron
Nominees:
Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker (2008)
James Cameron for Avatar (2009)
Clint Eastwood for Invictus (2009)
Jason Reitman for Up in the Air (2009/I)
Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture - Predicted - Quentin Tarantino, Actual - Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner
Nominees:
District 9 (2009): Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell
The Hurt Locker (2008): Mark Boal
Inglourious Basterds (2009): Quentin Tarantino
It's Complicated (2009): Nancy Meyers
Up in the Air (2009/I): Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner

Best Original Song - Motion Picture - Predicted - T-Bone Burnett, Ryan Bingham, Actual - T-Bone and Ryan
Nominees:
Avatar (2009): James Horner, Simon Franglen, Kuk Harrell("I See You")
Brothers (2009/I): U2, Bono("Winter")
Crazy Heart (2009): T-Bone Burnett, Ryan Bingham("The Weary Kind")
Everybody's Fine (2009): Paul McCartney("(I Want To) Come Home")
Nine (2009): Maury Yeston("Cinema Italiano")

Best Original Score - Motion Picture - Predicted - "Where the Wild Things Are", Actual - UP
Nominees:
Avatar (2009): James Horner
The Informant! (2009): Marvin Hamlisch
A Single Man (2009): Abel Korzeniowski
Up (2009): Michael Giacchino
Where the Wild Things Are (2009): Carter Burwell, Karen Orzolek

Best Animated Film - Predicted - UP, Actual - UP
Nominees:
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
Coraline (2009)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
The Princess and the Frog (2009)
Up (2009)

Best Foreign Language Film - Predicted - Broken Embraces (Los abrazos rotos), Actual - Das weisse Band (The White Ribbon)
Nominees:
Los abrazos rotos (2009)
Baarìa (2009)
Das weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (2009)
La nana (2009)
Un prophète (2009)

Best Television Series - Drama - Predicted - Dexter (though House will probably win), Actual - Mad Men
Nominees:
"Big Love" (2006)
"Dexter" (2006)
"House M.D." (2004)
"Mad Men" (2007)
"True Blood" (2008)

Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy - Predicted - Glee, Actual - GLEE!!!! So happy.
Nominees:
"Entourage" (2004)
"Glee" (2009)
"Modern Family" (2009)
"The Office" (2005)
"30 Rock" (2006)

Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television - Predicted - Grey Gardens, Actual - Grey Gardens
Nominees:
Georgia O'Keeffe (2009) (TV)
Grey Gardens (2009) (TV)
Into the Storm (2009) (TV)
"Little Dorrit" (2008)
Taking Chance (2009) (TV)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television - Predicted - Brendan Gleeson, Actual - Kevin Bacon
Nominees:
Kevin Bacon for Taking Chance (2009) (TV)
Kenneth Branagh for "Wallander" (2008)
Chiwetel Ejiofor for Endgame (2009)
Brendan Gleeson for Into the Storm (2009) (TV)
Jeremy Irons for Georgia O'Keeffe (2009) (TV)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television - Predicted - Jessica Lange, Actual - Drew Barrymore (well deserved - she has consistently given good performances, but this was really over the top and Jessica Lange won the Emmy instead.)
Nominees:
Joan Allen for Georgia O'Keeffe (2009) (TV)
Drew Barrymore for Grey Gardens (2009) (TV)
Jessica Lange for Grey Gardens (2009) (TV)
Anna Paquin for The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler (2009) (TV)
Sigourney Weaver for Prayers for Bobby (2009) (TV)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy - Predicted Alec Baldwin (though I want Matthew Morrison to win), Actual - Alec Baldwin
Nominees:
Alec Baldwin for "30 Rock" (2006)
Steve Carell for "The Office" (2005)
David Duchovny for "Californication" (2007)
Thomas Jane for "Hung" (2009)
Matthew Morrison for "Glee" (2009)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy - Predicted - Courtney Cox, Actual - Toni Collette
Nominees:
Toni Collette for "United States of Tara" (2009)
Courteney Cox for "Cougar Town" (2009)
Edie Falco for "Nurse Jackie" (2009)
Tina Fey for "30 Rock" (2006)
Lea Michele for "Glee" (2009)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama - Predicted - Michael C. Hall, Actual - Michael C. Hall
Nominees:
Simon Baker for "The Mentalist" (2008)
Michael C. Hall for "Dexter" (2006)
Jon Hamm for "Mad Men" (2007)
Hugh Laurie for "House M.D." (2004)
Bill Paxton for "Big Love" (2006)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama - Predicted Julianna Margulies, Actual - Julianna Margulies
Nominees:
Glenn Close for "Damages" (2007)
January Jones for "Mad Men" (2007)
Julianna Margulies for "The Good Wife" (2009)
Anna Paquin for "True Blood" (2008)
Kyra Sedgwick for "The Closer" (2005)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television - Predicted John Lithgow (though maybe it's NPH's year!), Actual - John Lithgow, can't wait to finally see this season.
Nominees:
Michael Emerson for "Lost" (2004)
Neil Patrick Harris for "How I Met Your Mother" (2005)
William Hurt for "Damages" (2007)
John Lithgow for "Dexter" (2006)
Jeremy Piven for "Entourage" (2004)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television - Predicted - Jane Lynch!, Actual - Chloe Sevigny
Nominees:
Jane Adams for "Hung" (2009)
Rose Byrne for "Damages" (2007)
Jane Lynch for "Glee" (2009)
Janet McTeer for Into the Storm (2009) (TV)
Chloë Sevigny for "Big Love" (2006)

DVD Review (without a DVD): The Hurt Locker

I really wanted to see The Hurt Locker. I actually missed my chance on a plane (yes, it was showing on a plane in October!) because I fell asleep too soon. And when it was released this week, I already had my quota of DVDs from Netflix and want to see them all, so I used something I hadn't really taken advantage of before - Amazon Video on Demand via Roku. It was $3.99 but I got to see it on my TV when I wanted to, the day it was released. All movies need to have this available - lots don't, the digital rights are tied up somehow.

Anyway, perhaps because I was so thrilled that something slightly complicated worked so easily, I really, really enjoyed The Hurt Locker. It's been out in the world for so long that I'd heard good things, but this was the first way I actually had access to it - it was nominated for LAST year's Independent Spirit awards (it was first shown at the Venice Film Festival in 2008!). Most people know it's about a group of soldiers in Iraq, and directed by Kathryn Bigelow (James Cameron's ex-wife) and that it's on lots of best-of lists. That was all I knew when I saw it. Here's a bit more: Jeremy Renner (I loved him on the now canceled "The Unusuals", he's on the right side of the photo) is the lead actor playing a bomb tech brought in to lead a unit. He's a bit of a loose cannon, though it's not explained why, which is a nice change. He's just been very successful bomb tech (obviously, he's still alive) and has used his methods of basically not being afraid to get him there. The unit he's joined, with Anthony Mackie (left in the photo), who likes to follow all protocols and make sure everyone is very safe (hard to fault him there - they're in Iraq disarming bombs) and Brian Geraghty who seems to be suffering a lot of stress, possibly because he works with bombs. The trio is called in to disarm IEDs and remove explosive things from all over Baghdad. It's got to be the worst job in the army - so stressful and if you mess up, you'll die, and likely you'll kill all the people around you. But Renner has found an inner strength to survive doing the job, and his team struggles to find their own methods to do the job.

There are lots of smaller scenes that have little to do with their bomb job that give depth to the story of the war, without ever mentioning the reasons, the patriotism, the enemies, the allies, etc. In reality, this story could take place during a war waged for any reason in almost any place. Obviously, it takes place in a city in a desert, but all the specifics of the war are left out of the story. Our bomb trio meets up with a group of British soldiers, but the only thing to identify them as from an allied force is that they have British accents, and mention they're on the same side. I really liked this fact about the movie. It's about the soliders, not the war. Yes, you're scared almost every time you see them go out to disarm a bomb, and most of the tension of the film comes from that idea, and not the overwhelming stress of winning or losing the war, but rather a small, specific, extremely important task. The directing of the movie is terrific, giving lingering views of everything they do without ever losing focus on the story. In addition, the acting is extremely capable, believable, and draws you in to care about each one.
Very good movie - go get the DVD. 5 of 5 stars/lambs

Fun Monday Night TV

I was really excited about the return of "Chuck" on NBC on Monday night, and enjoyed the new direction the show is going, with a slightly more capable lead character with a haircut. Why do shows use haircuts to change a character, that seems silly. But the show is still really good, and remarkably funny for a spy show.

The second best thing on Monday night this week was a surprise musical number by Neil Patrick Harris on "How I Met Your Mother". The show itself is getting much much closer to actually meeting the title mother, but this episode will be remembered for NPH's ode to his suits. Here's a link to the episode. It's at about the 18 minute mark if you want to check it out. My favorite is still his appearance on Sesame Street.

New Releases: Up in the Air and It's Complicated

I'm oddly conflicted about probably the best movie of the year. To explain, I spend my days right now staring at satellite and aerial photos of deforestation in Central Africa (the topic of my dissertation), particularly dealing with cloud cover issues. So seeing all those images in Up in the Air that were taken from planes showing all the different landscapes across the US gave me terrible anxiety because I was avoiding my work by going to the movies. However, I love to travel, particularly mastering the art of easy travel. So watching George Clooney explain to his new protege about how to avoid wasting time traveling was like watching my hero explaining his superpowers. This is to explain I have a very odd connection and avoidance of this movie. Hopefully by the next time I see it, I'll have finished my degree and not have to worry about those anxious moments watching clouds (I'm aware that's an incredibly odd reaction, but someone's gotta study this stuff) and just think of it as watching a movie about a traveling superhero. The plot is pretty clear from the commercials, and luckily they don't give much away that is important to the story. George Clooney works for a firm that is hired by big companies to come in and fire people. He flies all over the country doing it. Up-and-comer Anna Kendrick thinks the company can save it's extensive travel budget if they start using technology and start firing people over computers (sort of like "Skype-Fire"). Clooney thinks this is a terrible idea because they have to help the people they fire get through the moment of being fired, and this requires a personal touch. His boss (perfectly incompetent Jason Bateman) thinks he needs to prove it to Kendrick, so they go out on the road together. The extensive cast of people being fired makes this movie feel uncomfortably real (apparently many of them are recently unemployed people getting a chance to redo their final interviews) and adds moments that strung together with Clooney's journey (emotionally, not physically, though they do hit a lot of cities) make for a terrific movie. J.K. Simmons plays a man being fired, and he goes from being hurt to angry to ashamed to hopeful in the course of just a few minutes and a few words from Kendrick and Clooney. Jason Reitman is a terrific director and as long as he keeps making movies that suit his style, he'll hit it out of the park every time. Just to be fair, Vera Farmiga has a terrific role as Clooney's girlfriend who's as emotionally distant as he is. 5 of 5 stars/lambs



The other film I saw this weekend is the Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin movie, It's Complicated which does a pretty great job of showing off what terrific actors the trio has become. Alec Baldwin is hilarious and has mastered slapstick comedy (both physical and dialogue as he demonstrates weekly on "30 Rock") and Meryl Streep is both funny and sympathetic as the divorced mother of 3 grown up children who is rediscovering her relationship with her ex-husband (Baldwin). Streep and Baldwin keep their rekindled relationship a secret from everyone (he's remarried) but of course get caught eventually by all - the scene is one of the funniest things I've seen this year. Steve Martin is also recently divorced and starts falling for Streep as he designs her new house. It's a really funny movie with many of the cliches of divorce present, but never overdone. John Krasinski plays the future husband of the oldest daughter, and often catches Streep and Baldwin, and his struggle to keep it to himself and prevent his future wife and sibling from finding out are hysterical. There's also a great scene where several adults get high and fun hijinks take place. It's not a movie for everyone, but I don't doubt that any adult child of divorced parents will see some of their life in the movie somewhere. Yes, Nancy Meyers movies always contain luxuriously wealthy people, and It's Complicated is no exception, but it's still a treat to see how the super wealthy live. It's basically what can happen to relationships when money isn't the major issue of the marriage or divorce.
4 of 5 stars/lambs

New Release: Invictus

Conversation from the two other people leaving the matinee I saw on New Year's Day:

Man: Was that a sports movie or a political movie?
Woman: It was a spirit of man movie.
Man: You don't believe in that.
Woman: Yeah, you're right.

To some degree that summed up the movie - it's both a sports movie AND a political movie of South African politics as Mandela took office. And if you're the kind of person who believes in the spirits of men stories being worthwhile, it's most definitely that. Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon and director Clint Eastwood deserve all the accolades coming to them, particularly Freeman. To portray a living person is difficult, but to do so when that person is internationally known to the point of representing an entire country would seem impossible, but Freeman does it in a way I've never seen in his career. He transforms his physical appearance in ways that cannot be prosthetic - a hunch, a curved neck, shuffling gate, and possibly prosthetic teeth. In most of his roles Freeman appears physically similar (as do most actors) so it was amazing to see his simple transformations to seem more like the diminutive Mandela than himself. Damon does it too - adding tons of muscling weight to appear as a professional rugby player (as his previous self, I'm sure he'd have been torn to shreds just filming all the rugby scenes). And finally, Clint Eastwood's directing is simple, direct and doesn't make the sports scenes either particularly clear or confusing (just right for a sport I don't exactly understand). Mandela is the star of the story, but with the directing, you're never sure exactly how it all turns out.
A quick summary of the plot now that I've praised the stars: Nelson Mandela is let out of prison in South Africa in 1990. He runs for president and is elected in 1994. He knows someone and something has to unify the country that has so recently ended apartheid and now is led by the formerly oppressed. Mandela has the foresight to know that petty retribution will not help either the country nor the black South Africans. The Springboks, the national Rugby team beloved by Africaans, and also hated by blacks, has a chance to go to the World Cup because South Africa is hosting in 1995. Mandela enlists the help of Francois Pienaar (Damon), the captain of the Springboks, to make sure they succeed in unifying South Africa behind their team. I won't spoil the ending, and it's a terrific movie that I'll enjoy forever. Miracle came to mind a lot and the quality of both is wonderful. 5 of 5 stars/lambs

An Adrian Brody Two-fer: The Brother's Bloom and Cadillac Records

I'm not a fan of Adrian Brody, yes he did a good job in the Pianist and deserved his Oscar, I'm sure all can agree that doesn't automatically make one a good actor. I saw The Brothers Bloom because I do like Mark Ruffalo, and Cadillac Records for Jeffrey Wright and the music. Luckily, Brody does nothing to prevent either movie from being really terrific entertainment.

The Brothers Bloom finally puts Mark Ruffalo into a character different from others he's played - a scummy not so great guy, and he obviously revels in it. He plays Brody's older brother, Stephen, and the pair of them have been con men since childhood. However, now Brody, called Bloom - I never figured out the title, since they have no last names, one is Stephen (Ruffalo) and one is Bloom (Brody), but it doesn't seem important. Anyway now Bloom wants out of their life, and Stephen talks him into one more con with their silent partner in crime, Rinko Kikuchi (Oscar nominee from Babel). They decide to try to con a rich lonely eccentric woman, Rachel Weisz, who learns hobbies of all sorts and falls into their con with ease. However, this is the last time I fully understood what was going on. A complicated series of cons take place, some with Penelope's (Weisz) help and some for other reasons. It's a great movie with funny dialogue and a morose looking Brody all the way through. Ruffalo and his ideas for cons are funny, and the supporting cast is terrific - Rinko is wonderfully funny while saying almost nothing (maybe she doesn't speak English well, but they used it to perfection. 4 of 5 stars/lambs

The other movie I enjoyed despite Adrian Brody's presence was Cadillac Records the story of real-life Chess Records and its artists. Started by Leonard Chess, a Jewish man in Chicago in the 1950s trying to make a better life for himself, he starts a club where black musicians play, and he meets Muddy Waters and Little Walter, and goes on to set up a recording studio and does all he can to get their blues music on the air. It's mostly the story of Muddy Waters and the evolution of music from blues to rock and roll. Jeffrey Wright is Muddy, recording music and learning to love the life it provides. Chess does take some advantage of his artists, but placates them by providing new a Cadillac constantly. Chuck Berry (Mos Def) and Etta James (Beyonce) sign with Chess Records and obviously become stars. There's competition between artists for attention from the small studio and who makes the most money. It's really interesting from a historical perspective as I didn't know Chuck Berry spent so much time in jail, and how badly taken advantage of and abused many black musicians were (the Beach Boys stole an entire song from Berry and changed the lyrics, only compensating him later after he sued). The music is wonderful and all the acting is terrific. Even Beyonce stretches her acting chops a bit - not in who she plays, Etta James was a terrific singer, but had tons of attitude and a huge hurdle to overcome her start in life (a prostitute and white politician). Nearly all the characters are eventually inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but there's an obvious tone of too-little-too-late when it comes to really appreciating artists from the beginning as human beings not just commodities. Excellent movie. 4.5. of 5 (and available on Netflix Watch Instantly for those interested).


Oh, and a PS - Don't watch Two Lovers with Joaquin Phoenix and Gwenyth Paltrow - it's awful. Worst movie of 2009.

Films of 2009: Updated - total up to 50!

I saw quite a few movies in 2009, particularly considering how difficultly the year started. There are more and more movies that never make it to my local cineplex. I also have enjoyed lots of movies that are definitely of lower quality, but still lots of fun.

17 Again
500 Days of Summer
Adventureland
Angels & Demons
Away We Go
The Blind Side
Bride Wars
Confessions of a Shopaholic
Duplicity
Endgame
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Ghosts of Girlfriends Past
The Hangover
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
He's Just Not That Into You
Ice Age 3
I Love You, Man
Inglorious Basterds
Inkheart
The International
Julie and Julia
Monsters vs. Aliens
My Life in Ruins
My Sister's Keeper
New in Town
Night at the Museum 2
Phoebe in Wonderland
The Proposal
Public Enemies
The Soloist
Star Trek
State of Play
Sunshine Cleaning
The Surrogates
Taken
The Time Traveler's Wife
Transformer's 2
The Ugly Truth
Up
Watchmen
Where the Wild Things Are
X-Men: Wolverine


Movie's I'll definitely see as soon as possible, so they definitely count.
Invictus
Precious
The Informant
It's Complicated
Sherlock Holmes
The Princess and the Frog
Up in the Air
The Hurt Locker


Addendum: Did you hear about the Morgans?, Inglorious Basterds, Funny People, Sherlock Holmes, Avatar, Invictus, The Brothers Bloom, Two Lovers

My top 6 movies this year - I'm going to reserve the other 4 places for possible movies I haven't seen yet:

1. Inglorious Basterds
2. The Proposal
2. Up
3. Star Trek
4. The Blind Side
5. Taken

GLEE- Flash Mob Rome

This is just a fun thing to see! Enjoy.

Avatar: Review (minor spoilers)

This is a very upfront movie, so I'll be upfront, I LOVED Avatar. I have to say the marketing of Avatar didn't do much to explain what the heck the movie is about - all I really understood was that it had blue people and flying dinosaur-like creatures, and from interviews on TV I knew that Sigourney Weaver and Sam Worthington were in it. But that's about all I understood. I saw the 3D version, which is spectacular, but just given the amazing visuals, I bet the 2D version is just as beautiful and entrancing. Here's a little explanation of what it's actually about: Marine Worthington arrives at a planet called Pandora (around the year 2150) where he's replacing his brother as the operator of an avatar (a Mii for the Wii crowd, or basically a physical representation of yourself that operates under your control but separate from your body) to integrate himself into the indigenous people so he can 1) learn more about them for Weaver's scientist, and 2) persuade them to abandon their homes so a company can extract a valuable ore from beneath it. Because he's replacing his brother, Worthington has no experience with either the language or customs of Pandora or the Navi (the tall blue people with tails). This works to his advantage and he begins to learn about them. He's pulled between his military commanders and the science and sociology people trying to learn as much as they can. He meets Neytiri (voiced and acted thanks to James Cameron's amazing new techniques of motion capture by Zoe Saldana) the daughter of the chief of the local Navi clan, and ultimately, his instructor in what it means to be Navi. He goes through the rites and rituals of becoming a Navi, riding an indigenous horse, flying on a raptor-type animal, and understanding the Navi's deep connection with their planet. Ultimately a huge fight goes down between the company and Navi (and you can guess what happens).

James Cameron has truly changed the art of movie-making in many ways. The ability to actually capture an actor's performance and then morph that performance into a different species with different shapes and environments is amazing. The sci-fi genre may never be the same (or many others either, given the imagination of Hollywood). However, he's still James Cameron, and wrote the movie too, so the inspiration of other movies in the past kept hitting me. The one that keeps sticking is that Avatar is what might have happened if Dances with Wolves had ended differently. However, the movie-making skill and futuristic (rather than historic) story gave Cameron the chance to tell a story without stooping to basic cliches. He only spends moments (in a very long 160 minute movie) describing how avatars work, or Worthington learning the language, or basic information about the Navi. But the collective whole of the movie gives you all the information you need to understand a beautiful story. Much of the back story is told through voice-overs from Worthington's video diaries. I went in knowing how long the movie would be, so I was conscious of when trimming might have been done, and honestly there were few moments even a couple of seconds could be cut, and definitely never an entire scene.

The acting throughout was superb. Weaver is excellent at playing a ball-busting scientist, pissed off at the conditions she's constantly fighting to get the best possible science done. The incursions the military has had with the Navi stopped her school (an easy explanation for why some Navi can speak English) and she's constantly fighting to get better things done. Her fascination with Pandora is infectious. Zoe Saldana (pictured above, left) as the only main character who is NEVER shown as human (most of the others appear in their avatars as well as human) is terrific. She's funny, tough, smart, and tries very hard to help her people work with the humans again even though it hasn't gone well in the past. And finally Sam Worthington is terrific. For a newcomer he carries the whole movie really well. I'm guessing he'll have trouble getting recognized for it since he spends at least half the movie as a giant blue man, rather than himself. His struggles with learning about the Navi and triumphs when he masters new skills are powerful to watch, while never stooping to over the top acting option. I really really liked Avatar as did the people I went with, so I give it 5 of 5 stars/lambs.

Sherlock Holmes: Review

I would have gone to see any movie with Robert Downey, Jr., but I was also excited to see a new big-screen adaptation of the great characters of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as I didn't know much about them. Downey, Jr. plays Holmes, with Jude Law as Dr. John Watson, and Rachel McAdams as Irene Adler, and American con artist thief (and the love of Holmes). We first see Holmes and Watson stopping a ritualistic murder, and catching the serial killer. During the ensuing months Watson begins the process of moving out of their rooms to marry a young woman named Mary. Holmes does all he can to thwart their match, as he doesn't want to lose Watson (their bromance is both taken seriously and played for laughs and definitely reminded me of House and Wilson on "House, M.D." in that Watson protects Holmes from himself, and Holmes is fiercely loyal to Watson and secretly loves Irene). Holmes is going stir-crazy trying to find challenging things to do, as all his offers of work seem silly. However, at the time their serial killer is to be hanged, Holmes and Watson get drawn back into a much larger investigation surrounding the man about to die. The whole story is reminiscent of Indiana Jones, with mysticism and mystery, but as it is Sherlock Holmes, ultimately, it's more like a Victorian Age Mentalist.
The acting, directing, story-telling and overall look of the movie are terrific. The one complaint I had was the difficulty in understanding the rapid-fire, mumbled dialogue. I was always a few moments behind understanding the terrific dialogue, which does make the experience a bit tiresome. One of the best movies of 2009, and I can't wait to watch it again on DVD so I can rewind any dialogue I don't understand. 4.5 stars/lambs

Funny People...not so funny, but still good

Adam Sandler has had mixed success with his movie career. Definitely a big movie star with huge grossing movies, he's rarely taken seriously as an actor. He's tried several times to do more serious roles (Spanglish, Punch Drunk Love) with mixed reviews. My favorite movie of his is hands down 50 First Dates with Drew Barrymore. This past summer he teamed up with Judd Apatow's team to make Funny People a look at what happens when a comedian gets everything he always wanted and has no idea how to enjoy it. Then he gets sick and doesn't have anyone to help him through the problems he's facing. Then he meets Ira Weiner (Seth Rogan) and his roommates (Jonah Hill and my least favorite actor Jason Schwartzman). Seth and Jonah are comedians and he hires Seth to be his assistant. The problem is that Seth is basically a good person with morals, which Sandler seems to have lost along with any friends or family. We watch Sandler get sick, then better, and meeting up with an old love, Leslie Mann (and her kids again!) and screwing up her life. Overall, it's definitely a drama, with the career of a comedian as the back-drop to offer some comic relief. Good movie, but not great. 3 of 5 stars/lambs

I loved this!

Merry Christmas from Insight into Entertainment!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I hope to see lots of movies during the next week, particularly Avatar in 3D! I hope you all get everything you're looking for this Christmas.

Inglorious Basterds: DVD Review (with minor spoilers)

I was definitely worried that Inglorious Basterds wouldn't live up to the hype, or that it would just be another incredibly violent movie from Quentin Tarantino. Thankfully, it totally lived up to the hype and also was a very violent movie, though not as gratuitously as some of his others. It returns to a lot of the strengths that he brought to Pulp Fiction, with strong story-telling, with different characters ultimately arriving at the same place and the story coming full-circle. The analogy that kept coming to mind to describe the connection between the two movies was Pulp Fiction is to crime movies as Inglorious Basterds is to war films. That is to say, it's only vaguely related to their larger genres. Basterds follows a group of Jewish-American soldiers led by Brad Pitt who will be dropped into occupied France to "kill Nazis". They build up a reputation of brutal slayings, pissing off the Nazi higher ups, specifically, Col. Hans Landa (Christopher Waltz in his Golden-Globe nominated performance) who has built up his own reputation as "The Jew Hunter". The story is told in chapters, each small story adding up to the complete and final chapter. The first chapter shows Waltz trying to find out if a family is hiding a Jewish family in their farm. He's jolly, and friendly and ultimately scares the crap out of you with his cruelty, which is what you remember every time he reappears. You're never sure if he'll be evil or jolly (sorry, that's an odd word to describe him, but it's what he seems to me). Meanwhile, we meet a French cinema-owner who strikes the eye of a German war hero (Daniel Bruhl). He convinces Goebbels to move the premiere of the new German propaganda movie to her theater. She decides to blow up the theater to trap them all inside. At the same time our Basterds have reached Paris and also plan to blow up the theater, though they need help getting in from a film star (Diane Kruger). She meets the Basterds in a bar, which ends in a pretty great gun fight as other German soldiers are there and they blow their secret identities. Ultimately, their scheme succeeds, but I won't tell you how or who survives.

Overall, I really liked the movie. It was long, (158 minutes) but it doesn't drag very often, and each new chapter brings in new characters. Also, and I vaguely remember this being an issue when it came out, all the characters speak the language they're meant to speak based on their character and the conversation taking place (i.e. Brad Pitt speaks English when he's talking to his troops, Landa speaks German to soldiers, but French to the local people). They actually justify, very subtly, the language being spoken at any moment. All the acting is terrific - particularly Waltz and Melanie Laurent (the French Cinema owner), both pictured. Also, by just setting the story during WWII and using the same characters, but letting the story run however he wants, Tarantino maintains the tensions in ways most war films couldn't. You can't assume anyone lives or dies just because history says they did (or didn't). Very good movie, definitely deserving of a spot in the top 10 movies of 2009. 4 of 5 stars/lambs

Did you hear about the Morgans?: Review

I know there are a lot of haters out there in blog land for the new romantic comedy, Did you hear about the Morgans? with Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant, and chances are they won't like the movie, regardless of my review. However, for the people willing to watch a movie BEFORE they decide they hate it, this review's for you. Did you hear about the Morgans? is the story of a separated couple Meryl and Paul Morgan who witness a murder and have to be protected from the escaped murderer. I'm guessing you can figure all that out from the commercials. While it does follow several movie cliches - the fish out of water (city mouse/country mouse) and the bickering couple that make amends, the movie does avoid offending either the city or country people. The Morgans are New York City people, transported to super-rural Wyoming, and their ignorance of rural life is played for laughs rather than mocking the rural people for not having the big-city options, like a lot of other movies. As a bickering couple, they spend a lot of time watching Grant attempt to make-up to his wife with gifts and apologies and such. Advice from the couple taking care of them (Mary Steenburgen and Sam Elliot) is seen as wise and important (even though they're mostly teasing the city couple). However, the couple that steals the show for their few scenes is Elizabeth Moss (from "Mad Men") and Jesse Liebman (in his first movie according to Imdb) as Meryl and Paul's assistants. They basically dislike each other but have to plan their bosses lives with each other. Moss is terrific as a shrew bossy know it all, and Liebman as the bumbling but sweet foil for her.
Overall, a good romantic comedy without anything problematic or particularly wonderful. Right in the middle. 2.5. of 5 Lambs/stars

Random round-up!

Last weekend, it was snowing and cozy by the fire, so I watched a bunch of movies, the first from a Netflix DVD, and the others from the Netflix Watch Instantly feature on Roku. All were surprisingly good movies, perfect for a quiet weekend.

Away We Go stars SNL alum Maya Rudolph and The Office's John Krasinski as expectant parents. They've moved to be near his parents for the birth of their baby, only to be told his parents - Catherine O'Hara and Jeff Daniels - are moving to Belgium. Untethered by either family or jobs, they decide to find a new place to live near people they know. Thus begins a journey of some of the most extreme characters ever. Allison Janney is a vulgar ex-boss in Tuscon, Maggie Gyllenhaal is an over the top mother in Wisconsin, and Melanie Lynsky is a perfect mom of lots of adopted kids in Montreal. We watch Rudolph and Krasinski's voyage to find a place to live, as well as discover what kind of parents they want and DON'T want to be. Their dialogue provides most of the humor of the movie, quick and sharp, as they discuss the crazies they thought they might want to live near. I thought it was a really good, very original movie, carefully constructed to avoid cliche, but almost misses the mark. It could easily have been really boring, but the strength of the cast makes the movie thoroughly enjoyable. 4 of 5 stars/lambs

The next movie we watched is How About You, a movie Netflix recommended to me and they were right and I enjoyed it. It's about an Irish assisted living facility run by Kate. She's struggling to keep it together when her long-term residents scare off any potential new clients coming to visit. Her ne'erdowell sister Ellie, comes to mooch off of her and gets a job helping clean the home. When their mom gets sick at Christmas, Kate has to leave to take care of her, but can't find a place for 4 residents who have nowhere else to go (they've been banned from other homes). Ellie says she's stay and take care of them for the holidays. The residents are a hoot. Vanessa Redgrave plays an aging actress who remembers a terrific career that never was, and dances around demanding more olives for her martinis and making people jump to her whim. Two sisters - Imelda Staunton and older sis Brenda Fricker - live at the home to escape their childhood struggles (slowly revealed during the movie) and harp on any perceived slight from the staff. Fricker even makes Staunton wear an eye patch after Ellie throws a piece of toast at her. The final person to complete their holiday quintet of lonely hearts is well known British actor Joss Ackland (I spent most of the movie trying to remember where I'd heard his voice before), a widowed, former alcoholic judge. None of them are friends and none of them will give an inch to make life easier for Ellie. Ackland insists on breakfast in his room at 6 am, the others want specific foods at the regular breakfast time. They all run around making life hard for Ellie, but as it takes place at Christmas, you can figure out that all will end well, and it does. A small heartwarming movie with lots of character. 3.5 of 5 stars/lambs

To follow up this sweet charming movie, we watched a French film about a former prisoner trying to find her way in the world after her release. I've Loved You So Long (Il y a longtemps que je t'aime) stars Kristin Scott Thomas as Juliette, just getting out of prison after 15 years and moving in with her sister's family. I won't spoil anything about what she was in prison for, which is slowly revealed throughout the movie, as other people reveal what they think they know about what happened and how they treat her because of their misconceptions. However, the movie isn't really about her reintroduction to society, but to her family and friends. She has been silent for so many years that they don't know her or anything about what happened to send her to prison. The movie is terrific - you'll just have to believe me. The story they tell will sit with you and make you think a lot about what you might have done differently if you'd been in Juliette's situation. 4.5 stars/lamsb

The final movie I only saw to try to prove that Emma Watson (Hermione from Harry Potter) can act. Sadly, she can't act any differently than Hermione's personality allows, even in a non-Harry Potter movie. Ballet Shoes is based on a children's chapter book that follows three orphaned little girls who grow up in 1920s London and to help the family that raised them they join a theater academy and each go on to different fields, acting, dance, etc. It was a decent movie for little girls, but not terrific acting or a good story. 2.5 stars/lambs

Ballet Shoes
I've Loved You So Long
How About You
Away We Go

Not quite the saddest movie ever

Some of the saddest movies I've ever seen are The House of Sand and Fog, Cold Mountain, and The Pursuit of Happyness. I think of them as the saddest movies because very little happy happens, and the very saddest things imaginable actually happen and you're forced to watch. None of those movies are exceptional in almost any way, except that they're really good at inducing crying. I didn't expect much more from My Sister's Keeper. The bald girl in the trailer is obviously sick, and the whole story is about her and her family. However, somehow it's still not that sad. Very good at making you cry, but still a fairly interesting story. I read the book before I saw the movie, and it's one of the best sad books I've ever read, so I was excited to see how they made it into a non-weepy movie. Cameron Diaz is the sick girl's mother, and does a good job of being the lioness running over everyone in her efforts to save her daughter. Jason Patric is the dad, and his role is much smaller in the movie than the book, so he can't be blamed for being just a flicker. Abigail Breslin and Alec Baldwin are terrific fighting Diaz for Breslin's right to her own body (which means her sister will die without the kidney she's fighting to keep). As with all of Jodie Piccoult's (the author of the book) there's a twist that turns everything on its head, but it's not particularly vital to the ending. Overall, a good movie, but be warned, YOU WILL CRY. 3 lambs/stars

Short review: New Moon (that Twilight sequel)

So much has been written about New Moon already, and I don't think that many people who read my blog care much about the new Twilight: New Moon movie so I won't post much. I liked the first movie more than I expected, so I read the books, which I liked less than expected, although I couldn't put them down (I also can't put down a bag of Pirate's Booty - that doesn't mean it's quality food). There were a few things I did like about the movie (beside staring at cute semi-naked guys). The movie did a good job convincing me that Jacob (the Native American kid who turns into a werewolf) might be a legitimate love interest for Bella, which it did much better than the book. Also better than the book was the movie's ability to scrub some of the teen angst and broken-heart isolation that Bella suffers after Edward leaves. The story was compelling, and I liked the set up for the next film. Decent entertainment, but not a terrific movie (and the acting is still pretty bad). 2.5 of 5 Lambs/Stars.

Best Christmas Movie quotes!

These are a compilation of my and my brother's favorite movie quotes. We've always sent quotes back and forth to challenge one another so this year I thought I'd ask for help coming up with our favorites. I couldn't limit myself to just one quote per movie, and when it comes to Christmas, the more the merrier. Please let me know if I've missed your favorite.

1. You'll shoot your eye out, kid. - Santa, and many others. A Christmas Story





2. Something REeal Niice. Cousin Eddie - National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Eddie: Shitter's Full.
Clark: Honey, have you checked our shitter lately. - National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation





3. Does this look like a LITTLE weight? - Scott Calvin The Santa Clause



4. Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color? - Buddy, answering the phone - ELF
I'm sorry I ruined your life and crammed 11 cookies into the VCR. Buddy (typed on an etch-a-sketch) - ELF



5. God Bless Us Everyone - Tiny Tim, A Muppet Christmas Carol



6. Merry Christmas, you old Building and Loan - George Bailey It's a Wonderful Life Teacher says, "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings." - Zuzu Bailey It's a Wonderful Life







7. Ma'am I'm eight years old, Do you think I'd be here alone? I don't think so. Kevin McCallister - Home Alone




8. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! Maybe Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas... perhaps... means a little bit more! - The Narrator How the Grinch Stole Christmas




9. Doris: "Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to. Don't you see? It's not just Kris that's on trial, it's everything he stands for. It's kindness and joy and love and all the other intangibles."
Doris Walker: "I was wrong when I told you that, Susie. You must believe in Mr. Kringle and keep right on doing it. You must have faith in him." - Miracle on 34th Street