Sunday, August 29, 2010

Happy-Go-Lucky

August 29.

For the first half hour or so of "Happy-Go-Lucky" the main character Poppy's giggly silliness annoyed me. Then it grew on me. And then the movie seemed to go into a never ending series of nothing.

The description says it's about an eternal optimist who is happy about everything until her bike is stolen and then she has to take driving lessons from an instructor who is her exact opposite.

Well, all that is true. She is the happiest person ever. She has a bike. It gets stolen. She takes driving lessons from an asshole. But so much more happens. Dating, pregnant sisters, conversations with homeless men, Flamenco lessons, sex, drinking, a student (she's a teacher) who's being abused by his mother's boyfriend, and on and on and on. But nothing ever really happens.

It isn't bad exactly. But it isn't good. The acting is good. The characters are great. I really did love Poppy by the end. But, the story needs some editing and some direction. Maybe it would make a better television series.

The Kids Are All Right

August 29.

"This Kids Are All Right" is as good as the critics say it is. (95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.)

The movie's cast was excellent, with Annette Bening and Julianne Moore as a married, lesbian couple raising two teenagers and Mark Ruffalo as their sperm donor. Every character is likable at times and irritating at others. I didn't always understand their motivation or agree with their choices but that's the way we all feel about one another, isn't it? These characters are all flawed and come across as real, genuine people muddling through a unique situation.

When the older of the two kids, played by Mia Wasikowska, turns 18 she gets in touch with her mothers' sperm donor and, along with her brother played by Josh Hutcherson, the family begins to get to know him.

It seems complicated and difficult but I was rooting for this family to figure it out and make it work the whole time.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Ramona and Beezus

August 28.

OK. I know this movie is for 12 year old girls. But I grew up with Ramona. And, Beverly Cleary might be the reason I'm a writer. Her books made me love reading, and writing.

"Ramona and Beezus" seemed to take scenes from the entire Ramona series but it's been so long since I read any of the books that I'm not sure how true the story is to its inspiration. The story was simple and probably great for little girls. But whatever. What I loved was when those scenes, which I read more than 20 years ago, would appear and they would take me right back. Like Ramona squeezing an entire tube of toothpaste into the sink. And, running around in her red rain boots!

I love how the movie turned Ramona and Beezus' dad into an illustrator so we got to see drawings of Ramona as they were in the books.

The cast was great, too. Joey King as Ramona, Selena Gomez as Beezus, and the adults - Ginnifer Goodwin, Josh Duhamel, John Corbett, Bridget Moynahan, and Sandra Oh.

SALT

August 28.

"SALT" is a total popcorn movie. Fun and entertaining as long as you don't take it too seriously.

The action started right away and didn't let up until the end, which seemed like a perfect setup for "SALT 2." I've only seen Angelina Jolie in a few movies and she seems good enough. Again, this is an action movie, reality doesn't really come into play. And neither does serious acting. The stunts are crazy and completely unbelievable. But who cares, right? 90 minutes of mindless political espionage and Angelina jumping from moving truck to moving truck ... Well, reality is pretty lame anyway.


Sunday, August 22, 2010

Cheri

August 22.

"Cheri" is the story of a young, French man who is bored with his life of nothingness (his mother, Kathy Bates, made enough money as a courtesan that he doesn't need to work). So, he starts a years long affair with another aging courtesan, played by Michelle Pfeiffer. They seem happy and content until his mother decides it's time for him to get married and rips them apart. Not that either fought the end of the relationship.

There's really nothing else to say. This was a bad, bad movie. Good actors wasted on awful characters that don't have any redeeming qualities. Everyone is sad and pathetic. And, the British and American actors all speak with British accents even though they are supposed to be French. What is that? Why don't they speak with French accents? Or! why don't they speak French?

Dinner for Schmucks

August 22.

Paul Rudd. Steve Carell. Dead mice dressed up as people. This should have been a great movie. It wasn't.

First, I hate movies where a lot of misunderstandings send characters running and ruin other character's other lives. It was from the same director as "Meet the Parents," so I should have known. Second, there was too much build up getting to the dinner so by the time they got to the dinner it didn't really matter anymore.

There were definitely a lot of Schmucks in the movie. And, a lot of familiar hilarious actors including a few of my favorite British actors.

This was a remake the French film "Le Diner de Cons." And, even though I didn't like this adaptation, I'll have to give the original a try.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

The Switch

August 21.

I really hate Jennifer Aniston movies, but I didn't hate "The Switch." Probably because even though she got top billing the movie was really Jason Bateman's.

I don't think this comedy made much money and I'm sure the critics hated it, but I thought it was funny and cute.

The premise is pretty simple, if not a little out there. Kassie (Aniston) and Murray (Bateman) are friends, and when she decides to have a baby on her own with the help of a sperm donor he gets drunk and dumps the sperm replacing it with his own. He doesn't remember doing that and they both go on (her back home in Minnesota and him in New York) living as if she had what she calls a seed baby. But, after seven years they meet up again, with her son, Sebastian, in the mix and there is no denying her son is also Wally's.

The story is more about the relationship between Wally and Sebastian, and it is a sweet one. There were also great supporting performances by Jeff Goldblum and Juliette Lewis.

Exit Through the Gift Shop

August 21.

After waiting for "Exit Through the Gift Shop" to finally get to Las Vegas and about five failed attempts to see it with some friends, I snuck off on Saturday afternoon and caught the film in a small, crowded theater.

When reading the description of the movie, which started out as a "filmmaker's" attempt to get the famous and elusive street artist Banksy on film but ended up with Banksy turning the camera on the "filmmaker," I was confused. But, it doesn't matter what the description is or why the movie was made. It is amazing from beginning to end. Even if I didn't completely know what was happening until close to the end. I loved the art and laughed the entire time.

I can't explain what happens without giving away the humor and twist of the story. All I can say is I loved it and can't imagine that anyone wouldn't. If you love art, if you think art can be joke, if you think street art is beautiful or if you think it was cool but now it's not because everyone says it is, if you don't even care about art, I still can't imagine you wouldn't be interested in this movie.

Eat Pray Love

August 15.

I tired to read "Eat Pray Love: The Book" twice and couldn't even get through Italy, the author's first stop on her spiritual journey. Looking into the depressed mind of a woman who, to me has the most glamorous job ever - a travel writer, is hard to swallow. It's full of self-indulgent, self-pity bullshit, and has a sweeping phoniness about it.

But, for some reason I still wanted to see the movie. Julia Roberts eating her way through Italy and falling in love with Javier Bardem, I couldn't resist. I thought the Hollywood treatment, which has ruined so many books, could make this one enjoyable.

I was wrong. It was more than 2 hours of whiny self-indulgent, self-pity bullshit.

The story is split into three countries, but really it's four because the first quarter takes place in NY, where this glamorous travel writer lives. And, that first quarter drags on and on and on. I think Elizabeth Gilbert went into so much detail about how sad and pathetic (ha) her life was as a way of justifying her journey. But who needs justification for wanting to travel the world? Not me.

Each section was too long. Too much introspection. Too much thought. I really believe no one actually cares what's in someone else's journal. We all feel alone. We're all afraid. We're all disappointed. We've all been hurt. So why is Liz's story so interesting? It's not. She just got a book deal and was able to take a year off and travel the world in search of her balance. Most of us have to settle to finding our balance between our 7 a.m. Starbucks and our 11 p.m. sleeping pill.

Do I sound bitter? I am.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky

August 14.

I don't know what my fascination with Coco Chanel is. I'm not into fashion but there's something about the woman who changed the way women dress that fascinates me. Plus, where there's Coco there's Paris.

Last year, I saw and loved "Coco Before Chanel," which chronicles the iconic fashion designer's early life. "Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky" focuses on her relationship with the world-famous Russian composer, and in some ways picks up right after last year's movie ended. She's older, wiser, successful, heart broken, and a lot more tightly wound.

If I compare the two, I enjoyed watching Gabrielle transform into Coco more than watching her as a cold, harsh business woman in a relationship with a married, misogynist (plus the first movie stars Audrey Tautou, my favorite French actress). But, there were moments of this story that I enjoyed. It was sad and moving, and any glimpse I can get into Chanel life I'll take!

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

August 14.

"Scott Pilgrim vs. The World," with my favorite maybe overexposed geek Michael Cera, is visually interesting and unique but I never really got why he is fighting this girls exes or how all these normal people have super powers. I get that it's fantasy but I don't get the story. The whys.

The critics and a lot of my friends seem to love it, so maybe my problems stem from the fact that I don't play or have any interest in video games or comic books, which this movie seems to be born from.

The premise, Cera has to fight his new girlfriend's seven exes in order to date her, I get (well not why, but OK). But did they have to fight each other to date her? Does the loser of each fight die?

So, I didn't hate it but I don't know. It's probably just not for me.

The Other Guys

August 14.

I either LOVE or HATE Will Ferrell movies. There's no in between. I don't even give most Will movies a chance. I'm not huge on dumb guy movies (of course there are a few I love, but there's an exception to every rule - right?). I don't know why :::coughmarkwahlbergcough::: but "The Other Guys" looked like a silly guy movie I might like.

So, after a few weeks out of movie commission (back injury), I made my way to "The Other Guys." I was pleasantly surprised. I guess, according to my rule, I have to say I loved it. Maybe I'll break my rule and just say I liked it. Solid like.

It's full of action and humor, Wahlberg and Ferrell play off each other perfectly, and there were enough good jokes to make me OK with the stupid ones.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Inception

August 1.

I feel like this is getting redundant because I haven't heard many negative things about "Inception" but, I loved it.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Leavitt, Tom Hardy (who I didn't know but didn't need much time to fall in love with), Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page, all directed in a trippy, dreamy caper by Christopher Nolan - how could it go wrong?

Well, maybe it could have gone wrong, since it was sort of complicated and probably completely unbelievable if I stopped long enough to contemplate the reality of it. But, I didn't.

The two negative things I heard from people were, 1. it started slow, I say, "nope" and 2. the relationship between Leo and Marion was not believable, I say, "who even noticed, they were running around in a dream, in a dream, in a dream, in dream."

I loved the story, and the effects, and the style - I loved it all.