Filed under: Movies | Tags: Jude Law, Movies, Robert Downey, Sherlock Holmes
I have been anxiously awaiting Sherlock Holmes for months. I was not disappointed. Guy Ritchie directing Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law is a girl’s dream. Downey’s performance as Holmes is beguiling: he is trouble, we know it and we like him anyway. Law plays the academic Watson, which makes him less alluring, but still charming.
While the film may not win any awards for stellar performances, it is great fun with intrigue, action and mystery. Definitely a enjoyable way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Go see it.
Up in the Air, starring George Clooney is at its core, about loneliness. Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a corporate employee whose career requires him to interact with people at a deeply personal level during their most trying time in life–being released from their jobs–yet, he is a person that prides himself on isolation from personal relationships. He spends most of his days in the air, in airports or hotels.
Bingham finds himself questioning his chosen lifestyle after he meets a woman he can connect with, attends his sister’s wedding and travels with a young female co-worker that believes in personal connections. But it takes no time at all for him to realize his chosen path was the safest route for protecting those fragile human emotions: the woman is married, his sister has found a substitution for him during his absences and that female co-worker has her own heart crushed.
Ultimately he resumes his lonely, traveling life. And we feel sad and lonley by the conclusion of the film.
The highly anticipated Where the Wild Things Are finally arrived in Little Rock this past weekend. It was absolutely beautiful. The emotion that little Max displays–the anger, the confidence, the arrogance of a child–are wonderfully portrayed and truly felt by the audience.
Additionally, the soundtrack is couldn’t be a more perfect companion to this film. A must see.
Up is the new animated Pixar flick. As usual, the animation is mind-blowing and the story provides us with a life lesson. And while I enjoyed this movie, it was more intense than what I was looking for from an animated, feel-good movie.
Up is a love story. Carl Fredricksen and his wife, Ellie, meet when they are kids and share a love of adventure. In a montage at the beginning of the movie, we see Carl and Ellie’s life together as they marry, work, grow old and eventually Ellie dies. It is a beautifully emotional part of the movie, and I wasn’t prepared for my eyes to tear up as they did. After Ellie’s death, the movie picks up with Carl’s current life as a man in his late seventies desparately trying to hold on to the memories of his wife. Through a series of bad circumstances, it is determined by a judge that Carl must go live in a retirement home. Determined to have the adventure he and Ellie always dreamed of, Carl rigs his house with balloons and floats away.
And Carl’s adventure begins. He has an unexpected travel partner with Russell, a wilderness scout determined to get his missing badge for assisting the elderly. The relationship between the old man and the young boy develops throughout the movie and ultimately becomes a great friendship, but getting there is quite funny. The villian turns out to have once been Carl’s hero and the villian is very evil. Again, the movie stirred emotions in me I wasn’t expecting with the intensity of this villian.
The most entertaining element of Up is the talking dogs. As any dog lover knows, we assign personality to our dogs and often attempt to verbalize their thoughts for them. To listen to dogs as we imagine them to be was great fun.
Up will be another Pixar hit and definitely a must-see, be prepared, however, for an intense 96 minutes.
I can’t wait for this movie. It looks fantastic. And, I love Robert Downey, Jr.
Filed under: Movies | Tags: Chris Pine, J.J. Abrams, Kirk, Movies, Spock, Star Trek, Starship Enterprise, Zachary Quinto
I have never watched an episode of “Star Trek.” Never. I had no intention of seeing the new Star Trek movie, even if J.J. Abrams was integral to its development. Then I started reading the reviews. And hearing people talk about it. I went to see it today. It turns out that you don’t have to be a “Trekkie” to enjoy this Star Trek movie.
Star Trek seems to be about the relationship between Kirk and Spock (this may also be the key to the TV series, but I wouldn’t know). Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are delightful to watch as Kirk and Spock. The movie takes place during the start of their careers, so Kirk is a cadet in training and Spock is an instructor. They instantly dislike each other: Kirk as the rebel and Spock and the “live by the rules” kind of guy. This makes for laughs at several points during the movie, adding to the entertainment. Of course they eventually learn to respect and even like each other. This is only after Spock has Kirk expelled from the Starship Enterprise; Kirk wakes up on an ice-covered planet with no obvious route home but manages to meet someone (Scotty!) who beams him back to the Starship Enterprise, while it is traveling at warp speed. Spock was not happy by his unexplained return.
The Starfleet is under attack by Romulans from the future. Yes, this movie includes time travel. But is this really so far fetched in a movie about space exploration? No. The Romulans are seeking revenge on Spock, specifically. It turns out that in the futue, Spock is responsible for the demise of their planet. The Romulans have decided to destroy all planets that are part of the Starfleet. Working together, Kirk and Spock defeat the Romulans and their wicked-looking ship from the future.
I think it is fair to say that we will see a sequel in the future.
Filed under: Movies
I can’t resist. I see every Matthew McConaughey movie. I love to watch him. And listen to him. And, quite possibly, drool a little bit. Regardless of the movie quality. So, of course, I went to see Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. In the theater. On opening weekend. I simply couldn’t help myself. And, admittedly, I have always wanted to be Jennifer Garner ever since I watch her kick serious ass in the “Alias” series. Therefore, I giddily drove to the theater in the pouring rain on a Saturday afternoon for what I hoped would be a couple of hours spent in guilty pleasure.
The story idea is cute. A famous photographer–famous for both his photography skills and his skills with women–shows up at the family estate for the wedding of his brother. McConaughey plays the photographer, Connor, and promptly proceeds to ruin the weekend with his rantings on the falseness of love and monogamy. Jennifer Garner plays the maid-of-honor (Jenny) trying to hold the wedding bliss together through McConaughey’s tirade. Oh, and she is ex-girlfriend, too. On the eve of the wedding, Connor is visited by the ghost of his uncle, Wayne, played by Michael Douglas. Wayne taught Connor all of his womanizing ways. Wayne’s license plate says STBN WGN (aka, “Stabbin’ Wagon”) and this might have been the one thing that made me laugh out loud. Wayne explains to the Connor that love is important and that he will be visited by three ghosts that night to show him love’s importance. Needless to say, Connor realizes he has loved Jenny all along and he works to rectify the relationship the next day. Sweet, right?
I love a good romantic comedy. I am a sucker for them every time. But this was not a good one. It is not funny. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past is, well, terrible. I can’t seem to get past the awkward transitions between scenes where you are supposed to infer feelings that haven’t really been displayed. I didn’t feel the chemistry between these two actors. Chemisty is so necessary in the romantic comedy genre. I couldn’t even be brought around to like McConaughey’s character in the end. And, I always like his characters (at least, by the end of the movie). He wasn’t at all as charming as he usually is. And I wanted more from Jennifer Garner.
I left the theater disappointed and not pleasured at all.
I Love You, Man is the story of a man looking for a best friend. The man is Peter Klaven (played by Paul Rudd) and the best friend he finds is Sydney Fife (played by Jason Segel). As with the recent array of movies starring Rudd and Segel, this movie is complete with projectile vomit, awkward sexual moments (an unwanted man-on-man kiss), and dog poop on concrete. It is funny stuff, but let’s be honest: men find this kind of humor much funnier than women do.
Peter has never been a “man’s man.” His friends have always been women. He has a sensitive side, a more femine side, that is dominant in his behaviors: he is not aggressive in his business (real estate), he recognizes that the little things matter (serving his fiance’s ladies night group surprise root beer floats, including Pepperidge Farm Pirouettes as straws), and his mom is his best friend (he calls her after his first date with Zooey). When it comes time to plan his wedding, Zooey expresses concern with his lack of man-friends. Peter decides to go on man-dates to find a best friend.
After a series of comedic situations with the wrong guys, Peter eventually finds Sydney. Sydney is completing comfortable with his manhood: he even has a masturbation station in his man cave. Not surprisingly, Sydney is single. And all of Sydney’s oldest friends have started settling down with their families. Sydney and Peter find each other at the right time in both their lives.
The friendship that ensues between Peter and Sydney causes a riff in the relationship between Peter and his fiance. Not surprisingly, his fiance starts to realize that if Peter has friends, she is no longer his center of attention.
This movie is funny and has an Apatow flavor to it (although he is not credited for any part of this film). However, I think it is probably funnier to guys than it is for girls. It is like the reverse of a romantic comedy.
Wendy and Lucy is the story of a girl and her dog. Wendy, played by Michelle Williams, is on her way from Indiana to Alaska to find work. When we encounter her, Wendy is in Oregon with $525 to her name, a late-80s Honda Accord and her dog, Lucy. The entire movie takes place in an Oregon town where Wendy has become stranded when her car breaks down, she gets arrested for shoplifting and Lucy goes missing. And, life does not get much better for Wendy as the movie goes on and then somewhat abruptly ends.
Clearly, Wendy loves her Lucy more than anything else in life and really relies on the relationship with her dog to get her through the tough days of her life. While Wendy is resourceful and appears resilient, she is clearly scared on her journey; yet it is difficult to feel sorry for her. Her situation comes across as a bit self-imposed, but truthfully, we don’t know enough about her to make that judgment. We can understand her connection to Lucy, however, and we desperately want her to find Lucy.
On Wendy’s quest to find Lucy, she encounters only one person with a kind heart: the security guard at the local Walgreens. He appears to have seen hard times himself, and offers the use of his cell phone as a contact number for the pound. In one particularly touching scene, he offers Lucy money and refuses to take “no” for an answer. The sum of money he gives her: $6.
The movie is short, but difficult to watch. As I noted earlier, movies about homelessness are always difficult to watch: no one wants to imagine this kind of life for themselves. Additionally, there are suspenseful moments where we don’t know if Wendy or Lucy will be okay.
A word of advice to moviegoers: do not go see two movies about homelessness in one weekend. It makes for a depressing couple of days.
Filed under: Movies | Tags: Catherine Keener, Jamie Foxx, Jr., Los Angeles, Movies, newspaper, Robert Downey, Soloist
The Soloist is the true story of LA Times writer Steve Lopez’s chance encounter with the talented, yet homeless, musician Nathaniel Ayers. The story sheds light on the heartbreaking and scary homeless population in Los Angeles, but it also gives hope that sometimes good things can happen from bad situations. Robert Downey, Jr. convincingly performs the role of a natually curious newspaperman who struggles committing himself to anything but his story. Jamie Foxx as the homeless and mentally-impaired Julliard drop-out is hard to watch, only because your heart breaks for him. While the story is ultimately uplifting, it is simultaneously depressing. The film experience is comparable to that of The Pursuit of Happyness: we just don’t like to see people in a situation that we could just as easily find ourselves in one day.
Music plays a significant role in this film. Nathaniel Ayers is particularly fond of Beethoven, and it is this music that floats throughout the movie. In one particular scene, however, the music overpowers the film: Ayers and Lopez are attending rehearsal for the Los Angeles Orchestra and what I can only assume is an effort to display the impact of the music on Ayers for the movie-going audience, we are treated to a light show. The lights dance to the beats of the music. This particular interruption takes away from the movie and continues much too long. It seems unnecessary. In a later scene, Lopez is explaining to his ex-wife and editor, played by Catherine Keener, the experience of listening to the music with Ayers. In his explanation, we understand the power of the music much better than the light display attempted to portray.
The Soloist tells us that one person can make a difference in another’s life with curiousity, the power of the written word and a little persistence.
