What's this?

Sorry guys. I've been busy. I know you don't want excuses, you want results. Spring quarter just started up, so blog updates will probably be light. Tonight I went and saw a really good film though, so I thought I'd write about it.

If you have the chance to see Cold Weather in the theater, I would highly recommend it! It's playing here in Athens, but we generally get things on kind of a weird schedule, so I'm not sure if it's playing elsewhere. The film is directed by Aaron Katz, whose previous films (Dance Party USA and Quiet City) are considered a part of the mumblecore movement. If you have a brain, you realize how stupid that word is, and if you're familiar with our blog then you know about my conflicting feelings toward it. I don't want to say anything too bad about these movies, so I'll just say that some of them are not for me.

Mumblecore is such a loose, meaningless label, so I feel dumb using it, but I kind of have to. The reason that I love the Duplass Brothers' films so much is because they are able to take everything good about mumblecore, the emotional honesty and authentic performances, and inject them into a genre film. The Puffy Chair is a road movie. Baghead is a horror movie. Cold Weather is a detective movie, and a very good one.

Some people may be put off by the fact that the plot does not really start until about 40 minutes into the movie, at least that's what I gather from reviews I have read of the film. I had no problem with its structure. It's very beautifully shot (with a RED camera) and the characters are engaging (also attractive). The brother/sister relationship was fun. For me, this was a more exciting film than any of the Bourne movies. I would much rather see someone awkwardly trying to solve a mystery than watch Jason Bourne jump through a window and beat someone up with a rolled up magazine. The stakes were raised in this film! I didn't know what was going to happen!

As more and more mumblecore directors get exposure and access to slightly larger budgets, I hope that they all follow the path of Aaron Katz or the Duplass Bros, and continue to make movies that feel genuine but are also genuinely interesting. Winfrey recommends!

Easy A

Last night I saw Easy A with H. and a friend of ours. I love teen movies; we don't need to call Freud on a Beyond-the-Grave phone to figure out why (but if we did, he probably be like, "It's because you were chubby, unhappy, and had an underbite as a teenager and you're vicariously living out all your past fantasies. Also, I'm a raging misogynist. See yas!"). The point is, I love them, and in my opinion there are two types of teen movies. Forgive the outdated genderness of this, but here goes: there are teen movies for guys (that girls either pretend to like so that guys will like them, or just actually like because they have poor taste), the ones that involve too-obvious gross-out gags, or a parent walking in on someone masturbating. Then there are the movies made for girls, the ones that actually have jokes and characters. The kind of movie that, after a guy comes to see it with you, he'll say something like, "That was actually pretty good," like he's surprised, like, what, did you expect it to be shitty because the cast is largely female and there wasn't any implied nudity in the trailer? This movie fell into the latter category, obviously. Also both of the guys I saw this movie with expected to like it (I think) because I am an adult now and I don't hang out with douchebags.

Here are my thoughts on Easy A:

-I know this is a super-obvious thing to point out, and the same thing could be said about virtually all teen movies, but COME ON! Emma Stone is a stone fox, you guys. There is absolutely no way in hell that someone who looks like her would be "invisible" in high school.

-Thomas Haden Church was so good, right? Why was his part so small? The plot with him/Lisa Kudrow seemed so shoe-horned in there that I feel like it must've originally been larger. Wishful thinking, probably.

-I liked (okay, l-o-v-e-d) all the references to the John Hughes oeuvre (but why doesn't ANYONE remember Pretty in Pink?), but they ultimately reminded me of the one way this movie actually disappointed me: not enough ~*~*romance~*~*! I thought the relationship between Olive and Gossip Girl Guy was totally sweet, and I wish there'd been more of it.

-Did you notice that Miranda from Lizzy McGuire was (so, so) briefly in Easy A? Easter egg for the Disney Channel superfans. I loved Lizzie McGuire. Can you believe that the only Gordo/Lizzie resolution we got was the lame, closed-mouthed kiss at the end of the Lizzie McGuire movie? Ugh. Gordo 4evs. It's nice to see Miranda's still around, though.

-People can hate on Amanda Bynes and her weird twitter account all they want. I love her! Also, Alex and I loved the Amanda Show when we were kids.

If you haven't seen Easy A yet, rent it! Or see it at a dollar theatre, whatever.

Best of '10

Everybody did their best of the year lists already, and I figured I should do something. I liked all the same films that everyone else did pretty much, so I'll just list my favorite film of the year.

ANIMAL KINGDOM

If you haven't seen this film yet please watch it. The trailer isn't the best indication of what the film is like. I wasn't incredibly excited about this movie, but I decided I would see it (because Leonard Maltin recommended it) and I immediately loved it. It's the kind of movie that I would go see again the next day (the next day it wasn't in our theater anymore). Seriously, every scene, every shot, every performance knocks it out of the park. When people talk about how good The Town was, and how refreshing it was to see a crime film treated with some intelligence, I think about how much better Animal Kingdom was. It's a really unique film that, in the words of director David Michod, is "dark and violent yet beautiful and poetic at the same time."

I really like this film and I can't recommend it enough.

Going the Distance

It's no secret that I love romantic comedies. I'm pretty sure I've started other blog posts with that exact sentence, so it's also no secret that I know it's not a secret. Ever since I saw the trailer for Going the Distance, I knew I had to see it as soon as possible. Rarely do movies come out that are so made for me.

Firstly and most importantly, I LOVE Drew Barrymore. I love everything about her. Mostly I love that, no matter what movie she's in, it seems like she picked out her own wardrobe. Her clothes are so wacky! She dresses like a five year old whose mother is like, "I'm tired, wear what you want" and so she just piles on the sparkle and camo with stripes or whatever.
All of the other things I love about this movie are summed up really well in Owen Gleiberman's EW review, which you can read here if you so wish. I agreed wholeheartedly with the Gleibs (as I do about half the time) when he wrote this:

Going the Distance is a light and tasty morsel of a romantic comedy in which two smart, funny, and basically sweet people try to conduct a cross-country relationship. The movie, which sounds like it was spun out of an advice column, is very high-concept, except that it has a gently authentic tone, a flavor rooted in its affection for the shrewd innocence of the 1980s. For the first 15 minutes or so, I actually wondered if it was set in the '80s....After two love montages set to the Cure's ''Just Like Heaven'' and the Pretenders' ''Don't Get Me Wrong,'' I began to think: Between this feel-good '80s jukebox and the fact that no one in the film has yet sent a text message, which year is this?...As it turns out, Going the Distance is quite contemporary, but the wistful retro vibe is no accident. The director, Nanette Burstein, is...out to take us back to an earlier vibe — to a time when pop music was optimistic, and so were movie romances. Erin and Garrett don't just fall into glorified lust. They fall in love because they like each other's company.

He's right; this is VERY much like an 80's romantic comedy. The montages are so montage-y it's almost laughable (I mean, they are dancing on a beach!), which I really like. If you're going to do a montage, you might as well go whole-hog and just do it up right. There's no such thing as a subtle montage, anyway.
Going the Distance was also a lot more realistic than most romantic comedies, which is both a pro and a con. H did not like that the movie's humor skewed blue (this movie is like 95% made up of dick jokes) because he thought it seemed out of place in what he called a "chick flick." I didn't agree though, and not just because I don't use the term chick flick (barf, sorry). The characters talked to each other basically like real people talk to each other. My friends and I spend about 50% of our time talking about sex and the other 50% talking about our jobs, and I think that's pretty typical, so I found those relationships to be accurately depicted. The relationship between Justin Long and Drew Barrymore's characters was believable, too, and not just because Justin Long's character reminded me so much of H (without all the womanizing).
I loved this movie. It has some of my favorite romantic comedy conventions (including the whole "How can this person have their brilliant career AND the love of their life??" conundrum) while also being genuinely funny and believable. And I can't leave out the importance of Jason Sudekis, Charlie Day, Jim Gaffigan, and Mike Birbiglia, who all took the movie to the next level (the next level being the funnier one).
And MOST importantly, one of Drew Barrymore's New York friends is played by Natalie Morales, the girl who plays Aziz's girlfriend on Parks and Rec. H tried to tell me I was wrong but I knew I was right. Suck on that.

This blog post had to happen.

Netflix's recommendations are a mixed bag. Sometimes they recommend categories that are so right ("Romantic Comedies Starring Goldie Hawn" is specific, but very sculpted to my personal interests!), and sometimes they just do not get me. I mean, no, the fact that I like The Devil and Daniel Johnston does not mean that I will watch a documentary on Anorexia. And I definitely don't want to see Did You Hear About the Morgans. But recently, for the first time, Netflix recommended a movie I'd never even heard of but knew I would love. This trailer pretty much describes the plot, whether or not you should see it, and how necessary the movie is.

After I watched this, I had no choice but to make it number one on my queue. I mean, if Ice-T says I must see it, who am I to disagree? I don't know if this movie had to happen...it certainly wasn't well made, and doesn't seem to be particularly passionate. I'm so glad I saw it, though. For one thing, the rapping was terrible. It's all very "Rippity rap rap rap raptastic!" Also, the lead actor is Mario Van Peebles, who is in charge of having the least raptastic name ever as well as not doing any actual rapping, because he was overdubbed by Ice-T (according to IMDB). Ice-T is uncredited in the film and only shows up for one transplendent scene, wherein he prances about stage like a young Mick Jagger. The song "Snack Attack," which I can't find anywhere, makes the movie worth it. I don't want to ruin anything for you, but I'll just say this: someone stuffs their face with cake while everyone raps in some sort of food distribution warehouse.
This doesn't exactly fall under our Dance Movie project (because, after all, it isn't called Dancin'), but it kind of does because there was a significant amount of dancing in this movie. Worth watching!

Greenberg

I went and saw Greenberg tonight. When I purchased the ticket, the lady asked me, "Just one?" as if I were buying a single ticket to Dear John or something. I have wanted to see this movie for a while, mostly because of my casual interest with Noah Baumbach and my more than casual interest with Greta Gerwig. I was really feeling a movie tonight, so truthfully I would been pretty forgiving of just about anything I went and saw. That being said, Greenberg was pretty good.

I went into the movie with kind of low hopes. While I did want to see it, the trailers didn't really do anything for me. I thought the dialogue sounded kind of overly clever. I'd heard people, including Ben Stiller, compare it to a seventies movie, and I thought, "come on." Just because a film has a somewhat unlikeable protagonist doesn't mean you need to talk about Hal Ashby all the time. Then when the film started, I shut up because yeah, it did kind of remind me of a seventies movie. Greenberg reminded of that particular era of filmmaking not so much because of the (slight) narrative similarities, but because of technical factors. The editing, which was, thankfully, not interested in continuity of motion, and the opening credits of the film were nice and unexpected after seeing the trailer. I also enjoyed the use of the zoom, which is something that people are starting to use more, and I have to say, I fully support. Zoom it up, baby. The film looks really pretty, which is always good.

There was only one scene in the film that reminded me of what I expected from the trailer, and that was one of the worst parts of the trailer as well. The scene in which Roger Greenberg interacts with several younger partygoers and talks about how olllllllddddddd he is. This scene went on for a while, and was the only time that I thought Baumbach's dialogue really felt writerly and forced. However, this scene is followed by a really nice scene with Greenberg and his friend, Ivan. The interaction between Greenberg and Ivan was one of my favorite parts of the film. There was an appropriate amount of it, and it felt pretty authentic.

Now to the Gerwig stuff. Was she good? Yes. Did she get naked? Would you expect anything less from her? All jokes aside, the lady gets naked in nearly every movie she's in. Her character was interesting and wasn't too much of a pixie dream girl, which the trailer kind of implied. It was nice to see a strong independent lady up there, not looking for relationships and having casual sex. Good for you.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, Greenberg was enjoyable. Don't be put off by the trailer. It felt much more natural than I thought it would, and Ben Stiller does a great job of keeping his character believable. If you have really wanted to go see a movie, and it's a Monday night and you're alone, I can think of nothing better to do.

Movie Review

So, I am friends with a person on facebook that I do not really know personally. I only know of him. But this kid posts statuses like nobody's business, and they are all solid gold. I've really been meaning to share some of them with you guys, but tonight's (probably 5th) status pushed me over the edge. Here it is. The Lovely Bones reviewed.

"just finished watching lovely bones with the wife and boy does it gets a D + for Dumb. The girl(who died) was stupid for talking to a stranger(weird neighbor who killed her), the mom runs a way(so weak), the little sister took her time to show her parents who killed her sister, the killer got away killing all those girls and dies because an icicle falls down his back then he falls off a cliff and dies?!"

Post Grad

I love romantic comedies (duh). I love movies about people trying to get their lives together. I love movies with female protagonists. I also love Gilmore Girls. So it should follow that I would love last year's quickly forgotten Post Grad, right?

Actually, yeah! I loved this movie. I mean, it was definitely not dealing with any heavy shit, which was why I used it as a palate cleanser before watching Fitzcarraldo. Also, it seemed like a movie made for families with children, like something Papa Winfrey would watch on the Hallmark Channel some Saturday afternoon, even though the subject matter (college graduate looking for a job) would bore most families with children. This movie was totally cute, and you don't have to take my word for it, just listen to Roger Ebert, who, as always, totally gets it:
"Apart from a few words and attitudes, this movie, directed by Vicky Jenson and written by Kelly Fremon, could be a throwback to more innocent times. It contains no drugs, no angst, no bitterness, no generation gap, no big family problems, and it doesn't even seem to know how blessed it is. Sometimes you get out of a movie and feel like you've just worked a desperate overnight shift on the homicide detail. You get out of this film, and you have a good feeling."
Also, it's worth noting that this movie contains my #1 favorite-of-all-time romantic comedy plot: a best friend who is madly in love with the protagonist, but the protagonist just can't see it. I've never been in love with my best friend (mostly because all of my close friends have always been either female, gay, or guys I've known since I was literally five years old) and none of my best friends have ever been in love with me, but it has to be a common fantasy, right? That the person who knows you best in the whole world is also the one you get to spend every day with? In reality, I can't see this ever working out; usually the protagonist only realizes they should be with the best friend after being worn down and pleaded with, and who wants to be with someone they have to convince? But still. I love this plot. I love the drama and the way it necessitates a tearful fight, a montage of memories, a sudden realization, and then a dramatic resolution. Even if it would never work in real life, at least in the movies you know it always will. Unless you're watching Pretty in Pink, or My Best Friend's Wedding. Or kind of a lot of movies, I guess.
Another thing I found quite charming about Post Grad was the emphasis on family. As someone who comes from a very close, very strange family (perhaps you've noticed), I really appreciated the celebration of the familial unit. Also, Michael Keaton TOTALLY reminded me of Papa Winfrey. Actually, the whole family reminded me of us:

Mom and Dad are Michael Keaton and Jane Lynch. Alex is Alexis Bledel, just tryin' to get his life together. Chase is the kid with the sock puppet. And I'm Carol Burnett, because OBVIOUSLY.
Also, in general, I will like any movie that earnestly make proclamations like, "What you're doing with your life is only half of it; the other half is who you're with when you're doing it." And that's it, because I can almost guarantee Alex has not read this far, and is just now skimming through the post, seeing his name, and reading this last line. Bottom line: This is a good bad mood movie.

Zelig

I done did it: I got a Netflix account. Now I'm wondering why I didn't do this long ago. I've filled my "queue" (I hate that word) with some real gems, like Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (written, of course, by the great Roger Ebert). But my first choice was Zelig by Woody Allen.
It's not the most popular Woody Allen film, likely because it's really weird. It's a mockumentary about Leonard Zelig, a "human chameleon" who finds himself transforming into whoever is near him, be that person obese, handicapped, or an entirely different race. Woody Allen used bluescreen technology to place himself, as Zelig, into historical footage with old movie stars, sports stars, and, in one instance, Hitler. Mia Farrow plays a lady-doctor who takes on Zelig's case and, as is true of most Woody-Mia stories, ends up falling in love.
It's hard to come up with an opinion on this. On the one hand, it's clear that an enormous amount of time went into Zelig. In just the time it took to edit the film, Woody Allen made two OTHER movies (he is nothing if not productive). In addition to the technical aspects, there are multiple songs written about Zelig, as well as interviews with such literary greats as Susan Sontag and Saul Bellow. On the other hand, the movie doesn't really do a lot. I mean, there isn't much of a plot, really, but it's supposed to be a documentary. I laughed a lot, though, and Alex probably would too if he didn't hate Woody Allen so much. That's a shame, because the silly humor is pretty similar to David Wain's.
Here's a clip of some of the famous people interviews at the beginning of Zelig. I'm not sure who posted this video on youtube, but if you read the information on the page it seems like it was posted for a school assignment, possibly for an English as a Second Language film course. What a weird movie to watch for that purpose. And, really, the discussion question ("Do you like Woody Allen movies? Please explain") is a little weak.

Where The Wild Things Are

Winfreys have a weird relationship with film criticism. We love reading movie reviews, but few things make us more mad (at least this Winfrey). At this point, we've all seen Where The Wild Things are, and we realize that it was a really great film. Well, I've been slowly stoking the hate fire all weekend by reading reviews for it. I loved this movie. It's definitely an important movie, and people that don't like it just don't like it, and that's fine or whatever.

What's not fine or whatever is people that don't understand film criticism. You can't give this film a negative review because it isn't something else. This is like asking Papa Winfrey what he thought of the pork chop he had for dinner. He's not going to like it, and nothing he says about it is going to change the pork chop, and he realizes this. Obviously people are going to have opinions and feelings about a movie (especially an adaptation), but regardless of what they say, the film is in its final form, and it will never change.

There are people that say the film isn't whimsical enough, or don't like the furry suits, or didn't like the narrative structure, or didn't like the color scheme. There are entire reviews that consist of, "Well the hipsters are going to love this one." And shouldn't people review this as a film, not as whatever they would have done with the adaptation? It's so frustrating to see a movie that is so completely different from anything that you've ever seen before, and then go home and read reviews that criticize everything that is unique about it, and go on to make suggestions on how to improve the film. I always wonder what the detractors of classic films had to say when they were first released.

I really do feel like this will become a classic film. It's one of the most visceral and emotionally complicated movies that I have seen in a long time, and I'm sure that you've already all seen it, but if you haven't you really should. Even if you don't like it, it's something pretty to look at for 101 minutes.

Review Time

I wrote out a review of House of the Devil, but I wasn't feeling it, so I'll just tell you that you should definitely see it. All the reviews you have read have been true. It's an amazing film and I hope that it does really well.

When Alex Watched When The Levees Broke

So, I'm watching When The Levees Broke for a class. I need to write a paper about a ten minute segment of the film. I'm a little surprised that I like it. Not in a weird way. Not like my facebook interests are, "9/11, The Holocaust, Hurricane Katrina". I don't like watching it, but now that I've started it, I feel kind of compelled to finish it. All four hours of it. Remember? It's a Requiem in Four Acts? For the most part it's really well done. There are some issues with it, one being that it's four hours long. Four hours of anything can become tedious. Four hours of this would probably get old. Anyway, you should probably watch it and learn about some horrible stuff. Stuff that these people apparently did not learn. Some people are fucking dicks. Did they really watch all four hours of this?

Hey guys. I saw a movie.

I went and saw Paranormal Activity last night....with this lady.

Anyway, it was a sold out midnight showing, and it was totally bananas. It was so much fun! I would definitely recommend it. There were a few people that didn't like it. The couple walking out in front of us were saying, "Like, that would scare me if I were in seventh grade. Yeah, it creeped me out a little bit." There was also a comic-book-guy type screaming something like, "Give me Saw V, Saw VI, Saw VII anyday!" I guess he didn't like it either. Other than that though, everyone was super into it, including that lady up there. There were a lot of whispers of, "holy shit" and "fuck that". Winfrey seal of approval.

Paper Heart

Charlyne Yi, you guys! Why was I ever on the fence?

Let's talk Paper Heart. Going into My Paper Heart Experience, I didn't know what to expect. I'd read entirely negative reviews. I read that it was too cute. I read that the documentary/faux-documentary style was too gimmicky and confusing. And I read that the font was bad. Apparently that's a normal thing to complain about when you review a movie. Sure.
I don't know why I believed all those jerks. This was one of the best movies I've seen all year (to be fair, I haven't seen a lot of movies). Charlyne Yi is extraordinarily likeable, and so is the rest of the cast, including the "director" Jake Johnson and everyone's favorite, Mikey Cera. And you know what? All the reviews I read, for some reason, had SUCH a hard time comprehending how part of this movie was real and part of it was scripted. It drove all those old dudes crazy! I can't figure out why. The interviews were obviously coming not from a mean-spirited place (like in Borat), but from a place of genuine interest. But I thought the saving grace of the movie was that it never veered into saccharine, optimistic territory. It didn't present falling in love as the end-all, be-all of a person's life, nor did it assume that all love stories have guaranteed happy endings. It was, overall, exactly what I said I was looking for: a realistic love story about a young woman! One that doesn't focus on clothing, money, or end with a wedding. Maybe we should all see more movies like this, with a funny, intelligent woman in the lead, instead of whatever God-awful romcom is out now. I mean, I like a good romantic comedy, but The Ugly Truth? Come on.
In short: Why you should see this movie:
1. Charlyne Yi writes fun music!
2. Funny interviews with kids!
3. Puppets!
4. There is a scene in the zoo!
5. The real love stories are actually hilarious and heartbreaking, occasionally at the same time!

So...when's Lexie coming home?

As Joni Mitchell once famously sang (in a sentiment that's been echoed countless times since by such esteemed musicians as The Counting Crows' Adam Duritz), you don't know what you got 'til it's gone. Joni was right, as always. I'd gotten used to having Alex here to watch movies with me every weekend. But now he's gone (for a few days)! On Saturday I hardly knew what to do with myself. He's backwoods camping in Tennessee with no cell reception, and H. was dancing his ass off at a wedding reception. Since I usually text/call either one or the both of them about 15 times a day, I was at a loss. So I watched a movie by myself.

The cover of Don't Look Now describes it as "A Psychic Thriller." Because there's a psychic involved (spoiler alert! Not really). It's hard for me to talk about Don't Look Now without talking about one specific thing: the sex scene. It was, hands down, the most explicit sex scene I've ever seen in a regular, rated R movie. Apparently, 9 frames (roughly half a second) had to be trimmed out of the scene to prevent the movie from getting an NC-17 rating. Only God (and I guess the people who worked on the film) knows what was shown in the half a second, but it must have been actual penetration because holy moly. I am not going to link to the scene because, I don't know, maybe you have fragile eyes or something, or maybe you don't want to watch a toupee-d Donald Sutherland having sex, but if you are curious just search for "Don't Look Now love scene" and you'll find it. In my research, I've come across some conflicting theories: one that Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie were together at the time and that this was real, unsimulated sex, and another that they just met immediately before shooting the scene and that it is not real. No confirmation from either Julie Christie OR Papa Sutherland about this, which is frustrating. To me. Because obviously these are the sorts of things I care about in a movie.
So anyway. Don't Look Now is not a "scary" movie, strictly speaking. It is more of a psychological thriller, in the vein of Rosemary's Baby or Let's Scare Jessica to Death (that vein can hold both good and shitty movies, apparently). Quick plot summary: Papa Sutherland and Julie Christie's daughter drowned, and now they are convinced that she's appearing to them in some way in Venice, where they're restoring a church. The ending is actually shocking. I gasped! Do yourself a favor and don't find out what the ending is before seeing it (even though I know Alex already knows it), because it sounds so silly just reading it, but it's actually quite creepy and effective after seeing the whole movie!
This movie was listed on both Bravo's Scariest Movie Scenes of All Time AND Entertainment Weekly's Sexiest Movie Scenes of All Time. And if you're anything like me, that's enough to make you want to see it. It's much slower paced than the trailer makes it seem, but I still think you'll really like it. Winfreys approve.

More 500 Days of Summer

500 Days of Summer has one of those trailers.

By that I mean that it involves some fast-paced dancing, a song that sounds vaguely like "Where the Streets Have No Name," and a lot of running. Running in a trailer will always sell me on a movie, but even without that I would have still wanted to see this. Ever since this teaser trailer came out in January, I've thought about movie nearly every single day. It seemed like July was never going to come.
So I guess it's inevitable that I was going to be a little disappointed. But overall I loved it. 500 Days of Summer reminded me of why movies are sometimes just better than books. On paper, this would have been one boring story. But it worked on film, mostly because of all the things that Lexie already mentioned. He spent very little space talking about the clothing, though! The clothing was marvelous! I am currently on the hunt for a sweater vest for H.
Two things: Roger Ebert's review was right on the mark, as per usual.
He liked it. Also, he was a total sassy bitch about the punctuation in the title. I love it!
Secondly, this person is an asshole. Seriously. I don't want to be one of those people who claims that anybody who doesn't like what they like just doesn't "get it." But this person really obviously didn't "get" the dance sequence, and there isn't even all that much to get. Also, they dared to insult the parade sequence in Ferris Bueller? Barf.

(500) Days of Summer: A Review

Winfreys get excited about things. Generally it's dinner, but sometimes it's a movie that we want to see. (500) Days of Summer was a movie that I can safely say excited almost everyone in the Winfrey family. People have been lovin' on this movie since it premiered, and my hopes were high going in. It was pretty good, but it was not as good as I thought that it could be. I should just post this review by Dr. Evil and be done with it.

But I will continue. There were parts of this movie that were great. I liked that it was totally subjective. That was nice. Also, it wasn't subtle at all, but it wasn't trying to be. There were goofy sound cues and and bright contrasting colors everywhere. Scott Neustadter, the co-writer of the film, said that he wanted to make the film version of a pop song, which is very much how the film felt. That's why the soundtrack in this film worked so much better than that god-damned grating soundtrack for Juno. (500) Days of Summer openly acknowledged what it was (beginning with the title) and used that to its advantage. It was a relationship story as told by one 20-something year old who was clearly influenced by pop culture.

There were really great parts to this movie, which is where my main complaint stems from. After watching this film it was very obvious that the director had worked in music videos. Sure it was bright, and it looked nice, but it also felt very uneven. The fun stylistic parts were great. The dance sequence was great. The split screen part was awesome. The part in the karaoke bar, not so much. Any serious, conversational part felt a little weak. It was like they used up all of their energy on the fun, energetic sequences before and after, and what was left were these bland in-between pieces.

There were things I didn't like about the ending, and his dramatic speech, but I did enjoy this film. Sure, there were annoying characters (his little sister?), but the film had so many strong parts. I would give this film a solid B if I were into giving letter grades to films.

The Heartbreak Kid

This weekend, Alex and I unintentionally had an Anti-Marriage Movie Marathon by watching The Heartbreak Kid and Hannah and Her Sisters. Wait, The Heartbreak Kid with Ben Stiller, you're asking yourself? NO. The original 1972 film starring the (always) superb Winfrey Family fave Charles Grodin.

We learned a lot of things from this movie. Like, don't marry someone until you've:
1. Had sex with them.
2. Gone to the beach with them.
3. Watched them eat egg salad.
4. Heard them sing.
Just make sure you know what you're getting into, I guess. Do yourself a favor and don't watch this movie if you're about to get married. Oof, seriously. This movie will make you feel so much discomfort, misery, and despair that you won't even know what to do with yourself. But I mean that in a good way. Add in some wonderful tunes, a young Cybil Shepard, and Charles Grodin's ability to pull off clashing patterns and you've got a winner.
So why the hell would anyone feel the need to remake this movie? We don't know. This movie needed no remaking, since it's already perfect the way it is. But maybe you watched it and thought, "Instead of going to Miami for their honeymoon and being surrounded by old people, why don't we take them somewhere a little more fancy and less sad? Like Mexico? And can we make everyone, like, five times hotter? And how about instead of making the audience feel depressed and confused, we try to make them laugh by making disgusting jokes?" NO, FARRELLY BROTHERS. YOU JUST RUINED THE MOVIE. Roeper and Some Guy agree:

If you, like us, enjoy Charles Grodin, movies from the 70s, and laughing and feeling sad at the same time, you should probably watch The Heartbreak Kid. And if you don't, then you probably shouldn't be reading this blog.

We Watched It: Spring Breakdown

About three years ago, I was reading an issue of Bust magazine with Amy Poehler on the cover. In her interview, she talked about a new movie she had just finished filming. It also starred Rachel Dratch, Parker Posey, and Amber Tamblyn, and I was excited about it. "I can't wait," I thought to myself right before a flash-forward occurred that took me to the year 2009. That was when Spring Breakdown was finally released...straight to DVD.

Spring Breakdown was great. Okay, there were some problems, which I will address right now. First off, the entire movie was directed as if it were a kid's film. Secondly, it was a liiiittle cheesy. Thirdly, dated slang, which could probably be blamed on the fact that this movie was written like 5,000 years ago. But none of these crimes justify a straight to DVD release. This movie was really funny, you guys. I mean, Parker Posey was a revelation. Parker Posey is always a revelation. And I honestly think that Missi Pyle found the role of a lifetime. Also, I don't want to ruin anything for you, but Wilson Phillips is featured prominently, and if you've seen Harold & Kumar Go to Whitecastle, you know that can only lead to comedy bliss.
I would link to the trailer, but it doesn't really do the movie any favors. Also, Warner Bros. has the embedding disabled, because as we all know they don't understand how the internet works as a promotional tool. But you should really, really, really see this movie. It helped me to reaffirm why I never went on any spring break trips, and it was nice to see a movie about women like me (I am referring to all the flashbacks to the three of them in college, of course).
In closing, here's this. He hated it, but look at what he's wearing.

PS- Guess who's in this movie? Ann from Arrested Development and Millie from Freaks and Geeks.

Friend or Foe?: Bradley Cooper

H. and I saw The Hangover this weekend. Obviously. And, despite H.'s assertion that it was "good, not great," I am recommending it. Winfrey stamp of approval! Don't believe all those bullshitty things people say about this being a frat boy movie or whatever. Zach Galifianakis is in this movie, so see it. Maybe you and your date will be the only ones in the theatre that laugh at everything he says, but it's okay. But I really want to point out a couple of questions this movie brought up. The first is probably unanswerable: How does Heather Graham stay so young? And the second is this: How do I feel about Bradley Cooper?

He's essentially made a career out of affable douchiness, which is something that I usually hate because I have a hard time separating real-life people from the characters they play. But he does seem charming, doesn't he? And he's been in some great movies. But he's also been in a few too many romantic comedies. Bradley Cooper, you confuse me. I'll probably have to do some more research, but I'll let you know about my findings.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that The Hangover has a few Zach Galifianakis in-jokes (the name Marcus, just to mention one) which should be quite pleasant to discover if you're a fan of his standup!