It took me 7 years to see this movie, although I had wanted to see it when it came out.
Thousands of racist stories tied into one movie. It was incredibly powerful, incredibly depressing, and all too true. This is one of those films I think everyone should be forced to see every now and then just to keep in check with what's going on around them in the world. Fantastic acting, and I still hate Sandra Bullock. All I could think about was The Blind Side and cringe.
I certainly teared up when the little girl ran out to protect her daddy from being shot. What a tense movie.
Gilbert says it had a tiny ($6.5 mil) budget and raked in like $100 mil. The only place where I noticed it being "cheap" was the poor soundtrack choices. In very emotional scenes, the music did not have any impact on my emotions.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Movie I Watched Monday - The Girlfriend Experience
I was curious about this movie because it starred porn star Sasha Grey as a high-class escort. I feel like it gave me a pretty interesting look into the world of escorts. Even if it wasn't really factual (maybe it was, maybe it wasn't), I was intrigued.
Grey played the role with a flatness that I have a feeling is her real personality, not an act. Either way, it worked. The movie was a little oblique, intentionally confusing the viewer by mixing up scenes in different orders, but it was intriguing. The ending was great in an expected, yet unexpected way. I had to sit there and think for a minute afterward.
Recommmended.
Grey played the role with a flatness that I have a feeling is her real personality, not an act. Either way, it worked. The movie was a little oblique, intentionally confusing the viewer by mixing up scenes in different orders, but it was intriguing. The ending was great in an expected, yet unexpected way. I had to sit there and think for a minute afterward.
Recommmended.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Movie I Saw Friday - Get Over It
This was a teen flick that embodied everything about the late '90s. (It came out in '01.)
-Sisqo
-Kirsten Dunst
-Mila Kunis with a Brooklyn accent
-Cheesy graphic cuts between scenes
-Overdramatic drama teacher
-High school parties
-Singing to a girl on a roof
-Pathetic boys pining over bitchy girls
-Dispatch
The only surprise here was the recurring playing of Badly Drawn Boy's "The Shining" in all romantic scenes. Killa!
-Sisqo
-Kirsten Dunst
-Mila Kunis with a Brooklyn accent
-Cheesy graphic cuts between scenes
-Overdramatic drama teacher
-High school parties
-Singing to a girl on a roof
-Pathetic boys pining over bitchy girls
-Dispatch
The only surprise here was the recurring playing of Badly Drawn Boy's "The Shining" in all romantic scenes. Killa!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Movie I Saw Wednesday - When in Rome
I only saw half of this movie at the gym (that's right - my gym has a movie theater room, laugh at me), but it was enough to fill in all the gaps.
It's just not that hard to get. Girl never gets the guy, even though she's beautiful (Kristen Bell, folks), smart, has a great job, etc. She witnesses her sister's perfect marriage. She has some magic spell cast on her, and like 5 men who threw coins into a magic fountain fall madly in love with her. She can't ward them off in any way until the spell is broken. She has to figure out how to do this before they continue delivering sausages to her office with their face on them (really, that shit happens).
One of the men is Josh Duhamel, some hot sports writer. And he is hot. She doesn't want to trust that he actually loves her. He's just like her other "under a spell" lovers. But she starts to fall back in love with him.
You can see where it goes from here. La di da, fixing spells, finding true love, but not after a crazy power outage, shoving 5 people into a tiny car, and a whole lot of crazy antics! It's so fun guys, OH-EM-GEEEEE.
This was as dumb as it gets. But it did help me get through a 5 mile run. And that's saying something...
It's just not that hard to get. Girl never gets the guy, even though she's beautiful (Kristen Bell, folks), smart, has a great job, etc. She witnesses her sister's perfect marriage. She has some magic spell cast on her, and like 5 men who threw coins into a magic fountain fall madly in love with her. She can't ward them off in any way until the spell is broken. She has to figure out how to do this before they continue delivering sausages to her office with their face on them (really, that shit happens).
One of the men is Josh Duhamel, some hot sports writer. And he is hot. She doesn't want to trust that he actually loves her. He's just like her other "under a spell" lovers. But she starts to fall back in love with him.
You can see where it goes from here. La di da, fixing spells, finding true love, but not after a crazy power outage, shoving 5 people into a tiny car, and a whole lot of crazy antics! It's so fun guys, OH-EM-GEEEEE.
This was as dumb as it gets. But it did help me get through a 5 mile run. And that's saying something...
Movie I Saw Tuesday - The Adjustment Bureau
I like sci-fi. I like romance. Why wouldn't I like The Adjustment Bureau?
Well, for one, it's completely cliche in every possible way, and there are lines that literally make you want to gag. And, spoiler alert, it ends exactly how you think it will end. Exactly. No surprises.
The movie went by really quickly, and each scene could have been predicted.
It's based on a short story, and I'd like to read it. I think it could have a lot more depth and interest than the film.
But the film was entirely enjoyable! Emily Blunt and Matt Damon are lovely to look at, the whole sci-fi idea was really enticing, and I really enjoyed them trying to beat "the man," or as they call him, "the chairman." They are trying to fight fate to be together... because their love is just that strong. But they have an adjustment bureau after them to make sure that they never see each other again. Oooh! Ahh!
I recommend this if you need a really dumb Hollywood film with actors that you actually like, and not Katherine Heigl!
Well, for one, it's completely cliche in every possible way, and there are lines that literally make you want to gag. And, spoiler alert, it ends exactly how you think it will end. Exactly. No surprises.
The movie went by really quickly, and each scene could have been predicted.
It's based on a short story, and I'd like to read it. I think it could have a lot more depth and interest than the film.
But the film was entirely enjoyable! Emily Blunt and Matt Damon are lovely to look at, the whole sci-fi idea was really enticing, and I really enjoyed them trying to beat "the man," or as they call him, "the chairman." They are trying to fight fate to be together... because their love is just that strong. But they have an adjustment bureau after them to make sure that they never see each other again. Oooh! Ahh!
I recommend this if you need a really dumb Hollywood film with actors that you actually like, and not Katherine Heigl!
Movie I Saw Saturday - Adventureland
Adventureland
I was sorta ambivilant toward this film, but my boyfriend told me he enjoyed it, so I watched it.
You know what? I think Jesse Eisenberg is the bee's knees. That boy is effortlessly awkward, very much like he is in real life. While you could say it is a cop-out -- that he's not really acting -- I disagree. He melds his awkwardness toward the character. And this one, a nervous not-so-smooth-with-the-ladies smartypants, was far different from his potrayal of Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network.
He really just wins you over from square one. And as much as I want to dislike Kristen Stewart for her stupid, stupid hyperventilating in the Twilight "Saga" of movies, she really puts this silent emotion into her damaged character.
The movie doesn't so much hold you in suspence, but keeps you stuck in the exact moment you're watching. You don't anticipate what's next, you live for what's now. The characters live and breathe, and each scene further develops relationships and personalities, without being too obvious. Nothing is pushed on you.
If any movie glorifies pot smoking, it's this one.
That was as sidenote.
But that's not the focus. It's about Eisenberg and Stewart's characters, and how they help each other learn and grow. And as cheesy as that sounds, none of the film itself ever feels like that. It's natural, and it makes you smile.
I was sorta ambivilant toward this film, but my boyfriend told me he enjoyed it, so I watched it.
You know what? I think Jesse Eisenberg is the bee's knees. That boy is effortlessly awkward, very much like he is in real life. While you could say it is a cop-out -- that he's not really acting -- I disagree. He melds his awkwardness toward the character. And this one, a nervous not-so-smooth-with-the-ladies smartypants, was far different from his potrayal of Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network.
He really just wins you over from square one. And as much as I want to dislike Kristen Stewart for her stupid, stupid hyperventilating in the Twilight "Saga" of movies, she really puts this silent emotion into her damaged character.
The movie doesn't so much hold you in suspence, but keeps you stuck in the exact moment you're watching. You don't anticipate what's next, you live for what's now. The characters live and breathe, and each scene further develops relationships and personalities, without being too obvious. Nothing is pushed on you.
If any movie glorifies pot smoking, it's this one.
That was as sidenote.
But that's not the focus. It's about Eisenberg and Stewart's characters, and how they help each other learn and grow. And as cheesy as that sounds, none of the film itself ever feels like that. It's natural, and it makes you smile.
Movie I Saw Friday - Youth in Revolt
Youth in Revolt
I've been DVRing a lot of movies lately because I don't own any, I haven't yet succumbed to Netflix, and Blockbuster is 15 minutes away. When I saw this title, I thought, this sounds terribly violent.
It's actually that Michael Cera movie about him having to be bad in order to win over the girl of his dreams. He creates an alter ego.
It was mindless and enjoyable enough, but the fact that his bad boy alter ego constantly had a cigarette in his mouth kinda bothered me. Like we are still trying to reinforce the belief that the cool kids are smoking.
Cera and Portia Doubleday, who played his love interest, both fell flat. Their characters, in an effort to not overact, were a bit bland.
Justin Long was great as the stoner brother, feeding his high-strung Bible-hugging parents special mushrooms to mellow them out.
I could take it or leave it.
I've been DVRing a lot of movies lately because I don't own any, I haven't yet succumbed to Netflix, and Blockbuster is 15 minutes away. When I saw this title, I thought, this sounds terribly violent.
It's actually that Michael Cera movie about him having to be bad in order to win over the girl of his dreams. He creates an alter ego.
It was mindless and enjoyable enough, but the fact that his bad boy alter ego constantly had a cigarette in his mouth kinda bothered me. Like we are still trying to reinforce the belief that the cool kids are smoking.
Cera and Portia Doubleday, who played his love interest, both fell flat. Their characters, in an effort to not overact, were a bit bland.
Justin Long was great as the stoner brother, feeding his high-strung Bible-hugging parents special mushrooms to mellow them out.
I could take it or leave it.
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