129 posts tagged “movies”
Oh, sweet cin! sent me a link to this She & Him music video from director Marc Webb of 500 Days of Summer, which also stars 500 leads Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
I realize this video has been out for months, but how did this slip through the pop culture cracks with me! I'd never seen it before.
However, this video is a nice teaser and reminder that 500 Days of Summer comes out on DVD December 22. I know what's going on my Christmas list. I also know what's going on "Top Ten Movies of 2009" list.
Two movies were released last weekend that depicted female hardships. One was The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which some believe is the downfall of the female American teenager. The other was Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire -- pretty much the most intense female situation I've ever watched on film.
Precious tells the story of Clareece "Precious" Jones, an obese illiterate teenager who's pregnant with her second child to her own father in Harlem 1987. Phew. The synopsis is a mouthful. And when you tell people about this movie, I find it entertaining to watch their facial expressions.
This movie was wonderfully performed and crafted beautifully by director Lee Daniels, but it's hard to tell people, "It was great!" It wasn't a "great" movie. It's like telling someone you really enjoyed watching Schindler's List. It just feels wrong.
And while the film ends with hope (without giving too much about the movie away), there's one particular problem that occurs in the movie that leaves the moviegoer wondering about how much hope there really is. Terribly depressing. When my friend got up to leave the theatre, he said he felt heavy and weighed down.
It's a simple formula for a successful film. If you have a movie about football that comes out around the Holidays, it's almost guaranteed to be a hit.
I predict Sandra Bullock's new film The Blind Side will score big this weekend, not because it looks particularly good (Bullock's performance in the previews looks cringeworthy), but because people love a good family movie involving football.
I also question why every family football movie must have a scene where everyone shares a musical moment (i.e. Remember the Titans did "Ain't No Mountain High Enough").
In The Blind Side's trailer, at 2:21 into the trailer, the little boy and the football player share a little dancing scene in the car. Why? Why is this necessary? Both 2:21 and Bullock's dialogue make me cringe! So I suppose we could revise the formula to "Football + Holidays + Musical Moment = Hit."
Am I just a heartless B or does this movie look cheesy?
I saw the film Serious Moonlight last night at the Three Rivers Film Festival in Pittsburgh. Although I am a Meg Ryan fan (she's just so gosh-darn loveable), I didn't have high expectations going into the movie based on the trailers that pigeon-holed it as a screwball romantic comedy.
I was pleasantly surprised to love this movie. Meg Ryan is serious(ly) funny! The movie's format is a bit like a play, with one scene and a character-driven storyline. The late Adrienne Shelly wrote this film, and while I didn't see Waitress, I suspect Moonlight is just as quirky and original as Shelly's directorial breakout hit.
I think Serious Moonlight has something to say about relationships as they grow and get older. Although Ryan's character chains her husband to the toilet at one point, there is actually substance beneath the comedy. Plus, a twist ending I kinda saw coming.
While I can foresee the backlash (anything Meg Ryan does lately is deemed crap), I stand by my endorsement of this film. It was just a lot of fun.
The trailer for the action-comedy Date Night is online.
When I read the IMDB synopsis ("In New York City, a case of mistaken identity turns a bored married couple's attempt at a glamorous and romantic evening into something more thrilling and dangerous"), I thought this movie sounded cute. It actually reminded me of Woody Allen's Manhattan Murder Mystery, where Woody Allen and Diane Keaton play a middle-aged married couple who discover a murderer in their apartment complex (with hilarious results!).
However, by the looks of the Date Night preview, it looks a little more Get Smart, a little less New York neurotic. I find this troubling since I like the two leads so much. I just don't know if I want to see them in a pseudo, geeked-down Mr. and Mrs. Smith.
I first sense trouble in this preview when Mark Wahlberg appears, using gadgets and computers like something out of a sci-fi movie. I sense trouble again when James Franco and Mila Kunis show up. Because Carell and Fey are so quirky, we want to see them in something quirky. I just don't think this looks like something that will make them comedically shine.
I'll be sticking to the marital hijinks of Carol and Larry Lipton, thank you very much.
Most recently, I decided to take a stab at reading Ayn Rand's Atlas, Shrugged. But once I took a look at the length of the book (clocking in around 1,000 pages in my paperback 70's edition), I realized it was going to be a challenge for my reading stamina. I find it a struggle to read a long book, unless of course it's remarkably written (I haven't yet been able to judge Rand since I'm only about ten pages in).
I've realized I simply love short stories. I believe that short stories capture real life more than any novel ever could.
I think that's why I like misterab.com. Each video is a short little tale that makes you think and doesn't require more than two minutes of your time.
They post a new video every Wednesday! Here's the latest!
This week, the 20th anniversary edition DVD of Say Anything was released. Say Anything was Cameron Crowe's directorial debut and the first in a line of Crowe movies to utilize a kick-ass soundtrack to play with the viewers' emotions (I still can't hear "The Wind" by Cat Stevens without thinking of Penny Lane twirling alone on stage).
To commemorate the release of the movie, the band Lloyd Dobler Effect (and a slew of Lloyd Doblers) took to Time Square.
I love Say Anything, but always wondered what the appeal was about this movie. It's got a typical high school movie plot (boy from the wrong side of the tracks likes a girl from the right side of the tracks), yet I think the character of Lloyd Dobler is what really makes people love this movie. He's a loveable loser you can't help but root for. Plus,I think the other attribute is that the characters don't talk like they're from a high school movie.
However, my favorite John Cusack role is and will always remain Walter "Gib" Gibson from The Sure Thing. I feel like this Cusack character doesn't get enough love. He's a real guy's guy. The kind of guy who doesn't mind if you puke in his car. He may be rough around the edges, but he definitely comes through as a romantic in the end.
My best friend called me at midnight last night, despite my text message that I would call him in the morning because I had to get up early. However, it was an emergency. Apparently, THE KID FROM ABOUT A BOY IS NOW GROWN UP AND HOT AND ROMANCING COLIN FIRTH IN THE FILM A SINGLE MAN.
I can still remember his boyish voice hitting those sweet notes in "Killing Me Softly" with Hugh Grant. Now, well, he's just hitting Colin Firth.
Many films and television shows have been filmed in Vermont, from Me, Myself, and Irene to The Cider House Rules. However, last weekend when I was travelling through New England on a mini-break (through Vermont), I couldn't help but have one film on my mind: 1994's Time Chasers.
One of my favorite televisions shows "Mystery Science Theatre 3000" once lampooned this film in one of their episodes. I knew Time Chasers took place in Vermont by their witty one-liners ("Vermont: City on-the-go!"). And actually, despite the film's impediments, the cinematography of Vermont in the movie is quite pleasing to the eye. Because of this film, I have always wanted to go to Vermont (the film Baby Boom is another feather in the state's cap).
But one has to wonder of all the films depicting the beauty of Vermont, why did I choose this one to think about? There are plenty of films with more substance and accolades, and I chose one that was featured on a show that makes fun of movies of its kind.
Perhaps, such B movies do have an effect on audiences, after all. "MST3K" might be where bad movies go to die, but really they are getting second life. I rewatch Time Chasers all of the time on one of my VHS tapes -- more times than I've ever sat down and watched What Lies Beneath (which I also own and which was filmed in Vermont).
Rarely do I watch a movie and then read the book it was based from and am blown away by both pieces. However, Richard Yates' Revolutionary Road was the exception.
I watched the film version with Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio last Christmas and couldn't get it out of my head for days. Then, inspired by the film, I decided to read the novel it came from. The novel, in fact, is probably better than the movie -- even though the film is amazing. Never before had I ever read something where every word was important. Usually, you can tell when an author has to fill a quota of so many pages. Yet, Yates' was so incredibly skillful with making each word count in Revolutionary Road (probably the best book I've ever read in fact).
I decided to read Yates' other highly acclaimed book The Easter Parade and was impressed with this achievement as well. I had one of those great late night book reads where you can't wait to see how it ends. The novel tells the tale of two sisters Emily and Sarah (although the focus is on Emily) and the way their lives turn out over the course of four decades. It's probably even more depressing than Revolutionary Road, but I think there is just as much to analyze (especially in the context of Women's Lib).
I did some research and discovered that producer Caroline Kaplan has acquired the rights for the book and a movie is in the works. The funny thing is I kinda pictured Kate Winslet in the role of Sarah. Maybe she should do another Yates book to movie.
