Thursday, October 26, 2006
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Thursday, September 07, 2006
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Half-Nelson
I had kept reading things about Ryan Gosling's acting for this movie, so naturally I was a bit skeptical going into this free screening. Ok the skepticism came not just from having read about his acting but because a friend of mine would watch him on the syndicated tv show "young hercules" years ago and would not shut up about how hot she thought he was. And then he did "The Notebook" which didn't help - so all in all, not the most auspious beginning for a "Serious Actor."
But then I remembered his performance in "The United State of Leland" and seeing him in "Half-Nelson" made me question my previous skepticism. "Half-Nelson" is not big on major story or plot, instead it is a quiet character study of one drug addicted man teaching at an inner-city (a term which I always translated into meaning 'ghetto' kids) school and the unlikely friendship he develops with one of his students.
The actress who plays the student Drey, Shareeka Epps blew me away with her ability to show the complexity of what it is like to grow up in a world where there are no heroes, no one to rely on and practically no hope of escaping the many trappings of poverty. Drey has a brother in prison, a mother who can barely be home because of work and no father to speak of. There is a local dealer, Frank whose relationship to Drey and her brother is never clearly explained (is he related to them? or is Frank just feeling obligated because Drey's brother hasn't ratted him out to the police yet?) but the clear struggle Drey has in trying to navigate between her drug-addicted teacher and Frank is heart-wrenching.
Unfortunately, most of the kids in Drey's situation aren't this thoughtful or as obviously emotionally complex. Anyone who has met a group of these kids know that they learn early on to never display such raw honesty - the kids tend to be loud, crass and obnoxious, showing little manners or ability to think beyond their immediate wants and needs. I've seen kids as young as 6 or 7 with behaviour so throughly heinous that its no wonder society has given up on them. The ironic thing is that these kids are very much like many of the vacuous, superficial kids that come out of the suburbs, with the difference being money and access to good education systems. The suburban kids are completely spoiled and can be just as loud, crass and obnoxious as any 'ghetto' kid, they just choose to be that way in places that require money instead of on public transportation.
Thinking back, part of that duality between the suburban life and the 'ghetto' life is shown in the movie through Ryan Gosling's character Dan Dunne, and Shareeka Epps' character, Drey. Dan, despite being a product of a "stable" home with education and money, still acts like a jerk, with Drey, trying to survive her loud, crass and obnoxious environment.
"Half-Nelson" is definitely an interesting film and the acting between Shareeka Epps and Ryan Gosling is not to be missed. See this is you enjoy watching complex characters try and exist in a complex world.
But then I remembered his performance in "The United State of Leland" and seeing him in "Half-Nelson" made me question my previous skepticism. "Half-Nelson" is not big on major story or plot, instead it is a quiet character study of one drug addicted man teaching at an inner-city (a term which I always translated into meaning 'ghetto' kids) school and the unlikely friendship he develops with one of his students.
The actress who plays the student Drey, Shareeka Epps blew me away with her ability to show the complexity of what it is like to grow up in a world where there are no heroes, no one to rely on and practically no hope of escaping the many trappings of poverty. Drey has a brother in prison, a mother who can barely be home because of work and no father to speak of. There is a local dealer, Frank whose relationship to Drey and her brother is never clearly explained (is he related to them? or is Frank just feeling obligated because Drey's brother hasn't ratted him out to the police yet?) but the clear struggle Drey has in trying to navigate between her drug-addicted teacher and Frank is heart-wrenching.
Unfortunately, most of the kids in Drey's situation aren't this thoughtful or as obviously emotionally complex. Anyone who has met a group of these kids know that they learn early on to never display such raw honesty - the kids tend to be loud, crass and obnoxious, showing little manners or ability to think beyond their immediate wants and needs. I've seen kids as young as 6 or 7 with behaviour so throughly heinous that its no wonder society has given up on them. The ironic thing is that these kids are very much like many of the vacuous, superficial kids that come out of the suburbs, with the difference being money and access to good education systems. The suburban kids are completely spoiled and can be just as loud, crass and obnoxious as any 'ghetto' kid, they just choose to be that way in places that require money instead of on public transportation.
Thinking back, part of that duality between the suburban life and the 'ghetto' life is shown in the movie through Ryan Gosling's character Dan Dunne, and Shareeka Epps' character, Drey. Dan, despite being a product of a "stable" home with education and money, still acts like a jerk, with Drey, trying to survive her loud, crass and obnoxious environment.
"Half-Nelson" is definitely an interesting film and the acting between Shareeka Epps and Ryan Gosling is not to be missed. See this is you enjoy watching complex characters try and exist in a complex world.
Friday, August 18, 2006
Monday, August 14, 2006
Trust the Man
The movie has some funny moments and one-liners, but afterwards you feel cheated because the exploration of the characters and the relationships that they are involved in - romantic and platonic - end up being nothing more than cliches with predictable endings.
The married couple is Tom (played by David Duchovny), the stay-at-home husband of actress Rebecca (Julianne Moore). Tom begins cheating on Rebecca with a woman whose children attend the same school as his own children. At first the justification seems to be that Tom just wants sex and does not seem to be getting it as frequently or as "creatively" as he used to with Rebecca. The eventual truth that he is frustrated as a stay-at-home dad that is using sex and his affair as a way of expressing his feelings of emasculation and uselessness is sadly obvious from the beginning, without the deeper explorations of guilt and denial that might have helped add more depth to the character of Tom. The fact that the movie is written and directed by Julianne Moore's husband, Bart Freundlich, made me wonder after the movie whether it was even remotely autobiographical or not...for Julianne Moore's sake, I hope not!
The othere couple is Rebecca's brother, Tobey (Billy Crudup) and his girlfriend of seven (!) years, Elaine (Maggie Gyllenhaal), who are obviously there as a compare-and-contrast couple as well as providing same-gender friends for when the predictable complications arise. Elaine is an aspiring children's book author who admits to Rebecca early on in the movie that she wants to be married and have kids. This naturally leads to the confrontation with Tobey because he does not want children. Maggie Gyllenhaal, whom I have adored since seeing her in Secretary, gives the character of Elaine as much complexity as she is able, but with the restrictions of predictability, the complexity manages to manifest in dialogue such as the lines spoken in the arguement during the dinner party scene. Tobey is attempting to try and win Elaine back after she has dumped him, with the arguement behind closed doors naturally being heard by everyone, including the new boyfriend. Tobey mocks the new boyfriend by calling him a "sprocket," to which Elaine counters that he may be a sprocket but he is one with a huge c*ck (this pronouncement elicits a silent Tom to raise his glass in deference to the "Sprocket"). Billly Crudup's Tobey comes off as a sterotypical quasi-slacker that is more interested in finding out about his therapist's personal life then he is in trying to deal with his own issues. The quirk that is supposed to project uniqueness, comes from the running joke that he is obsessed with the idea of dying. The inevitability of his death is his excuse for not marrying Elaine and when called on it, spends the rest of the movie working through the issue until he resolves it in a formulatic manner.
Don't get me wrong, I did laugh and enjoy myself while I watched the movie. But the movie never truly breaks new ground nor give a fresh take on the old ground, so forgetable in fact, that I had to resort to the official web site to remind me of a movie I had just finished viewing three hours ago....never a good sign. This is a movie that I'm glad I got a movie pass for because it definitely is not a movie you want to pay to see.
The married couple is Tom (played by David Duchovny), the stay-at-home husband of actress Rebecca (Julianne Moore). Tom begins cheating on Rebecca with a woman whose children attend the same school as his own children. At first the justification seems to be that Tom just wants sex and does not seem to be getting it as frequently or as "creatively" as he used to with Rebecca. The eventual truth that he is frustrated as a stay-at-home dad that is using sex and his affair as a way of expressing his feelings of emasculation and uselessness is sadly obvious from the beginning, without the deeper explorations of guilt and denial that might have helped add more depth to the character of Tom. The fact that the movie is written and directed by Julianne Moore's husband, Bart Freundlich, made me wonder after the movie whether it was even remotely autobiographical or not...for Julianne Moore's sake, I hope not!
The othere couple is Rebecca's brother, Tobey (Billy Crudup) and his girlfriend of seven (!) years, Elaine (Maggie Gyllenhaal), who are obviously there as a compare-and-contrast couple as well as providing same-gender friends for when the predictable complications arise. Elaine is an aspiring children's book author who admits to Rebecca early on in the movie that she wants to be married and have kids. This naturally leads to the confrontation with Tobey because he does not want children. Maggie Gyllenhaal, whom I have adored since seeing her in Secretary, gives the character of Elaine as much complexity as she is able, but with the restrictions of predictability, the complexity manages to manifest in dialogue such as the lines spoken in the arguement during the dinner party scene. Tobey is attempting to try and win Elaine back after she has dumped him, with the arguement behind closed doors naturally being heard by everyone, including the new boyfriend. Tobey mocks the new boyfriend by calling him a "sprocket," to which Elaine counters that he may be a sprocket but he is one with a huge c*ck (this pronouncement elicits a silent Tom to raise his glass in deference to the "Sprocket"). Billly Crudup's Tobey comes off as a sterotypical quasi-slacker that is more interested in finding out about his therapist's personal life then he is in trying to deal with his own issues. The quirk that is supposed to project uniqueness, comes from the running joke that he is obsessed with the idea of dying. The inevitability of his death is his excuse for not marrying Elaine and when called on it, spends the rest of the movie working through the issue until he resolves it in a formulatic manner.
Don't get me wrong, I did laugh and enjoy myself while I watched the movie. But the movie never truly breaks new ground nor give a fresh take on the old ground, so forgetable in fact, that I had to resort to the official web site to remind me of a movie I had just finished viewing three hours ago....never a good sign. This is a movie that I'm glad I got a movie pass for because it definitely is not a movie you want to pay to see.
Friday, August 04, 2006
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Little Miss Sunshine
Go see this movie!!!!! I could not stop laughing and am still quoting lines from the movie with my friend who went to see it with me. Hilarious tragi-comedy that helps you realize that there is no such thing as normal. =-)
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
The Devil Wears Prada vs. Superman Returns
http://www.devilwearspradamovie.com/
http://supermanreturns.warnerbros.com/ (for some reason Blogger was able to publish this post with both links in the "Link" box but now Blogger is giving error messages - so figure 8/8/2007)
Hate it when I have to choose between two movie screenings on the same night but Superman Returns was scheduled at 6:30 PM Chicago time.
Anyone whose done movie screenings before knows how these screenings work: you get to the movie theater waaaayyy beforehand to wait in line so that 1) you can be guaranteed you get IN to see the movie and 2) you get your choice of seating inside the actual theater.
Usually people start showing up around 1 or 2 hours before the screening depending on your schedule and how frequently you attend screenings. Because of work, there would have been no way I could get to the theater early enough to cover the above mentioned criterias.
But there are those who seem to be at every movie screening I go to and after having overheard their conversations, it's apparent that they have access to screenings for just about every movie that is released. They don't seem to be critics who are granted access for professional reasons yet talk about the screenings that they are either 1) planning on going to or 2) want to go to but haven't gotten their passes yet. They talk about it like they are guaranteed entry which not only invokes my jealousy but awe and wonderment as well.
How do they do it? Who do they know that they can get passes for screenings for the asking? And how in the world can I be one of them?
But I guess I do get a decent amount of free movie passes and I am considered the Queen of Movie Passes among my friends so I shouldn't complain, but it's hard not to want access to all the movies, especially since free passes seem to be the only way I get to see new release movies anymore.
Regardless, I ended up seeing "The Devil Wears Prada" and Meryl Streep is her usual amazing self, blowing you away with how flat-out of a b*tch her character is in the movie, with one-liners that I plan on using in the future. But for those of you who may have read the book, you might agree with me that the character Meryl Streep plays, Miranda Priestly, has actually been mellowed from the book version of the character. She actually acknowledges the presence of others occasionally and even displays emotion to Anne Hathaway's character, Andy - all things Miranda Priestly never did in the book. Since I had read the book first, I had hoped that they would have made the Miranda Priestly character more b*tchy and claws-out rude - have fun with the idea of a truly hideously horrible boss that made life, and the work environment, a living hell. But they didn't and I was disappointed.
By focusing on Anne Hathaway's character, Andy, I think alot of the wicked fun and sheer "this can't be my life" absurdity of how alot of jobs are dulls the movie a bit and less enjoyable than it could have been. Don't get me wrong - I love Anne Hathaway. She is stunningly beautiful and I know she can portray the everyday 'retard' aspects that is in all of us well, based on her performance in "The Princess Diaries" and "Ella Enchanted."
Now before you go turning your nose up because those are just 'girlie kiddie' movies, go see them first. It's hard to pull off a movie that has characters that are believable without being overly sickeningly sugary sweet or that you can empathize with in situations that would never ever happen in life. If it had only been in one movie I might have passed off the achievement more to the director and writers but she has done it twice with two different directors and writers, which leads me to conclude that Anne Hathaway's ability has as much to do with it as any director or script. But despite my belief in Anne Hathaway's acting ability, I ended up disliking her character when I watched the movie, probably because I was expecting her character to be more like it was in the book. Instead, Andy came off as bland and lifeless with a need-to-please attitude and the method by which the movie made her "discover" herself was trite; it was beneath the character of Andy and the abilities of Anne Hathaway.
Despite my feelings many reviews and articles have focused on the Miranda Priestly character and the fact that Meryl Streep has managed yet again to pull off great acting. The box office take also seems to attest to the fact that audiences seem to have liked the movie. Me? I say go for the quippy one-liners and the fashion (if you're a fashion person) but otherwise wait for the dvd and the comfort of your own home.
http://supermanreturns.warnerbros.com/ (for some reason Blogger was able to publish this post with both links in the "Link" box but now Blogger is giving error messages - so figure 8/8/2007)
Hate it when I have to choose between two movie screenings on the same night but Superman Returns was scheduled at 6:30 PM Chicago time.
Anyone whose done movie screenings before knows how these screenings work: you get to the movie theater waaaayyy beforehand to wait in line so that 1) you can be guaranteed you get IN to see the movie and 2) you get your choice of seating inside the actual theater.
Usually people start showing up around 1 or 2 hours before the screening depending on your schedule and how frequently you attend screenings. Because of work, there would have been no way I could get to the theater early enough to cover the above mentioned criterias.
But there are those who seem to be at every movie screening I go to and after having overheard their conversations, it's apparent that they have access to screenings for just about every movie that is released. They don't seem to be critics who are granted access for professional reasons yet talk about the screenings that they are either 1) planning on going to or 2) want to go to but haven't gotten their passes yet. They talk about it like they are guaranteed entry which not only invokes my jealousy but awe and wonderment as well.
How do they do it? Who do they know that they can get passes for screenings for the asking? And how in the world can I be one of them?
But I guess I do get a decent amount of free movie passes and I am considered the Queen of Movie Passes among my friends so I shouldn't complain, but it's hard not to want access to all the movies, especially since free passes seem to be the only way I get to see new release movies anymore.
Regardless, I ended up seeing "The Devil Wears Prada" and Meryl Streep is her usual amazing self, blowing you away with how flat-out of a b*tch her character is in the movie, with one-liners that I plan on using in the future. But for those of you who may have read the book, you might agree with me that the character Meryl Streep plays, Miranda Priestly, has actually been mellowed from the book version of the character. She actually acknowledges the presence of others occasionally and even displays emotion to Anne Hathaway's character, Andy - all things Miranda Priestly never did in the book. Since I had read the book first, I had hoped that they would have made the Miranda Priestly character more b*tchy and claws-out rude - have fun with the idea of a truly hideously horrible boss that made life, and the work environment, a living hell. But they didn't and I was disappointed.
By focusing on Anne Hathaway's character, Andy, I think alot of the wicked fun and sheer "this can't be my life" absurdity of how alot of jobs are dulls the movie a bit and less enjoyable than it could have been. Don't get me wrong - I love Anne Hathaway. She is stunningly beautiful and I know she can portray the everyday 'retard' aspects that is in all of us well, based on her performance in "The Princess Diaries" and "Ella Enchanted."
Now before you go turning your nose up because those are just 'girlie kiddie' movies, go see them first. It's hard to pull off a movie that has characters that are believable without being overly sickeningly sugary sweet or that you can empathize with in situations that would never ever happen in life. If it had only been in one movie I might have passed off the achievement more to the director and writers but she has done it twice with two different directors and writers, which leads me to conclude that Anne Hathaway's ability has as much to do with it as any director or script. But despite my belief in Anne Hathaway's acting ability, I ended up disliking her character when I watched the movie, probably because I was expecting her character to be more like it was in the book. Instead, Andy came off as bland and lifeless with a need-to-please attitude and the method by which the movie made her "discover" herself was trite; it was beneath the character of Andy and the abilities of Anne Hathaway.
Despite my feelings many reviews and articles have focused on the Miranda Priestly character and the fact that Meryl Streep has managed yet again to pull off great acting. The box office take also seems to attest to the fact that audiences seem to have liked the movie. Me? I say go for the quippy one-liners and the fashion (if you're a fashion person) but otherwise wait for the dvd and the comfort of your own home.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Friday, May 19, 2006
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Friday, April 07, 2006
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Thank You For Smoking
Defintely one to see! Great satrical commentary on current society's battle between ethical idealism and the compromises an individual makes on a daily basis to "pay the mortgage." Aaron Eckhart is brilliant as Nick Naylor and the moniker for the friends he gets together with on a weekly basis (MOD Squad (Merchants Of Death) ) had me laughing so hard I nearly cried! I coincidently just finished taking a class called Theories of Persusasion this past quarter, a nice ironic tie-in with the movie i thought =-) But I do recommend seeing this movie, very funny and entertaining =-)
Friday, January 20, 2006
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