Liz and I just saw Juno. We did something a little different and recorded our review. Hope you enjoy.
Archive for the 'Romance' Category
If you liked Pieces of April or About a Boy, you’ll probably love this movie because it was written and directed by Peter Hedges. Dan in Real Life, is about a widower who write a daily column in the local newspaper about parenting, family and life in general. It’s that time of year again when the whole family gets together and Dan accidentally falls in love with his little brother’s new girlfriend.
First off, if you’re any kind of fan of Steve Carell (Anchorman, 40 Year Old Virgin, Little Miss Sunshine, The Office) I think you’ll like this. Lots of comedy. Lots of laughter. Lots of Steve Carell. Another welcomed face would be Juliette Binoche (Chocolat) who plays the girlfriend and even Dane Cook who plays Mitch, the younger brother. I’m a big fan of Dane Cook and his stand-up comedy. I even liked him as The Waffler in Mystery Men and nearly laughed myself to tears seeing him as a line cook in Waiting…, however, he just played Dane Cook in those movies. It was nice to see him branch out a bit and actually act.
One thing Liz and I noticed was Dan didn’t really discipline his kids. Throughout the movie he did things they didn’t like - the oldest wasn’t allowed to drive and the middle child wasn’t allowed to do what she wanted with her boyfriend. In response, the children weren’t very respectful of their father. If I had acted that way towards my mother at that age, I would probably be walking with a limp now; especially if I had done that in front of my grandfather. This kind of seems like a trend in society and movies. Parents are often busy trying to be their kids’ friend instead of being the parent.
Overall, we really enjoyed this one. It has a happy ending and is sure to entertain. You should check it out. I know you’ll love the impromptu song about pig-faced Ruthie Draper.
Starring Will Smith, Eva Mendes and Kevin James, this is a movie I remember hearing college students, where I work, talk unceasingly about back in ‘05, along with The Notebook - which I still haven’t seen. I didn’t really know what all the hub-bub was about and after two years it finally found its way to slot #1 on my Netflix list.
This is a movie partly about a man hiring a dating coach to help instill confidence in himself while pursuing the woman of his dreams. The other half is the dating coach also pursuing the woman of his dreams. If you know much about the actors listed above, I’m sure you’ve already guessed that Will Smith is the suave and sophisticated dating coach while Kevin James is the somewhat nerdy and uncoordinated client. James’ character, Albert, is after a woman he used to work for and Smith’s character, Hitch, is after Sara, a woman he met in a bar. Throughout the movie we watch Hitch give Albert tips and lessons on how he should conduct himself in public and around his date. We also see Hitch putting his own advice into action while Sara is after this mystery man that supposedly helped to ruin her best friend’s life.
That man turns out to be Hitch, or so Sara thinks. She eventually exposes him in her gossip column, ruining Hitch’s career and the relationships his clients have made or are in the process of forming. Things turn out in the end though - this is a PG-13 feel good, happy, dating movie after all. The last 20 minutes are so do get pretty cheesy for me, but overall I enjoyed myself while watching this.
Once Once Once. That’s all I was hearing when this film first hit the theaters. Everybody that saw it was just gushing love for this movie. Usually that kinda turns me off to something. If EVERYBODY just loves it I kinda assume there must be something not quite right with it. I guess another reason was because none of my friends whose movie opinions I unquestioningly trust, there’s about 3 in the whole world, had seen it.
This was another film Liz and I caught while in L.A. and I now know what people were gushing about. This film is pretty awesome. Nobody even has names. This is something that didn’t even dawn on me until afterwards. I have heard one complaint - this movie is made up of musicians trying too hard to be actors. I kinda see that, but I still like the movie anyways. Music/soundtrack is also available on EMusic if you’re into that sort of thing.
So story - yes, it’s about musicians. More than that though it’s about people finding each other, making friends and connecting with each other on deeper levels. It’s about poetry, life, love found and love lost. It’s about a lot of things.
I can see a lot of people not understanding this film and not finding any redeeming value because this is nowhere near blockbuster material. The people, situations, dialog and pace aren’t the contrived, fast action, anti-ADD sort of stuff that makes millions of dollars in its opening weekend.
One interesting story I heard was while filming the scene where the guy tries to steal the guitar case, nobody on the street was informed. So in one of the first takes, a good pedestrian sees the theft happen, gives the thief a first-rate shot to the nuts and retrieves the guitar case for the main character. That’s what you get for trying to invoke honest responses I guess.
I finally saw the long awaited and hoped-for Superbad and have to say that I was in no way dissapointed. I think this is by far, the dirtiest teen-genre movie I’ve seen and it wasn’t full of naked co-eds going at it like rabbits. In fact, the only nudity is at the very beginning of a movie when we see a magazine cover. One side note is that when Liz and I saw this, a guy walked in with his 3 or so very young children. We were pretty worried about them being in there, but he got up and ushered his youngtsers out before they were even out of the convenient store (couple minutes in). That made us quite relieved. He must not have realized what the movie was.
As I’ve said before, Judd Apatow is amazing. He didn’t direct this, but he did produce the film along with co-writer and star Seth Rogen and co-writer Evan Goldberg. Like most “cool” Hollywood people, Apatow and Rogen brought in tons of their friends from previous shows and movies. That’s one thing I’ve really enjoyed about Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up - I get to see all my favorite actors and actresses again. One of my favorites was seeing Steve Bannos as the math teacher. He was also the math teacher in Freaks and Geeks. Then there are also the new people brought in like Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Michael Cera, an upcoming comic genius to be reckoned with.
Story - this is probably the best high school portrayal I’ve seen in a long time. This is even better than Fast Times at Ridgemont High or Dazed and Confused. Elephant is another amazing high-school movie, but it’s in a totally different league. One thing I love so much about things Rogen and Apatow are involved in is just the dialog. It’s so real. Yeah it can be rough around the edges and a little “dirty” at times, but it’s how I remember high school. Just the way people act, think and look is so amazingly perfect. I’m continually wowed.
The basic gist of the story is you have three fairly average senior high school students. One of them has just acquired a fake ID with the name ‘McLovin’ and the three friends have promised to buy booze for a popular girl’s party. This sounds pretty average. In fact it sounds way too average. What happens in between the promise and fulfilling it is what makes this a masterpiece. Store robberies, mistaken identities, crazy adult-parties, bar fights and a pair of buddy-cops that could give Hot Fuzz a run for its money and turn this into one of the best movies of the summer.
I know I can’t recommend this to a lot of people just because of the content. They’ll turn it off or walk out just like that responsible father did within the first few minutes or scenes. Even though this movie is pretty dirty, it’s still going in my top three movies of the year. The hard part will be decided which I like the best.
Now here’s a movie that left me pleasantly surprised. I was a little intrigued by the previews. I occasionally like to cook things and all the unique pies sounded interesting. There was also the fact that Nathan Fillion (Firefly and Serenity) was starring in it AND this was Adrienne Shelly’s last movie.
I usually try to avoid the PG-13 movies because I get annoyed with the crowd. Tara knows what I’m talking about here - all those pre-pubescent teens. Luckily the theater wasn’t full of them this time around.
So Jenna, played by Keri Russell, is pregnant and married to the biggest jerk in the world, Jeremy Sisto. Jenna likes to make pies and starts going to her new doctor who is played by Fillion. Jenna falls in love with her doctor because he’s the only man that has noticed her, and isn’t a jerk, in quite some time. What’s she going to do? How can she get rid of Earl, her husband?
Don’t worry, it doesn’t turn into a murder mystery or get cheesy. Things work out in the end. One of the best parts is when Old Joe, the owner of the diner where she works, tells Earl a thing or two. Everything seems to work out for the best in the end. Definitely a feel good movie. Not quite as feel-good as Amelie, but something to put a smile on your face and worth watching every so often.
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