but he stammers so beautifully...

It's very rare that I find a buddy who enjoys the same obscure movies that I do and gets excited for awards season. I met my soul mate in Collin three years ago, but this year, I found a female counterpart and I'm really excited. My fellow intern, Sonia, and I have really hit it off in the last few months and before she left to go visit her family for the holidays, we decided we needed to see The King's Speech together. Now three of my favorite actors are in it, the sexy Colin Firth, the dynamic Helena Bonham Carter, and the bastard Geoffrey Rush (don't get me wrong, I love him, but we have a sordid history). This movie has been getting tons of Oscar buzz and of course I needed to see what the hype was all about.
The synopsis on the web basically said that King George VI had a speech impediment and required the help of a therapist. Boo. The movie is so much more than that. Honestly, if I had to think of one word to describe the film, it would be "Bromance". It's an awkward love story in which two mean from very different backgrounds become life-long friends. Before King George VI was king, he was Albert, Duke of York, who lived a happy life with his wife and two daughters and his bloody stammer. Incapable of having a fluent conversation without the interruption of his stammer, Albert's wife (played by Bonham Carter) employs Lionel Logue, speech therapist, as a last resort. Logue implements unconventional methods in an attempt to lessen Albert's stammer. Even though their relationship starts off rocky, the two dissimilar men form an attachment with each other. Their relationship is more akin to brothers than employer/employee. When Albert finally ascends to the throne unexpectedly, Logue is there to coach him with every speech.
    Colin Firth is incredibly impressive with his interpretation of an important man suffering from such an embarrassing sickness. He stammers and stutters so beautifully, that it's impossible that he won't receive recognition from the Academy. Bonham Carter has delightful quips and a certain unapologetic elegance in her role, that she makes you smile every time she's on the screen. Honestly my favorite character is Lionel Logue played by Geoffrey Rush. Rush says every line unexpectedly and deposits humor in scenes that you wouldn't traditionally think were funny. Every line is refreshing.
      The movie is such fun, which you wouldn't be able to tell by the crappy trailers and even worst promotional artwork (WTF was that?). The King's Speech is a good time, even if you have to listen to the lines super carefully.

i'll stick to my own definitions...

Of course this post is long overdue. I've been dying to see this movie since the trailer was released online. Do you remember seeing it in the previews for Inception? The chills that I got were so intense. (I'm also getting chills for the Harry Potter finales, but let's wait till November for that). There were no actual plot devices shown but rather images of facebook icons and profile pictures that we regard as so mundane because it's so engrained into our every day lives. But when it's presented to you on a huge screen, you start to realize the sheer magnitude of influence that Mark Zuckerberg's creation has on our existences.
         When I finally saw The Social Network, I went in with the notion that this movie would not only change my life, but define my generation. Isn't that the refrain we've been hearing from the critics? The Social Network will be our The Breakfast Club. As I cozied into my huge seat (of course dominating all the surrounding seats as well) I prepared myself to see my life flash before my eyes. Unfortunately, it didn't.  It's not that The Social Network isn't a good film, it's just not about "us" as a whole. Where The Breakfast Club had a character for each social class to identify with, The Social Network is partitioned with the "have" and "have-nots". If you're not rich then you're not cool? That seems a little prehistoric and maybe it is, especially when the setting of the film is at one of the oldest universities in America. The basic plot of the film is that after being dumped by his girlfriend for being an asshole, Mark Zuckerberg gets the idea for the facebook while drunk and seeking fame on his college campus. Along the way he gets help from his best friend Eduardo Saverin (played by the uuber adorable Andrew Garfield. sigh) and begins to build an empire. In true rags to riches fashion, the acquire groupies (Brenda Song being amazing) and enemies, the Winklevoss twins (played by the singular but sexy Armie Hammer) and turns from a regular asshole to a powerful jerk.
       The story culminates with the several lawsuits that Zuckerberg faced and the basic understanding that regardless of what ludicrous amount of money he pays to his enemies, he has created not only an empire, but a lifestyle change. As Sean Parker says in the movie, Zuckerberg has created "a once in a generation idea". Regardless of how universal facebook is (they don't have roads in Bosnia but they have facebook) the characters don't define this particular generation. Of course everyone wants to be known for something and not an outcast, but is this a generational notion or rather one shared by everyone regardless of race, creed and age. When I think of our generation, I think of hipsters and posers. I think of us as the generation that thinks outside the box. We aren't bogged down by the notion that there's only one right way. We want to make it on our own by our own standards. Whether this is a good thing or not, I don't know.
    Now I don't want to seem that I'm coming down on the movie. I had a good time. Whether it's Oscar-worthy I don't know. I think both Jesse Eisenberg and Armie Hammer's performances definitely deserve a campaign. The screenplay is phenomenal, with lines that had to be written. But I'm going to save my vote for a film that actual define more than a generation...it defines me.

...who's car we taking?

I could have sworn I wrote a post about this movie a while ago, but of course I was wrong. So I saw The Town two weeks and it was much better than I anticipated. I genuinely liked this movie. I didn't have low expectations but it was beautifully filmed and it had a good balance of action and heart. It's the story of Dougie Macray who live is Charlestown, Boston , the bank robbing capitol of America apparently. He and his three buddies, including a surprisingly terrifying Jeremy Renner, plan efficient bank and armored truck heists and basically run their neighborhood. The opening scene of the film involves a robbery that seems to go wrong and they are forced to take the bank manager as a hostage. They leave the manager, Rebecca Hall, alive but they find out that she lives in the same neighborhood as one of the robbers. Dougie attempts to find out how much she knows about them and in the process, of course, he falls in love with her. In Dougie's effort to leave behind his old life, he is faced with a conflict of interests between his past and where he wants his future to go. The film has cameos from a cracked out Blake Lively and a sexy John Hamm. The sad thing about the movie is that it has the potential to be phenomenal. Yes this a story that's been told before and will continue to be told (A young man trying to reform his life but is constantly being tugged back into his old ways) but there are different aspects of that story that could be told. I think the relationship between the bank manager and Dougie could have been more complex as opposed to making Rebecca Hall's character this angel that represents Dougie's only chance for a new life. I also think that Jeremy Renner was doing such interesting things with his badass, no respect for anyone character, that I would have been interested in seeing how he deals with people outside of his family. All in all, I think this was a fun movie and the car chase is really exciting and had my heart racing a little bit.

never let me go...

I've been so MIA because of the shift from my party sleep party mentality of the summer that has no transitioned into party work internship gym party. I haven't quite figured out how to fit in blogging, sleeping and eating, but I'm sure I'll get there. However I have managed to see some films. I love this time of year when quality films are racing to get to the theater in order to be eligible for the Oscar race. One such film is Never Let Me Go based on the book of the same title. It's about three young people, in a world similar to ours, who were raised to donate their internal organs. In their short lives they deal with the same struggles that each of us face and our trying to make sense of their situation. I must admit that my initial draw to the film were both Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield, whom I believe are really talented actors and their performance in this film proved that I was correct. The film doesn't center around the ethical implications of whether one life is of greater value than the next, but rather how much time is enough to live? Is there any point at which we realize that we've gone as far as we'd like to go. It seems to me that regardless if you live one hundred years or only twenty, you still have that moment of recognition of how you want to leave this earth.
I also want to add the song from which the film gets its name was a perfect choice and the scenes in which the song came  into play were definitely my favorite. Sometime music can carry a film.
In all honesty I think this film and the performance are going to be overlooked come award season. After viewing the film, I had a sense of incompleteness. Maybe death isn't always the end.

we've waited so long for this...

Of course I saw Inception on opening day but I thought I would wait about a week before posting it on my blog to allow you snails to get to your theaters. By now you've either seen it or heard all the major hype. In terms of the hype, I think Inception seriously deserves it. Critics are harsh in saying that this film was incredibly overhyped, but what they are failing to realize is that it delivers in every way that it intended. The cinematic community has been ravaged by films that appear to be promising and then are epic failures (ahem The Last Airbender). Christopher Nolan has delivered a film that is the definition of what a summer blockbuster should be. It's intriguing, mind-bending, thought-provoking and has enough action to make you jump out of your seat (which I did because of the intense volume at the Union Square theater). I'm not one for hype. I don't think you should see a movie because it's been hyped all over the place (I'm talking about Avatar, James Cameron) but this is one of those films that makes your $13 proud. From the double meaning names (the architect's name is Ariadne) to making you question every dream you've ever had, this film has you thinking about it for days to come. The eye-candy composed of Marion Cottillard, Leonardo Dicaprio, Tom Hardy (yes please!), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (seconds, please!) and Michael Caine (yeah I said it) are strengthened due to their formidable acting within the film.  The emotional core is beautifully presented and Nolan does a great job at giving us just enough detail that we can follow what's going on but doesn't bombard us with how the contraption works and the physics behind everything. Whether you believe in one of the thrity Inception theories out there is irrelevant. Just go see it. I'm not going to spoil all the fun for you here.




And just for fun..my nemesis Dora the Explorer has seen inception too.

i just need to vent....

I am so upset. You really can't understand my ire. I feel like I've been bamboozled and slapped in the face. I watched The Last Airbender during a midnight screening for which I paid $20 for a ticket and stood in line for a half hour. All of that effort just saw M. Night Shyamalan could mind fuck me. I love the cartoon series Avatar. It has that perfect balance of child sensibility with important life lessons. It's not preaching and it's not trying to be something it isn't. Something so perfect was completely ruined by one of the most prominent American directors. First of all let's talk about how the film wasn't even in 3D. The action sequences weren't in 3D. Nothing! Nothing at all! Why would you advertise a film as such if you weren't going to deliver. Next up the racial divide. Why would all the Fire Nation (the bad guys of the saga) be of Middle Eastern/Indian descent? Where did that creative license stem from? I get it you didn't want to use all Asian actors but this would be the perfect opportunity to make all the nations very diverse and show how Utopian the Avatar world was prior to the Invasion. No you decided to make it even more racially awkward, especially with the three heroes all being white. Way to go! The third problem (and possible the most annoying) was that M. Night changed the pronunciation of the character names. Aang became Ahng, Iro became Iroh, and Sokka became Soca. I don't care if those are the proper pronunciations, the basis of this film is that these are characters we've come to love. Don't fuck around and change everything about them. Do you not understand how a franchise works? Also the notion of how bending works is skewed. In the cartoon, the fire nation didn't need fire to be present in order to bend. That's what separated them from the other benders. If you want to get really technical, in order to create fire all you need is air, something to burn and an ignitor. Suck on that! I want a refund of my money and my time. I went in with high hopes only to have them shattered. I pray they don't make another one because I can't stomach that kind of abuse. I usually don't dismiss movies completely but in this instance, I totally think I'm saving all of you from a heartbreaking waste of money. Even the NY Times agrees

...what happens now?

Last night, I had the pleasure of seeing Tiny Furniture, a film about the post-graduation abyss that we all suffer through. I had met the writer/actor/director Lena Dunham earlier this year at a women in filmaking conference and after hearing that her film won the best narrative feature award at SXSW, I knew I had to watch it during it's New York Premiere. I'm glad that I did. It's a charming tale about a post-grad, Aura, who returns home to NYC to live with her uuber-successful artist mother and her talented younger sister. She has a useless degree in film theory and is struggling to figure out what her next step is. While in the process of "handling it", she is reunited with her past and wondering whether college really made her into a different person. Her love life sucks after being dumped by her feminist boyfriend who decided that living on a farm is more exciting than moving in with his girlfriend. Her other love prospects include a deadbeat youtube artist who "is really famous on the internet" and a sous-chef who is in desperate need for a xanax. The film is witty and has a charming sense of humour that is ensures that you aren't laughing with the characters; you're laughing at them. Awkward situations reign supreme including a sex scene that takes place in a metal tube. My favorite character was Aura's childhood best friend Charlotte (played by Jemima Kirke) who is very posh with a faux-british accent and is longing for the innate connection that Aura shares with her family. The film is very intimate and features both pants-less scenes and stars her real-life mother and sister playing her family. I enjoyed and I recently discovered that IFC will be distributing the film. Congrats.

Saying nothing sometimes says the most

In Stephane Brize's eloquent tale, Mademoiselle Chambon, he tackles the unexplainable attraction between two people of different worlds. The protagonist of our cinematic journey, Jean, is married and has a son whom he loves dearly. He leads a very simple life as a mason and is a doting husband, father and son. He visits his father weekly to sit with him and wash the old man's feet. He does not come from a luxurious, academic background which is made clear by the opening scene, where Jean and his wife struggle to help their son deduce what the direct object of a simple sentence is. Yet there is no obvious indication that Jean is unhappy or that he has cause to be; Until he meets Mademoiselle Chambon, his son's grammar teacher. She seems to awaken a longing in him that he was previously unaware of. However, Mademoisellle Chambon does not provoke this relationship. It is as if they are being pulled together by an invisible magnet. Their attraction is beyond their control. But does that make it right? The film casts no judgement. Instead it simply poses the question of whether it is right to deny the heart's desires? Brizet has accomplished creating an intense feeling of intimacy without much dialogue. The film has very little talking and the communication is primarily accomplished through the use of music, specifically Mademoiselle Chambon's intoxicating violin playing. The main characters express themselves through longing looks and unfinished sentences that suggest they don't understand their actions either. The actors were incredibly poignant in their potrayals and rather than making it a tale about an adulterous husband, they've accepted their longings and are searching for a way to deal with them. Their truth lies in their silence.


*the title of the post is a quote by Emily Dickinson.

with words of love....

On Mother's Day this year I took my mother to see Letters to Juliet. My mom's a tricky minx. She only watches romance movies and she's very specific about them. She desires sweeping epics and grand gestures that culminate into the romantic equivalent of a sonic boom. Her favorite movies are The Notebook (not surprising) and the Sissi L'Imperatrice anthology. She's read all of Nicholas Sparks' novels with a critical eye and when I took her to see Dear John, she was outraged at the mediocre ending. However she genuinely liked Letters to Juliet, which ultimately meant that while she was swooning, I was gagging in my seat. Now that doesn't mean it's a tragically bad movie. It has everything you expect from the genre. Amanda Seyfried, in her doe-eyed girly perfection, portrays the role of Sophie, an aspiring writer who finds inspiration for a story while on a pre-wedding vacation with her fiance. While in the city of Verona, she encounters a group of women who refer to themselves as the Secretaries of Juliet, because they respond to the thousands of letters women write in romantic desperation to Ms. Capulet in search of advice. Sophie answers one of these letters that causes Claire (Vanessa Redgrave) to return to a fifty-year old journey for love. Of course on the way Claire finds her lover and Sophie begins to fall for Claire's grandson. The plot is predictable and the dialogue is superficial. The saving grace of the film is the supporting cast. Regardless of the film's lack of real interest in Claire's character, Ms. Redgrave proves that she's a true actor and makes her simple moments on screen enjoyable and poignant. Gael Garcia Bernal, who plays Sophie's chef fiance, is so much fun to watch and I found myself actually rooting for him. Maybe I just hate other people's happiness. I don't think this film possess the same passion that The Notebook exudes but if you're looking for a simple film to make you simply remember love, than maybe writing to Juliet wouldn't be the worst thing.



The actor that play Claire's long lost love, Franco Nero, is Vanessa Redgrave's actual husband. Now that's romantic.

if you could make God bleed...

So last night I saw Iron Man 2 with my partner in crime (Imah). I must say that I was surprised. After reading some craptastic reviews, I went in with low expectations. Was it as good as the original? No. Was it the worst way to spend 13 bucks? No, I've done way worst (But let's not get into my extracurricular activities). I will say it's definitely the type of movie that needs to be seen at the theaters and, preferably, with a crowd that loves the comic book genre. There are a ton of laughs, as expected from the witty, crass Tony Stark (played perfectly by uuber hot Robert Downey Jr). There are intense fight scenes that take up at least three-quarters of the film. There's also a lot of unexpected dancing, by both RDJ and Sam Rockwell, who in my opinion stole the film. Mickey Rourke, who partied it up with me and Imah a few weeks ago, was the weirdest Russian I ever did meet. Word to all actors, if you can't perform an accent, just mumble your words. Apparently that's the method Rourke was going for. Every time he attempted to speak, I had to ask Imah, who obviously has relations to the Russian mafia, what the hell he was saying. In the film's opening scene, he's in Siberia, mourning his dead father, with the scariest hybrid of a cackle and a cry. Uh, frightening! However, even though I enjoyed myself, there were some flaws. The female characters were simply used to provide some estrogen to the screen and didn't really add much to storyline. The film also failed to develop Tony Stark past his Iron Man costume. Sure they delve into his dead dad a little but Stark has no real genuine connection with anyone and it makes his actions a little too self-indulgent. Maybe he's simply a man in an iron mask.

and the post's title is a reference to a line in the movie.

Postscript: make sure you stay till after the credits for a fun treat!

so maybe my fantasy can be a reality...

I'm obsessed with superheroes. I love them. I have seen every episode of Batman and Superman the animated series. I get down with The Justice League. I'm also that loser who will wake up at 3:30am every morning to catch a vintage episode of X-men the animated series (I am a huge Jean Grey fan). I bought my tickets for The Dark Knight a month in advance and stood in line on opening day for two hours just to ensure I'd get good seats. My dedication is serious! Even though sometimes I think I would make a better villain than superhero (Rule number one: Don't explain your master plan to the superhero before he/she dies. C'mon, they're not dead yet and can still defeat you. Duh!), I think I have the heart of a crime fighter. That's why I was so eager to see Kick Ass last night. Based on the comic of the same name, it stars an average teen, fighting crime with no real superpowers, who soon influences others to do the same. But let me warn you, this isn't a child-friendly movie. It's more on par with Sin City than Spiderman. There are references to masturbation, sex, and boobs. I think the most terrifying part is child actor, Chloe Moretz. I have a strong dislike for kids that seem to be grownups. I call it the Jodie Foster effect. If you weren't scared of Jodie Foster when she was a child, something is faulty with you. Ms. Moretz definitely has this affliction, but in all honesty, she makes the movie. She's gonna be a huge star. If children aren't your thing, the film also has Christopher Mintz-Plasse of McLovin fame, Nicolas Cage, Clark Duke (of the webseries Clark and Michael ) and hottie Aaron Johnson. He might not be your cup of tea but gangly brunette with glasses fits my bill perfectly.                                                                                                                                       

I told you he was hot.







Check out the full length trailer.

it's not my fault, i was forced to read them...

I have a confession to make. I love the Twilight series. Don't get me wrong. I know that the writing is horrible, there are grammatical errors, and it's basically a cheap romance novel. But I think that's what I love about it. Stephenie Meyers has created characters that are overly dramatic and have the same intensity as telenovelas. Do I really care about Bella? Not really. Do I really care if she chooses Jacob or Edward? No, they're both hot. I think it's the fantasy of having two of the most perfect men fighting for your attention. That's why I'm super excited that my favorite book in the series, Eclipse, is coming to theaters soon, under the direction of David Slade (who also directed Hard Candy, a must see in my opinion). Eclipse finally brings about the tension surrounding the threesome of main characters. Whatever team you're on, it doesn't matter.  Take a look at the official trailer and tell me there isn't enough eye candy for you to surround yourself with some fellow twi-hards.

wanna be a man? learn to train your dragon!

That's basically the premise of the new Dreamworks film, How to Train Your Dragon. It features the recognizable voices of Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, Jay Baruchel, and Jonah Hill. The film's plot centers around a young male viking, who basically sucks at being a viking. By sheer luck, he develops a relationship with the wildest dragon around, and learns that dragons aren't really that bad. Aww. Sure they breathe fire and destroy homes, but besides that, they love to share their half-eaten fish with you. Within the first fourteen minutes of the movie, I knew exactly where it was headed and I began to lose interest. Sure there were a couple of jokes and reference made for the stroller-nazi moms in the crowd, but it was too predictable for my taste. But then I got to think of my favorite childhood movies and realized most of them were predictable too. When you're a kid, you don't know how the story is going to end because you haven't read enough books, or seen enough movies to know the formula. At that point, I began to see the film with new eyes (and not just my 3D ones, which by the way freak me out) and enjoyed every little nook and cranny of this dragon "tail". If you don't mind an easy plot and love Scottish accents (YUM) then taming your dragon is what you should do.