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.

don't hold on too tight...you might fall

I've been really busy these past few months and I've been neglecting my friends and the cinema. Finally Collin decided that this could no longer go on and so he forced me to go see Black Swan, not that it took much encouragement. Once I saw the trailer months ago, I've been aching to go see it. Collin already saw it but was dying to see it a second time. That's enough of a review for me.
So we braved the cold and trekked to Union Square to enjoy a ballet psycho thriller (yeah, I know it's weird). Honestly it was so good. Natalie Portman really deserves all the accolades that the critics are throwing at her. She's amazing and is practically in every scene, oozing vulnerability. She's scared and timid, but full of passion and ambition that rings true for every struggling artist. Aronofsky does a wonderful job of portraying the world of ballet, where in order to be on top, someone else has to fall down.
Natalie embodies Nina Sayers, a shy ballerina with superb talent, whose personal growth has been stunted by her over-bearing mother played by the immaculate Barbara Hershey (fyi, Barbara was the most terrifying part of this whole movie). When offered the role of a lifetime, playing both the White and Black Swan in Swan Lake, Nina has to dig deep inside herself to find the sexiness and passion to inhabit the unpredictable persona of the Black Swan. However it doesn't come quite easy to Nina and she's constantly looking over her shoulder when her competition, Lily (played by Mila Kunis), is trying to claim her shining crown.
The movie is sexy and scary, which is hard to achieve in modern cinema. While the viewer doesn't always know what's real and what's being constructed by Nina's psyche, the trip that we take is a fun one. The are hilariously awkward moments (including a masturbation scene gone wrong) and uncomfortable awkward moments (including dance maestro, Vincent Cassel, abusing his power on Nina).
The last 20 minutes of the film are truly breathtaking, which I can attest because Collin raved about them prior to seeing the film and then proceeded to grab hold of my arm for the last act, cutting off circulation (I'm starting to regain movement in my right fingers). Honestly this award season is jam-packed with standouts, but Black Swan is truly something you need to go see.

It means that I, like God, do not play with dice and I don't believe in coincidences...

I grew up reading plays. There are times I think that it's more rewarding to read a play than to see it. Now I know that goes against all the rules and regulations of theatre. I can hear my college professors yelling at me now, "Plays are meant to be seen, not read". I get it. But sometimes I just want to hear the words than see the actions. I think that's where the beauty of theatre comes from. Considering the fact that you could have the worst seats in the house and be only able to see the hem of one of the actress' skirt, how is it that you can still be moved by the play? Simple, the dialogue. Every word that a playwright includes is not by chance. It always means something. That's what I cling onto from theatre. I want to make sure I know what diction was chosen. You might have noticed with past reviews that I love the meshing of theatre and film. I love the visual metaphors that are possible in cinema, but I also adore when they include the verbal metaphors as well. One film that accomplishes that is V for Vendetta.
      It's a political allegory about what could happen when we stop being active participants in our government. If we forget that the government works for us and not the other way around, then we relinquish our rights. V is one of those heroes that hasn't forgotten about the "fifth of November" and is planning a revolution to claim back his liberty. On the way, he encounters Evey and falls in love, even though he never thought he could. They risk everything, including their lives, in order to be free. Now we may all believe we're free, but this film illustrates that were clinging to bondage because we're afraid to make our own decisions. But all it takes is a little flame, a match to set off an Armageddon.


Hugo Weaving's voice is sooo sexy in this movie.

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.

sunday movie classic: The Exorcist

I know I've been horrible this week and I apologize. I've been sick all week with a flu/cold hybrid. Honestly I would've been better if I curtailed my drinking/partying habits, but let's be real, it was an open bar! So I'm still sick, coughing up a storm and watching scary movies. Whenever I'm sick, I watch only three things: old school cartoons (Doug and X-men the Animated Series), Boy Meets World reruns (best show ever), and scary movies. If you're one of my close friends and you're reading this, you know how true that last statement is because I most likely called you to vent about my nightmares. This week I went old school with my horror flicks and got down with The Exorcist. Literally the scariest movie I have ever seen. I don't scared from a film unless is has religious connotations or has the by-line 'based on a true story'.  For some reason that gets me. Linda Blair stars as a child possessed by the devil and her poor mother is trying to save her soul through the help of a devout priest. I love the beginning of the movie when the mother (Ellen Burstyn) and doctors thinks Regan is going through puberty or has a tumor. Nah Kid. She's got a severe case of Beelzebub. The special effects are awesome and everyone remembers the classic twisted head scene. I think the reason the film still frightens the granny panties off of me is the sordid transformation of this sweet girl into a child of Satan. It could happen to anyone and I'm not trying to let it happen to me. The Exorcist became the highest grossing scary movie ever and was even nominated for ten academy awards. It's totally deserves being considered a Sunday classic 



and because I was gone for a week, a little something extra...enjoy!

...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.

the world forgetting by the world forgot...

So the weather in Brooklyn has been less than ideal. It's rained four out of the last five days and the upcoming forecast isn't looking better. However it made it out for my besties bdays this weekend (Hi Dee and Dave) and had an awesome time even though I was surrounded by couples. I'm not much of a relationship girl but when the weather turns sour and your friends are shacking up you start to long for someone to build a fort out of sheets with. SoI turned to my favorite romantic comedy for solace, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It's not your traditional love story nor comedy but that doesn't make it any less potent. It's about a Joel, played beautifully by Jim Carrey (do you prefer him in his dramatic or comedic roles? I usually like the dramas) who has broken up with his girlfriend, Clementine (Kate Winslet). In attempt for closure and vengeance, Joel attempts to have his memory erased of Clementine by a team of specialists (Mark Ruffalo, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood and Tom Wilkinson) and in the dream state process, he recalls every moment they've ever shared. Joel starts to realize that he doesn't want to forget Clementine but rather he wants to get back with her and he struggles to keep the memories. The entire film has great dialogue and makes you remember that sometimes even the worst memories you have of someone are the best times of your life. I know that it doesn't sound that romantic but this is one of the few movies that has ever made me cry.


I know that this isn't a classic by timeline standards, but when something is good, it's good.