Movie Blather and Randomness

Time for another installment of movie news and blather, where I bring you all the movie news that’s fit to print (or at least what I find interesting).  Without further ado or preamble, let’s get right into it!

1. Is anyone else embarrassingly excited for Monsters University?

I’m not going to lie: I’m not a big animated film person.  For a lot of reasons.  But I really loved Monsters, Inc., and I’m really excited for the prequel.  This trailer looks cute.  I can’t wait.  What do you think?  How do you feel about a prequel?

2. The Academy Awards are this weekend

And I’m pumped up, as per usual.  It’s a big day in my world.  We do it up right and throw a party with themed food and ballots and a pool of money I’m intent to win (running champion something like 4 years in a row).  I’ve got our ballots all printed, my food all planned out, and have even done a practice ballot.  That’s how much of a dork I am.  I love the Oscars.  Love them.  I doubt that will ever change. (Metacritic)

3. It’s a Disaster Trailer looks funny, dark

I hadn’t even heard of this movie before stumbling across the trailer, but it looks pretty great.  It’s got some of my favorite people, including America Ferrara, Julia Stiles, and David Cross.  It looks funny and weird and dark and full of the kind of awkward humor I really like.  It’s being released on VOD before hitting theaters in April, so hopefully I’ll get a chance to see it soon.

4. Lauren Graham and Joel McHale will star in a movie together

It’s called A Friggin’ Christmas Miracle, which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.  The film centers around the duo who are a married couple going to visit McHale’s grandfather.  The grandfather is played by Robin Williams, which basically means the movie is doomed.  (THR)

5. Room 237 has a trailer now

I wrote about this documentary a few weeks back, and I’m happy to say there’s a trailer now.  Check it out for yourselves at the playlist.

Movie News and Blather

It’s time for another installment of movie news, where I bring you the latest-ish news about movies.  Are you ready?

1. Fairhaven trailer looks interesting

Have you guys seen the trailer for Fairhaven?  It stars my boyfriend Chris Messina and Sarah Paulson and looks to be an interesting, if maybe a little uneven, independent movie.  I hadn’t heard of it before I stumbled across it on the iTunes site, but I’ll definitely be checking it out.

2. The Oscar nominations have been announced.

Everyone’s got an opinion on what got nominated, what shouldn’t have been nominated, and what was totally overlooked.  I certainly have my opinions (and I ranted a little on Twitter about it), but so does everyone else.  Metacritic does a nice roundup of the nominations and what it all means. Comingsoon.net has another take.

3. Side Effects trailer looks chilling, potentially cliche

I remember seeing the trailer for Side Effects a few weeks ago, but I put it out of my mind.  I rediscovered it when I was prepping this post, and I decided to feature the trailer since it features some people I really like.  Despite my rational sense, I really like Channing Tatum, and I kind of like how bad Rooney Mara is at giving interviews (though I still prefer her sister).  This one looks fairly predictable but might be fun.

4. Y: The Last Man movie adds director, gets me all a-flutter.

The movie has been in development for what seems like forever, but has recently added a director: Dan Trachtenberg.  I can’t wait to see how this movie ends up working, because the graphic novels are some of my favorite things in the entire world.  In fact, it’s probably time for a re-read. (comingsoon.net)

5. I Give it a Year Trailer looks British, silly

I’m not sure about this one, you guys, but I really like Minnie Driver and Rose Byrne (but is Minnie Driver supposed to be someone’s mother?)  It’s got some silly gags in the trailer and looks wholly predictable, but that doesn’t mean my mom and I won’t totally eat this one up at the theater (or as a rental).  What do you think?

What are you looking forward to, movie-wise?  What did I miss in this installment?

 

Movie Review: One Day (2011)

Emma (Anne Hathaway) and Dex (Jim Sturgess) meet on the night of graduation from Edinburgh University.  After going home together and having a “near miss,” the two form a friendship that spans 20 years.  Although the two are complete opposites–she’s a middle-class, steady, focused girl and he’s a wealthy, spoiled prat–they have a connection and a love for one another that sustains their relationship.  The film, directed by Lone Scherfig (An Education), follows these two characters as their lives cross over these two decades, checking in on them on the same day each year: July 15th.

One Day is built upon a central gimmick, and while the results are mixed, it certainly is interesting.  By checking in with these characters on the same day each year, viewers miss most of what occurs in their lives.  Nearly all the action in their lives occurs off screen, meaning that the characters have to catch viewers up through some quick exposition as the years pass.  This makes it hard to judge the film as a whole, but it does make it easy to enjoy specific pieces of it.

There are things to enjoy here: both of the leads are strong actors (although the same can’t be said for Hathaway’s weird, disappearing accent), and they have good chemistry.  The film is also quite charming, observant, and touching at times.  Having a supporting cast boasting Patricia Clarkson doesn’t hurt, either.  There’s a certain freshness to the script, written by David Nicholls (who adapted the story from his eponymous novel), and there are moments of genuine witty banter between the characters.  So yes, there are things here worth seeing.

The problem arise when you pause to consider the film as a whole, though.  Like romantic comedies/dramedies before it, it examines the age-old film conceit that it takes the love of a good woman to make the man.  Dex is a pretty terrible human being, but Emma’s steadfast love and support of him eventually turn him around.  It takes several tragedies and some hard moral lessons for this to happen, though.  Like other films before it, the film also sends the message that a long-term platonic friendship between a man and a woman must always lead to romance, a statement I take issue with not only because my best friend is a man but because it’s total bullshit. (I blame When Harry Met Sally for establishing this as the norm.)

Of course, the film plods along well enough until the end, where it is guaranteed to split viewers.  I won’t spoil it, but my guess is that reactions will fall into several camps: you will see it coming and won’t be surprised (like me); you will find it moving and fitting; or you will cringe to see the film’s general wit crushed by maudlin sentimentality.  The ending will likely determine how you feel about the movie in general, which is too bad, because up until it, it’s not a bad film.

One Day is playing in theaters now.

Movie Review: Beastly (2011)

When a vain but popular high school boy named Kyle (Alex Pettyfer) pisses off a witch (Mary Kate Olsen), he ends up visually transformed as punishment and must find a girl to love him before the year is up.  Enter the pretty, smart, motivated Lindy (Vanessa Hudgens).  A retelling of Beauty and the Beast, based on the eponymous novel by Alex Finn, the best thing this movie has going for it is that it’s only 86 minutes long.

Okay, that might be a little bit of hyperbole.  There are other things that are tolerable in this movie, but they are few and far between.  The problem lies mostly with the fact that writer-director David Barnz caters so directly to the movie’s demographic (the tween and teen set who watch the CW’s programming with nary a trace of irony) that the movie never really becomes anything.  There is no life given to any of the characters, and what’s more is that none of the situations they find themselves in are ever remotely believable.  An example, if I might: at one point, Lindy is in peril at the hands of a drug dealer who demands money from her father, and Kyle swoops in (literally swoops) and takes care of business.  I actually busted out a choke-laugh of disbelief.

For a movie that is supposed to be thick with witchcraft, there is very little magic to be found here.  The cast, to its credit, is mostly talented but is given nothing to work with.  Even Neil Patrick Harris as Kyle’s blind, snarky tutor, does little to elevate his scenes.  There were multiple times during my viewing of this movie where I could sense the cast’s embarrassment of being associated with the film (this was never more clear than when Peter Krause was onscreen, miscast and uncomfortable–did he lose a bet? Owe a favor to someone?).  Hudgens is adorable and smirks for the camera just fine.  Pettyfer, for all his good looks, does an absolutely terrible American accent.

The thing is, everyone associated with the movie knows what the deal is with a movie like this.  It’s not meant for adults–not really.  It’s meant for those teens I mentioned at the beginning of the review.  They’re the same ones who grew up watching High School Musical and consuming the brands that this (and other movies like it) place for optimal viewing opportunities.  The movie is best viewed on a weekend afternoon, preferably when you’re hungover and there’s nothing else on.

Beastly is available on DVD now.

Movie Review: Something Borrowed (2011)

Darcy (Kate Hudson) and Rachel (Ginnifer Goodwin) have been best friends forever.  While Darcy is vivacious and a little vain, Rachel is quiet and reserved.  On the eve of her 30th birthday, at a party that Darcy throws for her, Rachel ends up sleeping with Darcy’s fiancee Dex (Colin Egglesfield).  The two embark on an ill-advised affair, feeling guilty but also exhilarated.

Directed by Luke Greenfield (The Girl Next Door) with a script adapted by Jennie Snyder Urman from Emily Giffin’s bestselling eponymous novel, this movie attempts to answer hard-hitting questions like: Is it ever okay to sleep with your best friend’s fiancee?  And: Are there really people this boring in real life?  The answer to both?  I hope not.  An interminably long movie that plods along with some of the blandest characters I’ve ever seen means that Something Borrowed is a total and complete mess, Gentle Readers, and not even in an entertaining, train-wreck sort of way.

The problem starts with the fact that the characters are so completely uninteresting.  Goodwin, whom I genuinely really like, brings nothing to the table as the meek little doormat.  At one point, viewers glimpse a towering bookshelf of books in her apartment, which is supposed to tell us that she’s smart, but one never gets the sense that she actually reads (or that she does anything except moon over Dexter).  Egglesfield is so wooden it’s like watching a cardboard cutout.  It doesn’t help that the character of Dex goes from being fairly innocuous to a totally weak whiny diaper baby.  While Hudson brings a sort of brassy glee to the character of Darcy, she’s also supposed to be so unlikable that it’s hard to care (we have to root for the other couple, remember?).  The only exception is John Krasinski in the role of best-guy-friend Ethan.  Krasinski oozes charm and provides literally the only humorous moments in the movie.  He is largely wasted in the film, and virtually disappears from the second half (which is a mistake).

It’s not just the characters that fall flat in this adaptation, though.  Much of the movie’s story comes from the past, and so there are large chunks of time spent in awkward flashbacks.  This slows down an already long movie (clocking in at 103 minutes, you’ll swear it’s over two hours), drawing out the story until just short of forever.  The story is also quite predictable: the only surprise is how long it takes to get to the (mildly depressing) conclusion.

As a fan of romantic comedies (and a self-professed connoisseur), I beg you: skip this one.  You’ll thank me later.

Something Borrowed will be released on DVD on August 16, 2011.

Movie Review: Water for Elephants (2011)

A young man named Jacob Jankowski (Robert Pattinson) drops out of Cornell University’s Veterinary school in the middle of his final exams after finding out about his parents’ death.  It’s the Depression, and he’s left with nothing, so he starts walking, and before long finds himself hopping aboard a train that just happens to be carrying the Benzini Brothers Circus.  After telling the volatile circus boss August (Christoph Waltz) that he’s a vet, he gets hired on to care for the animals.  He also happens to fall in love with said circus boss’s beautiful wife Marlena (Reese Witherspoon).  Oops.

I reviewed the book last week on the blog, so it seemed like a good idea to also review the movie.  I was in a unique position of seeing the movie a few days after finishing the book.  This isn’t always a great idea, because the book is still so fresh in your mind that you can’t help comparing it to the movie at every turn.  However, the movie version of Water for Elephants is good enough to stand on its own.

Directed by Francis Lawrence (I Am Legend) with a screenplay adapted by Richard LaGravenese, the movie stays fairly faithful to its source material, perhaps even to a fault: it tries to cram in all of the characters and events from the book into two hours, and it doesn’t quite manage to pull this off.  However, the largely talented cast and the absolutely beautiful shots of Rosie the elephant help to make up for this slight case of over-ambitiousness.  Readers, believe me when I tell you that the best scenes are the ones with the elephant.

Much has been made of the fact that Pattinson apparently can’t act.  I don’t agree with this pronouncement: while I don’t think he’s the greatest actor of our generation, I think that he inhabited the character of Jacob very well.  His facial expressions conveyed every emotion that his character felt, and that was more than satisfactory in a story like this.  Witherspoon was beautiful and plucky, which is pretty much what she’s supposed to be in a role like this.  Of course, Waltz is the one who really shines as paranoid schizophrenic August, and his ability to go from charming to lethal in a matter of seconds is amazing to watch.

The real problem is that Pattinson and Witherspoon had zero romantic chemistry.  This is something that has been pointed out in other reviews, so I know I’m not the only one who noticed it.  As a viewer (and a lover of the romance, as we’ve talked about on this blog before), it’s essential for me to buy the attraction happening onscreen.  That wasn’t the case with this movie, and that was kind of a bummer.  The one love scene between Witherspoon and Pattinson was so devoid of any actual spark that I actually yawned during it.

Even so, fans of the book should see this movie.  It’s faithful enough to satisfy those who like to nitpick, and it’s entertaining enough to hold the interest of those who haven’t read the book.  Recommended, with reservations.

Water for Elephants is playing in theaters now.