Thoughts on a Few Movies

So, I do have a more poignant post coming soon - I have an idea that has been germinating since last week. But with the recent ending of The Bachelorette, Deadliest Catch, and the impending summer siesta of Burn Notice - and of course no Lost, or ABDC (until Sunday, woot woot!!), or really anything worthwhile to watch on TV, I have been going to my local Redbox and renting some films that I was semi-interested in seeing when they first came out. So in no particular order, here are my thoughts/reviews of these films.

Confessions of a Shopaholic - Starring Isla Fisher (Sasha Baron Cohn's gf) and Hugh Dancy (Jane Austen Book Club, Stardust, and Clare Dane's bf) - with random appearances by John Goodman and Joan Cusack

I had high hopes for this film. I loved the books by Sophie Kinsella, which are light-hearted reads about a plucky heroine who is prone to spending past her credit limits. Becky Bloomwood, the main character, is someone you root for and laugh out loud at while reading the books and sadly, yet again, this movie is another classic case of Hollywood failing to translate the book to the big screen. I think if the movie had starred Amy Adams, rather than Isla Fisher, it would have gotten closer to the heart of the heroine, as Ms. Adams excels in my opinion of playing vapid yet big-hearted heroines. Hugh Dancy almost saves the film, but unfortunately the plot just fell apart and instead of being a vapid, light-hearted, cute film it became a vapid, confusing, all-over the place film. I give it a C-.

Push - starring Dakota Fanning, Djimon Honsou, Camilla Belle, and some guy I have no idea about, and the Asian-American doctor from ER (Ming-Na? I think?)

I don't even know how to describe this movie, other than the fact that it was better than Confessions of a Shopaholic! It too was kind of random, but it at least created this opposite fantasy realm so if there was a plot more akin to swiss cheese than a real film, you didn't really care, because you could at least suspend all belief in reality and just enjoy the action/psychic battles. It's like it was a weird take or reinvention of X-Men (which I love), but in the end you weren't satisfied because they leave you completely hanging on one of the main conflicts! I hate it when there is no resolution in a movie. I give it a C+.

He's Just Not That Into You - starring Ginnifer Goodwin, Justin Long, Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Connelly, Scarlett Johanasson, Drew Barrymore, and Kevin Connelly, Kris Kristofferson

This movie was just barely this side of ok. Honestly, the more I think about it, the more I don't really like it. They at least did an ok job of weaving all of the ensemble cast storylines together, but honestly, the only storyline that I ended up caring about was Ginnifer Goodwin and Justin Long. All the rest of them were just "eh" or sad and you ended up not liking the characters at all. Also the cameo appearance by Frangelina was priceless - that was definitely the funniest part of the movie! It wasn't horrible to watch, but it again, it was just "eh". I give it a B-, just for the redeeming storyline of GG and JL.

The International - starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts

I am mad at this movie. It was long, but it had potential. It was this long, drawn-out thriller, plot developed pretty well, you cared about the main characters, and then *bang!* the movie is over!! I couldn't believe it! The ending made me so mad - it's like the filmmakers got tired and decided "hey, why don't we just randomly end the movie right here at this point". I don't know what their point of ending it that way was - yeah, it's probably realistic that Clive Owen's character wasn't going to bring down the big, bad international bank, but for pete's sake, it's a movie, why don't we just go ahead and suspend reality (which we have done already at this point) and give us the ending that we're looking for! It wasn't the kind of ending like There Will Be Blood in which you are shocked and still thinking about it days (or years, in my case) later - it was the kind of ending in which you are just ticked that they ended it with no resolution. Grrr. For that reason I give it a B-.

Bride Wars - starring Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson, with cameo by Candace Bergon

Loved this movie. There weren't too many plot holes. There were a ton of funny lines. There was a believable (well sort of), funny plot, and the two lead actresses did a great job of playing their parts of Emma and Liv. It was adorable, poignant at parts, and made me love my best friends all over again :). Total chick flick yes, but totally lovable! I give it an A.

Fast & Furious - starring Paul Walker, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez

Hahahahahahaha. I had to laugh just typing the title of this movie. I LOVED this movie because it was so frickin' hilarious in its seriousness. Paul Walker's eyes do make me melt and Vin Diesel's pectoral muscles looked to be solid rock through his tight muscle shirts. His line delivery is priceless - there is a priceless part in which after he has rammed a guy in half with his car that is one of my favorite movie lines ever now - I almost rolled off my couch in laughter after seeing it! The car chase scenes are totally fun (thank goodness though I wasn't driving anywhere afterwards) and totally reinvegorated my life-long dream of being a stunt car driver :). There were a million and one scenes that made me melt in laughter though. So for the sheer hilarity of being totally and awesomely and unashamedly bad, I give this movie an A+. It was exactly what I was expecting and then some! hahahahahahahaha!

What about you? Seen anything good lately? Any thoughts on my reviews? Feel free to post in the comments!

Film Analysis 101 - "There Will Be Blood"

This past weekend I got to see the movie There Will Be Blood starring Daniel Day-Lewis. Day-Lewis is probably best known for his work in the movies, Last of the Mohicans and Gangs of New York. He also is reknown for his ability to completely inhabit the characters that he is representing on screen, and he does not fail to deliver in There Will Be Blood. This performance is riveting, mind-blowing and will stick with you long after the movie has ended.

However, I can't say that I loved this movie, because it ultimately was much more disturbing and thought-provoking than I was expecting. And actually, I have to say, that as I was watching the movie, I didn't expect it to cause as much turmoil as it did after viewing - that is, until the end of the movie. And I suggest that you stop reading here if you don't want to know what happens in the end!

SPOILER ALERT:
So this is my attempt to be like Ms. Brittle and analyze this film - The thing is that after I watched the movie and was thinking it over, especially the last line, "I'm finished", I started to see a lot of Biblical allusions throughout the movie. From the naming of some characters (there is a father who sells his land to Daniel Plainview named Abel Sunday; Abel has either one son with a split personality or two sons - one named Paul and the other Eli). Eli Sunday essentially becomes the archnemesis of Daniel Plainview, spewing twisted "Christian" rhetoric at him.

Plainview is a captain of industry - an oil driller who strikes it rich in California, but in the process loses everything, including his humanity. In fact, I would say that this movie is about his descent into inhumanity - other reviewers have talked about it like it is his descent into immorality, but it is much stronger than that. Plainview ends up "adopting" a son one day in the beginning of his journey into oil drilling after one of his workers is killed. His son isn't even given a name - his name is "H.W." But throughout the movie, you get this sense that Plainview does in fact love his son - his son is the one thing that keeps him from devolving into a complete monster who cares only about the bottom line and beating his competition. Actually, I should say he cares about killing his competition because beating is too nice of a word and doesn't capture the feelings of hatred that Plainview has of the competition. In fact, at one point in the movie, Plainview is having a discussion with his "brother" and relates to him that he "feels a competition burning inside of him, and feels this intense hatred of people" and that in fact he hates all people. At one bizarre point in the movie, Plainview threatens to cut the throat of a man who wants to buy his company out - and the man points out the craziness of the statement by plainly asking him (and questioning the audience) "Are you crazy?" And that is the question you have to ask yourself as the movie continues to move along - is Daniel crazy? Is Eli crazy? Are they both crazy? Is there a good guy?

There are so many layers to this movie - how Daniel "sacrifices" his son in the end, how he ends up destroying Eli, and how the movie ends with him sitting in a pool of blood, stating that "I'm finished" - it's as if he is almost sayting that his sins are atoned with Eli's blood - Eli, who is this insipid, despicable preacher who makes his parishioners look like a bunch of sheep being led to the slaughter - they cannot think for themselves and Eli makes all of their decisions. I'm sure I am not being very coherent in relating all of this, but there is so much to think on and ruminate over. I don't know if I can recommend this movie - only if you want to experience a mind-blowing movie, but not the good kind of mind-blowing movies like Into the Wild, which remains my favorite movie of 2007.