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Friday, August 20, 2010

Youth in Revolt

An original, unusual take on a teenage romance. It it cute, funny, poetic, dramatic, sharp, and weird at times. It is catagorized as a comedy, but I find it more of a dramatic romance.
Directed by Miguel Arteta, Nick Twist (Michael Cera), is a mama's boy, high school nerd, and virgin. He doesn't have any experience with relationships. He longs to escape from home, his mom (Jean Smart) I am sorry to say, is kind of a slut. She divorced his father, George (Steve Buscemi), and is now dating a gross hick, who has developed a rivalry with Nick.
On a trip to his mom's boyfriend's trailor, he meets a girl, Sheeni (Portia Doubleday), walking in the trailor park. He falls in love. The problem is she has a boyfriend (of course). He comes up with a plan to elope with her. She just doesn't want to date a goody-two-shoes.
So he devolpes a "bad-ass" alter-ego, named Francois Dillinger. And when he doesn't know what to do, he uses Francois as a sort of guide and mentor.
I think the ending was my favorite part of the movie. It was not quite what you expected, but at the same time it was. It is bitter-sweet, but I would say more sweet than bitter! :)

Monday, August 9, 2010

The Hurt Locker

Wow! This film is amazing! Everything about it is amazing! The cinematography, acting, art direction, and directing! You truly feel like you are there, standing in front of a bomb about to explode! It gets your heart racing!
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal, this movie is a bit of everything. Sergeant First Class William James (played by the talented Jeremy Renner) is addicted to war. As the leader of an Army bomb squad, he will put everything below the addrenaline rush. Even if it means endangering his team, Sergeant JT Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Specialist Owen Eldiridge (Brian Geraghty). They struggle with their emotions as they are on a journey where every one is a potential enemy.
It fully deserved the Oscar for Best Motion Picture. Like I said before, amazing!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Tenure

This movie was fun to watch. It was a sarcastic drama that you could just pop in the DVD player. It was good, except that it had absolutely no conclusion of important details. One of the most annoying and unnecessary things was the flash back in the beginning, no point to it at all.
Luke Wilson starring as Charlie Thurber, an English college professor struggling with a mid-life crisis. Charlie is determined to get tenure, a permanent job of a teacher until retirement, by sucking up to Dean Leakey (played by William Bogert). He soon finds himself in a competition against Elaine Grasso (Gretchen Mol), a high status professor from Harvard. His friend, Jay Hadley (David Koechner), a corky anthropology professor, and founder of the Sasquatch Club, tries to "help" him, by sabotaging Grasso's reputation. But she develops feelings for Charlie instead.
Like I said before, it would be a cute funny film, if there was any romantic chemistry between Wilson and Mol. David and Luke, on the other hand, seemed to naturally work very well together.
An example of a detail that was left unanswered was the fact that Charlie kept seeing Sasquatch, more like a man dressed like him. I was waiting for him to glance and see the face of Dean Leakey or Jay behind the mask, but it ended up ignored and never being addressed. There are certainly many other things left unanswered.
But it is just a relaxed movie that you can watch, if you're having a bad day. It is funny. I would recommend it, just for the hell of it.