Horrible Bosses

Some will either think that this is freakin' hilarious or really dumb, or maybe both. I am one who thought it was freakin' hilarious. I will admit that some parts of the script that I think I was supposed to laugh at, I did not. But for the most part I laughed my ass off.

They play the trailer on TV all the time, but in case you rarely watch TV or do not own one (which either means you are a hippie or just have not gotten around to discovering the wonders of it), here is the plot. Three guys, Dale (Charlie Day), Nick (Jason Bateman), and Kurt (Jason Sudeikus) all work for assholes. Dale works as a dental assistant for a sex craved bitch, Dr. Julia Harris (Jennifer Aniston). She is threatening that if he doesn't sleep with her she will tell his fiance the he did. Nick has worked his ass off for eight years for a promotion, but because his boss, Dave Harken (Kevin Spacey), is a narcissistic prick, he probably won't get it. Kurt liked his job, until he boss (David Sutherland) dies of a heart attack and his selfish coke-head jerk son, Bobby Pellitt (Colin Farrell), takes over. So eventually all of there jobs turn into a living hell and they just can't take it anymore.

Every single one of these actors takes their role spot on. Charlie Day is one of the most under recognized comedians. He is a genius as Charlie in the awesome show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which I am obsessed with. I am not a fan of the recent movies Jason Batemen has done, but his older roles say he can be great, he was definitely not my favorite out of the three. I have always judged Jason Sudeikus by his performances on Saturday Night Live, but I realized it was just that the writers of the show did not given a clever script. When he is given one, he nails it.

Jennifer Aniston is, in my opinion, the most entertaining of the bosses. If anyone was to capture Harkens character it would and is Kevin Spacey. Spacey is brilliant at playing characters that are total assholes, which is exactly what his character is. The only boss I was not impressed with was the unrecognizable Colin Farrell. It wasn't his performance, it was that the lines he was given were rarely funny. But he took the what he was given and ran with it.

Like I said in the beginning, I found it freakin' hilarious.

The King's Speech

I consider this to be the "feel-good" movie of 2010. 'Feel-good' in the way of triumphant intelligence. We judge of the high honors people receive, but we do not always know the reason they are honored, just trust that it was something important or advised. Sometimes, eccentricity can cure the eccentric.
Based on the process of King George IV, played by magnificent Colin Firth, overcoming his speech impediment and fear of public speaking as he is lead toward the thrown. After trying multiple physicians with no improvement King George has given up. His wife, Queen Elizabeth (Helena Bonham Carter), is still determined to find someone who can help her husband. She comes across a slightly different speech therapist, Lionel Louge (Geoffry Rush), who doesn't exactly use the 'normal' methods of therapy. King George is at first stubborn, but gives in for the sake of his wife. Lionel and King George's are vastly different but, they soon develop an odd trustful friendship.
Colin Firth is amazing in the way he handles any character he plays. Helena Bonham Carter is a doll, and dearly close to my heart (acting wise). Nothing need by said of the great Geoffry Rush. In my opinion both Firth and Rush are some of the best actors of their generations. Tom Hopper, the director, mastered this period piece and I hope continues to do many more. This is by far one of the best historic films I have seen, in my lifetime (of 14 years). Every element captures the time period perfectly. Simply a masterpiece.

Black Swan

As a film critic, I find it much more difficult to right a review praising a film than a disapproving one. The dictionary definition of a critic: a person who often finds fault and criticizes. I suppose I know more adjectives that define imperfect than perfect. But I cannot use those imperfect words because this film was the exact opposite, it was perfect.
You could vaguely describe it as beautiful. That is not doing any justice to this stunningly intricate film. Natalie Portman is intriguing in her performance as Nina, who is obsessed with perfecting her ballet performance as Odette in 'Swan Lake'. She is beginning to find confidence, but that is shattered when a free-spirited dancer, Lily (Mila Kunis), steels the attention. Nina slowly breaks down, becoming more like the black swan, Odette's evil sister, Odil. Now Nina wants her 'turn'...
David Aronofsky is simply an ingenious artist. The camera angles, the eerie music, the persistent symbolism. Nina's emphasized breath gives the film a haunting element, and yours eventually becomes as heavy as hers. I eventually realized, that when the film had ended, my mouth was wide open. I did not move the entire film, and all of the credits (with my mouth still open). Go to this film, and you will witness art. Images you will never forget.

I Love You, Phillip Morris - Trailer

Rushmore

As you know, or do not know (depending if you have read my blog before), I am in love with the director, Wes Anderson (his movies, that is). Rushmore is just another to add to that wonderful list.
Rushmore, filmed in Houston, Texas (yeah!), is the story of a fifteen-year-old high school student named Max Fischer (Jason Schwartzman). He is an exeptionally smart playwrite and lives for the private school, Rushmore, that he attends. He is pretty much in charge of every club and extracurricular activity created in the school. But he finds himself spending to much time involved in hobbies and not enough time involved with acedemics, causing him to fail. This is the last straw, he is sentenced to 'acedemic probation'. Devistated, he has to endure public school. But he spends many days visiting Rushmore, uninvited.
He meets a young elementary school teacher, Miss Cross (Olivia Williams). And guess what, he falls in love. He also developes a close friendship with Herman Blume (Bill Murray), a business man who's two jerk sons attend Rushmore. He also finds himself becoming attracted to Miss Cross. The whole thing becomes an oddly entertaining, and heartwarming/breaking love triangle.
Of course, I have never had the grave experience of watching a bad Wes Anderson film. I think it is impossible that he could even dream of making a flop. So I guess that is all I have to say, since you have probably already guess that I would highly recomend this movie.

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! :)

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!

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.

Lars and the Real Girl

A heartbreakingly, heartwarming journey that bends your definition of real love.
This story, directed by Craig Gillespie, follows a sweet-natured, socially isolated man, named Lars (Ryan Gosling), who finds love in a life-size sex doll, named Bianca. He is completely content, in a delusional way, with his plastic lover. But finds he is delveloping feelings for a co-worker Margo.
This is a sweet, not to mention unique, story about discovering the limits of true love, and what is held back. You find yourself knowing what these characters are feeling, no matter how weird their relationships become, thanks to the quirky, well-written script by Nancy Oliver.
Although odd, this is a movie about love, yes real love.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Classic Wes Anderson, people! The signature comedy, the one color theme (in this case orange, red, and gold), the long pauses, the lasting close-ups. You are aware of the clearcut personalities of the characters, almost imediatly. Sure some of the pauses are little too long, but somehow that makes it more unique, more appealing...to me at least.
A whole world is created by the detailed animation and recognizable characatures.
Cocky, handsome [Fantastic] Mr. Fox (voiced by the smooth, George Clooney) is nearing the end of his salad days. He has a family to look after and care for. His son, Ash (voiced by the awkward, Jason Schwartzman), is desperate to impress his father. But his father seems to be focused more on Kristofferson (voiced by Eric Chase Anderson), a cousin who has come to stay with them. It seems that Mr. Fox has replaced Kristofferson as his son. Mrs. Fox (voiced by the always original, Meryl Streep) is a sweet, dedicated housewife, who is worried for her husband's safety.
Mr. Fox longs to be the daring guy he used to be. But he, and his whole family, end up in trouble when he starts to get back into his old habits.
Anderson's comedy may be a little mature for children, although silly sometimes. And the plot may also be a little too slow and complicated for them. My 7 year old sister was not that impressed. I did enjoy watching it with my family.

The Brothers Bloom

Have you ever watched a movie, there is good acting, good cinematography, good directing, a good score, and a good script, but there were so many twists you were just ready for it to end. That is what is wrong with this movie.
Directed and written by Rian Johnson, The Brothers Bloom is about two brothers that become con-men. The younger brother, Bloom (Adrian Brody), is longing for a real life, an "unwritten" one. The older brother, Stephen (Mark Ruffalo), is still obsessed with the thrill of the con. With their "sidekick" (in a sense), Bang Bang (Rinko Kikuchi), they devise the most radical and imaginative cons, all written by Stephen, and pull them off, or possibly smooth talk their way out of it! But when the try to rip-off Penelope (Rachel Weisz), a lonely, single, heiress from New Jersey, it does not quite go as planed.
The problem is the brothers (and the writing) con you, and the audience, too much. The first two twists are intriguing and unexpected, but when you get to the 3rd (at the least), it sort of loses its thrill. Not that the movie was not good and fun to watch. It has a bit of everything, adventure/action/romance/comedy/drama, ect.
Adrien Brody gives a wonderful performance, and so does Mark Ruffalo. Like always Robbie Coltrane (The Curator), does a fantastic job. Rinko Kikuchi, whom I had never heard of before this film, is amazing, and I hope to see more of her in American, or British, movies! Rachel Weisz on the other hand...I do not like as much. Her character is a big part of the movie and she did not really seem to capture it well. I can see how it would be a hard role to play, an eccentric, lonely, hopeful, heiress, longing for adventure. But it just does not work, it seems like she is pushing too hard. Not to generalize, but I have never really liked her movies, or acting.
Yes, I would recommend this movie. Although you may get exhausted at times, its fun.

And personally I think Adrien Brody is handsome, although everyone seems to disagree. I guess I have a thing for tall, thin, jewish looking guys. Oh well, just felt like mentioning that.

Whatever Works

Boris Yellnikoff (Larry David from Curb Your Enthusiasm) hates people. The human race is a "failed" species, according to him. They are all "microbes" compared to his Nobel Prize intelligence. He would rather be isolated from the world than have a social interaction. Long story short, lets just say he is an extreme pessimist.
On his way home, from visiting the few friends he has, he meets a happy-go-lucky runaway named Melody St. Ann Celestine (Evan Rachel Wood). He takes her in and figures out, although she is not the smartest person in the world, she is not so bad. She opens his heart to the not so bad things in life and, for once, he is happy.
Woody Allen directs this sarcastic film about a guy who learns to love, despite how stupid.
I have to say I did not expect much of this movie. I thought it was going to be another story about a not so likable guy who finally discovers the meaning of life, or something like that. But I was pleasantly surprised. They were a lot of laughs, which I did not expect either. It was a feel good movie with a guy who learned what feel good was.

The Cove

This is the heartbreaking, yet at times heartwarming, journey through a cove in Taji, Japan where the unbelievably cruel act of the annual slaughter of dolphins takes place. Ric O'Barry, the trainer of the dolphin, Kathy, that appeared on the popular TV show Flipper. When Kathy died from depression in his arm, he decided he would try and stop the capture of dolphins for entertainment, which he feels he has created. And the mental, and physical, abuse that comes with captivity.
He rounds up a team of people that are willing to try and stop this horrific act at all cost. The Cove is off limits...but of coarse that does not matter to them. It is hardly any chance of getting into it, it is blocked by rails, steep slopes/mountains, fences, and even electric fences. They maneuver around all of these challenges though, they are extremely brave, talented, determined, and passionate activists.
These are the type of people who deserved to be looked up to, and I certainly do. The film crew, oh my god the film crew, they are willing to risk it all, along with everyone else. Could you imagine what it would be like to follow these people around, having to go through almost all of the same things, carrying a film camera on your shoulder? How brave!
This film is disturbing, depressing (and I mean "I wanna kill myself" depressing), and there is a possibility that you may lose all possible hope in humanity. But don't, I am not saying you will not cry, or the images on the screen will not snap your heart in half, I am simply saying there is hope. There is hope because of the people who are willing to risk it all, the very people that you are watching on the TV screen.

Zombieland

An outbreak of mad cow disease is infecting people and turning them into...ZOMBIES!!! A dorky teen, called Columbus, meets up with a country hard ass, called Tallahassee, and two girls who have trust issues. They are the only ones who have seemed to survive the zombie apocalypse. All of them are headed towards a land that is hopefully untouched by this bizarre tragedy.
Directed by Ruben Fleischer and written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, this has the ideal script for a 15 year old adolescent boy and the amount of blood that you might find in a slaughterhouse. The zombies look freakin' awesome, the makeup artist is pretty damn good (at the least).
Woody Harrelson, (Tallahassee), does an amazing job at being a bad ass! And Abigail Breslin does a pretty good job, (veering off from her usual goody-goody roles).

I guess if I had to sum up this movie in one sentence it would be:
Kick ass as fuck!!!!!

The Hangover

It's freakin' hilarious!


*plus the soundtrack is awesome!

Garden State

A journey of broken relationships. Life, love, want, drugs, and blame. Written and directed by Zach Braff, this film is about growing up. Zach Braff plays Andrew who is a wannabe actor still trying to figure out what to do with his life. He has absolutely no connection to anyone, he is numb. Natalie Portman plays Samantha (Sam) who is an original, outgoing liar with epilepsy.
Andrew ends up back in his hometown, which he has been trying to avoid, due to his mothers death. He runs in to some old high school "friends" and he briefly relives his high school years. Samantha and Andrew run into each other in a neurological clinic and...she opens his eyes.
All of them slowly become a dysfunctional family. They all want something in their lives to be fixed for them, but they realizes that they have to fix it themselves.
It is hard for me to write movie reviews for these types of films. I get so caught up in the thought of the movie, how I can relate to it. I think we all have something in out lives that is dysfunctional, that we want to be fixed, but eventually we are going to have to fix it ourselves.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

This film is a glimpse inside the imagination of a middle aged man, played by Mathieu Amalric, who has had a stroke. A look at his reality. The film is directed, by Julian Schnabel, and written, by Ronald Harwood, as a steady stream of conciseness and images, therefor I am going to write this movie review as an ongoing thought. This is not going to be edited*, for the reason I just explained.

Images, beautiful images, drifting in and out of life, of reality...his reality, humor and grief, sadness, disappointment, through the known and unknown, dreams and nightmares, life and death, the life he didn't want- doesn't want, memories, human, inhuman, alienation, humiliation, longing, peace, disgrace, beauty, understanding, misunderstanding, distraction, denial, unwilling, constant, fear, love, acceptance, sympathy, existence, nothing and everything, home, thought, departure, lose, process, something more, split, passage, release, resurrection, darkness, light, journey...

His reality.

*spelling was edited
**based on a true story

Precious

Hm. Beautiful...beautiful. Cinematography, directing, acting, everything. Mo'Nique and Gabourey 'Gabby' Sidibe probably give the best performances. Their characters are both abused in a way. Gabby's character, Precious, physically and sexually, and Mo'Nique's character, Mary, mentally...jealousy. Mariah Carey, a social worker, surprisingly also gives a good performance (for once).
This movie is about recognizing who we are, what we can do, what we can accomplish, and why we have to push ourselves. There is nothing that can describe this film but the film itself. Go see it.

Precious. She is beautiful. She is precious.

Ponyo

One of Hayao Miyazaki's most charming films, along with My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service. Ponyo is a goldfish child who "falls in love" with a little boy, named Sosuke, they go on a heartfelt journey to try and keep her from turning back into a fish.
Obviously Miyazaki's imagination is endlessly extraordinary. He is capable of creating the most captivating stories and characters over and over. The characters in this movie are realistic, especially Lisa, Sosuke's mother, voiced by Tina Fey. Mothers can relate to her. The film has a pleasant, warm feel to it. The comedy is whimsical and down-to-earth.
If I had to choose only one word to describe this film it would be fun. My whole family enjoyed seeing this movie. If you need something to do go see this movie just for the heck of it. I guarantee that you will leave the theater with a smile on your face.


P.S. If you enjoyed this movie then you should watch these films from Studio Ghibli as well: Kiki's Delivery Service, Howl's Moving Castle, My Neighbor Totoro (1988), and The Cat Returns

Public Enemies

Johnny Depp, plays the corrupt gangster, John Dillinger, in this criminal drama. Depp gives a stunning performance, possibly Oscar worthy. So does the beautiful Marion Cotillard. They have amazing chemistry, a, should I say, flow. Not much I have read is mentioned about Christian Bale, but he of course does well deserved recognition.
The film follows the federal hunt, lead by Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale), for the notorious American gangster, John Dillinger (Johnny Depp). Along with Baby Face Nelson (Stephen Graham) and Pretty Boy Floyd (Channing Tatum), all of whom were infamous in the 1930's crime wave. The plot follows the events of his romance with Billie Frechette (Marion Colltiard) and Dillinger's desperate escape from the the thing he loved, the adrenaline rush of bank robbery .
Surprisingly, this film did not stray from the actuality of the true events, which is incredibly rare for a movie such as this. All of the actors remained genuinely relatable to the real people.
There was a sort of aura that was uncomfortable for me, but I cannot really figure it out. It maybe that the movie is not meant to be comforting, it is blatantly real.
This is a summer movie you will not regret seeing.