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.

Winter Films 2009

These are a list of films that I recommend this winter, and films that I highly don't recommend.

Recommended:

• Precious
• Fantastic Mr. Fox
• Pirate Radio
• The Road
• Broken Embraces
• Brothers
• The Imaginariam of Doctor Parnassus
• Sherlock Holmes
• Avatar
• Salt
• Fix
• The Fourth Kind
  

Not Recommended:

• Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squekuel
• The Men Who Stare at Goats
• The Twilight Saga: New Moon
• Planet 51
• Old Dogs
• The Princess and the Frog

Antichrist :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews

Antichrist :: rogerebert.com :: Reviews

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