One Day Review

Hello All. Its Jacqui. I am back from vacation and a slight break from movie going.

Today I went to see "One Day" starring Jim Sturgess ("21", "Across the Universe) and Anne Hathaway ("Princess Diaries", "Devil Wears Prada"). The basic summary is they are two friends who almost hook-up after the college graduation. The movie is a snap-shot of their relationship that occurs every July 15 from the year they met. The viewer is treated to not just a flashback of fashion and music but also where Dexter (Sturgess) and Emma (Hathaway) are in their lives. We see how Emma struggles while Dexter succeeds and vice versa throughout their 20 year friendship.

I went into this movie expecting something like 2000's "Love and Sex" starring now-action director Jon Favreau  and Famke Jannsen (and also one of my favorite movies of all time because of Favreau [yes I have a crush on him, lol]). The background of that movie was two people meet randomly and then it took time for the "timing" to be right for them to be together. Possibly combined with the classic "Same Time, Next Year"(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078199/). "One Day" seemed like it didn't know exactly where on that spectrum it wanted to be. If anything, it was like a nasty hybrid of every single romantic movie ever made. It had your unrequited love, the anti-climatic get together, and the tragedy that occurs once the main characters finally get together.

Overall, I am not a fan of this movie. I felt the movie was very choppy among its many issues (Hathaway's inability to do a consistent English accent, for example). I came away feeling that something was missing from this movie and its story telling style. Whenever the vignette shifted, it seemed like as a viewer I lost out on something. For example, one scene where Dexter and Emma discuss something that happened in between one of the prescribed days. I feel that would have been a pivotal scene that explained everything else that followed. But no, the event is hinted at, talked about but you never see it.

While the books are usually always better than their adaptations, this one really fails to even partly live up to the book. I feel it left too much just "floating out there". I will give this movie one of the lowest ratings I have given a film since we started the blog... 1 out 5 stars

(Gerard asked me about where this ranked on the "Tree of Life" scale, I said slightly higher because I sat through this one.)

Colombiana Review

I just got back from seeing Colombiana on August 26, 2o11 with Justin. I really liked this movie. Basically, the plot is when Cataleya Restrepto played by the gorgeous and talented Zoe Saldana (personal favorite of mine) witnesses the murder of her parents by Colombian drug lords and crooked army officials she vows to get revenger. She goes to her uncle Emilio played by Cliff Curtis who looks shockingly like current WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio and wants to be trained as an assassin. Now, I thought the movie was smart and didn't rely on extreme violence to tell the story which is sometimes a good thing. She uses different aliases and goes on vigilante killing missions to show the people responsible for killing her parents that she never forgets. She always leave the cataleya flower at the crime scenes in some way and works her way around the police. She reminds me of a great mix of Beatrix Kiddo in Kill Bill and a female version of Dexter Morgan. She is an assassin, but she targets people who commit evil deeds and in that instance the audience can identify with her. By the end of the movie it's her against the entire faction that took our her parents...and other members of her family. She takes them out systematically and completes her deeds in innovative ways, such as using sharks, dogs, or advanced weaponry skills and wait for it...toothbrushes, yes she beats a guy with toothbrushes. Saldana is perfect in the female action role and I personally really like strong female characters and that could be a major reason why I really like this. I definitely say give this movie a try as its a fun movie and you really want Cataleya to get revenge. I'll give this a 3/5 as well, but it was pretty good and worth seeing.

Final Destination 5 Review

On August 19, 2011, I saw Final Destination 5 with Jake and Justin. Now going in you know that you can expect gruesome scenes and things of that nature. I enjoyed this installment and the only other ones I actually liked were the original and the third one. The story begins with Sam played by Nicholas D'Agosta who has a premonition as he and a group of employees on a retreat are crossing a bridge under construction. This is the second time there's been a male who has the premonition since Alex Browning in the original. The supporting cast were mostly unknowns which is fine because big name actors can take away from a movie like this. The death scenes in this really make you cringe. WARNING: Be aware of the gymnastics scene!! In my opinion, that is the most cringeworthy death in the ENTIRE series and there's been some bad ones. The story flowed pretty well and the acting wasn't horrendous like the last movie which was so terrible. It wasn't Oscar worthy acting, but the cast did a decent job in their own right and it's not meant to be an acting movie in general anyway. Molly played by Emma Bell was the best acting wise and i could see her getting some roles in the future. Keep your eyes open for little details throughout the movie as they can help to show where the ending will take place. I think it's a brilliant ending and really thought it was smart. It was a perfect twist and really brings everything full circle. I'll give it a 3/5, but the movie is worth seeing as I liked what they did with this installment in terms of twists, making you cringe (again beware the gymnastics scene), and a decent story to begin with. I would reveal some more plot points but then it takes away from what I said about subtle hints. You may even be able to guess the ending from the first pieces of dialogue but when it gets to the end, it's pretty awesome.

The Help Review

Justin and I just got back from seeing The Help on August 12, 2011. This was a phenomenal film!! The movie centers around two themes: Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan's ambition to be a journalist and write serious pieces of work and the racial schism prevalent in the South during the 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi. Emma Stone's breakout role may have been in Easy A, but this is the movie that will cement her career. She showed that she has great acting chops and she is becoming a favorite of mine with her last three films from Easy A, to Crazy, Stupid, Love to this. She wants to gain the perspective of the African American women who work as maids for the white upper/middle class families. They look after the babies and raise them to become members of society. I think this movie produces some of the best acting I've seen in quite some time. I think the greatest parts of this movie lie with three people: Viola Davis (Adelaide), Octavia Spencer (Minni), and Jessica Chastain (Celia), along with Stone's part. The movie plays with your emotions so well and does an excellent job of portraying society during the time period. The main antagonist, Hillie Holbrook, played perfectly by Bryce Dallas Howard makes you love to hate her. She is pure racist through and through and does a great example of how the babies that the African American maids looked after and cared for them grew up and became uncaring much like their parents had been. You can just sense the tension on the screen when she and Adelaide or her and Minni (well basically anyone of the African American maids she shares a scene with) are together. My personal favorite part is the relationship between Minni and Celia. There is respect between the two and each helps each other in perfecting their life. Celia resembles Marilyn Monroe almost to a T in my opinion. I must point out that I thought Alison Janney's role as Eugenia's mother was great. Janney has always been great from the West Wing, to Juno (of course starring my favorite actress Ellen Page), and how can we forget 10 Things I Hate About You? It got me emotional because her character has cancer throughout the movie and though she lives in the old ways of society, she learns that her daughter is right in her views. Sissy Spacek was pure comedy gold in this movie and the audience couldn't get enough of her. There were some powerful scenes, especially Adelaide's relationship with Elizabeth's daughter is so amazing as well as Eugenia's relationship with Constantine, who was her maid when she was younger. Also, be on the lookout for a brief cameo by Nelson Ellis who some may know as Lafayette Reynolds in True Blood. Ironically enough, he plays a cook. Some other scenes that are amazing are the infamous pie scene as it will be known I'm sure, the charity fundraiser, Adelaide and Elizabeth's daughter having a personal bond with the phrase "I is kind, I is smart, I is important" and Alison Janey confronting Hillie basically ready to deck her while she is battling cancer. Great, raw emotion, excellent cast, AMAZING acting (if there are no nominations for this movie it's beyond ridiculous). This movie earned a 5/5 and every piece of this movie was amazing.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes Review

I just got back from seeing Rise of the Planet of the Apes with Justin on August 5, 2011. This movie was awesome!!! The storyline centers around Will Rodman played by James Franco who is working on designing a serum to cure Alzheimer's disease which his father Charles has played wonderfully by John Lithgow (who some may know as the Trinity Killer in Dexter). The serum works on apes and through the first group of apes, he finds that the serum passed biologically to the offspring. He takes this ape home naming him Ceaser (who is portrayed by Andy Serkis who some may know as Smeagol/Gollum and another interesting tidbit is this isn't his first time providing facial scans for apes as he also was King Kong in 2005). As his intellect and motor skills develop, he becomes attached as part of the family unit. He goes so far as to protect the family in one of my favorite scenes and is forced to be relocated to a primate research facility due to the defense of Charles. The film does an amazing job of showing the emotion within Ceaser and the loyalty he has to Will and Charles and the love interest played by the beautiful Frieda Pinto (who played Latika in Slumdog Millionaire, a personal favorite film of mine). Other characters were portrayed by Brian Cox and Tom Felton (who stayed very true to his Draco Malfoy characteristics). After a while, Ceaser shows his mistrust for human beings slowly but surely. Other apes, gorillas, orangutangs and other primates band together in some of my favorite scenes ever. The stars of the movie are really the apes. You cheer for the apes and feel for them as they are tormented constantly by the human vermin. Two scenes between Ceaser and Tom Felton are amazing. One scene Ceaser's superior intellect comes through when Felton utters the famous line that Charlton Heston did in 1968 and when Ceaser responds with speech the whole audience applauded and cheered. That was an awesome moment!! If you look at some of the apes many resemble characters from Tim Burton's 2001 film (which I personally enjoyed). I recognized Thade, Mattar, and that orangutang from the dinner party with the senators. One interesting aspect of the film is that Will creates a stronger serum to try to make the cure for Alzheimer's permanent as it briefly works on his father, but he deteriorates shortly after. This new serum works marvelously for the apes, but instead causes human beings to regress by making them fatally ill and it seems almost like a scene from Outbreak (an underrated film). The Golden Gate Battle as I will call it is one of my new favorite scenes. There is so much great action with apes overpowering humans through brain capacity and military strategy. Ceaser riding a horse into battle against police cruisers was awesome. Ceaser will not go against Will as he has a bond with him and is actually not interested in killing humans, but he does instruct other apes to carry out the deed. I felt the Golden Gate bridge scene was similar to the crossing of the Rubicon story which is of course linked with Julius Ceaser. There was an emotional scene between Ceaser and Buck (the gorilla) and the audience felt the emotion and it made the apes in the film seem human. That is why you feel for the apes. We can feel the same type of abuse on ourselves that the apes experience and we often times want to rebel against those in power and people that hold us down for their own personal gain. I give the movie a 4/5. I highly recommend it. You will be entertained the whole time. There are no dull moments and that is rare.

Crazy, Stupid, Love Review

I just got back from seeing Crazy, Stupid, Love with Justin. My movie buddy Jacqui wrote a review, but I would like to share my views of the film as well. I personally loved the movie. It really did a great job of blending comedy and drama. This film makes you care about all of the characters involved. Jacqui touched on the plot so I won't reiterate it, but the different storylines were all fantastic and well written. My favorite performance much like Jacqui's was by Ryan Gosling which is odd because I normally do not like his work. I also really enjoyed Emma Stone's character and I am not a huge fan of hers, but she is growing on me in terms of her roles. Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling had such GREAT chemistry. Their scenes were so amazing. The chemistry between Steve Carell and Julianne Moore was great and you could feel the long term relationship. One aspect I really liked was it focuses on love from three different age brackets: the young, lustful love with his son Robbie and their babysitter (which has some really hilarious twists in it), the young 20 something love where they're deciding what steps to take (this is observed through different storylines), and the older couples relationship (through Carell and Moore with mid-life crises etc). The plot twists towards the end were so amazing and perfectly connected all the storylines which was very awesome. The theater was packed and one little tidbit that I just cannot give away because it was so perfectly well done got such a great reaction and nobody saw it coming. I had an inkling that it might just based on certain characteristics in the characters, but I really liked the revelation. This whole revelation scene ended up being my favorite scene besides the one with Stone and Gosling. In my opinion, this movie is a must see. The acting, writing, music, plot and cameos by Marisa Tomei (HILARIOUS), Kevin Bacon, Nancy Carell and Josh Groban are amazing. Jacqui gave it a 3/5. I give it a 4/5. I honestly was very impressed with how this turned out and will definitely get the DVD when it comes out. As my brothers Jake and Justin know I have a huge case of DVDS that I call The Case and this movie passes approval.

"Crazy, Stupid, Love"

Last night, I saw Crazy Stupid Love. This is the newest member of the "Steve Carrell Rom-Com" cannon. It also stars Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. Also making some memoriable cameos: Josh Groban, Marisa Tomei, Kevin Bacon and Nancy Carrell (Steve Carrell's real life wife).

The brief synopsis is  Cal Weaver (Carrell) thinks he has it all; a great wife (Moore), kids, house etc. That is until his wife announces over dinner that she wants a divorce because she had slept with her co-worker (Bacon). This leaves Cal to navigate the single dating world for the first time ever. His guide on this journey is Jacob (Gosling) who is the local bar playboy. He takes Cal under his wing after listening to the poor guy cry about his current lot for a third night in a row. He teaches Cal everything from dressing right to how to pick up women. Cal has a rough go at first but finds his way through the chaos. There are two other parallel story lines. The first is that of Cal's and Emily's son Robbie experiencing his first love and its complications. You also meet Hannah, a new lawyer and her experiences in the dating world.  I can't give much more than that because it will ruin the storyline.

I should say I am not a rom-com person. Yes, like most women, I admit to having a secret stash of some semi-cheesy movies. However for the most part I usually avoid them in the theatre. Juliane Moore and Steve Carrell moved this one to the theatre category. I was honestly not disappointed.

For me, there are two marks of a horrible rom-com:

1. Cheesy dated music.
2. A totally easy to guess plotline. 

This movie was thankfully missing both. To address the second point, Crazy Stupid Love had some plot twists you expected and others you didn't.  I liked the ending. You don't know how it ends for any of the characters except they all have a great deal of work and growing to do. I won't say this often but Ryan Gosling was actually my favorite part of the movie. He played a very Barney Stinson like character and like the HIMYM Barney shows the ability to change. Also the relationship between Carrell and Moore was very relate-able. You did get the feeling they had been together for a long time through their various inside jokes and other shenanigans (My friends pointed to the scene were they joked about switching their son at birth for example).

Yes, music to me is a very important detail in just about every movie. In Rom-Coms, I have often found sometimes directors will pile on music that will date a movie and effect its replay value (at least for me). I really liked the use of alternative and unheard of artists in the soundtrack, it added to the movie rather than distracted from the story.  This aspect alone would make me want to re-watch it.

Overall, I give this movie a 3/5. I put this in the category of good movie but not mandatory to see in the theatre.