W.E.

Last Friday I saw W.E. (http://we-movie.com/). For me, this was one of those movies that I became obsessed with instantly--and was incredibly disappointed to once again be living in a cultural abyss. So last Thursday, I thought "Hey maybe, just maybe, it will be at the Broadway tomorrow." And when I searched and it was there, I thought my eyes were deceiving me!!!

I have to admit I didn't love it as much as I wanted to, but I DID love it!!! In fact today I have my hair up and red lipstick on--my best Wallis Simpson look.

This was maybe the best moment of the movie:

AND....Andrea Riseborough is my new Claire (when they do finally get with the program and make Outlander a movie...I'm going to do another post later with my dream cast).

So, here are a few things that made this movie so outstanding:

• Wallis Simpson's wardrobe....SO AMAZING!
• Some awesome moments with music--yay good job Madonna!
• Hearing about the "other brother"---you know, the scandalous one.

Omg I love that photo!

Now for what I didn't like...there was only one thing:

• Really could've done without the modern story--would've preferred just to have a start to finish of the Duke and Duchess.

And one more photo for good measure...I mean are you kidding me?

But this was was truly my favorite--look at that tailoring!

By-the-way, look forward to many more posts as I am enlisting the help of some fabulous people!!! It's good to be back...

HP7

The last few weeks, I have been making a lot of effort to get back in touch with my dear friend, the movie theater. It's been rather wonderful!!! I've got several to blog about so let's get on with it!

Oh my beloved Harry!!! What will I do when your movies are finished???

I went to see HP7 w/my mom and sis on Saturday after it was released. I shutter just thinking about it.....so awesome and scary and amazing and WONDERFUL!! I will never understand people who don't like these movies. On a bigger note, I will never understand people who don't like movies of books, period. To me they are like the extra supplement to the book. Providing some extra material to an already awesome thing.

This part was a particular highlight for me. It happened so quickly and really shocked me into the reality of what they were about to go through. I loved them whisking from place to place. Hermione is such a STAR!!! It was awesome and sad and horrifying and so many other things...

Let's talk Bellatrix for a minute. I decided I am going to be her for Halloween next year.......so freakishly awesome!!!!

This photo will give me chills for the rest of time. So.......PERFECT!!!

One thing I love about HP movies is they've gathered up every one of my favorite actors from the UK....like this fruit cake freak show....seriously hilarious!

Actually I take that back....why hasn't Clive Owen been in an HP movie yet?

But anyway I digress. Professor Snape??? BETTER THAN EVA!!! Seriously. Plus look at that hair!!

And as always, these two are a definite highlight for me....
If you haven't seen the movie yet I doubt there is any convincing you so I won't waste my time. I will just say this movie was a 10 for me and I can't wait for part 2 and I love love love this series and am so thankful it was created during my lifetime!!!

The Town

Don't let the horrifying movie poster scare you off b/c The Town is hands down the best movie that I've seen this year (without really thinking about what movies I've seen this year so I might have to correct myself later). I saw it 2 weeks ago and have thought of it every day since.
I always have loved Ben and wouldn't pass up an opportunity to see him in speak his "native tongue." This show was amazing for so many different reasons. The violence wasn't as bad as I was expecting but the language was horrible--similar to Good Will Hunting.
Every character was complete perfection! I must see this again soon!!! Oh and thank you Christy for sending me this hilarious ecard which I totally agree with. :)

This will definitely be worth your $8-$12....go see it and tell me what you think!

Kites

Kites is my new favorite movie...even though I haven't seen it yet thanks to living in a cultural abyss. Just watch the trailer and if you agree, you are my friend. :)

These people are so hot it's not normal. Plus doesn't the main guy look like an Indian Bradley Cooper? Bollywood + salsa + Indian Bradley Cooper = home run!!!

The Secret in their Eyes

I am once again resolving to blog about more movies!! How can I not have blogged since February? I disgust myself!!! Anyway awhile ago I saw The Secret in their Eyes--after being nagged by Christy for several weeks. My sweet Amanda and I have a tradition to go to the movies together at least twice a year--for our birthdays. So this was my pick for my special day this year.

It's hard for me to describe this movie--especially waiting as long as I have to blog. It was amazing and shocking and interesting and more. WHEW! Just thinking about it again makes me want to go see it one more time. There was sooooooooooooooooo much about this movie that was purely fantastic!!

The thing that stands out most were the actors--they were all incredibly good and incredibly gorgeous to look at. The story is about a man who is haunted by a case that was closed 30 years ago....but he isn't satisfied so he returns to the scene of the crime to uncover the truth. Wow this scene was amazing...

I believe this movie won the Oscar for best foreign film and I totally understand why. TRULY AMAZING! I think it's still at the Broadway in SLC and I highly recommend it....but also be warned that it's a foreign film so by nature there will be some shocking things because of the cultural differences. It's absolutely worth the travel to a far away theater!!!

Valentine's Day

Saw Valentine's Day last Thursday and I thought it was just a really cute show! Overall, I'd give it an 8.

First of all, it was amazing how many people and story lines were in it. I thought it weaved together nicely and kept me interested throughout.

Love Actually is my favorite movie like this--where it unfolds throughout the movie of who knows who and how they are all linked. This one didn't even compare to Love Actually, but in general I like this kind of format.

Favorite characters....obviously Jen Garner--still totally love her!

Naturally, Bradley Cooper....he didn't get nearly enough air time though....

And what a surprise (because I've really only seen him in corny movies until now)--Ashton was so cute!!!

If you're in the mood for a cute, light story, this is it! I highly recommend it!

2009 Top Ten

I'm finally getting around to my favorite movies of 2009....it was a bit of a bummer of a year for movies but I saw enough of them that I found 10 that I liked. :) I'm not gonna say much--bit will link to my original posting about the movie if you wanna read more....

Honorable Mention: New Moon (hated the book but the movie was an improvement so I'm giving it props. I didn't blog about this one so I haven't linked to anything.)

10. Whip It: Never blogged about it either but I absolutely loved it!!!!!

9. The Hangover: Still laughing about this one winning the Golden Globe! :)

8. HP6: I love everything about Harry!

7. The Proposal: Best romantic comedy of the year! Gives me hope that it is possible to make a good RC!

6. Wolverine: My review pretty much says it all.

5. The Blind Side: Again, never blogged about it--must've been the holidays that got in the way. Oh how I loooooved this movie!!!

4. 500 Days of Summer: So clever!!!

3. Avatar: Such a surprise!!!

2. Time Traveler's Wife: This is the only movie this year that earned a 10. Actually Star Trek probably earned that too....but I loved this one for many more emotional reasons.

1. Star Trek: Still in awe that I want to own this--I never like "action" movies but this one was definitely much much more!! It gets the top spot b/c I am still shocked that I liked it so much!

Do you agree? Disagree? Did I forget any good ones?

Romantic comedies that suck

Is it really that hard to write/direct/produce a good romantic comedy? Is it too much to ask to create a heroine that we love and want to "win"?

A couple weeks ago I saw Leap Year.

Oh how I wanted to love this movie....which is automatically part of the problem because my expectations were way too high. With this movie, the fact that I had expectations at all was a straight path to disappointment. It had all the makings of a good movie:

• Amy Adams
• Hot guy
• Ireland

And yet it sucked. So sad. My best advice: if you are going to write a workaholic/control freak heroine, at least let us see a few of her weaknesses so that we like her.

And then I saw When in Rome.

Which didn't suck as bad as I expected it to. :) This one also had all the makings of a good movie:

• Veronica Mars
• Josh Duhamel
• Rome

Again, control freak workaholic heroine. The difference though was that they did let us see her vulnerabilities and weaknesses.

The problem with this one was the clumsiness of all the characters--which is always a pet peeve of mine. How many trees did Josh run into? Stupid!

Avatar

WHAT A SURPRISE!!! This movie taught me that it's definitely best to go into a movie expecting it to suck. Low expectations always get exceeded!

Having said that, I am sure I would've liked it anyway. For one, hottie Sam Worthington was fantastic! Plus it was the perfect mixture of interesting and different + romance + adventure + emotion. I just plain loved it and left with a big smile on my face!!!!

And Zoe Saldana is having quite the year, what with this movie and Star Trek...2 of my favorites of 2009!

One of my friends said Avatar is Dances With Wolves in space. Yeah, I almost choked on that. It's a fantastic movie--different from anything--and a complete experience. It was definitely the shortest 3 hour movie I've ever seen---and I was even sad when it ended!

Plus it's making movie history so you won't want to miss it!

This isn't really a movie review--more like a commercial. There's just too much to explain so you just have to go see it!

Gentlemen Broncos

Thank you Alyssa, for nudging me to get going again. :) And thank you for the following review!!!!

(Alyssa) When my sister told me she had preview tickets for Gentlemen Broncos, I was very excited to see it. I enjoyed Napoleon Dynamite and was very curious about what the same writer and director would do with this movie. Especially when I heard that it would be about sci-fi writers and sci-fi conventions.

The story goes like this: Benjamin Purvis attends a writing conference where he submits his story to a contest. The result—two other conference participants buy rights to his story to make it into a film. And Purvis’s hero, writer Ronald Chevalier, reads Benjamin’s work and creates his own (plagiarized) version of the story, which becomes a fabulous bestseller.

There’s a lot to like about this movie. Michael Angarano and Jemaine Clement turn in excellent performances as Purvis and Chevalier respectively. Chevalier’s dialogue in particular is very funny. As were the scenes revolving around the convention and bookstore appearances. This part of the story was exceptional.

Yet Gentlemen Broncos wasn’t a complete success. The person who has seen Napoleon Dynamite won’t be surprised to hear that there is a quirky cast of characters here as well. However, this group is not exactly endearing. The amateur director who makes Purvis’s work into a movie is particularly grating; the role seems designed to play into stereotypes rather than against them.

There is also a surprising (and unnecessary) reliance on bodily fluid humor, which is both excessive and not humorous. This detracted from a movie that otherwise could have made me laugh the whole way through. So the pattern was something like . . . laugh, laugh, ugh, gross, laugh, ick, laugh, that’s just not even funny. This made the movie seem more jarring than in probably was.

Still, there’s that great bookstore scene . . . and the stags . . . and the ending . . .

Why it wasn’t a four: Jemaine Clement, Michael Angarano, merchandising pillows, and very wide ric-rac. Plus, I would see it again.

Why it wasn’t an eight: Way, way too much vomit (and other stuff).

My rating: six. *Thinks about Clement.* Actually, let’s go for six and a half. *Thinks about the pillows and ric-rac* OK, six and three-quarters.

All About Steve

When it comes to this movie, the poster says it all....And thanks to Bradley Cooper, I was excited for this movie. And of course, he didn't disappoint. :)

But overall, it was completely average. I like Sandy--but I didn't think it was a shining moment for her. She's past roles like this. Thomas Hayden Church was great....

It had some funny moments but overall it was about a 5. I would recommend going to see Star Trek again at the dollar theater instead of this one. :) Or go to it for a few good laughs, but nothing else very memorable.

The Time Traveler's Wife

This is my favorite movie of the summer!!! I was most looking forward to it than any other--actually for over 2 years!! And so I was worried that I wouldn't love it--especially when I started hearing the reviews were bad.

But this movie was MAGIC!!! How often do we get to see a movie that we have the highest of expectations for--and then it overdelivers???? This was that movie for me!!

I LOVE Eric Bana.....it's not fair that men get hotter as they get older!

And I LOVE Rachel McAdams....she is probably my most favorite actress right now....

When I read the book, it felt it was extremely moving! But I can't say it was my favorite book ever because it was WAY too devastating!!! Seriously I just wanted it to be different!!

And that leads me to the reason that I loved the movie so much: It FIXED all the problems of the book!!!!!! It didn't necessarily change the ending, it just made it less devastating and more happy--it ended on a happy and positive note!

My favorite scenes were the ones where Henry would travel in and out of Clare's life, and other people wouldn't necessarily know. The book did this too but I'd forgotten some of the most clever and interesting parts. So good and so perfect!!
I MUST go see it again immediately!!!! I have no idea if people who haven't read the book would love it this much. But I loved it so much--I am giving it a 10!!!

Public Enemies

I think one of the main reasons I didn't really care for this movie is Johnny Depp. For me, he is like Christian Bale--neither of them would ever make my top 10. And I realize I am one of few females who feels this way.

And oh my gosh I just remembered, while searching for photos, that Christian Bale was also in this movie! hahahahaha That's how memorable he was!

Alas, I really didn't care for 101 ways to shoot 'em up! I loved the scenes w/Marion Cotillard & Johnny (although she is definitely still on my 'wait and see' list). I wanted much much more of the fabulous and romantic life of a bank robber!!! And I wanted much much much much MUCH less of all the shooting scenes.

If they would've followed my idea even just a little, this would've been one of the better "date" movies of the year b/c it would've satisfied both men and women. Too bad, so sad. I'd give this movie a 6.

Up

I often say I don't really like kids movies--which is silly b/c I pretty much love them all when I actually watch one. Up was sooooo cute! And I actually teared up several times--just a sweet story!

The coolest thing about this show is how the kids loved it (I went w/Zane & Zoey), but how there seemed to be at least as much matierial for adults! I thought it was super clever & enjoyable!

Away We Go

Yay I finally have the chance to catch up on all these movies that I've been wanting to blog about!

Awhile ago (probably close to 2 months?), I saw Away We Go w/Hill & my Mama. I didn't really want to see this but, well I see all kinds of movies so I thought why not?

I didn't really like it at all. I thought it was too overdone--like trying too hard to make the next Juno. But you can't purposely create magic like that--it just seems to happen by chance.

It just wasn't really good or funny. Well there were a few funny moments--like Allison Janney. She's always hilarious!And I also loved the part where they give Maggie Gyllenhaal a stroller and push her kid around in it! So awesome!

But really this movie was a disappointment--don't waste your time!

Whip It

This quite possibly might be my new favorite movie of all time.....I can't wait!

The Ugly Truth & Funny People

I'm not going to really bother giving my opinion on these movies b/c they were not made for me or people like me. I was reminded once again that when you see previews for a movie for months and months beforehand, it's probably an advertising ploy to make at least something back on a crappy movie (the ugly truth). If Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler cannot even save a movie, well there's a serious problem. This picture was the only really funny part of the movie. :)

But I digress from my original intent. Apparently people like stupid movies w/crass humor. And while there were some good laughs, overall I left both these movies thinking "that sucked." Indeed there was a bit of similar humor in the Hangover but in these movies it seemed out of place and totally gratuitious.

Except Eric Bana. As usual, he was perfect.

And this brings me back to my #1 movie gripe these days: why don't they properly show you in the trailer what the movie is all about? If they would do that, all these problems would be solved!!!

p.s. this may show my age, but I don't think Seth Rogen is funny AT ALL!

Julie & Julia and 500 Days of Summer

Just when I think there is no hope for the movie industry....I see these two completely fantastic movies a week apart. Is it really that hard to make a movie like this? Different + meaningful = fantastic!!! I know, I know, it's my own fault for filling my movie repitoire with all the crap that I've been seeing lately, many of which are still sitting in my drafts b/c I don't feel motivated to review them.....

But these two movies are a beacon of light!

500 Days of Summer was just sooo good. I actually started wearing bows around my ponytails (one more example of how my job comes in handy....I want to wear ribbons--good thing I have 100 spools to choose from!). But the "You Make My Dreams Come True" production number is what really stole my heart. Oh how clever and fantastic that was. I must ask myself---why don't more movies catch on???

This movie was a very solid 9!!! Can't wait to see it again!

Then last night I saw Julie & Julia. I was really very neutral about this movie, from the beginning. It looked cute but that's about it. And I don't know if it's just Meryl Streep...but I suspect it is actually a lot more than her that made this movie memorable. There were a lot of really touching moments--I actually teared up a time or two (and not just because the girl next to me wouldn't share her XL Diet Coke)!

Loved her sister. Loved Julia & Paul. I definitely liked their storyline better than Julie & Eric but theirs grew on me too. It was such a sweet and thoughtful show---I'd also give it a 9.