Wow. I Heart Hannah!!

Hannah Takes the Stairs-

First off, kudos to writers/actors in this film.  It was all the way indie (yeah!!!!) and in a word .... engaging.  The film was written by Greta Gerwig (my new crush), Kent Osbourne, Joe Swanberg (who directed as well), but also lists the rest of the cast as adding adding additional material ( very cool to get props for ad- libbing or fixing lines!!).  This movies is very much low budget and shot on a dv camera....  so I automatically loved it.

Now about the story.... Hannah is a twenty something playwright working for a tv show developing a pilot, but really all they do is goof off.  She is a serial dater who calls herself "chronically dissatisfied". NICE!!  She likes the smart, GEEKY, goofy kind of guys.  These are in fact pretty much the type of guys who she is surrounded by daily.  She infiltrates the overrated no dating in the work place line with ease.  I must say BRAVO to her ability to break up and move on rather quickly!!!  The movie basically revolves around Hannah and her "chronic dissatisfaction" with men.  There is a bit of full frontal on both the female and male end of things..... just a warning =)   Oh, I have to mention that there are some beautiful captures of awkward silence between Hannah and her guys.  It almost made me feel uncomfortable.   I loved it! And the last shot of the movie is priceless! (almost makes me want to take up the trumpet).

Hey! I Liked It!

The Goodnight-

So, yes I'm a geek and spent my Saturday night watching movies..... alone.  It's ok people.  I'm alright with it.  Don't hate =)

I vaguely remember hearing about this movie a while back. Gwyneth Paltrow's younger brother, Jake, directed and wrote it.  I totally high five him for this film!  I really liked it.  It was odd and quirky (two of my favorite things!!!).  Honestly it was a little (I repeat a LITTLE) David 

Lynch-esque.  

The premise is a follows: Gary, a member of a one hit wonder British band (who now makes commercial jingles), is becoming disenchanted with his maudlin day to day life.  His girlfriend. Dora (Gwyneth Paltrow), is becoming boring and predictable.  One night he has a dream involving the supposed girl of his dreams (and mine), Penelope Cruz (does it really matter what her name is in the film?!?).  Gary becomes infatuated with this woman and remaining with her in the dream state with her.  He seeks out the help of the "lucid dream guru" (intelligently played by Danny DeVito), who lives his life predominantly in a dream state.

As Gary's life in dreams progresses, he begins to lose touch with the outside world.  His girlfriend Dora's (Paltrow), strangely enough,  begins to appear as Penelope Cruz's voice..... in my estimation this shows that he is not completely out of love as he thinks he is.   As his days are good and bad, Penelope's voice bounces between her own Spanish accent and Dora's.   Randomly one day while crossing the street Gary sees his "dream girl" on some bus billboard.  He's baffled because he thinks that he dreamt her up on his own...... he learns she's a model.  He confides in his best friend, who in turn surprises him with a trip to a photo shoot to meet "dream girl", who is anything but.  I personally wanted to hit her every time she said the word "cool" which was a bit excessive.  Anyway,  she and Gary go out for drinks and makes the mistake of trying to morph her into his imaginary girl.  Ultimately, she thinks he's a freak and leaves.  This becomes a reality bitch slap.  He begins to realize he can't live in his bedroom asleep and thus realizes he misses and loves Dora.  In the end having Dora become his "dream girl", but is it too late ?????

It's an unconventional love story.  I like a good oddball tale.  Oh, and Gwyneth looks TERRIBLE, which I though was fantastic!!  And of course Penelope Cruz is HOT (but in the movie seemingly shallow and stupid)... HA HA.

P.S.  A funny little tidbit...... In bed Gary is reading "Middle East Conflict For Dummies" ... love the irony. Well Done!! lol

EH.....

Charlie Wilson's War-

Ok.  Again, I only watched this movie because Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman were in it.  I am going to say something that may piss a few people off.... I hate Tom Hanks.  There I said it.  There are only three movies I have ever enjoyed his performances in: "Splash", "Big" and "Philadelphia".  I'm sorry.  I hate his changing hairlines,weight gains and losses.... everything!! But back to more important points (and by reading these points you can see how much I "enjoyed" the film).... Julia Roberts' hair was blond. What?  

I mean the movie was OK.  The premise was pretty good.  That being that Tom Hanks' character, Senator Charlie Wilson (a women loving lush), embarks on a plan to help solve issues in the Middle East completely funded by Julia Roberts' Southern belle riches.  Philip Seymour Hoffman plays an unlikely aid of sorts (again I love when he plays smug and grim) to Charlie Wilson.  To be honest I felt like I was watching Tom Hanks in the absolutely sucky movie, "Bonfire Of the Vanities".  I was not crazy about it and Roberts' lacked her usual spunk.  It was Blaaah.  If you disagree.... I don't care =)

Ryan Gosling is AWESOME!!

"Lars And the Real Girl"-

First off I must say, Ryan Gosling is an amazing actor!!  The movie starts off a little depressing because the audience does not know the story of Lars.  He seems to be anti- social.  We learn that it's because his mom died during her labor with him and his dad was very hard on him and seemingly reflected upon as an unfit parent.  His only brother (older) left for those particular reasons.  Lars becomes withdrawn.  One day while at work a co-worker shows Lars an online site that sells anatomically correct "life like" dolls.  Lars decides to order one...... and convinces himself that she is in fact real.  He is described as having become "delusional".  Oddly enough his town embraces oddity and also pretend (For Lars' sake) that she is human.  The journey with the doll can be described as an "emotional breakthrough" for Lars.  All the while another co-worker of his is pining for him and slowly Lars begins to acknowledge it.  Lars begins to grow and actually open up.  He becomes able to let the doll go via sickness and her eventual death.  With that transpiring Lars allows this new girl slowly into his life. 

I loved this movie. It was unconventional and beautiful.  I also LOVED that one of my favorite actors is in this movie..... Patricia Clarkson!!!  I love her, especially in the movie "Pieces of April" (ooooo Katie Holmes).  She's incredible.

-Here's a random funny quote from on of the town's people in the film: "My grandson's gay.  I know all about the gays." 

Just a thought....

My downfall with movies is that even if the movie completely sucks, if I love the actor/actors in the film, subsequently I will it and defend it to any one.  It's different if I think the girls in a movie are hot. I may watch it more than one time, but I will openly hate on it (none the less still giving props to the hotties).  There are some actors who can do no wrong in my eyes.  However, there are some actors who often need to earn my respect film to film.  Then there are some of whom I just HATE and will NEVER see their films.  EVER.  This personal theory stays true with directors.  I know this is a cheesy little blog, but I won't divulge names.  My DVD collection says it all =) 

It Was A Sad Movie Night...

"The Savages"-

OK.  I'm totally biased on this one because I loooove Laura Linney (and I forgive her for murdering the Boston accent in "Mystic River") and Philip Seymour Hoffman.  I especially love Hoffman when he's grim!  The movie is a bleak tale of a brother and sister who for all intensive purposes estranged from their mother and father from what what we can deduce was horrible child rearing on the parents' end.  They come to find out that their father has dementia and can no longer take care of himself or live on his own.  The ultra competitive brother and sister (they are both struggling writers) struggle with the idea of just putting him in a home and leaving or staying and taking care of him.  The flaws, inadequacies, and weaknesses of the siblings are revealed through out the duration of the film.  Though an excellent, realistic depiction of life.... the movie is so sad. The last shot of the movie is kind of comical though =)   Though it was a little depressing I loved it!! It was written and directed by the awesome Tamara Jenkins, who directed another favorite film of mine "Slums Of Beverly Hills".

P.S. Did I mention how much I love Laura Linney and have a huge crush on her?!?!

The Movie I Watched Yesterday...

 

Cloverfield-

Sorry, but this movie was terrible.  Although I can see how if you saw it in the movie theatres you might have gotten that nauseous feeling or thrown up.  The whole movie is shot with a DV camera (even though some of the special effects' shots were a little clearer).  The plot is that the whole action of the movie is supposed to be "shot" by a guy who had never used a camera and was supposedly drunk.  Then by the end of the film it is handed off to the survivors to show those who live.  A small sort of insignificant love story tries to play out between two of the characters, but fails in trying to establish anything.  The footage of the explosion of NYC was pretty cool, but the rest of the movie........ eh no.  It was a random giant robot alien thing (not sure if it was just one or many) that was the culprit.  It really just looked like the giant gremlin from the movie, "Gremlins 2".  It was a waste time :(

P.S. Time was not spent completely horribly. There was some eye candy... Lizzy Caplan, Lily Ford ,Odette Yustman and Margot Farley.  I wouldn't mind being the last person on earth with these girls =)