a healthy dose of reality

because of sicko, i'm moving to europe, or at the very least out of the u.s. watching this made me want to cry. cry out of anger, resentment, and frustration. it also made me want to cry because of the beauty and generosity of the human spirit.

i know people look at moore with a sceptical eye. this is only the second moore film i've seen, but both have driven me to unhealthy (no pun intended) levels of outrage and disgust...


WARNING: RANT AHEAD

i think it is hideous that companies will pretty much only help people in need as long as they get the advertising space and time. i HATE extreme home makeover for this reason. it is one big advertisement for sears. i think that the concept of the show is horrible too. let's see here... instead of using the thousands of dollars to build a few sensible homes for a few different families that are struggling, they build one unnecessarily huge house with more luxuries than most b-list actors have.

and for who? "my husband is in iraq and i'm too helpless to go out and get a job to support my 7 children, please build me a house!" or "i take in 10 foster children at a time even though there is no where for them to sleep and i don't have enough money to feed them, build me a house!" maybe some of these people deserve houses but not the majority. my point is that the people with the money only help out when it is beneficial to them.

i'm ashamed that i live in a society where people are so selfish and unhelpful and unforgiving and ignorant of others. and just for the record, i'm not claiming to be a saint here. i am a product of this society and therefore understand why some people are the way they are.

ok onto the movie. i think it is great that soldiers and POW's in gitmo are so well cared for, seriously i am. but i think it is absolute horrific that there are u.s. citizens who's children die because the closest hospital doesn't take their insurance. if we are paying out the ass for medical care then we should be able to go wherever we want or need to.

the movie does have some uplifting points to it. its absolutely beautiful and heartbreaking that there are people, that we have literally demonized (cubans), who will reach out to us and our people and help us live better lives and give them treatment and medication without questions, insults, or payment. this part of the film really drills in the message of how important we are to each other and that it is imperative that we set aside our differences and help each other. it really goes against human nature to ignore those in need and live selfish, isolated lives.

this will be added to my list of highly inspirational movies and if anyone wants to see it, let me know. i went out and bought it the next day.

sorry for the preachiness, but i needed to say it.

grade: A
-t

vision: impaired

i really don't have any excuses for this one, folks. straight to dvd? that should have stopped me in my tracks. but what can i say, i'm a sucker for the visually impaired, like myself.

this one was pretty bad. chris pines' character (danny) is blind (who'd've thought!?). for some reason this makes him un-datable. he's sick of being a virgin and of being blind so he signs himself up for some experimental surgery and enlists his superficial brother to help him snag the ladies. bad idea on both accounts. right before the surgery he falls in love with a girl (leeza) at his doctors office. she's indian, and apparently this is a big deal. she's in an arranged marriage against her will (aren't we all?) but still doesn't feel it necessary to tell danny this until he is head over heels for her. {insert unimpressive obstacles here} much to no one's surprise leeza shuns her cultures' age-old traditions and professes her love for danny. blah blah blah. what else is new?

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blind dating: c-

-t

boring, party of two, your table is ready

first off - sorry for the lack of posts. school and life have really prevented me from watching anything [good] lately. alright... enough with the excuses.

hm. no reservations. i had somewhat high expectations for this movie only because so many customers at work (the lovely Borders Inc. for those of you unawares) asked me when it was coming out on dvd, if we had the soundtrack, if i'd seen it, yadda yadda yadda. normally, as you might imagine, i only get a lot of questions about a specific movie, if that movie is a huge blockbuster thing (spiderman, transformers, saw 67 or whatever number its up to) so for this movie to spur the amount of questions i fielded i figured, why not see it?

little did i know that i should have asked, why see it?

aaron eckhart is attractive. catherine zeta-jones is beautiful. those are really the only two reasons to see this film. abigail breslin was a little too old to be playing her character and her character was a little too un-upset about the fact that her mother just died. the rest of the movie follows your typical rom-com format, and thus prevents me from caring. i'm not going to waste anymore time reviewing the same film i've seen a million times already.

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no reservations - c
-t

ten reasons to kill your self

ok im not going to spend a lot of time on this. let me start off by saying this makes it into my top 10 worst movies i've ever seen list. it might make it into the top 5. oh god this was awful. i really had to force myself to not turn it off. i kept saying to myself "it's going to get better, it's going to get better." nope in fact it got worse. and it continued to get worse. even as i'm writing this im wondering how so many good people got blackmailed into doing this. how!? paul rudd, rob corddry, liev schreiber, famke janssen and jessica alba? what did you all do?! did you all commit murders and the only witness said he wouldn't tell if you agreed to be in this movie? was that it? were you drugged? and held at gunpoint until you signed on the dotted line? were your mothers, sisters and daughters locked away on a barge to china until you finished filming?

WHY?!

the ten was in no way, shape or form funny (with the minor exception of the 'thou shalt not covet thy neighbors possessions' skit, that was slightly better than the rest) watching your grandmother fall down a flight of stairs is hilarious compared to this shit-fest. i think if you gave me the option of watching this movie again or having my wisdom teeth pulled again... well that was pretty painful... well given the two i'd have a hard time choosing.

i'm done. i've already wasted too much of my life on this film.


grade: d-

this little piggy

a james filled weekend! my favorite! penelope is a lot better when compared to other mindless romcoms. the concept here is similar and different at the same time. boy meets girl. one of them fucks up the relationship before it's even a relationship. they realize they love each other. past fuck-up by one of them rears its ugly head. they get over it. happily ever after.

in penelope, it looks like max (james) is going to screw up right off the bat. he kind of does, but this prompts penelope to go on a little soul searching field trip. she becomes a minor celebrity and is pressured into marrying a man she doesn't love. and i'll leave it at that.

christina ricci! going into the movie i thought she might be a little too old to play the part but she pulled it off nicely. there were a few time where i was thinking, "no 25 year old would say that. ever." but the movie was so charming that i'll over look it.

catherine o'hara was an excellent selfish, clueless, overbearing mother. she reminded me of those women who have kids only so they can dress them up like little dolls. it's obvious that she doesn't really love penelope because of her appearance and unfortunately treats her like a freak instead of letting her live her life.

reese witherspoon was cute. not wholly believable but still cute. her character didn't really have me convinced that she was really friends with penelope. she just seemed a little standoffish. i did like how reese didn't take the lead role in her own movie. i find that off putting in many cases. she's either being selfless and aware by letting another better suited actress play the lead or she's throwing a fellow actress under the bus, just in case the film bombs. i hope its the former, but you never know with these hollywood people.

james!!!!!!! oh how he plays a tortured soul. i just want to give him a big hug. and a kiss. and tell him to forget about his wife. ahem. movie review, right. i like how max didn't purposely fuck up the relationship by doing something stupid. he was really being a selfless man (is there such a thing!?!) and putting her happiness and future before his own, even though she was happiest when she was with him. awwwww. i could have done without the sketchy facial hair, but it was fitting for his character. i wish, as always with all good looking men, that he had more [shirtless] screen time, but i think he really owned it when he was the focus. oh and just a side note, foreign men doing american accents... quick! get the smelling salts!

i'm quoting m here when i say "you can tell reese made this for her kids." and i agree. it's an innocent romcom that reminds me of the simplicity of disney fairytales. ahh the good old days.

grade: b+

becoming lame

it's here. there's always one. always one sucky movie that stars a future husband (james mcavoy) i had 2 main problems with this movie. 1-anne hathaway and 2-the ending. i can talk about 1 but not [much] about 2.

i normally like anne hathaway. she's cute. she's the girl next door. she's a good actress... 9 times out of 10. this was the 10, people. the biggest problem i had with her? the british accent. oh god it was abysmal. i would compare it to obvious effort and minimal success of a white priest trying to give his sermon in ebonics. it was that bad.

there wasn't a whole lot of happiness in the film as one might expect in a romance. and the anger and indignation that hathaway "portrayed" was half-hearted. her overall performance gave the feeling that she knew the role was a tad to big for her to fill and thus she surrendered.

james was as a great as he could be opposite anne. i liked him as the bitter, womanizing "mr. darcy"- i just wish there was more wet shirt-ness, a la colin firth in pride and prejudice. i was upset that both tom and jane where a bit spineless and bowed so easily to the rules of society, and back then, they really were rules.

the rest of the cast was really unimpressive. i completely forgot that maggie smith was in the movie, until now when i just looked at the cast listing on imdb. the set wasn't very good, at least what you could see of it. every camera shot was really tight on the actors and you really didn't get a sense of where they were.

i didn't like the ending. i can't talk much about it, but i can say that if you know anything about jane austens' life (like i did... but forgot) you know what's coming. but that doesn't mean i have to like it. i hate romdram's that end like this. pppfttt.

all that aside, james is the only thing saving this movie from the c's.

grade: b-

she loves (and hates) you

man, it's taking me 3 days to write this review. ugh. and i still don't want to. i'm not sure why. across the universe was acceptable. i wasn't amazed with anything really, other than mr. jim sturgess' face and voice. swoon. i'm a sucker for those english men.

i'm really not a huge beatles fan. so i was doubly disappointed when some of their songs i actually know and like weren't in the movie. m informed me that the movie really focuses on the latter part of their career, but whatever, i don't believe your typical movie go-er is going to realize or care about that. i was also hoping for a "radical new take on beatles songs" but was presented with "yeah... anyone could have come up with these" versions. don't get me wrong, the singing was very good but i just wasn't too impressed with the arrangements.

songs aside... i loved the 3 lead males! jim sturgess, joe anderson and martin luther. acting and singing were both fabulous and convincing. their characters were deep and real, and i felt sympathy for each of them at at least one point in the movie.

males aside... i really really really didn't like evan rachel wood, or her character. lucy was a naive, vapid little brat. (very similar to wood's character in thirteen, although she was actually convincing there) she has a good voice but that's really the only positive thing i have to say about her and her character.

the rest of the movie (scenery, special effects) was either forgettable or impressive. i really enjoyed the "strawberry fields" bit, but hated "being for the benefit of mr. kite"

there is rarely a movie in which i find myself both loving and hating it in equal parts... across the universe is one of these.

grade:b

do you see what i see?

a movie with dennis quaid, matthew fox, forest whitaker, william hurt, edgar ramirez, and some guy named eduardo noriega? yes please! and mom is paying?? sign me up! vantage point is just like it sounds. it's the same 20 minute story told/seen from 8 different views. it has the same fast paced energy/terrorism plot/people and things aren't always what they seem feel as 24 (oh keifer how i miss thee!!), so i recommend it if you like 24.

dennis quaid is, arguably the main character, a secret service agent who's traumatic past makes him a liability in the eyes of the other agents, one of whom is matthew fox (huba, huba), on duty in spain for a presidential speech. william hurt is the president who is "shot" during said speech. forest whitaker is a us citizen with family problems who is filming the speech/aftermath who becomes somewhat of an admirable hero during the chaos. edgar ramirez and eduardo noriega, among others, are suspects in the shooting, with ethnic backgrounds ambiguous enough to appeal to the masses, and also to dis/encourage the feelings of the current political climate.

i won't say much else because i don't want to ruin the ending... even if it is a little (only a little) predictable. all the acting was excellent. i was glad that the events all took place in spain. its a nice change of scenery and a neutral backdrop for the film. if the movie took place in the us, it would have seemed preachy, or too reminiscent of 9/11, which probably would have made people shy away from the box office. if it took place in say the middle east, there would have been a presumptuous, finger pointing, nightly news feel, which really would've scared people away. so... good choice on spain.

grade: b+

luke-warm fuzz

shawn of the dead? one of the funniest movies ever. hot fuzz? not so much. i had high hopes for this film because it was from, and staring, the guys from sotd. the previews made it look funny and people i talked to who saw it in the theater said it was also. am i missing something?

parts of it were funny. the plot was funny in theory but not in execution. the cast and cameos were good, especially nick frost, who is now one of my favorite british actors. and simon pegg was excellent, which is no surprise.

i'd say the first half of the movie dragged a bit but it then picked up towards the end. i don't have much else to say about the film. maybe i missed the british humor this time? maybe one should be high while viewing the film? not sure.

grade: b

this movie has no grey matter

ugh. i don't know why i torture myself by watching heather graham movies. i have never seen her in a movie i liked, with the exception of swingers, in which she only had like 15 minutes screen time. gray matters is a movie in which a sister, gray, tries to, and successfully, hook up her brother, sam, with a girl, charlie. she does this, supposedly, in order to stop people thinking that they, brother and sister, have some sort of incestuous relationship, because they are so close and do everything together.

long story short, gray and charlie get drunk and make out on the eve of charlie and sam's wedding. in vegas. gray has never heard the saying what happens in vegas, stays in vegas, and decides that she is now a lesbian.

unfortunately, charlie doesn't remember a thing and gets married to sam. gray is left feeling confused and hopeful that charlie will realize that she really does love gray and not sam. oh the drama! the rest of the movie is even worse and doesn't deserve the effort it takes for me to write about it. come to think of it, none of the movie deserves the [minimal] energy i've put into writing this post.

molly shannon is the only comic relief in the film. but unfortunately her greatness can't prop up the film.

sissy spacek is one of the worst therapists ever on screen. and deserves a punch in the mouth for being so.

grade: d