Summer Movie Extravaganza

This month, my life has been, in a word, crazy.  Though I am highly grateful that things worked out the way they did, they have not left me a lot of time to blog about the latest movies I watched.  In lieu of making a post for each movie I saw, I thought I would combine each movie I've watched this since my last post (there's only 6) into a single blog post.

So let the fun begin.

#1 Killed by the Killers

Okay...well...my boyfriend and I wanted to see a movie, but we couldn't decide what to watch.  We had narrowed it down to Killers and The Bounty Hunter.  Because The Bounty Hunter was going to be on DVD first, we decided to watch Killers instead. So that's what we did.


The previews for this film made it look fairly comedic, however, most all of the funny points of the movie were ruined from being heavily exploited in both previews and TV spots.  So, in that respect, there was nothing to really look forward too.  Yes, it was funny, but you also knew what was coming, so it wasn't as funny.


Disregarding the previews, however, lets look at the movie.  Well...


1) It has Ashton Kutcher, who is slowly becoming a passable actor in my books, and Katherine Heigl, who I love thanks to 27 Dresses and The Ugly Truth.  The fact that I like these too performers greatly improved my movie-watching experience.  















2) It is predictable in a way only Hot Fuzz could be.  Obviously everyone is out to get them; it's just a matter of when.  At least in Hot Fuzz, you were supposed to be laughing.  With this movie, I'm not so sure.  I think the goal may have been to create suspense, but, honestly, it just had the audience rolling their eyes while they thought, "Oohh, another person out to kill them -- yippee..."  Honestly, the predictability was laughable and highly detrimental to the movie.  The sad part is that even when someone was not out to kill them, the movie still followed a predictable plot.  It was kind of pathetic.


3) Anyone see a copy-right law suit coming about?  Anyone?  Try Mr. and Mrs. Smith OR if you want to go a bit more modern, try Knight and Day.  Second verse same as the first.  All we do is change the names and slightly alter the circumstances and WAH-LAH, a new movie is born.


Despite these there issues I have with the movie, I loved it.  It was corny and cheesy and predictable and I loved every second of it because it was the first movie date that my boyfriend and i had.

#2 The Toys are Back with a Third Story to Tell

This movie is hard for me for two reasons.  

First of all, I LOVE the original Toy Story.  In fact, it is one of my all time favorite movies.  I can seriously quote 75% of the movie from memory.  When the second one premiered, I was quite disappointed.  It was alright, but it was missing the WOW factor created by the first one.  So, needless to say, I was nervous: the movie was either going to suck or rock.  

Secondly, about ten minutes into the movie, my mom got a call that my brother was being rushed into emergency surgery because his appendix had burst.  Since he was three hours away, it was a bit hectic.  After discovering this news, I was highly dismayed and distracted.  I spent most of the movie worrying about my brother: apparently it was a life or death situation. (Thankfully the surgery happened and they cleansed his body of poison and he's safe at home now).

Regardless, however, we finished the movie.

I will admit that the movie is better than the second one, but nothing can surpass the first one.  It was just too great to be surpassed.  

I did like what they did with the plot of this one.  It was relevant, unlike the second one.  I mean, some people have to be thinking: great, Andy has his toys now, but what happens when he goes off to college?  Will he take his toys with him?  If not, what will happen to them?

As sad as I was to see Andy give the toys up, I'm glad he found some place better than the SunnySide Daycare.  I cringed watching the children beat those toys up and I'm not even a toy; I'm a real live human being, but I would NEVER treat my toys like that.

Yes, the plot is simple and predictable and cheesy, but I loved every minute of it.  The moments I paid attention to anyway; I mean, I had my brother to worry about.

#3 The LAST Airbender Movie I Ever Hope to See

Before I start to review this movie, you should know that I am a HUGE fan of the Nickelodeon series it was based off of.  Seriously, I've seen the series completely through at least three times.  I love it.  It is arguably the best non-anime cartoon series in my life time.  So, needless to say, I had some high expectations for this movie.  My heart nearly exploded with joy when I heard they were turning it into a live action film.

...And then I saw it.

First of all, the name pronunciations ticked me off.  I understand that Shyamalan was trying to make the pronunciations sound more ethnically authentic, however, the name pronunciations were already established in the show.  If the names are previously established, use them.  Don't go from Aang to Ong; Sokka to Soaka; Iroh to Earoh; and Avatar to Aw-vah-tah.

Second, what's up with Prince Zuko?  Seriously.  I am exceedingly grateful that Dev Patil got the job over Jesse McCartney, who was the original pick, but still.  Where is his scar?!  If you squint your eyes, you can kind of see what may just have been a make-up mishap.  That scar is supposed to be huge and horrendous.  It's supposed to be so big that you can't stop looking at it.  That scar defines him.  Way to go Shyamalan.  You screwed up one of the series' best characters.

Third, along the same lines, what's up with Iroh and Aang?  Iroh is supposed to be this fat, lazy old man with fantastic humor and wisdom.  Instead, we get the dread lock warrior.  And Aang is supposed to be this goofy kid who has no understanding of responsibility, at least in book one, which the movie was based on.  Instead, we have the all-too-serious Ong, the kid who wants to kill everyone to avenge the Air Nomads. 

Fourth, I have an issue with Katara's narration.  In my English classes, one of my professor would constantly tell us to show him what we're talking about with detail and examples instead of telling him about it.  Shyamalan used Katara to tell the story, rather then visually putting it on the screen.  The worst example of this is the relationship between Sokka and Yue.  In the cartoon, there are two or three episodes showing that relationship grow.  In the movie, we have Katara, the worst narrator ever, saying that "Sokka and Yue became friends really quickly."  FAIL.

Fifth, the epic Avatar State moment at the end of the movie is so lame.  You build up to this epic moment where Aang is supposed to go crazy and obliterate the Fire Nation.  In the movie, you see Aang build up this huge tidal wave and then...absolutely nothing.  He drops the stupid wave and the Fire Nation flees in terror.

Sixth, Shyamalan did a terrible job in choosing what areas to highlight.  The earth benders being prosecuted by the Fire Nation is not that important.  Yes, Haku is there, but he appears only one more time in the series.  Characters he did leave out, however, such as King Boomy, Jon Jon, and Suki are all highly relevant throughout the entire series.

The thing that bothers me the most about this movie is that there was SO MUCH potential.  It could have been great, but M. Night Shyamalan screwed it up so bad. 

I've got one thing to say to you M. Night: you stand alone, just like Commander Zhao, because you wrote, directed, and produced the film.  And THAT is your greatest weakness. If you had let someone help you, they could have told you that the movie was crap before you made it.  Or maybe  you did have help and you fired them when they said what you were doing was awful.  Either way, the critics are right.  Your career may be over thanks to this movie.

One final piece of fail: thank you, McDonalds.  One of the toys happens to be a Kyoshi warrior fan; the kind that Suki would use to battle.  And who is on the fan?  Katara.  FAIL! You can't put out a toy for a character that didn't exist in the movie.  And, even if you were going to, you should have at least been ironic about it and put Sokka on it because he at least had some Kyoshi warrior training.

I guess the visual effects were nice, but that's not enough for me to forgive you, M. Night.  I need more than pretty pictures.  If you wanted to just base the movie off the series, you should have made it different, taking different details from the series and making it work for your movie.  You did it once with the water bending scroll.  You found a way to incorporate it without the pirates.  You should have done that the entire movie, rather than trying to cram twenty twenty-five minute long episodes into a two hour movie.

I say we just Hulk this movie and start fresh, forgetting that this movie ever happened.  Because the only way I'm seeing another Airbender movie is if it's directed by M. NOT Shyamalan. 

#4 Avatard

I will be completely frank with you.  I DID NOT WANT TO SEE THIS MOVIE! At all.  Not even a little bit.  It has nothing to do with whether or not I like science fiction movies; it's more of a "the previews looked stupid" issue.  Also, the creator stole the name and font from Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender series.


For reals, I saw the previews and nearly died laughing.  I'm not sure what it was, but I just found the whole concept of the movie to be silly.  It became funnier when a person I know got excited because the humans were the bad guys for once.  I stifled a laugh because me, being the cynic I am, wanted to point out that humans are always the bad guys. People suck, end of story.


Then, when the movie came out, EVERYBODY was excited and talking about how great it was.  Generally, if that many people think something is great, I won't like it.  Also, the more people like something, the more likely it is to become overrated.  My already negative perception of Avatar grew immensely due to this.  I managed to avoid seeing the movie for almost a year, but I knew I would have to watch it sometime because my family loved it.


I was not exactly thrilled to be watching it, but I thought "what the heck?"  I mean, my boyfriend was over and my dad was actually going to watch a movie with us.  Even if the movie was going to suck (like I thought it would), the company I was watching it with would kind of make up for it.  

So, the movie:  


I liked that it had Jake Sully narrating.  I always love it when I get to see exactly what is going on in a character's head.  Sam Worthington, however, could have put a bit more emotion into the character.  Everything he was was so monotone and flat; it was almost like he was bored with the character, so he didn't want to try.  That, or he's actually a robot.  I'm not sure which is true... 


The plot was very blah.  It wasn't terrible, but very much overdone.  You have one group of people who are "primitive" and living off the land, showing it respect and understanding the life within nature.  You have another group of people who are technologically obsessed and think they know better than everyone else.  They're goal is to enlighten the natives and take the land from them.  Wow.  How original.  How many more cowboys versus Indians movies do we need before we realize that this symbolism and analogy is too overdone?


I will admit that visually, the movie had a lot going for it.  It was very pretty to watch.  The problem with that is that I want something more substantial than a bunch of pretty pictures on a screen.


In the end, I watched it, but I was mostly bored.  I can see why some people liked this movie, but I just found it very blah. It was MUCH better than I thought it would be, but, when it was over, all I could think was, "Wow, this is a forever long movie."  That reaction may have been because I was tired, but I think it was also because I got bored with the movie and was just dying for it to end.  I think it would have been better if it were two separate movies.  My boyfriend suggested that they ended it when he jumps on the dangerous flying thing (the one that only five had ridden before) and let the second movie be the big battle between the humans and the giant blue cat people.

#5  I Found This Movie Less Than Despicable

Disclaimer: I felt like crap when I saw this movie, so that may effect my enjoyment and critique ability.

I heard many good things about this movie.  As my brother put it, "It's funnier than Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs."  Given that, I wanted to be absolutely dazzled by this movie because I found Cloudy original, quirky, and odd.  In other words, I loved it.  So, when I entered the theater with my baby brother (so my dad and brother could go see Predators), I had fairly high expectations.

Well...it wasn't nearly as funny as I had hoped it would be. I mean it was amusing as some points, but at others, my general feelings were "meh."  And the little yellow things were just kind of there.  I think the general goal was for them to function as oompa loompas, a la Willy Wonka, but it just didn't work for me.

On the other hand, I enjoyed the fact that the protagonist in the movie was an evil person.  Not only that, but it was a villain battling a rival villain.  It was a nice break from the standard good versus evil.  It was more evil versus more evil.

Also, the movie got extremely complicated and touching on an ethical level: Despicable has a choice to make: he can give up the dream job of a life time and change his entire reputation for three children he hardly knows OR he can take the job.  There are numerous examples I can think of where a parent sacrifices their own desires and needs in the interest of their children. It was sweet in that expect.

Overall, I will grant that the movie is cute and original with the premise of "may the best villain win;" however, it has an entirely too cheesy, heart-warming ending.  The movie wasn't terrible, but it wasn't anything special; it was merely okay.  

#6 When In Rome, Stay Away from the Fountain...

Can I just say that Kristin Bell is the cutest actress in the world.  I love her to death.  She can be sweet and unassuming (When in Rome, Couples Retreat) or she can kick some major butt (Fanboys and Elle in Heroes).  Watching this movie, it was hard for me to remember that she ever played Elle Bishop, but she did.  And her wardrobe was awesome.  I wish I had one like it.  Also, her acting was awesome.  She's just so adorable.

Anyhow...onto the movie!!

Well...the plot was fairly predictable, but it had it's own moments of fun originality.  There were just moments where the viewer was like "Okay, I know what happens next" and then something unexpected happens...usually involving someone getting hurt.  For example, you see the love interest, Nick, jump over a horse drawn carriage successfully (one person already attempted this and failed), only to be hit by car.  Comedic moments like these are what set this movie apart from other romantic comedies.

Despite it's predictability,  I still loved it.  Yes, it's cheesy and cute, but I'm a girl.  I'm allowed to like movies like that on occasion.




#7 Brownwood Lyric Theatre's Production of Annie

Yes, I am aware that this is a play and technically not a movie, but, in my mind, they are close enough.  So, let's start this review with a song.

"The sun will come out, too-maw-woah.  Bet your bottom dollar that too-maw-woah, I'll still have a frown.  Too-maw-woah! Too-maw-woah! I'll still frown too-maw-woah! It's only a day away!"  

Yes, I know it's probably mean to make fun of a little kid who probably hasn't acted before, but still.  If you were an orphan, brought into a family and about to be adopted, you would at the very least smile.  Even if it's the world's tiniest smile, it would still be there.  For this Annie, everything deserved a frown.  The frown worked while she was in the orphanage, but when she's told she's going to be adopted, she makes the world's biggest frown.  FAIL!  Also, for the character of Annie, they should have picked a girl who could be loud.  Again, I know she's a little kid, but I was sitting in the second row and I couldn't hear her half the time.  Plus, she seriously needed a better wig for the curly hair.  It was terrible.

Even if Annie couldn't smile, however, the other orphans could.  During "Hard Knock Life," I don't think there was a single child frowning.  They all had big grins on their faces.  I'm guessing that they REALLY liked scrubbing the floors.  They were adorable though.  Especially the girl who played Molly; even if I can't stand her mother, she was pretty cute.

Despite the children from the "we can't act" school, everyone else was, in a word, brilliant.  Hannigan was wonderful.  DWB was hilarious.  Grace and Drake were perfectly orderly and precise.  And Rooster...well...he definitely was my favorite.  He was just too fantastic.  I am glad, however, that I do not go to school in Brownwood anymore because the man playing Rooster was one of my history professors.  Seriously, I defended my Baccalaureate Thesis to this guy.  But there he is on stage, having the time of his life being goofy.  I will say that it made my viewing experience much funnier.

In the end, I enjoyed it; especially since it was my first exposure to Annie and I knew a few of the cast members.  Fiddler on the Roof (last year's production), however, was so much better.

Surro-got

Surprisingly, I really did enjoy this movie.  I'm not so much into the futuristic/ robots-have-taken-over-the-world movies.  I think they are silly and a big fantastical.  

Plus, I thought the previews for this movie looked a bit silly and lame.  So much so that I planned on not seeing the movie at all.  But, as we all know, life happens and you don't always get to pick the movie you see.  Sometimes, you watch movies because other people want to watch it and you want to spend time with them.

And thus, I watched Surrogates.

I really like the premise that the movie poster sets up:  "Human perfection...what could go wrong?"  Well...everything because humans were never intended to be perfect.  In fact, we are repeatedly reminded that we are far from perfection and that we will never be perfect.  So, that, in itself, is very intriguing; however, this was not enough to pull me into the theater.  It was too predictable: of course things were going to go wrong.  You are dealing with robots AND trying to be perfect --  you're going to screw up somewhere.

Honestly, I don't recall anything too striking about the movie itself.  It was just an action flick.  I watched, I held hands with my boyfriend, I drank some soda, and that's about it.  There was no WOW factor to make it stand out in my mind.



The only thing I really liked was the ending, when everyone is forced to become human again.  Disconnected from their surrogates, people are forced to actually live again.  They are forced to remember that they have limits and that life does suck sometimes, but you don't get to check out completely.  Bruce Willis' wife, for example, refuses to live without her surrogate because she would be forced to deal with her depression and face the fact that her son is dead.  Yes, life can hurt, but you don't stop living.

In the end, I side with the villain.  The surrogates needed to be destroyed.  Did EVERYONE need to be destroyed because they used the surrogates?  No.  But he realized that his creation was completely out of control and it needed to be stopped.  People need to live, not sit in a chair and live vicariously through some sort of synthetic being.

The Truth is Sometimes... Well... Ugly

When this film originally came out, I was unsure of what to think.  Yes, the previews made it look funny, however, I got very mixed reviews from people who went and saw the movie before I did.  A lady I worked with at the time said it was hilarious, but you had to have a twisted sense of humor to enjoy it; it did, however, make a good date movie.  A friend of mine went to see it with her grandmother and was a bit embarrassed after wards.  Apparently, it was not one of those movies you take your grandmother too.  The one that beats them all, however, was when my mom went to see it.  She brought my 13-year-old sister, a good friend of the family, and my 20-year-old brother.  They couldn't even finish the movie.  They walked out with ketchup-splattered faces, especially my brother.  Apparently, he hid his face completely and asked that no one look at him for a while, so he could regain his composure or something. 

So, essentially, that equals 1 yes; 1 maybe, depending on your company; and 1 so offended that they left the movie and promised to never see it again.  This of course made me deadly curious to see this movie.  I mean, how bad could it be that my mom, brother, sister, and friend walked out of?  How bad was it that this friend in particular was a bit embarrassed?

So, when the opportunity arose for me to watch it, I of course said yes for two reasons: the company was good and I HAD to know what made my mom leave. 

Well, lets start with the characters.

I loved Katherine Heigl.  She was hysterical, especially when trying to confront Gerard Butler about supposed lack of respect for women.  And, when she is around Collin, her supposed dream guy, her facial expressions were wonderful.  It was like "get me out of here" pretty much the whole time.

As much as I loved Heigl, I loved Gerard Butler's character so much more.  Sure, he was offensive and a bit of a womanizer, but he was honest.  Whatever he thought, he flat out said it, hence the title "The Ugly Truth."  I appreciated his lack of tact and general smoothness in dealing with people.  And, as much as I hate to admit it, some of the things he said were completely true, whether I wanted them to be.  It also helped that I know a guy who could easily have played Butler's character without even trying because that's just how he is.

My favorite scene was definitely when he took her shopping for the "look" to get the guy.  It was funny in it's own right, but at the same time, I could see myself in Heigl's position.  I would be completely lost.  It would have been nice to have someone show me what I need to know to get the guy.  And the friend I'm thinking of probably wouldn't have had an issue helping me find that "look".


In the end, I will say this.  Yes, the movie is quite a bit uncouth, however, it is not any worse than Made of Honor.  Just saying.  And it was pretty predictable.  There was nothing special about this romantic comedy to make it stand out from any other one.  Except for maybe the end...

She asks "Why do you like me?"  His response is classic: "Beats the [heck] our of me."  I love it. So perfect.

Stuck on Stick It.

I've never been athletic.  I've never been close to being a gymnast; my body just doesn't move that way.  I cannot, however, help but want to be of those girls and the way they can bend their bodies and move.  They defy gravity.  And I am supremely jealous of that ability.  I wish my body were that flexible and I could handspring through every room for the rest of my life.

This fact, alone, makes me love this movie.

I think the reason I love this movie is Haley Graham.  I love movies with sarcastic teenagers that are out to defy everyone and every convention set against them.  Other examples would be Kat Stratford from 10 Things I Hate About You, Missy from Bring It On, or Juno from Juno.  

What makes Haley special, however, is that the movie goes deeper into her character.  She's not just some angry, authority-hating, angsty teenager.  It goes into the reason as to why she is angry at everyone and everything.






I love it when movies go into the reason WHY a person is the way they are.  The reason WHY something happened.   I think it gives the audience a better and deeper understanding of the character and movie.  Most viewers, I believe, would appreciate that deeper connection.

Also, this movie is extremely visually appealing.  

Take the In House Championship: it was a kaleidoscope of girls in colorful leotards flipping, hand-springing, practically flying and some how managing to avoid one another.


Also, there is the scene when Haley first enters the VGA gymnasium.  The distinct colors white and red really make the characters stand out.  It's especially fun when Vickerman and Joanne are brought up.  The actors spin while their data is displayed to their left.  It's funny as it is amazing.

Another reason to love the movie is a dialogue.  Like Juno, this movie is full of sarcastic, conversational gems:

"I'm so sure I'm practically deodorant."

"Gymnastics tells you no all day long.
It mocks you over and over again.
Telling you you're an idiot. that you're crazy
 If you like running full speed towards a
stationary object,vaults for you.
If you like pealing pieces of skin the size
of  quarters off your hands... bars is for you.
Because the only thing more fun then rips,
is when your rips get rips. It's super sexy.
And floor, are you serious, I mean who doesn't want to
parade around in a leotard getting wedgies
and doing dorky choreography? It's delicious.
If you like falling, then gymnastics is the sport for you!
You get to fall on
y  o u r     f a c e ,
y o u r     a s s  ,
y o u r     b a c k  ,
 y  o u r     k n e e s  ,
& y  o u r   p r i d e   !
It's a good thing I didn't like falling
  I loved it."

and my personal favorite:

"There are things you wish for before big moments. I wish my friends were here. I wish my parents were different. I wish there was someone who got what was happening, and could just look at me and tell me we weren't crazy, that we weren't being stupid. Someone to say "I'm proud of you, and I got your back... no matter what."  

The final thing that makes this movie so great is the soundtrack.  Every note played is intended to induce a feeling in the audience, whether it be suspense, laughter, or tensions.  The scene that comes to mind the most was the part where Haley was on the breams during the Classics.  You see her straining and trying to do the routine through her tears and the audience feels that. You can't help, but cry a bit with her because you know her pain and what she's going through.  This doesn't happen because of the visual, it's the music that does it.

And, in the end, the title "Stick It" is not just about sticking the landing. It's about sticking it to the judges.  It's about sticking to who you are, despite the fact that the world is completely against you.  I'm good with that message.

"Geez, Banana! Shut your freakin' gob! Britt's trying to write an honest to blog review!"

Okay.  This movie definitely deserves a preamble-like clause of sorts.  The first time I watched this movie, I was a little concerned.  Several people I talked to at the time could not stop talking about how much they hated it, but I wanted to see it anyway.  I rented it with my mom for a sort of Mother/Daughter Mother's Day Date Night ... which sounds kind of awkward, but it totally wasn't.

Anyways, we put this movie in, not quite sure to expect.  I mean, it was up for several Academy Awards, but then again, so was Knocked Up (tried to watch that movie --  couldn't do it: way too raunchy).  

From the first chair through the closing chair, I don't think my mom or I stopped laughing.  It was just so funny ... much funnier than it should have been (I think we were both stressed out).  Either way, I think, when the movie was over, neither of us knew what happened or what to think of the movie.  I think we decided that it was absolutely silly, but mostly stupid.  


This of course didn't stop me from buying it the next time I was at Wal-Mart.  It brought me too much joy to not own.  


Okay.  Now to "shut my gob" and start actually reviewing the movie because *drop random race car* "THUNDER CATS ARE GGGOOOOOOOOO!!"

Where to begin?


This movie just has so many good things going for it.  We'll make a list of everything I love about this movie.

1. Ellen Page

What is there not to love about this girl?   She is absolutely adorable and perfect for the role of Juno.  I mean, seriously, you could not have picked a better person for this role.  And who knew she could really act?

I "honest to blog" didn't.

The last time I had seen her in a movie was X-3: The Last Stand, where she played the third Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat (there was a different actress each movie).  So, I already loved her.  I mean, Kitty Pryde played a big part in my life.  I mean, way back when the first X-Men movie came out, shortly followed by X-Men Evolution, I changed my whole image.  You ever see my bangs?  They look like that thanks to Miss Kitty Pryde.  Coincidentally, I also set a trend for girls in both 8th and 9th grade, earning me the nickname "Trendy," but this is all besides the point. 

The point is that Ellen Page is awesome.

2. The Dialogue/Script

In a word: BRILLIANT.  This movie would be so much less enjoyable without the quirky dialogue and way of describing things.   In fact, I would even say that this movie would not be a success without the dialogue.  It was a) funny and b) perfectly quotable.  

 Diablo Cody did a beautiful thing with this script.

To make my point, I will now insert several of my favorite quotes. "Honest to blog?"; "I'm going to go to Women Now because they help women ... now."; "Thanks a heap, Coyote Ugly.  These cactus grams stink worse than your abandonment." (I have a special connection to that one);  "Woah! Dream big!" "Oh! Go fly a kite!"; "I still have your underwear." "I still have your virginity."; "I'm a planet."; and "He is the cheese to my macaroni.".

And, my personal favorite: "I don't know what kind of girl I am."  In that one sentence, Juno captured exactly how I feel -- how I've felt for a long time. I'm not a typical girl.  I'm just me, but I don't know how to categorize me.  Sometimes, I don't even know who me is.  

Anyway, moving on.

3. Close up camera angles

There are three instances I can think of where I absolutely thought the camera angles were fantastic.

First, at the beginning, when "the sex" was happening, there was an extreme close up of Michael Cera's mouth.  He popped a TicTac in as Ellen Page's lips got closer to his.  It was just a very intimate shot. 

Second, the fingernails.  I like that the camera shifted to everyone's fingernails in that room.  Not only that, you also heard the sound the nails made tapping or scratching across various surfaces.  By the time Ellen Page runs from the building, you're ready to do so also.  You're panicking and you just need out of that building.

Third, watching Jennifer Garner clean while Juno is driving to her house.  You see close ups of her hands adjusting frames, arranging magazines, and dusting stair rails.  I don't really know why, but I just really liked seeing her prepare. 

4. The Chair

  

I love that the movie began and ended with a chair.  Not only did it create balance and tied the story up nicely.  Plus, by beginning with the chair, the audience is brought into the story through a memory rather than dropped into a natural beginning. 

Finally,  I like that after watching the movie several times, I changed my opinion.  It makes me think and I like that.

For example, the first time I watched the movie, I totally sided with Jason Bateman's character.  For a marriage to work, you can't shove your partner into a corner and make them conform to what you think they should be.  It is unfair.  And I definitely felt the pain he was in.  Did this excuse him from the divorce?  No, but it made sense.

 

The more times I watch this movie, however, all I think is "Bateman, you're such a jerk."  Even if Jennifer Garner shoved you in a corner, you don't ditch just because you feel like a kid and think you can be a rock and roll star again, especially when you have a child on the way.  That is completely unfair and uncalled for.  So, screw you Bateman! Jennifer Garner all the way!!

Blindness Leads to Insight

I wrote this review at least a year ago, but I wanted to post it anyway.  It was that epic of a movie.

The previews make this movie look like a horror flick about a woman with sight surrounded by blind people. However, this movie has both thematic depth and genuinely distressing scenes.

After one man goes blind in urban rush hour traffic, everyone who he comes in contact with gets infected with the “white sickness.”  The infected people spread the disease to people they come in contact, except the wife, Julianne Moore (Children of Men), of an ophthalmologist, Mark Ruffalo (13 Going on 30).

When the epidemic first begins, the government quarantines the infected.  Unwilling to leave her husband, Moore’s character accompanies him to the quarantine.  Soon the quarantined building is so full that people began to panic. The system of organization that worked at first is no longer functioning. 

The middle portion of the movie is probably one of the most disturbing things I have ever seen in my life. Think Holocaust prison camp made for the recently blind, i.e. human nature at its worst. People divided themselves among wards, and Gael García Bernal (The Science of Sleep, Motorcycle Diaries) declares himself dictator over all the wards in order to control access to food. With few valuables to collect, the dictator soon starts demanding more primal forms of “payment.”

This experience, accompanied by the inadvertent death of a woman, causes Moore’s character to rebel. She stabs the king of ward three in the neck with a pair of scissors and war breaks out among the wards. Soon, someone lights the food on fire, and the whole building is on fire. Forced outside, the survivors discover that their guards are gone.  They make it back into the city only to discover it in a post-apocalyptic state (starving people, trash everywhere, dogs eating corpses, people scavenging for food) where everyone is blind.  The “white sickness” could not be stopped.

At the end of the movie, however, there is hope.  The guy who originally got sick regained his eyesight.  This could mean everyone else could regain their eyesight as well, but the movie closes in ambiguity.

Now for the subtext of an already difficult movie. 

The title can be interpreted on different levels besides actual blindness. It very well may refer to the government’s “out of sight, out of mind” approach to the health issue.

The title also could refer to how people are blind to their own racism. Ruffalo’s character talks about how the king must be black because of the way he’s acting. The man in front of Ruffalo’s character, who actually is black, asks how he knows. Ruffalo says it’s because he just knows (for the record, the dictator  isn’t black). When people are blind, race really shouldn’t matter, especially when confined in a building with a bunch of other blind people, yet racism stayed unaltered by blindness. 

Finally, the title could refer to the fact that people are generally blind to what is important.  Blind women in the movie are still concerned about their looks. In one conversation between a man and a woman, the man asks the woman: who are you? The woman responds by telling him what she looks like. The man replies, no, who are you? This poses the question, how do we define ourselves?

So why can one woman see when the world around her has gone blind? The movie never explicitly says, but the news reports that panic led to blindness, blindness to panic. During the entire movie, Moore’s character stays relatively calm and unafraid, though emotional at times. She voluntarily put herself in a position where she was very likely to go blind, but what mattered was being with her husband.

With a difficult movie inflated with subtext, the director has to make some tough choices: what is relevant and what is distracting. One of these artistic choices is the lack of names in the movie. Unfortunately, there are so many characters that the audience could miss the movie’s point by trying to keep people straight. Also, not much is offered concerning the government structure, leaving some confusion as to the plausibility of events.

This movie is very harsh image wise. There is nudity all around, the rooms are trashed, the hallway has been turned into a bathroom, and there are some sexually explicit moments. Yet all these images are critical to the disturbing tone of the movie. There are some redeeming images too. When the radio still works, they find a music station, and as the camera sweeps across the people in the room to show how much they are enjoying it.

In the end, I am reluctant to say I liked this movie. I didn’t like it in the same way I like movies such as Finding Neverland or Mean Girls, yet at the same time I appreciated it for what it was. I don’t ever want to see it again, but there are images and ideas that will stay with my forever.

"Valentine's Day is about anger, disappointment, love, romance, mating, discretion, sparklies, commitment, I love it."

"Valentine's Day. It comes every year whether you like it or not. It's the day when your love life is put on display. Where there's always a chance for romance...or disaster. It can be confusing. And it can be complicated. But at the end of the day, it's all about love." -- Valentine's Day Trailer

I'll admit that I was slightly concerned about this movie.  There are A LOT of characters.  The last movie I watched like that was He's Just Not That Into You, and, well, I just wasn't into that movie.  At all.  Too many characters that I cared absolutely nothing about.  They were too exaggerated to be real, except for Alex, played by Justin Long. But whatever, we'll give lots of characters another chance.

Huzzah!! More Anne Hathaway.  I love her so so much.  But I digress again.  For my ode to Miss Hathaway, see my review of Alice in Wonderland.  And she plays such an oddball character -- well her job anyway.  AWKWARD!  So many accents -- ha ha ha. And Queen Latifa is such a good sport about it.  The first time I saw this movie, I didn't like this role for her (it was a bit disturbing), but upon seeing it a second time, I've decided it's just funny. 

 

And Hector Edlizondo too.  He was in The Princess Diaries with Anne Hathaway!  Yay for Hector!

Oh Taylor Swift.  I love her music, but wow can she be a ditz.  Hope she's not like that in real life.  I'm going to assume she's not because she writes her own song and hosted one of the best SNL's in a long time.  Taylor Lautner is just as bad as she is in this movie.  Not that he isn't any better in Twilight. He is pretty amazing in The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, though.  Ha.

 

 Hey look.  It's Bradley Cooper with his ridiculous hair.  I HATE his iced hair tips that he has in most movies, except The Hangover.  It was worse then.  He's the new Matthew McConaughey. Ick.  So Sorry, Brad.  Sucks to be you.

Jessica Biel is probably one of my favorite characters in this movie.  It's partially because I have watched her grow up, so to speak, thanks 7th Heaven. And she's just funny.  And she reminds me of someone special, someone super important to me, like one of my best friends ever.  So many girls, I think, feel the way she does: that Valentine's Day is for people in love, but pretty useless for everyone else.  And she's so funny about her annual "I Hate Valentine's Day Party."  "My best friend is CANDY!" "My closest relationship is with my BlackBerry, Thank God it VIBRATES!"

 

I feel bad for Ashton Kutcher.  He has to find out that his best friend is being cheated on.  that's awful.  He shouldn't be put in that position.  Well, no one should.  It's crappy.  And it puts him in such a weird situation.  But I guess it works out for him in the end.  After Alba refuses his proposal, he gets Jennifer Garner (a trade up in my opinion).  Not only does he save her from Patrick Dempsy, but he gets a relationship with her. 

The only other character I want to mention is Emma Robert's character.  I love her blunt honesty and frankness about everything.  Her grandparents ask what's wrong and she tells them flat out: "Well, my boyfriend and I were going to have sex for the first time today."  Not every teenager would do that, but she did.  I also like that she chases after the kid she babysits because she cares that much about him.  She's just a good character.





I guess the last thing I'll mention is the song Taylor Swift wrote for the movie, Today Was a Fairytale.  It was perfect.  Not only was it beautifully written and performed, but it fit the movie so well.  She's just amazing.  End of story.
This movie is amazing.  Just watch it.  Even if it is a slight bit depressing, it's still... realistic.  I like that word.  Valentine's day isn't always about love.  It's not always perfect.  For example, on one particular Valentine's day, I gave my ex the engagement ring he got me back and broke his heart.  Maybe that experience just jaded me, but I like that this movie covers all kinds of Valentine's days, not just the perfect ones.