Punch-Drunk Love

Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Writer: Paul Thomas Anderson

Starring: Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Luis Guzman, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Rating: R

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

"Here we go again" said every memorable sitcom character from (insert your favorite sitcom here). I am into a momentary escape from my unpleasant brush with adulthood today. Last week, when my parents and brothers were on vacation, (and therefore I was on vacation) I watched this movie waiting for my lovely lady friend to get off work. It was quite an experience, to say the least.

How did I come into a copy of said movie? First things first, I am a HUGE fan of Adam Sandler's serious roles. Reign Over Me and Funny People are among some that have displayed a less comic and more human, emotional side to Sandler. He's got some serious talent. So you can imagine when dear friend and mentor Justin Boccitto mentioned this movie on a list of Sandler's serious roles, then I had to see for myself. I found a copy about a year later at Mckay's Used Books, Cd's, Dvd's and More, in my old Nashville home. I paid $1.95 (American) and it could not have been better spent (Maybe on a couple Polar Pops, but I digress).

Short Synopsis: Barry Egan (Adam Sandler; Happy Gilmore) is a small business owner with maybe some slight mental instability. He runs his business with his second in command, Lance (Luis Guzman; Traffic) and we don't ever really find out how well he does at that. He seems to be a tightwad, though, so we can assume not great. Barry's sisters are always trying to set him up with people and failing, thinking that would make him "freak out" less, though he doesn't do it that often. I would give away what his "freak outs" are but then the movie just wouldn't be as fun for you!

Then, Barry IS set introduced to someone by his sister, Elizabeth (Mary Lynn Rajksub; 24), whom he finds intriguing. Lena Leonard (Emily Watson; War Horse...not to be confused with Emma Watson, who was only about 12 when this movie was made), is a very interesting girl and Barry, reluctant at first, gives chase, and gets her caught up in a mess, involving an antagonist (Philip Seymour Hoffman; Moneyball), but ultimately shows just how far someone will go when they are in punch-drunk love with someone.

I gave this movie four stars because frankly, it's a tad hard to follow at first. But, it accomplishes the same as other movies in that it makes you ask questions  (Why is he doing this? Where is he going? What is the deal with this guy? etc.). I thought altogether, however, that it was beautifully made, and that the acting was superb. Sandler and Watson all the way down to the smallest characters did a great job with the creating believable, realistic scenarios. Even though it's a four star, that's still pretty good. It didn't win any Oscars, but Sandler better win one before he dies (or my face is gonna hurt. Seriously). 

The important thing is: Don't judge someone's acting ability based on their niche, tendency, or passion. Adam Sandler clearly loves comedy, but there is something (a lot of somethings, really) to be said about his acting. I  recommend this movie. Period. Also, if you're looking along the "Serious Sandler" list, I also recommend Reign Over Me (co-starring Don Cheadle) and Funny People (co-starring Jonah Hill and Seth Rogen).

As always, please leave me your feedback, questions, comments, observations. The only thing I will not accept is grammar critiques. To answer the last reader question I received, which was "How do you decide which of an actor's "other works" to put by their name?", I put the movie (or TV show in some cases) that I feel people who read my blog might be most familiar with. Or just one that I've heard of or seen. :)

Feel free to ask me more questions, post comments, etc. Still working on finding a copy of the film that was suggested to me, but if you have more recommendations keep 'em coming!!

Thanks!

NAH

The Social Network

The Social Network (2010)

Director: David Fincher

Writers: Aaron Sorkin, Ben Mezrich

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Rooney Mara, Brenda Song

Rating: PG-13

My Rating: 5 stars!

I vowed to start writing in this more frequently, so to my million and a half readers- you're welcome! Anyhow, it's a blog kind of morning. Fourth of July at almost noon, barely been awake for 53 minutes. I watched a movie last night with my girl, and so me and my Quaker Chewy Dipps (yes, that is the correct spelling, direct from the box that's two inches to my left) bars have something to say.

I came into a copy of The Social Network via buy one get one free sale at K-mart. I bought this one, and got Easy A for free. I've already seen that one but I will happily review it should my readership vote in that direction. Anyhow, I've told enough quirky little anecdotes for one day, and it's time to get to what I thought of the movie. Again, I won't give away too much of the story, but if you really want to get it, you can look it up online. It's not exactly a secret. 

The Social Network is the fabled tale of internet game-changer Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg; Zombieland) and how he created and built the social networking powerhouse we know as "Facebook". I don't want to give away too much of what happens, but the origins of Facebook go back to 2003 when Zuckerberg's girlfriend, Erica Albright (Rooney Mara; The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), breaks up with him, and he creates an incredible "hotness rating" website, as well as trashes her by name on the 2003 blog-o-sphere, and let's face it, everyone knows that trashing someone on LiveJournal is pretty much the biggest 2003 slap in the face you can possibly receive. But Zuckerberg's "hotness rating" website that crashed the Harvard server received him some notoriety around the school, including an offer to help build "The Harvard Connection", which was a primitive social network for Harvard students only, geared mostly towards dating. Zuckerberg eventually flakes on this project for one of his own.

I thought this movie was incredibly well acted. It was clever. The story was told well. I actually learned things. For instance, that Zuckerberg and the original Chief Financial Officer Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield; The Amazing Spider-Man) were the only two listed as the founders of Facebook (meaning Zuckerberg did most of the work), and that internet innovator and creator of Napster Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake; Friends with Benefits) was a huge influence on Zuckerberg and had a major role in Facebook. The most interesting thing I learned, however, was that Mark Zuckerberg was a socially inept computer nerd who created Facebook for many reasons, but the main one seemed to be that he had to social network because he had so few friends of his own.

I gave this movie five out of five starts because I just thought it was a beautifully made film. The Oscars they won for Best Original Score, Best Achievement in Editing, and Best Adapted Screenplay were well deserved, and honestly I think that Jesse Eisenberg should've gotten a second look for that Best Actor nomination he received. But 3 wins out of 8 nominations really isn't bad. 

I would highly recommend this movie. Especially if you are on Facebook. So...everyone. :)

Here is the link to the IMDB page for The Social Network in case you would like to do a little more research:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285016/

and here is the link to the GetGlue forum, to see what the people who watched it most recently have been saying:

http://getglue.com/movies/social_network/david_fincher

(Once again, I have hyperlinked to the GetGlue homepage. If you do not have an account, do yourself a favor and get one. I could care less about any other networking venue, but GetGlue is one that is genuinely fun, especially for movie and TV lovers like myself. Seriously though. Follow me on GetGlue.)

Alright, that wraps up my post this time. I've already received a suggestion from a reader (but it's one I have to track down a copy of, first), but keep them coming! Please comment on here or Facebook (hehe) and make a suggestion for improvement or of a review to do! Thanks so much for reading! All 3 of you!

NAH

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Director: Michael Gondry
Writers: Michael Gondry, Pierre Bismuth, Charlie Kaufman
Starring: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo, Elijah Wood
Rating: R
My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars!

I know what you're thinking, and yes, I'm SO glad to have another entry here too! I've missed me too. :)

I watched an awful lot of TV shows in my 4 month absence, and will gladly review any of them for you if my two readers insist. Long story short, I highly recommend Community, Parks and Recreation, and Franklin and Bash. Anywhooooooooooooo

I watched this movie the evening previous with my brother Adam. It definitely made me think. I really don't want to give away the plot, but I will give a little here and there so I can give you an accurate depiction and about a thousand reasons you should watch this movie. 

The movie is storyboarded and told out of order, so I'll just lay down a basic synopsis. Joel Barish (Jim Carrey; The Truman Show) goes to see a special doctor (Tom Wilkinson; Batman Begins) so that someone he once loved and once loved him, Clementine (Kate Winslet; Finding Neverland), will be erased from his memory (after he finds out she had this done, too). The story primarily takes place when three of the doctors employees Stan (Mark Ruffalo; The Avengers), Patrick (Elijah Wood; Lord of the Rings Trilogy), and Mary (Kirsten Dunst; Spider-man) have come to his house at night to work on erasing these memories. There is more to all of their stories, of course, but I hesitate to reveal more in fear that it might cross into spoiler land.

What did I think?

Honestly, it was incredible. It was a tad hard to follow in the beginning, but those are the kind of movies that you have to stick out through the end. It asked and then proceeded to answer questions, just like a good work of art should. Jim Carrey gives an incredible performance (He should have an Oscar nod by now) and so does Kate Winslet, though we have come to expect this from her. The rest of the cast have shown us why they have come into their own as actors, and I got what I expected from them, which was incredible acting. 

The film, like I said, was a bit hard to follow at first, but I only took one half of a star away, for being a tad predictable. Once I had the story put together in my mind, and was listening to the characters intently, I pieced together the main plot. Not everyone will, though, and there are enough twists to keep you on your toes. It  tugged at my heartstrings as well, but kept the romanticism very grounded in realism.

Carrey and Winslet made a lovable duo, and Ruffalo, Dunst, Wood, and Wilkinson all added something great to the story. I expected something that was "supposed to be really good" and I was not disappointed. 

In short, I would highly recommend you watch this movie, but only in a scenario when you can pay attention instead of talk to people through the whole thing. I know your tricks!

If you want to find out more about this movie, you can see what people are saying on GetGlue, here:

http://getglue.com/movies/eternal_sunshine_of_spotless_mind/michel_gondry

 (I hyper-linked to the actual GetGlue homepage, if you don't have an account, you should get one. Seriously.)

Or, you can visit the imdb page, here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0338013/

My blog contains much of the basic information that IMDB does, but you can watch the trailer or view things in greater detail there.

Anyway, Thanks for reading. Please recommend me to your friends! And if you have movie suggestions send 'em my way.

Peace and Love,

NAH

Moulin Rouge

Moulin Rouge! (2001)
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Writers: Baz Luhrmann, Craig Pearce
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Nicole Kidman, Jim Broadbent, John Leguizamo, Richard Roxburgh
Rating: PG-13
My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars!

This is my final catch-up entry of the Archives Report, meaning this is the movie I've most recently seen. Amidst a lovely weekend, as part of our Valentine's Day celebration, we watched one of her favorite movies (which I own and had not seen, but we didn't even watch my copy), Moulin Rouge! I was skeptical when she told me she loved it, because I had heard mixed reviews. I'm sometimes skeptical of movies in this particular vein of art direction, as well. However, since they were nominated for a TON of awards, many having to do with the editing and art directing, I let my inhibitions slide away and watched it.

Long story short: I loved it.

In this story a penniless writer, Christian (Ewan McGregor; Star Wars prequels) goes to France and lands with a group trying to sell a show called "Spectacular, Spectacular" to the premiere show-place of 1899, Moulin Rouge. The group is lead by Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo; Super Mario Bros.) and he accepts Christian into their crew after he has proven himself as a writer. They need to make a pitch to Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent; Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince), who is the man in charge at Moulin Rouge, so they decide to go through his main attraction, who often earns money in less than "Christian" (see what I did there?) ways, Satine (Nicole Kidman; Batman Forever). A meeting is arranged between Christian and Satine, in which she mistakes him for the Duke (Richard Roxburgh; The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) who produces and finances shows at Moulin Rouge. Christian and Satine fall in love, even though the Duke also desires Satine's affections, and this love triangle turns into a topsy-turvy love story.

Again, not too much plot, just what I think.

Brilliant....
Freaking. Brilliant.

The use of modern music fit the show so well, and the acting (especially on the parts of McGregor and Kidman) was fantastic! I was really impressed with the versatility of John Leguizamo (though I shouldn't be by now) and Jim Broadbent was surprise departure from Horace Slughorn.

In this movie, I hated the villian, rooted for the couple and felt the real emotions of everything that was going on. It was well directed, well acted, and well presented as a whole. Incredibly well done.

Also, who knew Ewan McGregor could SING?! I was blown away by his and Nicole Kidman's singing voices. They were brilliant.

I can't find a word more descriptive than "brilliant" for anything in this movie. I wish I could describe more to you, like all the music they used lines from or the way the presented it artistically but I can't. So I'll post a clip of my favorite song medley below, and tell you to SEE IT AS SOON AS YOU CAN!!!!!!!

This is the best medley (in my opinion), The Elephant Love Medley, (that's a hyperlink to YouTube). Watch it and then I dare you to tell me you aren't interested in this one time Best Picture nominee.

Thanks again for reading. Please let me know if you actually are or have any thoughts (coinciding or dissenting)

Peace

NAH

Cop Out

Cop Out (2010)
Director: Kevin Smith
Writers: Robb and Mark Cullen
Starring: Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan, Guillermo Diaz, Seann William Scott, Michele Trachtenberg
Rating: R
My Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

When I had my previously mentioned "double feature day", the second film I watched was "Cop Out". I acquired it a Blockbuster that was going out of business, and I thought it looked funny. I was only partially right.

Bruce Willis (Die Hard), plays a cop, Jimmy Monroe, who is suspended due to a sloppy raid with his partner,  Paul Hodges (Tracy Morgan; 30 Rock). They are both suspended and soon thereafter, Monroe (whose daughter (Michele Trachtenberg; Eurotrip) is getting married) finds out that his daughter's step-father (Jason Lee; My Name is Earl), who Jimmy has a...dis-taste for, wants to pay for the wedding. Jimmy insists that he will pay for it and goes the next day to sell his prized baseball card, worth quite possibly millions.

The next day, he is a victim of petty theft, and the baseball card is taken from him in the store. Monroe and Hodges track down the foul-mouthed, idiotic thief (Seann William Scott; American Pie) and he tells them that his card went to the baseball-loving gangster, Po' Boy (Guillermo Diaz; Half-Baked), and it becomes something much greater than a petty theft case.

Again, I won't give you the whole plot, but here's what I thought of it.

I thought this movie had so much more potential. Tracy Morgan can be really funny but he was too over the top for his character. Bruce Willis was brilliant as always, but even he didn't reach his full potential. This movie had some really funny moments, some not so funny moments, and some moments that should've been hilarious but were skipped over, or drawn out too much. Tracy Morgan has a really funny scene in which he interrogates a suspect using entirely movie quotes, (one of which is Die Hard), but it doesn't allow enough of a moment for anyone to get the joke. Bruce Willis has a couple one-liners that are rushed, also. The only humor that seemed correctly timed was Seann William Scott's, and he didn't appear nearly as much as the other characters.

I loved Morgan and Willis' as cops, though, because as they struggled through their every day problems, they felt real. The problem came when they tried to heighten the movie to make it realistic AND funny. Both just didn't work out. I think the part of Hodges could've been better cast (it seems like it called for more of an Eddie Murphy type), but Morgan did a passable job.

All in all, this was an entertaining movie. Seann William Scott plays Stifler in every movie, but it works for him. I would recommend this movie depending on the kind of mood you're in, as it is definitely entertaining enough to keep your attention for a couple of hours, but overall there was too much action and not enough comedy.

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think!

NAH

American Wedding

American Wedding (2003)
Director: Jesse Dylan
Writer: Adam Herz
Starring: Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Seann William Scott, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Eugene Levy
Rating: R (times a million)
My rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

I had to get up early a couple of days this week, and since I finished Psych until the end of the month (the 6th season mid-season premiere), I had a double feature day. Feature number one? American Wedding. I heard it was the worst of the original American Pie trilogy, but I felt compelled to complete it since A) I own it and B) I felt it was necessary before the premiere of American Reunion this summer.

The Premise: Jim Levenstein (Jason Biggs; My Best Friend's Girl) finally works up the courage to ask now long-time girlfriend Michele Flaherty (Alyson Hanigan; How I Met Your Mother) to marry him. And through an awkward, inappropriate, slightly sexual way that somehow involved Jim's Dad (Eugene Levy; The Man), he asks and she says yes. They soon begin plans for their wedding.

The Problem: Aside from the fact that Jim has yet to meet and make and impression on Michele's family (and you know this will be disastrous), the problem can be defined in two simple words. Steven. Stifler. (Seann William Scott; Road Trip) He's in town as a football coach and gets wind of the marriage. Despite best efforts of Jim's actual "best men" Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas; Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle) and Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas; Rookie of the Year), Stifler does not stay out of the wedding plans, as Michele had hoped.

That's as much as I'll say about the plot. I'm sure you can guess the rest. Anyway, here's what I thought:

The movie overall was pretty decent. Some of it was really unnecessarily raunchy, setting the stage for the "new" American Pie films, while other parts of it were simply in classic Pie fashion. The American Pie films often thrive on comedic yet awkward situations, and that was definitely still the case, but the awkward was almost all sexual, and didn't give way to any genuinely funny scenes (like the trombone scene from American Pie 2). I have to admit though, there are some laughs to be had in this film, nonetheless.

The other of my favorite parts was what I like to call "The Redemption of Steven Stifler". Of course you can probably make your own inferences (if you haven't seen the movie) but I really liked the way that they can take that sort of abrasive, overly inappropriate character and still make him lovable, redemptive, and caring. This was a really big step in the life of Stifler, and although he hasn't changed...it showed a side to him that I have faith that (almost) every human being has.

What I didn't like in this movie (aside from the gut-wrenchingly awkward, sexual scenes that I would be downright ashamed to watch with my mother even home) was the exclusion of lovable characters from the first two films, like Oz, and the Sherminator. Because of the kind of humor presented in this movie, it seems that the writing (albeit, creative) was lazy. It also set the stage for those awful, awful spinoff movies like The Naked Mile, Band Camp, and Beta House. Most of which, I've seen, and most of which are slightly funny but even more excruciating to watch.

All in all, I simply wish that the writers had taken more care to make this movie more like the first two. Even thought the first two had just as much inappropriate humor in it, the genuinely funny and not at all raunchy scenes made them worthwhile. Only watch this movie to round out the trilogy to get ready for American Reunion.


Thanks for reading if you did! Please comment!

NAH

Oscar Edition Round 2: The Descendants

The Descendants (2011)
Writer: Kaui Hart Hemmings (novel), Jim Rash, Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon
Director: Alexander Payne
Starring: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Nick Krause, Matthew Lillard, Beau Bridges
Rating: R
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

It's been a little while again, but not as long as before! I have much material to write about now, and this is just the first installment. I saw this movie with my family last weekend. This movie has been nominated for even more Oscars than the last entry (5 versus 2) and I can see why it is deserving. George Clooney received a nod for best actor, the directors, editors and writers received nominations, and the movie itself was nominated for best picture.

I can see why this is deserving of the nomination, but it's not my pick to win. I haven't seen them all, but I liked my previous entry's subject better. Here is just a little insight into it:

George Clooney (Ocean's Eleven) plays Matt King, a negligent husband and father wrapped up in his career and selling his family's property. He is awakened to his family by his wife's boating accident, which sent her into a coma, which is soon alerted she will never awaken from. All of a sudden, he finds himself amidst his old responsibility, plus responsible entirely for his two daughters, Alex (Shailene Woodley; The Secret Life of the American Teenager) and Scottie (Amara Miller), and frequently Alex's seemingly ne'er-do-well friend, Sid (Nick Krause; How to Eat Fried Worms).

Delving much further would give away too many plot points, so I'll continue with the "review" part.

Even though the writers (or adapters, I suppose) got nominated for an Oscar, I didn't really enjoy the dialogue of this movie. There was a lot of swearing, and (though I'm the first person to advocate it when it's necessary) it wasn't necessary at all. In my experience, swearing can use proper placement to aide an actor in reaching a powerful moment. In this particular case, while arguably "realistic" dialogue was created, the swearing certainly wasn't necessary, but I think that might be due in part (or even, in whole) to the actors not needing it.

Obviously, George Clooney is brilliant in everything he's ever done. At this point it goes without saying, George Clooney doesn't do things that he doesn't do well. His performance as Matt King was phenomenal. In contrast to her Secret Life fame, Shailene Woodley was absolutely brilliant, and newcomer Amara Miller complemented her and believably portrayed her sister. My biggest compliments, though, are to two others.

The first, to Nick Krause as Sid, Alex's friend. At the beginning of this movie, I wanted to punch Sid in his mouth. He always said the wrong thing and had no business being anywhere near the family, but by the end, he was lovable, charismatic, and you understood exactly why he and Alex were so close.  For such a young and inexperienced actor, Krause gave a brilliant performance.

 My second biggest compliment is to Matthew Lillard (Scooby-Doo). He plays a smaller role and only has dialogue in on scene. I won't give away the plot point in relation to him, but since I primarily knew him as Shaggy Rogers prior to this movie, I couldn't believe what brilliant acting talent he brought to the table. Sometimes, it's the most commonplace, typical characters that are the hardest to play, but Lillard was fantastic. Beau Bridges (Max Payne) also did a great job with his undersized role as one of Matt's cousins.

One of the main lessons I learned from this movie is how knowledge changes your perceptions of people, and I think that message was a great one to put out there, which is why this movie is so great .It would be an easy 5 stars if I hadn't been so turned off by some of the dialogue.

Overall, though, this is a great film, and I highly recommend it. Just don't take your kids unless they understand the frequent use of the "F-bomb". But that's why I put the ratings at the beginning :)

Thanks for reading (or not reading, in most cases)!! Let me know if you are, if you have any questions, or if you just have something to add!!

Until next time (very soon),
NAH