Eclipse

Let me preface this by saying: I LOVE VAMPIRES. and werewolves. and wizards. and faeries. and generally all kinds of fantasy beings and stories. Have I read all of the Twilight books? Yes. More than once? Yes. (Sidebar, I am reading Harry Potter 5-7 for the fourth times each, if this helps paint a clearer picture) Therefore:

Eclipse was AWESOME. Definitely the best installment in the Twilight Saga to date. I feel no need to summarize the movie because you shouldn't be seeing it if you haven't read the book (just my opinion on books turned into movies). I had the obsession and foresight to sign myself up to see the first two Twilight movies in a special in-theater deal before being among the first to see Eclipse at midnight. Best decision ever? Needless to say, there is nothing that could have made me not like this movie. Nay, LOVE this movie.

I concede that many people do not share my passion for all things Twilight (Team Jacob!), and that's ok. But, you probably shouldn't see this movie if that is the case. You know who you are that will be seeing this movie, regardless of what I or anyone says about it, and you know who you aren't that won't. I, for one, was delightedly pleased with Eclipse and cannot WAIT for Breaking Dawn part I sometime next year. I will be there at midnight yet again, screaming and clapping and cheering, especially when Jacob isn't wearing a shirt, which lucky for us all, is generally the whole time.

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Emily

Black Dahlia

Well, I don't have much to say about this movie except that I got bored after the first 45 minutes and stopped watching it. Its some weird interpretation of an unsolved murder in LA in the 1940s. Josh Hartnett's character is weird, Hillary Swank's character is weird, Scarlett Johansson's character is weird. I don't recommend it.

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-Emily

Knight and Day

Knight and Day, the new Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz film opened today and I'll admit the previews reeled me in, but I wasn't sure what to expect. Lucky for me, the previews didn't lie. This is a really fun and enjoyable movie. Its got way more laughs that I was expecting, its got totally, mindlessly great action, its got a dabble of romance and its got Tom. I love Tom Cruise. I tried to hate him during his mentally unstable, jumping on couches phase, but I just dadgummit like him. He can deliver the funny line, he can run and unflinchingly fling himself off high buildings/cliffs/vehicles, and he looks exactly like he did in Top Gun 25 years later.

Unfortunately for Cameron, Tom's magical inability to age makes her look a lot older than she is. They didn't really have the love connection on film I was hoping for, but I can totally believe that any girl would fall in love with a thrill-seeking, spy with Tom's face. Therefore, it was pretty easy to go with the outlandish character that Tom plays and the attraction Cameron's character feels for him.

It was also surprisingly easy to go along with the ridiculously implausible story line and impossible stunts. Hes a spy, shes a regular girl and you spend the movie trying to figure out who is good and who is bad. It was just a FUN movie, not overly complex so don't challenge yourself, just see it to enjoy it. So if you are looking for a nice distraction and entertaining movie, this one is definitely worth seeing. Did I mention that Tom Cruise is in it?

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-Emily

Harsh Times

Do you remember that one guy from high school or college that was always just too crazy to hang out with? Not just getting into trouble, but actively seeking it? Christian Bale is that guy in the unnerving drama, Harsh Times, out on DVD and rental.

Bale is a former Army Ranger, just back from a tour in the Middle East and looking for law enforcement work in his native L.A. He spends his mornings drinking, smoking weed and occassionally holding up rivals at gunpoint and uses his afternoons to take certifications courses for various law enforcement agencies. Neither Bale nor his friends see anything wrong or unusual with this way of living.

Bale, who has become one of my favorite actors, does a great job of adopting a certain type of Mexi-Cali swagger and lingo. The language and backdrops seem genuinely authentic, adding to the drama.

One of the best parts of the film is simply watching Bale get into his character and the intensity that he has. He verges right on the edge of complete psychological disintegration for nearly the entire film. Indeed, his personality dominates everything in the film. His friends do what he wants, his enemies usually end up doing what he wants, and woe to the one's who get in his way. This best part of the movie is also the most unsettling for me. The movie doesn't give any hints as to what will happen, but you just KNOW that things can't end well for Bale or his crew. Someone has to pay for the lifestyle that they lead. He's just too self-destructive for any other outcome.

Everything about the movie seemed well-done, but still, I can't say that I enjoyed it. Perhaps it's because I was just uneasy the entire time, just waiting for Bale to finally lose it completely and descend into madness. If you enjoy drama-tragedies then you might enjoy this movie. I'll wait for Bale's next role.

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- Stuart -

Toy Story 3

Earlier this week, I criticized Hollywood for its lack of new, creative ideas (see Get Him to the Greek).

Now, I will make a list of all the studios that are allowed to make as many prequels, sequels, remakes, and spin-offs as they want:

PIXAR

The third installment of the franchise that began Pixar’s unprecedented string of critically acclaimed hits, Toy Story 3, was released this week. To the surprise of no one, it is a fantastic film.

Our final adventure with Woody, Buzz, and the gang begins with Andy (the owner of the toys that serve as the focal point of the films) preparing to head to college. The toys are anxious and a bit frightened about what their futures will hold.

Does Andy still care about them? Will they ever be played with again? Or, worst of all, will they be thrown away?

Like most Pixar films, there is plenty here for children and adults. In fact, Toy Story 3 might have more meaning for adults than children. Not as funny as The Incredibles or as heartfelt as Up, Toy Story 3 will pull at the heartstrings of any parent who has watched a child leave for college or any person who has lost a dear friend.

Everyone should go see Toy Story 3 (and for that matter every other Pixar film to date). The movie has humor, suspense, action, and heart and is a fitting end to the first franchise from the best studio in Hollywood.

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- Kevin

Get Him to the Greek

Who is getting tired of sequels and remakes?

Hollywood to the rescue with a novel idea: a feature film SPIN-OFF.

Essentially, Get Him to the Greek is a spin-off from the hysterical Jason Segel comedy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall. It centers on Sarah Marshall character Aldous Snow, a sex-addict, drug-addict rock star played by Russell Brand. The other main character, Aaron Green, played by Jonah Hill, is quite similar to Jonah Hill’s character in Sarah Marshall (he is still a fan boy obsessed with Aldous Snow, only now he works for a record label in LA rather than a hotel in Hawaii). Did that make your head hurt?

I loved Sarah Marshall, so I figured I would give this movie a shot. Going in, I had several reservations. 1) Could Russell Brand’s shtick as Aldous Snow remain entertaining for more than fifteen minutes? 2) Would the movie have any plot? 3) Would this be the start of more Hollywood spin-offs?

Reservation 1: For the most part, I enjoyed the movie and never got the feeling that it was a comedy sketch being forced into a full-length feature. The most surprising reason why the movie held my attention, Sean Shawn Jean John P. Puff Daddy Diddy Honey Combs. When he was on screen, he commanded attention, and I have a feeling that we are going to be seeing Mr. Combs in a lot more movies from this point forward.

Reservation 2: The movie had a decent plot. It is about taking chances, finding yourself, and recognizing the importance of relationships. That being said, there are some strange scenes where the comedy is lacking and the characters become unlikable (such as during an awkward three-way).

Reservation 3: It seems that we are on the cusp of Hollywood’s new way to avoid creativity: the spin-off. I actually enjoy remakes and sequels (for the most part), but am wary of adding another way to avoid new ideas. I want to see something original, but if the studios have their way, it looks like we are in store for more retreaded material. For example, it sounds like the Tom Cruise-Les Grossman experience will be coming our way in full feature format sooner rather than later.

In the end, the movie was enjoyable. It had funny and heartfelt moments along with unfunny and awkward ones. If you were a big fan of Forgetting Sarah Marshall or have an affinity for Puffy, I would definitely recommend it. Otherwise, I would probably wait and catch it on DVD.

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- Kevin

Revolutionary Road

Following in the footsteps of my Ode to Leo, I'd like to talk about another of his movies that I just recently watched. I am a huge Sam Mendes fan, so I can't believe I didn't catch this one in the theaters. However, upon watching it, I am glad I waited to see it. This is my least favorite Mendes film. Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio deliver great performances as April and Frank Wheeler, although it is neither one's best film. (Note, Winslet did win the Golden Globe for it)

The story follows a young couple in the 1950s as they struggle through mundane suburban life. They think of themselves as different and unique but are forced to come to grips with the ordinariness that is their lives. It is the picture of an unhappy marriage and an unhappy life. Neither Frank nor April has much in the way of positive attributes, and it was hard for me to relate to, or empathize with, either one of the philandering, self centered, moral-less, depressing main characters.

Mendes tends to make films that show a dark side of life, and unlike American Beauty which succeeded with magnificence, Revolutionary Road fell far short. I can see why the Academy jilted the movie of a best picture nomination, it was just flat out depressing. It was not depressing in a profound or poignant way, just a sad and draining way. Life just can't possibly be that terrible, and I sure don't want to spend two hours trying to being convinced that it might be.

Revolutionary Road wasn't totally a bad movie. It was interesting in many ways, but it was also totally unoriginal in many ways. A distraught portrayal of marriage in the '50s? Not a new concept. A husband and wife that fight all the time? Also not new. A tragic end to tragic characters? Certainly not new, and definitely not fun to watch. Well acted? Absolutely. Well filmed? Yes.

In sum, fans of Mendes might find something to like in the film. Those who tend to like dark movies might find something to like in the film as well. However, as I can claim both of these tendencies, I could not find much to like in Revolutionary Road.

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-Emily

Sex and the City 2

Let me make a couple claims before I begin this review. Yes, I watched Sex and the City the show, although not for many years later on DVD. Yes, I saw the first Sex and the City movie. However, I am not now, nor have I ever been the die-hard fan that many people are. With that said, I appreciate that there will be people who disagree with this review (not movie critics though).

Sex and the City 2 was just not a great movie. It was barely even a good movie. Come on, girls, lets be honest. The show had original and relate-able stories and characters; stories about love, friendship, adversity, and hope. I loved the way the show portrayed the difficulty of being a working woman, learning to balance men, friends, work, play, fashion, heck even cancer. It was a GREAT show. They never should have even made them into movies to begin with (although, I did like the first movie just fine). But, point remains, the show should have been allowed to stand on its own feet, to be the innovative series that it was.

The movies have turned the series into exactly what people criticized the show for without seeing any episodes; vapid and empty. Sure, its got pretty colors and lots of nice clothes (although, seriously, what was with that stupid headband at the wedding that Carrie was wearing??) but it had nothing else, it didn't even have a good story. At least the first movie had a decent story line. The second movie was just a sparkly advertisement for Abu Dhabi, !hello! I want New York!! Sex and the City 2 follows Miranda as she quits her job (totally out of character for Miranda, the hardworking, committed lawyer); Charlotte as she deals with the difficulty of raising children (always her dream in the show, always the optimist now the reluctant realist); Samantha as she attempts to subdue menopause and still find the hottest man in the room (too bad she can't just embrace her age at this point like she did with cancer); and as always Carrie in her self-complicated relationship with Big (which she, after all these years, still can't be satisfied with).

Sex and the City 2 just totally missed the boat for me. There was a glimmering moment when Miranda and Charlotte are discussing the trials and hardships of motherhood that had me hearkening back to the Sex and the City days of old; days of depth and warmth and the struggles that made these four characters so loved by those who watched them. Aside from this and a few other scenes (NOT the entire wedding part, NOT Liza Minnelli, NOT the totally unbelievable part with Carrie and Aiden, NOT the Aladdin version of the Middle East) there was little that remains from the show; little that was worth watching.

If you are a Sex and the City fan, then I'm sure if you haven't already seen it, you will regardless of what anyone says about it. But for anyone else, don't feel like you've missed much, just rewatch the show instead. I just hope they don't make another movie.

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-Emily

An Ode to Leo

Since I was a young girl, I have had a deep and creepy love of Leonardo DiCaprio. Did I make a scrapbook of magazine pictures of him when I was 13? Maybe. Do I still secretly hope that he will stop dating supermodels and I'll run into him on a Hollywood boulevard and he'll sweep me off me feet? Yes. I told you: creepy. However, I also believe Leo to be one of the finest actors of our generation and would therefore like to discuss some of my favorite Leo films.

Lets start with the first movie to capture my heart: William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet. I laughed, I cried (really, really, nose-dripping, red-eye, sobbing crying) and I was completely enamored with this movie at the age of 12. I saw it over and over again, bought the (still awesome) soundtrack and memorized every word. I still watch this movie several times a year. I love everything about this movie.

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Jump forward a mere year to Leonardo's true breakout role in Titanic. I, like so many other females, saw this movie repeatedly in the theaters. Fresh faced, winsome Leo once again had me obsessing over a movie. He was wonderful as Jack, as Kate Winslet was to Rose, and Billy Zane was to Cal. James Cameron created a larger than life movie about a truly tragic event that for many years held the prize for highest-grossing film of all time with $1.8 billion worldwide sales (I can't totally begrudge Avatar for claiming that title now, which grossed $2.5 billion worldwide). It also won 11 out of 14 Academy Awards. One award which was not won was Best Actor for Leonardo, which he has still not been awarded, a crying shame but it's only a matter of time. If you did not see Titanic or if you did not like Titanic, you are an idiot.

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Next up is one of my favorite movies of all time, The Departed. Leonardo began breaking out of his pretty-boy persona after Titanic fame, but it was The Departed which confirmed Leo as a remarkable, serious actor loved by both males and females. This movie, which won Best Picture and Best Director (yay Marty), was so original, so shocking, and so awesome that I can't possibly do it justice here. Great acting, great story, great soundtrack. It is GREAT. It is appropriately violent (it's the mafia, if people aren't dying it's a sissy, pansy movie), but perhaps too violent for some tastes (not mine). If I was stranded on a desert island and could only take 5 movies, this one would be in that list.

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I am skipping many other great movies and roles by Leo, but to hit the highlights, I must do so. The next great role for DiCaprio was in Shutter Island, which came out last year. The previews belied a horror film and almost had me convinced not to see it, but I am so glad I man-ed up and went to see it in theaters. This movie is not a horror movie. It is dark and mysterious and keeps you on the edge of your seat. There were some moments of surprise, but nothing that I couldn't handle (and I do NOT do scary). It's hard to talk about this movie without giving away too much, if you haven't seen it. It's about two FBI detectives who go to an island prison for the criminally insane. I knew the end was going to throw me, but I couldn't guess how. This is a definite must-see movie with a delightfully original story and angle. Leonardo is fantastic in this role, yet again, and further solidified himself to gritty, hardened man-actor.

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To conclude, I'd like to talk about HOW EXCITED I am to see Leonardo DiCaprio's next movie, Inception. Directed by Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Prestige, Memento) in what he (Nolan) claims to be his best film yet. No one knows much about this movie except that it's about people who get information from people's dreams. It looks like the Matrix meets Tom Clancy meets James Bond meets the Bourne Identity meets Requiem for a Dream meets awesome. Opens July 16.

I give it a preemptive
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-Emily

Step Brothers

Ahhhhh, the buddy comedy. Basic premise: put two entertaining people together with a script that allows them to showcase their talents and hope for the best. In Dumb & Dumber, Jeff Daniels and Jim Carrey did it well. In Envy, Jack Black and Ben Stiller did it horribly and found themselves headed straight to DVD. As Kurt Vonnegut would say, “So it goes.”

Step Brothers is classic buddy comedy fair. Fortunately for viewers, the formula works.

Chewbacca masks. Karate. Sleepwalking. Boats and Hoes.

These are just a few of the things in store for people who go looking for laughs in the third film from the creative team behind Anchorman and Talladega Nights. The movie stars Will Ferrell as Brennan Huff and John C. Reilly as Dale Doback. Brennan and Dale are middle-aged men who never left home and still live with their respective single parents (Brennan with his mother and Dale with his father). When Brennan’s mom, played by Mary Steenburgen and Dale’s dad played by Richard Jenkins, meet, sparks fly and they are quickly married, making Brennan and Dale . . . wait for it . . . step brothers.

Like other Will Ferrell movies, the script and plot are uneven, but if you sit down to watch Step Brothers for those reasons you are (insert Dan Rather colloquialism here).

Much of the movie functions as a framework for Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly to play an oft-entertaining game of slapstick, adlib, and one-upmanship. Add in scene stealing turns by Richard Jenkins and Adam Scott as Brennan’s obnoxious, cocky brother Derrick and the movie delivers more hits than misses. That being said, the movie loses steam two-thirds of the way through and stumbles to the finish.

Step Brothers is at its best when (1) Brennan and Dale’s mutual detestation leads to pranks and physical confrontation and (2) when Brennan and Dale realize that they “just became best friends.” Other memorable scenes seem to be forced into the plot solely for their outrageousness.

Here is an imaginary conversation that led to one of these scenes:

WF: The rumble between the newscasters in Anchorman was really funny, but you know what would be funnier?

JCR: No, what?

WF: A rumble on a playground between two grown men and a bunch of school children!

I would definitely recommend Step Brothers to anyone who enjoys over-the-top adult comedy. There is nothing groundbreaking about the movie, but it is full of laughs. More importantly, Step Brothers has great rewatchability. With one-liners aplenty, it takes multiple viewings to truly appreciate classic lines like John C. Reilly’s proclamation to Will Ferrell that his “voice is like a combination of Fergie and Jesus.”

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- Kevin

Zombieland

I found Zombieland to be a creative, albeit strange, movie worth some good laughs. I wasn't sure I would be able to make it past the first few scenes of zombies eating people but as it turns out, you kind of get used to the zombies. If you can, power through the first 10 minutes and hold off on any judgments. Zombieland stars the up-and-coming Michael Cera wannabe, Jesse Eisenberg. Co-starring is Woody Harrelson, in possibly one of his funniest roles as Tallahassee. (Each character is called by the city they are from).

The movie follows a handful of humans, Eisenberg, Harrelson, Emma Stone (better known as Jules from Superbad), and Abigail Breslin (of Little Miss Sunshine fame) who have survived the zombie apocalypse as they journey to Pacific Playland in LA (an imaginary amusement park where they believe there are no zombies). There are lots of zombie killings along the way, but also a solid and relate-able story. Eisenberg, as Columbus, narrates the film and adds in his rules for survival which are both funny and quotable. (I always love a quotable movie). Watch out for maybe the best cameo ever midway through the movie.

If you like strange, dry, and dark humor this movie is for you. If you like zombie farces and mockeries of 'B' movies, this movie is for you. If you are my mother, this movie is NOT for you.

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-Emily