Into The Wild

9.5/10

WOW.

I have not cried as much during a movie, as in this one. I cried in the beginning, the middle, and the end. I left the theatre crying. I cried on the way home. It was unbelievable. I'm tearing up thinking about it. Bah!

Sean Penn is a genius. He managed to find the perfect people for these roles. It's hard for me to decide whether I thought this kid had it all right, or had lost his marbles. He seemed to touch all of the lives of people during his journey, yet he didn't seem to connect with any of them. He was this lonely wanderer, who had left his life behind.

The old man in this movie (Hal Holbrook) will tear your heart out and make you weep like a little child.

You need to see this movie. There are no special effects, no explosions, and no action. It's quite slow in some spots too. But WOW. What a phenomenal movie. The acting. The story. The filming. Fantastic.

In the Valley of Elah

7.5/10

I had no idea what this movie was about, as it wasn't my choice. I decided to just go and have a good time.

I won't tell you the story, but it was quite well done. Short of a few cheesy scenes, it was enjoyable. Charlize did a great job, and it was nice to see Tommy Lee Jones create a character where he wasn't yelling at everyone.

And of course.......

With about 15 minutes to go, the fire alarm went off in the theatre. I'm not sure what it is about me and bad movie theatre experiences, but I just took it in stride and watched the rest of the movie with the dinging in the background. The good news, is that we were presented with two free movie passes for the inconvenience!

Let's review the stupid movie experiences I have had:

Polar Express

Movie was put together incorrectly - half of the movie was normal, second half was upside down and the sound was played backwards. Creepy.

The Aviator

Movie projector busted about an hour in. Thank goodness. Bored me up to that point.

Little Miss Sunshine

The movie tape busted and was all over the ground.

Childstar

They refused to play the movie for me and a friend because we were the only ones that bought tickets that night. It wouldn't be worth their while to play it, financially.

In the Valley of Elah

Fire alarm.

It always ends in free movie passes, so although inconvenienced at the time, it allows me to see an extra movie. Not a bad deal.

The Brave One

6.8/10

I had a feeling that this movie would be mediocre. It's too bad, because I think they really had an opportunity to make this better than it was.

As always, Jodie Foster was brilliant with her acting. However, there were a few instances in the movie, where it was supposed to be serious and gut wrenching, but it came off as campy and silly. I really think they could have made this seem more authentic and emotional. I found myself almost crying in some scenes, and then almost falling off my chair with the absurdity of the next scene.

I have read a few articles about this movie, and I think the intention was to make it very raw, but they were missing the element of it being realistic.

Jodie Foster needs a few Big Mac combos too. She is getting waaaaaay too skinny. I find it hard to watch Terrence Howard. He almost sounds slow or mentally delayed. Sort of like Giovanni Ribisi. I remember seeing Giovanni in "The Other Sister" and I thought he did such a great job playing someone with a mental disability. Meanwhile, the next thing I watched him in, he was the exact same. It wasn't a stretch at all for him. It's actually a stretch for him to sound normal.

But I digress.

The first theatre Andrea and I went to, was in the midst of a fire alarm, so we left and went to Empress Walk. We realized we forgot the 2 for 1 coupon in her car, so we ventured down into the parking garage to get it. We then ended up on the wrong level, and a friendly woman explained how to get where we needed to be. We travelled back up to the theatre, and when paying, we were told that the theatre changed from a Cineplex to an Empire, about 9 months ago. Therefore our coupon wasn't valid. The manager behind the desk motioned to the kid who was punching in the tickets and we were presented with two free tickets. The manager was the same woman who helped us in the garage. She said it was apparent that we were having a bad day, so she wanted to help us out. How awesome....!

You Kill me

6/10

If anything wonderful came out of seeing this movie, it was the discovery of the Bloor Cinema. What a gem! Cheap movies, phenomenal theatre, and the clientèle is mature and alternative. I believe I probably was at that theatre back when I was 19- my boyfriend took me there to see Rocky Horror Picture Show, which I will never forget. If you have never seen that movie, you should go. Seriously. You will never forget that night as long as you live. The movie sucks, but the overall experience is what you will remember.

Anyhow, back to the movie.

Tea Leoni's character was fabulous in this movie. She was sarcastic, unshakable, and probably the most understanding person anyone could meet.

My favourite quote from this movie?
______________________________________________________

Are you pregnant?
No! Unless you put something in my egg-roll. And then put the egg-roll in my...
____________________________________________________________

The timing was hilarious. Most people missed it, because Tea Leoni has the exact humour as her husband, David Duchovny. They deliver it with the dryness of a bone, but it comes at ya like a ton of bricks.

The movie was okay. Just okay. Nothing too wonderful. I felt that Bill Pulman was trying to emulate Robert Deniro in Taxi Driver - a bad imitation. Luke Wilson needs a shampoo too. He looks greasy all the time.

Other than that, meh. Twas okay.

Superbad

8/10

I was a little worried about this movie, since I LOVED 40 Year Old Virgin and wasn't a fan of Knocked Up. I was fearing yet another movie chock-full of toilet humour and references to sex and bodily functions. The first 15 minutes of the movie moved in this same direction, but then made a u-turn and continued with a totally different objective.

First off, the three main characters in this movie were tremendous. They had amazing chemistry, and although they were all so different, they were the perfect amalgamation.

I wanted to squeeze Michael Sera; he was so cute! He would have been the type of kid that I'd be interested in while in high school. I loved the fact that although most of the kids were looking to get laid and drunk, the one girl holding the party chose not to drink...and was disappointed that Seth was drunk when he told her of his crush. I liked that they managed to squeeze in a straight-laced cool chick (me in high school) with all of the party goers. She also chose to like the non-buff insecure guy over the buff jock-types.

It was a non-traditional teen dramedy. I enjoyed it, and will never forget my favourite term from the movie:

"Samesies."

My favourite teen comedy/dramedy from the last 15 years still remains as "Can't Hardly Wait." LOVE THAT MOVIE. Funny funny funny.

Movie Sabbatical

I think I saw the last movie Severance...about two months ago. Early June.

Two reasons for this:

1. Crap movies have been out
2. I just can't justify spending money on a movie that I don't REALLY want to see.

Reviews will resume once the good movies return.

Summers suck for the types of movies that I like. They are usually full of crappy blockbuster-type movies that are allllll special effects and poor dialogue.

I shall return in due time.

Severance

Rating: 5/10

I won these tickets on www.cinemaclock.com...and had no idea what this film was about.

The tag line said: "Another bloody office outing."

I assumed that since it was an English film, "bloody" meant stupid, not as in blood from a wound.

The movie was messed up. Basically it was a bunch of coworkers who were on this retreat...but were abandoned by the bus driver who refused to go past a certain point on the route. They found an old, abandoned house and were stalked by army-type soldiers and killed off one by one. It wasn't until maybe 75% through the movie that the campiness surfaced. Up until that point it was just bad. Once the campiness started, I laughed my head off. I just don't understand why it took that long to come out.....usually it's pretty immediate. I didn't know what to make of the movie until that point.

Thank goodness it was free. I had popcorn and a cherry slushy so it wasn't a total waste.

Knocked Up

6.5/10

I had high expectations about this movie.

I should NEVER have high expectations about ANY movie.

I loved the 40 Year Old Virgin SO MUCH, that I was excited to hear that the same dude wrote and directed both movies. It was a win-win situation. Right?

Back when 40 YR came out, Wedding Crashers came out at the same time. I didn't like WC because it was full of bathroom/raunchy humour. That type of humour is so unimaginative. 40 YR was hilarious to me because it was based on the relationships between 4 guys - very intriguing and original.

"Knocked Up" was full of bathroom jokes. Some were soo blatant that it was insulting. The best performance was by the sister, who had the best lines ever.

Almost every single actor in 40 was in this movie. Honestly, I would say about 10 of them were in both movies. It had a Kevin Smith feel for this reason alone.

I'm disappointed because comedies aren't usually my forte. I will go see them, but the ones that really get me laughing are black comedies or dram-edies. Full force comedies are usually bland and forced to me. If the humour isn't clever, I can't get into them. For example, my favourite comedies are....My Cousin Vinny, The Ref, Saved, 16 Candles, etc.

Oh well. Maybe someone soon will release a great comedy again. In the meantime I will stick to my dramas.

Away From Her

10/10

There have only been a few movies that I have seen twice in the theatre - one of them was Iris, which starred Judy Dench, Kate Winslet and Jim Broadbent. It touched on the whole Alzheimers plot as well.

This movie was beautiful. I'm so happy for Sarah Polley. She's a mere 28 years old and she is already directing and writing her own movies.

I fell in love with Gordon Pinsent's character. His voice, his love for his wife, his understanding, and his presence were captivating. I don't know how I haven't managed to come across him before now. He's incredibly talented and has been in tons of movies and television shows.

One of my favourite performances was from Kristen Thomson, who plays the head nurse/caregiver of the wife. She is incredibly supportive, warm, and nurturing. Just when you think she's too good to be true, she turns and verbally stings Gordon - which is well deserved. This just makes her character more credible. I look forward to seeing her in more movies in the future.

You need to see this movie. It's a tad long, but well worth the 10 bucks. Canadian movies need the support in the theatre.

Waitress

8.5/10

I really liked this movie. It was the perfect blend of humour, drama, and realism. It was endearing.

Keri Russell was awesome. She was a talented pie-maker who had a shitty husband, and was stuck in a dead-end marriage. Her husband was played by no other than Jeremy Sisto. If anyone is frickin typecast, it's this guy. He always plays this psycho, abusive character (Hideaway, Six Feet Under, Waitress). He was crazy as per the usual.

The best parts of this movie were when she was thinking up the types of pies that she wanted to make. They were hilarious. It would be something like this: "I want to smash my husband in the face" pie. LOL.

The most lovable character was Andy Griffith. He was a man that feigned nastiness but was incredibly intuitive and endearing underneath.

It made me sad to find out afterwards, that one of the actors is deceased. Adrienne Shelley was killed in November 2006. She wrote and directed this movie as well as starring in it.

A total shame.

Keri Russell has managed to get better looking as she gets older. That usually happens to men, not women. She's gorgeous.

Shrek the Third

7/10

I was never a real fan of Shrek to start with, but I went to the drive-in for my birthday.

You may want to read my entry on my other blog:

DRIVE-IN

This movie didn't have a kids plot at all. I realize that most cartoon movies are designed for the adult viewer, but this was a little strange. Shrek finds out that Fiona is pregnant, and goes off on a trip to find himself, because he doesn't want kids. What the heck, eh? Kids are watching this man express his fears about what pains in the asses kids are.

Anyhooo, it was okay. Some funny parts (especially the dying frog scene), but overall it was "meh".

Jindabyne

6/10

This was an Australian movie with Gabriel Byrne and Laura Linney. The plot was interesting - and I could empathize with Laura's character.

What I didn't like, was how slowly this movie unfolded. It was painful at times - there were several segments of Australian Aborigine music. At these times, I took advantage of the fact that Andrea and I were the only people in the theatre - and we had conversations that had nothing to do with the movie. We were filling in the empty spaces.

I think Andrea hit the nail on the head. She said that this movie felt like one that a film class would use to discuss symbolism within movies. It had that actual feel.

Not bad. But not great.

Disturbia

5/10

I don't understand why this movie is getting such positive reviews.

The first 30 minutes was actually very entertaining. The accident scene was DISTURBING, but the rest was captivating.

It then turned RETARDED. If it weren't for the asian friend, I think I would have been rolling my eyes the whole time. He was awesome. The main character kept reminding me of "toepick" Moira Kelly. He could have been her son.

I kept hoping that it was a ridiculous dream -that he would wake up and laugh at the absurdity of it all. Instead he lived this preposterous plot.

Gay.

Who Loves the Sun

8.5/10

Did I mention that I LOVE MOLLY PARKER?

Truly, I will see anything that she is in. Add on a Canadian-made movie and I am sold.

This movie was very good. A little cliche, but I don't mind cliche every now and then. The performances were good, and real.

I can't give the plot away, but it was believable enough.

Oh, ya. I love Molly Parker.

Premonition

Once again, not my choice. Free ticket. Thank the Lord above for that.

3/10

What the?

Okay, although I can be very complex sometimes, I am apparently a very simple person. I find it VERY hard to keep up with movies that don't make sense immediately. Movies like The 6th Sense are different - I could figure that one out halfway through. However, movies like Pulp Fiction, Memento, etc are complete entities on their own. There are too many stories and characters in motion, that I usually just mentally check out - and wait for the credits.

This movie was..um....silly.

Was it a premonition? Was she crazy? Did she cause his death? What day was the actual premonition? Why did the days pass in random order? There were so many inconsistencies in this movie, that I don't even know where to start.

Is it me? Or is Hollywood purposely trying to confuse the hell out of the audience to make them feel dumb?

Signed,

Retard

p.s. I may be stupid, but I'm not as stupid as this:

Black Snake Moan

7/10

Hmmm. I don't know where to begin with this one.

It was a mix between a campy flick, and a serious drama. The only reason I say this, is because the whole idea of chaining a girl to your radiator as a method of rehabilitation is asinine.















However, I kinda liked this movie. The characters grow on you very quickly, and I generally like most of the films that Christina Ricci stars in. Sam Jackson manages to do his very tired character that shouts out profanities all the time, but whatever - that's just him.

Justin Timberlake also proves himself as a respectable dramatic actor as well.

It was worth the free pass.

I do have to say that Christina Ricci has become waaaayyy too thin now. 10 lbs would do her good. She should hang with me for 3 days. I can work miracles.

Dreamgirls. Yes You Heard Me Correctly...

6/10

I have to mention what really happened here.

My cousin Allyson and I were supposed to go for Japanese food, and then go see Black Snake Moan. On our way, she drove into this MASSIVE pothole and got a flat. We had to park the car and change our plans last minute, so we hopped on a bus and went to Yonge and Eg. The movie wasn't playing at that location, so she suggested Dreamgirls. Normally I would have said "hell no" but she was already having a shit day, and we had both gone to my Uncle's funeral earlier. I decided to not be a pain (odd, I know).

Now to the movie.

It was okay. What really weirded both of us out, was the fact that a full hour passed in the movie before they had their first musical singing scene. This made things very strange - since you started to believe that it was an average drama. Some of those scenes were kinda awkward, but the one scene where Jennifer Hudson belts out:

"And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going"

IS AMAZINGLY riveting - and put shivers down my back the whole time. What a voice.

I laughed that one of the characters had the same name as my sister, because Laurelle goes through life with people thinking she is black before they meet her. HAHAHAHAHA.

Eddie Murphy did not earn an Oscar in my opinion, so the fact that he stormed out of the theatre is just proof that he thinks he's more wonderful than he is. Perhaps it's because...oh I don't know...that NORBIT was released the same week?

Volver

6/10

I'm not a huge Pedro Almodovar fan, but the movie that I wanted to see (Mount Pleasant) had finished that day at this theatre. So Kerri and went to see this movie at the Carlton in Toronto. LOVE THAT THEATRE.

The movie was okay.

One good thing came of it. Before this film, I couldn't handle watching Penelope Cruz, but after watching her in movie when she speaks Spanish, she had a real presence. I think she really sang in the movie and that was cool to see as well.

There was one part that I loved. Every time a woman said hello to another woman, they would kiss each other on the cheek - but in such a dramatic way that there were about 5 separate kisses with strong suction. Very endearing.

By the end, the storyline was very much like Marion Bridge. I won't give it away, but it's something you wish no one you love would have to deal with.

Pursuit of Happyness

6/10

I was disappointed with this movie.

It was very lopsided.

His life was kinda bad. Then it was really bad. Then really, really bad. Then really, really, really bad. Then oh my god it's horrible. Then past horrible....horrific even. Shoot me in the head his life keeps getting progressively worse.

THEN IT ENDS.

With little typed paragraphs on the screen that tell you how successful he became in real life.

Here's a tip. You may want to show the good as well as the bad. It helps. Don't sell out and assume that the audience really cares about reading this tidbit. We paid $12 to see it.

Could Will Smith's kid be any cuter? I don't think so.

The Holiday

3/10

I don't understand Kate's choice in movies lately.

That's all I have to say about this movie.