The Descendants Review

“Give your children enough money to do something, but not enough to do nothing,” says Matt  King, who is played by George Clooney in the 2012 Golden Globes Best Motion Picture.  A thoughtful and realistic statement that many a parent has probably thought in their lifetime.  Thoughtful and realistic: that is how I choose to describe this film.  


The Descendants takes place in Hawaii...and now you may be wondering just how realistic can it be if it takes place in Hawaii.  In one of King's (Clooney) voiceovers at the beginning of the film, he addresses just that, saying, "My friends think that just because we live in Hawaii, we live in paradise… Are they insane? Do they think we’re immune to life? How can they possibly think our families are less screwed up?...Hell, I haven't been on a surfboard in fifteen years." Right away, the audience knows they're in for more than just a romanticized plot and montages of the "gorgeous George" and the gorgeous shore.  


This film is the story of how Matt King and his two daughters cope with a situation that is completely contrasting with the idea of paradise.  Basically, Matt (who says of himself, “I’m the backup parent. The understudy.”) is thrown into the role of primary parent after living all of his life as the hard-working breadwinner for his family.  Now, I would say that I cannot ever, under any circumstances, tell you what actually happened to make their lives so horrible, but it really won't ruin anything for you to hear that his wife has fallen into a coma after a boating incident.   The draw of this film is mainly the acting, not so much the plot.  


In addition to having to plow through one of the most difficult times of his life, Matt has to find a way to make his entire extended family happy when he is faced with his duty to sell thousands of acres of prime Hawaiian real estate that had been passed down from one of his great-great grandparents.  (A bit less realistic, but it makes for some beautiful cinematography.)  All the while, Matt is trying to help his daughters through the tough time they are going through with the hospitalized-state of their mother.  And as if that's not enough, Mrs. King, as explained in the trailer, has been having an affair.  


Now, don't think that just because Clooney is in this film means that the people in charge of casting for this film took a break.  Matt's daughters, Scottie, 10, (played by the adorable Amara Miller) and Alex, 17, (played by The Secret Life of the American Teenager's Shailene Woodley) are phenomenal characters that are played by actresses that really understood their roles.  


Also, in terms of the casting of this movie, there were two familiar faces from comedic roles that I wouldn't typically have thought to have seen in a drama like this.  Firstly, Matthew Lillard (yes, Shaggy from the "real-people" Scooby Doo movie).  Secondly, Judy Greer, who has been in basically every popular sitcom for the past five years.  (They both play parts that I won't spoil for you here, but their acting in such serious roles will probably impress you.)


For me, this movie was full of great acting that was thoughtful and realistic.  Clooney, for once, does not play a cocky man in a suit, and though I normally despise him, and I am willing to admit that he did an excellent job in his role as Matt King.  The film was deep and emotional, just as you'd suspect with all of the conflicts, however, I'm not sure that I'd call it a "must-see" for people of generation Y.  It was good but forgettable.  


(This was one for the baby-boomers, which explains why it won at the Golden Globes.)




For more information on the film, please visit: IMDb: The Descendants.




Thanks for reading/visiting/following!

My Favorite Movies from 2011

Over the past year I saw plenty of movies that I would recommend and I couldn't go any longer without listing them for you. Here they are!

-Hugo
-The Big Year
-The Muppets
-Drive
-Contagion
-J. Edgar
-The Help
-The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
-The Adjustment Bureau


Also, another movie that I saw for the first time this past year that isn't recent but completely brilliant: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.  (& to continue in the "Jim Carrey in a serious role" theme, another excellent movie was I Love You Phillip Morris.)

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Review

“If the sun were to explode, we wouldn’t even know about it for eight minutes,” says Oskar Schell, an 11-year-old who has been traumatized by the 9/11 death of his father.  This film is the emotional story of how Oskar tries to stretch his theoretical eight minutes with his father.  

Oskar Schell (played by the champion of Kids Week Jeapordy, Thomas Horn) sets off on a journey to find any possible links to his father.  In the mind of a socially awkward 11-year-old, one would obviously attempt to seek out their father by finding the owner of a key that they found in the deceased closet.  Right?  

This is what his mission is: finding the lock that fits this mystery-key to stretch the connection that he had with his father.  (One may wonder why Oskar would go through all of this trouble throughout a whole movie.  Simple answer: he and his father played "reconnoissance games."  The movie starts with Thomas and Oskar looking for the "sixth borough of New York.")

How do you make that a into movie?  If I were to insert my own opinion here before actually watching Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, I would say that this sounds more like a sad short story than a film that deserves some Oscars.  The creators, directors, writers, and actors, however, all answer my question in a way that still makes me want to inform everyone to see this movie right away.  

One major way that this story becomes the award-deserving film that is now in theaters is by casting America's cinema royalty in two of the most key roles: the mother (Linda) and father (Thomas) of Oskar Schell (played by Sandra Bullock and Tom Hanks, respectively).  

Undoubtedly, 9/11 is a difficult subject to make a movie about.  Others have tried, and I will not lie, I always had a strange feeling about the films that I've seen that are about the event.  Sometimes, it is just poor taste, other times it seems too soon.  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, as far as I am concerned, took this issue into a great amount of thought and did not disappoint.  

The casting, as I have mentioned before, makes this film, truly because these actors really seemed to play their roles in ways that are respectful of the event.  Furthermore, when the falling Twin Towers are shown on-screen, it is somber, especially watching it when following the powerful journey that Oskar is on.  I could almost grasp onto some of the emotions he would have felt.  (I know there are some negative reviews of the film because of the subject matter that I have just discussed, and I cannot argue with them.  All I can say is that this film is respectful of what they were talking about.)

It may be hard to move beyond the underlying theme of tragedy, however, there is far more to this film than just sorrowful moments.  Along Oskar's journey to find the lock to his father's key, he meets hundreds of people (all with the last name Black and all living in the NYC area, as the key was in an envelope with just one word written on it: Black).  Each of these people he meets gives him something to remember them by, whether he wants to or not.  With every visit, he takes a picture and adds it to a scrapbook that creatively documents all of his searching.  

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/01/19/3378178/extremely-loud-plenty-to-love.html#storylink=cpy

Oskar stretches his eight minutes well in this two-hour film and sets his audience on a venture full of tears.  As he proves to the viewers with great catharsis, no matter how difficult the journey may be, never stop looking until the answer has been found.  It is worth it.  Always an excellent "moral of the story." 




Furthermore: 
This movie was incredible.  I don't just say that because it's in the title. 
It was on the same level as 2011's Hugo in my book.  That's as good as it gets.

This review would not be complete without the mention of the amazing acting of Zoe Caldwell as Thomas' mother and Max von Sydow "the renter" (a character that I really cannot spoil for you here).






Please visit IMDb: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close for more information on the film.





Thank you for reading/following!

TV Picks

I would be lying if I said that I didn't watch my fair share of TV.  Basically, it's my favorite pastime...ever.  I feel like I should have something to show for my dedication to the small-screen beyond just my tumblr.com reblogs of favorite TV clips.

So, for you, here is a list of my favorite things to watch (besides movies).

Seriously amazing television list:
Sherlock (BBC)
Misfits (found on Hulu)
Nip/Tuck (off the air, now on Netflix)


I will never stop watching:
Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
Private Practice (ABC)
30 Rock (NBC)
House (Fox)
The Office (NBC)
Chelsea Lately (E!)
SNL (NBC)


Guilty pleasures:
Glee (Fox)
[Anything Kardashian] (E!)


Recent discoveries that I cannot get enough of:
Up All Night (NBC)
Whitney (NBC)
Nikita (CW)
Sherlock (I already listed that, but it's amazing)


& my favorite place to get my news:
The Colbert Report (Comedy Central)




(I will probably have a review up for Sherlock within the next week.  It may be considered television, but each episode is about an hour and a half, which earns it movie cred. in my book.)

I've been told to never apologize for anything I feel passionately about...but I owe you something (like a restaurant owes their customers what they paid for).

Since you've paid me a visit, I owe you the best reviews I can give.  

To explain my past posts: I started this blog for practice and for fun.

I want to do more with it though, so I am going to do more than a 12-year-old with a gel pen and a sparkly journal! 

(Someday I really do want to write professionally, so I need to step up my game.  Now I will.  Game on/challenge accepted!)

If you have any suggestions for me, let me know!

Thank you again for reading/following!

The Help Review

Okay, so I know this is already in Redbox...but it was a phenomenal story, so I couldn't bear not writing about it.


To start with, let me say that I am an enormous Emma Stone fan, so I went into the viewing experience with high hopes, which were indeed met.


Stone plays an aspiring writer, Skeeter, returned from college and living in a Mississippi town---smack-dab in the middle of when the Civil Rights movement was taking place.  


The film focuses on the mission Skeeter goes on in order to write a book from the point of view of the help (which in that day and age were all African American citizens in the South).


The help is made up of a truly extraordinary cast!  I'm not just saying it because Octavia Spencer, who plays the housekeeper, Mini, recently got some majorly deserved recognition at the Golden Globes on Sunday.


In addition, I thought that Viola Davis really deserved some big awards for her role as the maid and nanny known as Aibileen Clark, who has raised 17 children over her career in Jacksonville, Mississippi. (Also, her fantastic voice narrates the film and really helps the viewer experience the real story.)


To go into further detail about Aibileen, she and Mini are really the central maids that Skeeter focuses on when she initially starts writing her book.  Skeeter learns all the ups and (mostly) downs of what it is like to be the typical maid/nanny/housekeeper in the South.  


Now, one cannot discuss this movie without mentioning the mega-antagonist: Hilly Holbrook, who has decided recently that it is basically her mission from God to enforce the Home Help Sanitation Initiative. Hilly is the devil in disguise, to quote Elvis and give my opinion all at the same time.  One could almost say, "Raise your hand if you've ever been personally victimized by Hilly Holbrook." (Yes, that was a reference to Mean Girls' Regina George: "and evil takes human form in..."  I am proud right now.)


Like any movie with someone so catty and evil, there will almost always be the much needed revenge scene...in this case, I am absolutely thinking of Miss Mini's pie!  (I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but it is a part that will really will stick with you if you have!)


Hilly's mother is played by the amazing Sissy Spacek! She has quite a great time rubbing her daughter's face in all the wrong Hilly has done and does it with an awesome performance.  


Finally, this post wouldn't be complete without mentioning the performances of Skeeter's mom (played by Allison Janney...yep, Juno's stepmom), Miss Celia Foote (Jessica Chastain), and the ever-handsome Stewart Whitworth...Skeeter's boyfriend for the later half of the movie (played by Chris Lowell)!


They all give performances that I wouldn't want to spoil for you!  They really round out the movie and make it worth your while.


I really encourage anyone who hasn't seen this film to watch it a soon a possible...and anyone who has and liked it...to watch it again!






For more information on the movie, please visit: IMDb-The Help (2011)










Thanks for reading!  

The Darkest Hour Review

I should have just trusted my gut reaction to the preview on this one.

The plot: invisible wave-energy alien creatures come to harvest the earth's natural resources.  Few are left alive when these aliens get to human territory, as shown in the film's main setting: Moscow, Russia.

Okay, so there is a lot you can do with a plot-line like this... apocalyptic setting, beautiful young people, and hope that somewhere in the world is safe.

It had the potential to be really good, espcially with monsters that make you afraid of the light, not the dark.  (They have electrical currents, which lights up anything electrical it passes in the dark...giving it away.)

I wish that the cast had more variety...or tallent.  (I'm not saying I could do a better job by any means, I just think that they would be more suitable for a high school drama than this plot.)

I wasn't a fan of the cinematography style, but the special effects in terms of when the aliens got ahold of the humans...that was impressive stuff (check it out)...other than that...the aliens needed some serious work.  (This could be because I saw the film in 2-D and it was originally intended for 3-D viewing...either way, they should make a better effort.)

The supporting characters were great, especially the brilliant scientist who found out a perfect way to hide from and defeat some of the aliens.  The Russian army men as well as the scientists companion also greatly helped the film.

Like last years Limitless, this film was not as good as it could have been.  It made a good try...better luck next time. 

For more information on the film, please visit: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1093357/

Review of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

So, this is my first post! Recently, I've proclaimed myself a bit of a movie-buff.  (I'll come clean and tell you that it's mostly only been since the summer of 2011...I have seen a movie every weekend in the theater since the beginning of September, if that gives you a better idea.)

Let's get to the review, shall we?

TGWTDT was so much more than I had expected it to be.  Walking in with no previous information beyond the previews, I had no clue that I was in for the dark thrill ride that this film turned out to be.

The plot starts out with a defamed journalist's (Mikael Blomkvist (played by Daniel Craig)) life during a time of great scandal and one starts to wonder how this can lead to what the previews have portrayed.

I won't lie and tell you that I absolutely loved it from the beginning to the end. It took some work and serious acting skills, which I was certainly impressed with by the end.

It really starts to pick up after he meets Henrik Vanger (the role played by Christopher Plummer) hires Mikael to do some investigative work on the death of his beloved niece.  The anti-semitic and Nazi themes of European history pour into the mystery as he works on the investigation and brings in the infamous Lisbeth for help.

What captured my attention the most about this film was absolutely the actual girl with the dragon tattoo. Rooney Mara, who plays the dark Lisbeth Salander, was phenomenal!  This girl, who plays Mark Zuckerburg's girlfriend in the beginning of The Social Network, becomes a completely unexpected character.  She, as an actress, and Lisbeth mesh so well in to a brutal yet delicate framework of a puzzling character.

The plot, as a whole, was really among the very best I've seen in the past couple years.  It is a mystery, love story (stories?), horror, suspense, action-thriller film.  I don't want to spoil the plot for anyone...but it is must-see.  Its scenes absolutely burst with, what I believe is, the author's original intentions for the story-line.  There were several instances where I could almost read the words that would have been written in a particular chapter.  It was a beautiful film and I fully appreciate the work of the author and the screen-play adapters.  

I have heard that the second film does not feature Lisbeth as much, which is absolutely devastating to me!  The end of the first film begins the second novel, I believe, so I am curious about how it will all turn out on the screen.





For more information, please visit IMDb's page on the film.

Thanks for reading.