Friends With Benefits

So yes, I was one of the few people who liked No Strings Attached. And yes, it's impossible to talk about one without mentioning the other. I just can't help it. I went in to this movie with low expectations because I liked the first one with Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher and didn't think this would surpass that. I proved myself wrong. I should've realized I would like this movie since I loved Will Gluck's other movie, Easy A. I hate to say it, but this version was better. The movie has earned more than $52 million so far, leaving it's $35 million budget in it's tracks.

The plot of the movie is pretty obvious from the title; it's about two friends with benefits. This time set in New York as opposed to NSA's Los Angeles. And also this time both of the friends are fed up with dating and relationships and are both open to this 'arrangement'.

Any movie that opens with with Emma Stone and Andy Samberg is just headed for awesomeness.

The characters were genuine and they took every jab at hollywood cliche's they could fit into the script. The sex was much more casual, as it should rightfully be. I loved the movie inside the movie with Jason Segel and Rashida Jones. The movie just had a lot more wit and satire than the former. Seeing as the whole premise of the movie is about going against the conventional it's only fitting that satire would be naturally included.

Ok, seriously someone raided my iPod when they put this soundtrack together; Rogue Wave, I am Arrows, and Death Cab for Cutie? There were some standard songs in there as well, but I loved the Easy A soundtrack as well - should've seen that one coming. I also liked the contrasting between NYC and LA that the movie does pretty well.

Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis have really nice chemistry and play well off each other. Patricia Clarkson as Kunis' mother was great - obviously Gluck knew this, using her twice. Emma Stone and Andy Samberg's cameos were great and Jason Segel and Rashida Jones' as well. Wood Harrelson an Richard Jenkins were also nicely cast into the movie.

Sorry to compare yet again, but this movie was just more about going against the cliche's (or making fun of yourself while falling victim to the cliche's) while the other movie was more about making those cliches real. Wow, that was a lot of 'cliches'. This movie had more jokes and wit in it than the other and the relationship felt more genuine. It's still a romantic comedy at heart but it makes fun of itself the entire time so I think it possibly could have stepped out of the realm of chick-flick-dom. Is it better than Easy A? No way. "What's up with the music in the movies? It tells you how to feel exactly at every moment".

Take Me Home Tonight

So I had wanted to see this movie back when I first heard about it because it looked like a good time and Anna Faris is always great, oh and Topher Grace is super adorable. The movie actually took four years to be released apparently due to the heavy drug use in the movie. The movie ended up not doing so hot in the theaters, bringing in about $7 million total.

It's the 80's and is about a post-grad, Topher Grace, who comes home after college without knowing what to do with his life and starts working at a video store. He then sees his high school crush, Teresa Palmer, and soon embarks on a crazy scheme to win over her heart during the course of one night at a party from a mutual friend. He takes his twin sister, Anna Faris, and best friend, Dan Fogler, along for the ride.

The movie was definitely rated R with the sex and drugs, but it's as if the characters were still stuck in PG13. The story was obviously going to be a little cliched since this has been done before countless other times. With the sex/drugs, the plot did seem more believable, yet it was still a little far-fetched to have such life changing moments all culminating on one night. Besides the leads, the rest of the characters were horribly stereotypical.

The movie had a predictable 80's soundtrack but was still fun to hear. The proposal scene with Come on Eileen taking over the natural sound was probably my favorite part in the movie. The pace of the movie was fast and made it feel like these other one-night party movies instead of a character study, which is what I think Topher Grace was going for? It also didn't really capture the feel of the 80's, or what I can remember as a 5 year old that is. At least compared to movies of the time it felt like it was trying a little too hard.

There was not enough Anna Faris in this movie. I assume since it was filmed over four years ago, they obviously didn't know her awesomeness at the time. She gets much less screen time than the other three leads and mostly just sets up the other characters. Still, she does a good job with the amount of time she's given. That being said, there was too much of Dan Fogler in the movie. Sorry, I guess I'm just not a fan of this guy. I found his character obnoxious and wasn't interested in any of his scenes, and they were abundant. It's as if he was put in the movie to be the comic relief, but unfortunately he's not funny and the other characters were had enough subtle humor that the 'comic relief' was really unnecessary. Teresa Palmer did a nice job with this character that's been played a million different times by a million different actresses. She was like-able and genuine and played well off of Topher. Topher was Topher. I happen to like him, so I wasn't disappointed.

It's as if everyone was arguing about the direction to take the film and the end result was just a mishmash of different directions in the movie. It had some potential to be a better character driven witty movie, but it turned out more like a high-school comedy with a little R rating in there. It wasn't horrible, I was entertained throughout; largely in part from the three leads that I liked. "You don't have to be a rocket surgeon to figure that out".

Bridesmaids

So I had wanted to see this so badly the minute I heard the words, 'Kristen Wiig'. Unfortunately, I had to wait this long to see it. By now, I'm sure most have heard that this is now the highest grossing female R-Rated comedy and has made over $247 million to date. I really believe that Kristen Wiig is so underrated by most people but this movie proves what I've sworn to since Garth and Kat on SNL; she's a comedic genius.

I went into the movie thinking I was going to see a female version of the Hangover but surprisingly it wasn't quite that and I was more than happy with the direction the movie ended up going. The movie focused on Kristen Wiig's character and her trials and tribulations throughout the whole maid of honor ordeal with her best friend. There were many instances of Hangover-type group comedy thrown into the mix as well, of course.

There was actually a plot in this movie - only proves that us women actually want a story instead of just non-stop comedy bits. A large part of the humor from the movie was from Wiig's dead-panned wit which I preferred over the outrageous slapstick and gross-out humor in the movie. You couldn't help but relate with Wiig's character, all the while laughing at her predicaments.

The other characters were funny as well without being too over-the-top. Ellie Kempner was great and her innocence was hilarious. Melissa McCarthy was a little too boisterous but had some funny lines in the movie. I thought Rose Bryne was one of the funniest things in Get Him to the Greek and unfortunately in this film she was much more reserved and served better as setting up the other actors for their jokes. She still played the part well and was believable and you couldn't help but hate her. Chris O'Dowd who played Officer Rhodes was super adorable and he actually bantered back and forth with Wiig quite well. Wendi McLendon-Covey, who played the marriage hating/alcohol loving bridesmaid was a necessary character and just added to the mix perfectly.

I must say that the late Jill Clayburgh, who played Wiig's mom, did a fantastic job in this - her last film. There was a total connection between the two characters with similarities where you could see where their combined craziness came from.

I loved the pace of the movie; The editing kept the action coming at a great pace but kept the slower more serious moments completely in balance. My favorite part of the movie was the whole plane to vegas sequence. The movie completely takes you in one direction (Vegas) and then just drops it in a hilarious way. Loved it.

I knew going in I would love this movie, and I did. It wasn't what I thought it was going to be since it actually had a plot and threw in some little sentimental moments. I'm more or less an Apatow fan (i.e. Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Funny People, Knocked Up). I prefer the witty comedies with a plot over slapstick grossout stuff - which this movie had more of the former and less of the latter. Kristen Wiig was the backbone of the film, not that she carried the other actors though - they definitely pulled their own weight. If you like Wiig, you'll love the movie. If you dont, well why wouldn't you like her? "It's called civil rights. It's the 90's!"

Crazy, Stupid, Love.

So I had wanted to see this movie ever since seeing the million plus billboards around the city for the last month or so. Not to mention the dream team of cast members. Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Marisa Tomei, Julianne Moore, and Steve Carell? Yes, please. The movie opened back on July 29th and has raked in about $33 million. From the same writer of the extremely cute kids' flicks Tangled and Bolt, this movie promised to be a dramedy for (almost) all ages. I was more than happy I made time to go see this and on a side note, I saw it at the same outdoor mall that is featured in several scenes of the movie.

The movie turned out to be a really great dramedy with an emphasis on the 'medy'. The plot and characters were believable, yet interesting and wildly entertaining.

The film follows several different interconnected characters through love's triumphs and trials and obviously the crazy stupidness we oftentimes find ourselves in. The plot did a really good job of having a (believable) direction with the story while incorporating realistic, although convenient, connections with the other characters. These kind of stories must be written in a such a way to avoid the superficiality of other movies which attempt to connect characters through contrived ways, think Valentine's Day. Instead of a jumble of different characters and scenes, this felt like a story and it was. The dialogue was smart and rather witty. And although this was a romantic comedy at it's core, it was based in reality. I loved how the movie was self-aware and took jabs at itself as when Steve Carell's finds himself outside in the pouring rain after hitting rock bottom and utters 'what a cliche'. I love a movie that realizes when it uses cliches and I was definitely in love by this point in the story.

The characters were unique and very believable although all of them seemed to be quite good-hearted in the end. Yes, the ending was a little too nicely wrapped up but this is a movie after all.

Marisa Tomei was priceless. At first it looked as though she was reprising her role from the aweome movie Cyrus, but then quickly that thought was soon forgotten when this character went way off the radar. She can do comedy and drama with the best of them.

Ryan Gosling made it worth it in his three piece suites and topless scenes. His charm oozed off the screen in his scenes and was the perfect counter part to Emma Stone's character. You couldn't even begin to hate him for his womanizing ways.

Emma Stone was as great as I've ever seen her. She's always so consistent and always plays her roles with extreme genuine-ness (that's totally a word). The 'bedroom' scene between her and Ryan was my most favorite in the entire movie.

Julianne Moore was stellar in her role. Much like her performance in Chloe but with humor this time.

Steve Carell somehow sprinkled his quite realistic and dramatic performance with bits of comedy here and there without feeling like comic relief. In fact, nothing in this movie felt like comic relief.

Oh, Kevin Bacon was in the movie too.

The soundtrack and cinematography was quite nice. The long rolling wide shots were really beautiful especially with the great scenery and wardrobe. Everything was framed quite beautifully in this movie.

I ended up completely loving this movie. The cast was incredible, the story was believable and amazing, and it was an almost realistic look at love in the real world. It wasn't a sappy feel-good film but it wasn't a horribly depressing one either. I know it was marketed as not being a chick flick and it's not really, sorta. While it's not a love story dripping with sappiness, it is a movie for the closet romantics. The comedy is probably strong enough to keep the unromantic male audience at least entertained. As I am a closet romantic, although I will deny this, I loved the movie and would recommend to other mature romantics with a smart sense of humor. Yes I did just call myself smart and mature. "You're the perfect combination of sexy and cute".

The Four Faced Liar

So I saw this movie because Netflix recommened it and I'm so weak-willed. Damn you, Netflix! If it has those little film festival olive branches on it's movie poster, odds are I'll watch that movie. This one had four! The premise about four college aged New Yorkers and how their relationships are altered after they meet at a bar, aptly named the Four Faced Liar. There are two couples and their lesbian friend and by the end of the movie there is a new couple out of the five and the other two have dissolved. In the first minutes of the movie, I realized the audience for this movie was very small; namely, urban twenty-something students - of which, I am not.

The movie is about relationships and following your heart versus your head? I'm not quite sure where the accolades for this movie came from. The characters are almost dynamic but end up only having that one unique layer to them and fail to be two-dimensional. The relationships don't make a whole lot of sense nor do the motivations of the characters. A self-proclaimed anti-monogamous character suddenly wants nothing but monogamy? A reserved character with a need for approval suddenly dives head first into controversy? The characters were just too under-developed to make their actions completely genuine. Perhaps there were too many characters. Honestly, one of the couples could've been removed completely and the story would have probably worked better. The dialogue was witty in some parts and was almost very perceptive, almost. It was as if the movie couldn't decided if it wanted to advance the plot or focus on the satirical idioms from the characters. I can see how this would be a better movie if I was able to relate to the characters in some way.

The cinematography and sound mixing does a nice little job considering the budget. The lenses are clear and the camera movements smooth. The post production side of the movie was polished. I will say that the pivotal New Year's Eve bar scene was edited perfectly with great fast/slow time warps on the clips with awesome jump cuts to keep the pace up and then the mirroring of the two situations going on inside and outside of the bathroom with the slow-mo climax was pure brilliance.

The actors did a pretty good job. They were one level up what I would've expected from this low budget of a movie. That being said, they were a little bit stiff and over delivered some of the lines but it wasn't terrible.

In the end, it wasn't terrible but it wasn't relatable either. It doesn't seem like it can really appeal to anyone other than it's target audience."Look at modern literature; all of the greatest female characters were written by women because no man could ever write from a female's perspective. Women have this compassionate chemistry that allows them to listen with an unbiased ear. All women, even you."

The Freebie

So, I'm not sure why I ended up seeing this but something caught my interest. It's this little indie comedy film abobut a seemingly perfect married couple, played by Dax Shepherd and writer/director Katie Aselton, who decided to give each other a night off to sleep with whomever they wish in order to solidify their relationship. It was also filmed on location in Los Angeles. The film turned out to be like a Greta Gerwig movie but with an actual plot-line and extremeley attractive leads.

The movie is basically an ad-lib-athon, some people call this 'mumblecore' I believe. Most of the dialogue was relevant to the movie and helped to build the main characters' relationship. The was an actual story arc and the characters were interesting. I assume that this is like the movie Hall Pass (since I haven't seen it) but realistic. The characters were believable, although too good-looking.

The cinematography and sound editing were obviously minimal as it usually employed in these types of movies where natural sound is favored over fine tuned editing. I'm not a huge fan of this type of editing, but it does make the subject matter feel more real. When there's a lack of sound editing, color correction, smooth edit cuts etc it makes the characters feel more real. If the storyline keeps you interested, I believe this approach can help you connect with the characters. When the story (or lackthereof) doesn't keep you interested, this approach becomes annoying - at least that's my opinion. Case in point, Hannah Takes the Stairs. I'm not a fan. Sorry, but I just don't get it. So to sum up all of this rambling, the minimalistic approach to the cinematography and editing can help in some cases and deter in others. In this case, it helped. Although I should note that the sound editing wasn't as raw as I've seen in other low budget indies similar to this.

The actors did a great job coming off as a natural couple. They had some decent chemistry going on. They moved the plot along somehow with little sprinkles of essential dialogue mixed in with the ad-libbing going on.

In the end, it wasn't the low budge romcom I was expecting. It was a tad bit deeper and more thoughtful. Still a little bit stretched given the premis of the movie. I found it interesting to see the locations in L.A. that they filmed at which held the same level of interest as the story did for me. "I trust us, baby"

All Good Things

So, this is the movie that Kirsten Dunst had reportedly said was her best performance ever and it also stars Ryan Gosling wearing super awesome vintage suits? I'm in. (I'm curious if her aforementioned statement was before or after her Best Actress win at Cannes this year for a Von Trier flick?). The premis of this movie is something I normally wouldn't be interested in but thought I'd give it a shot because of the actors. Oh, and because it has Kristen Wiig in a serious role.

The movie is based on a real-life couple from 1970's New York in which the husband, although extremely suspicious, was never investigated after his wife's ultra strange disappearance in 1982.

The actors, wardrobe, and set design were the best things about this movie.

Some how Ryan Gosling was able to take this horrible character with no redeeming qualities and make you somehow not hate him. Even though his motivations and actions were devious, he was able to show you where he was coming from and what had shaped him into the person he'd become. I still don't know how he was able to pull that off. He was like a mult-dimensional villian. Weird.

Kirsten Dunst did do a nice job in the movie, albeit she was pretty sullen and somber throughout. It was still a nice job.

I love Kristen Wiig in this. I love everything she does and it was ultra awesome to see her do a serious role - although she didn't have much screen time.

The wardrobe was quite retro and captured the feel of the times. Perhaps it seems cooler because vintage is the new black now, but it sill was very beautiful.

The sets and locations were also in keeping with the time and added to the overall look of the movie. The colors were in keeping with the tone and gave this period piece some authenticity.

The plot was obviously a lot of speculation about the characters and not that entertaining. Is this possibly because I'm not into murder mysteries? Most likely. But looking at it objectively, it wasn't anything that hasn't been done before.

The pace was a little choppy and didn't flow throughout the story.

Overall, it was nice to see the actors do a stand up job. It was a forgettable movie and I wasn't interested in the plot. "I've never been closer to anyone, and I don't know you at all".