Yes Man

Once in awhile I want a simple movie to allow me to escape and not be challenged. Last night was one of those nights so while I was at the grocery store gathering up some insanely good popcorn and chocolate, I walked over to the Red Box and grabbed this dvd. I haven't really been into Jim C. much except for Endless Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and gave it a whirl. It wasn't super, wasn't god awful, but bordered on terrible-ish. I don't know, I often wonder how some movies get made. What these studio heads are thinking- commercial appeal? I guess.. I liked Zooey D's character. She was quirky, responsible, silly and creative (sort of like me in some ways). She was a fun character to watch. We all know the story surrounds a Mr. Negative and he gets turned around by saying the word Yes, the story line was SO WEAK.. honestly, I HAVE NO IDEA who is making the decision to produce this stuff!

I give it a 2 out of 10.
http://bit.ly/rRYho

Feast

I don't typically watch horror type movies, but since this was a "monster based" story, and not something that could be true.. per say.. I checked it out while forced to relax yesterday after out doing myself for quite a few days in a row. I sat down to watch Krista Allen (a friend who works with beautiful women in Hollywood swore she is the most beautiful he has ever seen in-person),Judah Friedlander, Balthazar Getty and Henry Rollins make fools of themselves, and that they did! Executive produced by Ben Affleck and others, this film was sort of a joke. But aren't all horror/monster movies? I am not terribly experienced in this genre, but found this movie hilarious and bad and only watched the entire thing because I was simply too tired to reach over and turn it off!

I give it a 2 out of 10. (for a somewhat cool cast)
http://bit.ly/cilFB

Tideland

WOW, I did not know at all what to expect when I put this DVD in, and the Director makes a debut, via only his head in black and white to introduce the movie letting the audience know that most of us will hate the movie, some of us will like it, and he is a little girl... blah, blah, blah.. something like that and then his head fades and then off we go into a gritty party scene! I immediately think I struck gold entering the first scene... this movie wasn't terrible.. but it is definitely an acquired taste... the little girl in this film is a great actress, Jodelle Ferland, who plays Jeliza-Rose who is plagued by both her parents' addiction to heroin. Jeliza even prepares daddy's (played BRILLIANTLY by Jeff Bridges) needle for his "vacation" and will politely pull the needle from his arm and put his arm up to stop the bleeding and then carefully place his legs on an ottoman for his comfort. She also ensures that he doesn't burn down the house with his cigarette while in his drug induced stupor. Meg Tilly, Jeliza's mom, dies from trying to "get straight". Jeliza-Rose is so resilient and masters an imaginative life with friends which consist of doll heads on her fingers.. I thought as I saw that, why didn't I think of that? ;) So realistic... The journey continues for Jeliza when her father unexpectedly dies and Jeliza is left alone in a decrepit house in the middle of nowhere and happens across a brother sister team that will make even the most dysfunctional family seem normal...

I give it a 4 out of 10. (only because the movie had way too much footage of the little girl with the doll heads, while I understand this was critical to the story, it became tiresome and boring)
Click below for the trailer:
http://bit.ly/bYZqf

Roadside Prophets

This post isn't going to take very long because I am going to be honest with you, the ONLY reason why I watched this film is because my long time crush, Adam Horovitz, is in it! Also starring 2 other notables, John Cusack, as a "mental" dine and dash fanatic and David Carradine as some wacko. The main character meets a guy at work, they go out for a drink on their respective motorcycles and one of them dies while playing a video game. The other guy who only met him once finds his family and tries to give them his "ashes." The family throws them away in their dumpster, the main character retrieves them and sets off on a journey to El Dorado, Nevada to spread the ashes (as per a dream of the dead guy to ride there)... Along the way said motorcyclist meets a strange character, played by Adam H, and they set off together to ride to El Dorado and supposedly meet some crazy characters along the way. I can't believe I finished it, but you know those movies where you know they suck but for some reason you have to see the ending? This was one of those. Don't see it unless you want an hour or so of Adam Horovitz cuteness.

I give it a 1 out of 10.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No9twYBa9gc

The Dead Girl

Harrowing tales of how the discovery of a dead girl impacts the character's lives, this film delivers a depressive punch of reality to the already hellish doldrums of everyday existence. The stellar cast includes: Giovanni Ribisi, James Franco, Josh Brolin, Toni Collette, Mary Steenburgen, Mary Beth Hurt, and the dead girl played by Brittany Murphy(who is phenomenal in this grotesque role). Each character is depressed and has serious emotional issues and from the very first scene you are assaulted with this dysfunction and it reigns throughout the film. The acting is superb and the characters are downright disturbing. If you are in for a dark film, let this be your choice. You get to go into the home of a serial killer, a prostitute, a drug addict/lesbian prostitute, and the home of a wildly gross mother and daughter. It is definitely an experiment in human suffering all the while shot with artistic integrity.

I give it a 5 out of 10.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_whdVVN-qCE

A Love Song for Bobby Long

John Travolta was genius in this film as Bobby Long, a retired college English professor who drinks day in and day out with his much younger buddy, and writing protege, Lawson Pines. The story centers around a teenage girl, Pursy, abandoned by her family long ago. Living in a trailer with her loser boyfriend, Pursy finds out too late that her drug addicted, musician mother passed away and travels home to discover the house has been left to her, Bobby Long and Lawson, so she thinks. Her relationship with the middle aged men is contentious at first, but then grows into a complex marriage of sorts, and they all wind up benefiting from one another. While this movie was quite long and slow, it had to be for the ending to be so impactful. I liked it. John Travolta was great in this film! Why did I not hear of it sooner? It felt like a novel instead of a movie, but I believe that was intentional. It is a touching story and well done. That is where indie meets feature. Feature is show more than tell, indie is dialogue laden...

I give it a 5 out of 10.

Igby Goes Down

I liked Kieran Culkin in the lead role as Igby, a troubled boy who saw his "supposed" father, played by Bill Pullman have a nervous breakdown and it effected Igby's life dramatically. Igby seemed to have internalized his father's suffering and wanted to make sure that it didn't happen to him. Igby's mom, played by Susan Sarandon had her own set of problems with nervousness, illness and pills while his brother, Oliver, played by Ryan Philippe, seemed to have become perfect as a result of the chaos, while Igby slipped down a fine slope of debauchery. Ryan Philippe plays the snotty, rich boy so well! Claire Danes plays Suki, the love interest of Igby who trades up for Oliver, and Amanda Peet plays a drug addled artist who is fooling around with Igby's Godfather, played by Jeff Goldblum. This film centers around Igby's personal identification issues as a result of his dysfunctional family and the ending is the icing on the cake as Igby has placed so much importance on his father, and suddenly finds out something that really puts a wrench in his whole identity. The writing is good and the acting is pretty good too. I liked this film and saw it a while ago, but enjoyed it just as much the second time around.

I give it a 5 out 10.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mUpyCQSuEI&feature=related

The Tao of Steve

Lead character Dex is a fat philosopher who seems to score with the ladies based on his tactics derived somewhat from Buddhism. Dex wakes and bakes, teaches elementary school and is basically a slacker who feels that nothing ventured, nothing lost. If you do nothing, you don't have to worry about success. What I liked about this film was Dex's dogmatic banterings, because like it or not, much of it makes sense. However, he runs into a snag when he actually begins to care about someone who calls him out on his game, and begs the big question, "What separates me from all the other women?" Dex uses the same tactics for each woman yielding the same result! The answer is that he fell in love, which he never had, and that is what made this woman different than all the rest. While the cast was not notable, and some scenes were downright horrible, I watched it till the end and found it somewhat entertaining and light fare. While I wouldn't talk about this film at parties, I didn't hate it.

I give it a 3 out of 10.
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1476067609/