Archive for April, 2005
Garden State (2004)
Who’s in it
Natalie Portman, Ian Holm, Zach Braff, Peter Sarsgaard
What was good
I thought this was a cool story that was told backwards, and it worked really well. It starts out slow but as you get to know the main character (Braff) you start to realize why he is the way he is, slow, dopey, and he barely talks. Braff is grown up, working at a dead end restaurant job and his father calls to tell him his mother died and the funeral is during the next week. This takes him back home, to the typical small town where he has some fame for writing a script for a tv show. But nothing excites him and we really start to relate why.
What sucked
The beginning was terribly slow, and looking back I think it could have been explained a touch better. You never see Braff with pills and I think so little detail is covered that you can’t even look back towards the end of the movie to make the connections, “Oh, I remember that, that is why he…”. If you don’t appreciate small time folks and the things they do to stay entertained, some of their activities are annoying and make you cringe but life in a tiny city can be darn boring.
Who should go see this
I would recommend this to my friends. There is a great love story that develops between Portman and Braff that gets a touch too sappy at the end of the movie, but otherwise this movie has a decent amount of humor with a lot of serious moments. This is the second or third movie that I have seen Portman play this cute really young girl that older guys are attracted to. I like the role, but I don’t want to keep seeing her play it, it seems a little wrong for how young she postures to be. But, a select group of 20-30 somethings would like this if you they liked other movies then goofy comedys.
Finding Neverland (2004)
I pretty much knew this was going to be a good one.
Starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslett, this is based on the true story of James Barrie, the author of Peter Pan.
The story revolves around Depp (Barrie) who is a struggling playwright when one day, he meets the Davies brothers and their mother Slyvia, whose father has passed away. Depp quickly finds himself in a fatherly role to the boys and the deeper he gets, he learns that Slyvia is dying. Their story inspires him to write about a place where people never die, little boys never grow up, and there are no worries.
I like most things English, especially little children, but the little boy who played Peter in this movie was captivating. Peter’s father had passed on and now his mother was dying. He was the only boy who refused to hide or glaze over the truth. He always wanted to be told the truth, and didn’t believe in imagination or make believe. He has a great fear of abandonment and a confusion of why grown ups lie about the truth. Depp really touches his life, although never seems to really heal him.
A touching movie, and an amazing story, I would recommend this movie to anyone. I will warn you it starts out a bit slow, but by the end of the movie, the warmth and color of this movie really comes out.
But to see John grab an ex-stuntman by the crotch and throw him down a flight of stairs is pretty humorous.
Coach Carter(2005)
I was nervous about this movie, thinking it was by Disney. But instead it was an MTV movie, and I don’t think there have been too many of those that I haven’t liked.
Samuel Jackson is a business owner, former basketball star of this town in California. He is offered to run the basketball program at a rough high school, and he accepts. With an iron fist, he brings attitude and discipline to a program that has none, and teaches these kids how to focus and how to win.
That is the happy go lucky stuff. The part of the movie that really resonated with me, was Jackson’s perseverance to have the kids reach academic excellence. He asked for updates from all of their teachers, visited them in their classes, and would track them down in the halls. When they were failing, he locked them out of the court because education was more important than basketball. In the end, he quit, broken by a system that was training the kids to fail by dismal benchmarks and terrible standards.
He stood up to parents that are stereotypical lazy in today’s society, and I thought that was awesome.
So, like Samuel Jackson? There are plenty of saying that are all his in this movie. Like sports, action, and attitude, this might be a good one to see with a Disney -esq story at the core. My main gripe with the movie was the slow motion to “increase” a dramatic effect, which I think is highly unoriginal and was overused. Can’t relate to a bunch of kids from the streets, then maybe this isn’t for you.
But it is a great story, one that most people could empathize in some facet.
Big Trouble (2002)
This was one of those movies that was largely funny because of the company we were in. If I had seen this at home, I may have thought, “Mmmm, yeah ok.”
Starring Tim Allen, Rene Russo, and Stanley Tucci, the plot of this random movie is a hit is put out on Stanley Tucci that turns into a heist by two idiots who run off with a nuclear bomb. It is silly to the core, and it almost never came out. With some of the implications it made that airport security is lax, this movie was delayed after 9/11.
Reoccurring jokes, and a diverse well known cast that pops in and out, this is a bizarre movie. Wandering goats, Johnny Knoxville wearing women’s full legged hoes on his head, and rabid Miami Gator fans, if you didn’t get a joke the first time, you will love it by the last as they all build on each other.
Have some drinks in you then watch this. It worked for us. It is not good acting, but you don’t go see Tim Allen for that reason. But don’t think this is like Napoleon Dynamite where every time after the first time you watch this movie, you will love it a little bit more.
Breakfast Club (1985)
This is one of those teen cult classics that I have never seen. I wish I had seen it earlier in my life, but it was still pretty good.
The whole movie revolves around one early Saturday morning and five kids of different personalities who by the end of movie, have made this bond.
Starring Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, and Judd Nelson, this movie is funny, a little nostalgic, and just a fun short movie. I barely recognized Nelson, who is the real bad boy trying to open up the eyes of the other four personalities, a geek, a school chair, a jock, and an social outcast.
Fun high school mischief from socking it to the jerk teacher, to smoking dope, this is a fun movie to watch with a group of friends. If you like simple hijinks and like remembering what it was like to be in high school, this is a great movie for you. Don’t like harsh language, or movies with a real profound statement, you may want to pay. But it is worth it to see Judd Nelson. I bet he thought he had a real future after this movie, not some jerk producer in Airheads and a role on an obnoxious Brooke Shields sitcom.
Someone like you (2001)
I know, I know, it’s a chick flick. But I am a real sucker for this movie, and this is like the third time I have seen the movie.
Starring Hugh Jackman, Ashley Judd, Marisa Tomei and Greg Kinnear, this movie is funny, tongue in the cheek, romantic, and sexy. I am amazed by how good looking Jackman is, and Judd is really freaking cute in this movie too.
In the movie, Judd is dating Kinnear, but he breaks her heart. Judd moves in with Jackman strictly as a roommate, because she finds out that he is a little bit of a player. All three of the characters work together at a talk show, so that makes every situation that much more funny.
Judd ends up writing this column on the dating habits of males, which is actually pretty funny. Jackman tries to help her through a tough time, all the while she is distance and cold, evaluating him and using his life as a basis for her column advice. But in the end, it isn’t his nature that she is trying to figure out, but instead she is trying to find a way to hide from her own. She can’t figure out why she keeps finding the wrong guy, and is so scared that it is her, blames it on other men.
She ends up falling for Jackman, and he finds out what she has done. But she apologizes and they get together, blah blah.
Regardless, the underlying emotions I think most people can relate to, who have ever really love and lost and didn’t know why.
See this movie if you like good looking actors and funny love stories. If you are put off by slightly slovenliest men, you may want to pass. But I know you’re not, so see this one. You won’t regret it.
Mallrats (1985)
The only reason I gave this movie two and a half, is because of Jason Lee and Kevin Smith. Jason is hilarious and saves this movie, and I have a lot of respect for Kevin Smith and what he has done with so little. He is the little guy in concept, and you would hope that anyone with his drive could have the same success.
Starring some unnotables, other than Shannon Doherty and pre-cool guy Ben Affleck, this movie is all about the craziness that goes on in these two relationships and is set in a local mall. These two guys lose their girlfriends almost simultaneously, and then go on a crusade to win them back.
You have to really appreciate Kevin Smith’s brand of humor. It isn’t dumb per say or dense, it just is a little throwback and heavy handed at times.
If you like Kevin Smith movies, this is one of his better ones. But I wouldn’t recommend this to everyone. It is kind of funny to see Ben Affleck as a big haired Bostonian punk, and there are other really funny parts without Jason Lee like the guy who can’t identify the image in the fragmented picture, no matter how long he stares at it. But again, more college student fodder than someone I would watch with the kiddies.
