THE SILVER LINING

I’ve seen a lot of movies over the past ten days, it is Academy Awards season after all. I have so many movies to tell you guys about so keep checking in for updates and new blogs.

Today I’m going to be talking about Silver Linings Playbook. I read amazing things about this movie and it’s predicted to be one of the movies nominated for Best Picture. It was amazing! It was definitely a real underdog movie that manges to make you think, 'compared to these people, my life isn't that bad' but you also want them to do well in the end.

Here’s the plot summary from imdb.com

After a stint in a mental institution, former teacher Pat Solitano moves back in with his parents and tries to reconcile with his ex-wife. Things get more challenging when Pat meets Tiffany, a mysterious girl with problems of her own.

Cast List:

Bradley Cooper:  The A Team, The Hangover, Limitless

Jennifer Lawrence: The Hunger Games, Winter’s Bone, X Men First Class

Robert De Niro: Raging Bull, Godfater Part II, Meet The Parents

    The plot summary does a pretty good job of describing the black and white details of this film. Pat, played by Bradley Cooper is on his way out of a court mandated stay at a psychiatric clinic. He leaves this clinic with one goal in mind, prove to his ex-wife that he’s a better, thinner, and calmer man who will do anything to win her back. He’s eventually set up with Tiffany, a young widow with plenty of problems of her own played by Jennifer Lawrence. Because of a restraining order Pat has no way of showing his ex wife just how much work he’s done to better himself for her. Tiffany agrees to talk to Pat’s ex but under one condition, that Pat sign up to dance with her in a ballroom competition.

    This is a story of two people who are lost, so lost that to others they seem crazy. They feel crazy too, and they do some really crazy things, but they are both on a mission to find the good out of their really unfortunate circumstances.

    I loved this movie. It’s definitely not a melodrama either it’s a really funny and honest movie. I strongly recommend it especially for anyone that thinks they may be a little bit crazy.

THE SESSIONS

     I love it when a movie takes me by surprise. I read a couple reviews and had really high expectations for The Sessions. I was mostly looking forward to a display of acting prowess because this movie stars Helen Hunt who won an Academy Award and John Hawkes who was nominated for an Academy Award last year. I was so looking forward to watching them act, that I forgot I was paying ten of my very hard earned dollars to watch a story unfold.

Here are the details:

Plot Summary found on imdb.com

A man in an iron lung who wishes to lose his virginity contacts a professional sex surrogate with the help of his therapist and priest.

Cast List:

John Hawkes – Winter’s Bone,
Miracle At St. Anna,
American Gangster

Helen Hunt – As Good As It Gets, Cast Away, Pay It Forward,  What Women Want

William H. Macy – Fargo, Pleasentville, Shameless, Magnolia

Rhea Perlman – Cheers

     The plot summary sounds a bit crude, and I should warn you there is quite a bit of nudity in this movie, but the story is so much more than that of a man trying to lose his virginity. This is a true story of Mark O’Brian, who contracted polio when he was 6 years old and was confined to an iron lung. He can only use the muscles of his body from the neck up. He requires around the clock care and because of this blames himself for ruining his parents’ quality of life, for his sister’s death and for being a burden to those around him. His connection with the sex surrogate was definitely about exploring the act, but it resulted in much more than him handing in his V card and joining the ranks of men. This experience for Mark asks the audience to contemplate the question; is there someone out there for everyone?

    It has to be pretty clear by now that watching a movie is a powerful experience for me. I connect emotionally with each movie I watch. I focus solely on what I’m watching and I zone out the rest of the world. It’s just me and the characters and the story. John Hawkes’ portrayal of Mark O’Brian was so real and so engaging that I felt very deeply for him. I wanted to give him a hug, I wanted so badly for him to realize that he deserved love and affection. My heart broke for him.

     If you think you’re capable of seeing the purpose of the nudity and the sex in this movie then definitely try to see this. It isn’t going to be playing in all theaters so you may need to search for it, but I really think this movie is human and honest and worth watching.

     Below is an interview with Ben Lewin , the writer and director of The Sessions. He touches on the processes that he and the cast went through in order to achieve the natural and honest struggel that Mark went through as he started this journey. It sheds a lot of light on the depth of this movie.

THE ZOMBIE EFFECT

Hollywood goes through phases. Right now we’re stuck in this 3D kick that was spawned by James Cameron and his Pocahontas knock off better known as Avatar. I seriously think it’s just a gimmick to get honest paying customers to fork over three extra dollars to see a movie, but I’ll spare you my disdain in regards to this hopefully short lived phase.  There are plenty of other phases that come and go, some faster than others. Each year between late August and October horror films start popping into theaters. There was this awesome period in the early 2000s with the modern take on classic literature featuring angsty teenagers like 10 Things I Hate About You, Clueless, Cruel Intentions, and my favorite Carmen: A Hip Hopera.

I’m generally opposed to the types of movies that tend to be trendy. Don’t get me wrong, I’ll likely watch these movies multiple times when nothing else strikes my fancy, but I avoid them for as long as possible. The biggest offender right now is probably the Twilight franchise. I get it, people are into vampires but now everywhere I go I see Edward Cullen pouting somewhere.

Zombie movies are everywhere these days. It’s probably safe to say that this is the latest trendy phase so my instincts are to roll my eyes and move on to the next trailer and hope it doesn’t include anyone that is undead. But I have to say that I may be wrong about the Zombie apocalypse that’s hitting the big screen. Did you see Zombieland? It was amazing and it introduced the world to Emma Stone and it featured Bill Murray playing himself. Need I say more? What about I Am Legend? Even that was about zombies! Check out the trailers below for World War Z and Warm Bodies. Both seem to have really interesting stories with really big actors. Brad Pitt even bought into this. Are zombie movies good movies? Have screenwriters found a way to take the latest craze and write intriguing storylines? I’m beginning to think I should be more open minded about these phases, at least if they include zombies.  

ALRIGHT, LET'S TALK ABOUT ARGO

     Here’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to tell you everything you need to know about some really great movies without ruining any of the good parts. I’m not going to grade these by letter, star count, number of thumbs up or down, or freshness of produce. I’m just going to tell you what you need to know in order for you to decide if want to see it or not.

     Today’s movie is Argo

Plot Summary found in imdb.com

     "A dramatization of the 1980 joint CIA-Canadian secret  operation to extract six fugitive American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary Iran."

Cast List: I’ll list the most recognizable actors. Next to each I’ll list a few of their bigger movies in case you wonder where else you’ve seen them.

Ben Affleck – Good Will Hunting, The Town, He’s Just Not That Into You

Bryan Cranston – Breaking Bad, Malcolm In The Middle

Alan Arkin – Little Miss Sunshine, Edward Scissor Hands

John Goodman – The Big Lebowski, Rosanne, Monsters Inc.

Victor Garber – Alias, Titanic

      Let me assure you that 21 dull words thrown together as a plot summary do not come close to describing how incredibly suspenseful this movie is. Argo was written and directed by Ben Affleck and he has a pretty strong track record when it comes to writing and directing movies. He wrote Good Will Hunting with Matt Damon, and he also wrote and directed The Town and Gone Baby Gone which were equally suspenseful and well received by Academy Award voters. If you haven’t seen those movies stop reading now and watch them.

     Here is what this movie is really about. There are 6 Americans who work at the US Embassy in Iran during an uprising. The Iranians take over the US Embassy and these six Americans escape and hide out in the Canadian Ambassador’s house. The CIA is responsible for getting these people out of Iran and back to the US. They come up with a pretty ridiculous scheme to get them out, and the chances of it working are real slim. I also need to mention that this is based on a true story. I know it sounds only so so, but I promise that by the time this movie is over you will find yourself on the edge of your seat.

     Ben Affleck is a babe, we all know that. He’s really the straight guy in this movie. He’s the one who is responsible for the lives of these six people stranded in Iran. For comic relief we have Alan Arkin and John Goodman who have pretty much nailed the role of old men who have grown content with the dull reality of their long and uneventful lives. Anything with John Goodman in it is worth watching, more on him later.

     If you can, I’d recommend seeing it in the theaters. Some movies are better to watch hung over on your couch on a rainy Saturday, but seeing Argo on the big screen helps to ramp up the tension that I think Ben Affleck was going for.

 Below is Argo's trailer. Check it out!

LET'S GO TO THE MOVIES

     I have a confession to make, Internet. As foolish as it sounds my infatuation with the silver screen is fueled by the seductive measures of a man. He’s spectacular really. His body is statuesque and he goes by the name of Oscar. He comes around once a year on my favorite holiday, Academy Awards Night. I know it’s not a federal or religious holiday, but I plan my vacation days around it and I spend weeks preparing so it totally counts.  

     It’s been 85 years since the first Academy Awards were handed out and I would love to tell you that I’ve seen every movie that ever won an award since then, but I have things to do. I am however putting together a list of all the movies that I think will be nominated for major awards at this year’s ceremonies. This way I can catch all of them in the theaters and cross my fingers for my favorites on awards night. I don’t have any stakes in the winners, it’s not like I have a bookie and my life savings running on the dark horse drama. I’ll make it to work the next morning with all of my fingers, so don’t worry about that.

     I have a rough list of movies that I think will be real contenders at this year’s ceremonies. I put this list together considering multiple factors. I’ll spare you the details on that for now, but here are the movies I’ll be watching between now and February 26^th. You may notice that a few of these movies have already been released in theaters. I’ve seen a few already and I’ll tell you my thoughts on them next time. I’ll share the trailers with you and a quick recap so that when the Academy Awards come around and if these films actually are nominated, you can make people think you saw all these movies too!

     In no particular order

Lincoln

The Master

The Hobbit

Perks of Being A Walflower              

Must Be The Place

Django Unchained

Silver Lining Playbook

Life of Pi

Moonrise Kingdom

Les Miserables

Cloud Atlas 

Argo

Anna Karenina

Flight

Hyde Park on the Hudson

Seven Psychopaths

Trouble with The Curve

A Late Quartet

The Impossible

The Sessions

Hitchcock

Promised Land

Zero Dark Thirty

Amour

Rust and Bone

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Above is a trailer for The Artist, last year’s winner for Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Director. I loved this movie. If you have the means, I highly suggest picking it up.

 

OPENING CREDITS

     What is up internet?  Here’s the deal, I am a movie junkie. I can only work release dates and awards season hopefuls into a conversation so many times before those I’m closest to shun me like an Amish girl who Rumspringa’d a little too hard. So that leaves me with you, World Wide Web to geek out to about new trailers, casting news, and to ask questions like what are Jeremy Irons and Viola Davis doing in Beautiful Creatures, the likely bad response to Twilight?

     So Internet, here is what I have to offer, I’ll share my thoughts on new movies, old movies, actors, awards season and anything movie related I can get my hands on. In return, I ask that you lead this blog to someone of influence in Hollywood so I can pull a Diablo Cody and win an Academy Award, minus the stripping of course.

     So to kick things off I’ll share with you the opening sequence of one of my favorite movies. It’s appropriate in this circumstance I think. In You’ve Got Mail Kathleen Kelly played by Meg Ryan writes to a mystery man she met online about their mutual love of books. I think half of the time she’s writing to him and the other half she’s writing it to put it out there for the universe to pick up.  In a moment of vulnerability she says to her online mystery man

So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around? I don't really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. So good night, dear void.