Her (2013) Review

Here we have another one of those films starring Scarlett Johansson without actually showing Scarlett Johansson. Is it any good? Or will The Spongebob Squarepants Movie remain the only decent movie from that particular genre? Stupid joke aside, let's have a look at Spike Jonze's romance-comedy-zeitgeist-drama Her.

Do you remember... Before Sunrise?

OK, for a moment let's forget about all the romantic comedy rubbish starring Kristen Bell or Katherine Heigl that Hollywood likes to crap out for a quick cash grab and let's look at something much more sincere and honest than that. Let's look no further than 1995's Before Sunrise.

Celeste And Jesse Forever (2012) Review

"Celeste and Jesse Forever" is a film of missed opportunities and sad blandness. It's not terrible by any account but everything's just so poorly half-assed that it's a shame since the setup of the movie seems so promising and ripe with dramatic potential.

Annie Hall (1977) Review

I know it's been quite some time since my last posting but due to an overwhelming class and finals schedule I didn't even have time to do such basic things as getting at least 6 hours of sleep per night or eating on a regulated schedule. Of course that includes watching movies as well, and it's been about 2 months that I watched the Woody Allen classic "Annie Hall". But now I am catching up and there is probably going to be a good amount of postings over the next days and weeks about all the movies I've seen recently but didn't have time to write about yet.

Crazy Stupid Love (2011) Review

I like Steve Carell, I think he's one of the funniest actors we currently have. I like Julianne Moore who is a terrific actress and just doesn't get the roles she deserves. I like Ryan Gosling, especially after seeing his badass performance in "Drive", this guy has a bright Hollywood future. But did I like "Crazy Stupid Love", the romantic comedy that unites all of them? Well, sort of.

The movie sees Carell being left by his wife, played by Moore, for her colleague at work, played by Kevin Bacon. Then Carell meets playboy Gosling and the latter also makes him a fellow womanizer. What a great setup, I thought when I first heard about the movie. Knowing that directors John Requa and Glenn Ficarra had written the refreshingly insane "Bad Santa" and "I love you, Phillip Morris" I was hoping for another remarkably bold movie.

Unfortunately the story plays it safe and has Gosling falling in love with Emma Stone while Carell and Moore realize that they still have a thing for each other. It would have been nice to see a film that's braver than your average Hollywood flick in its depiction of relationships but "Crazy Stupid Love" has more problems to fight with.

There are just too many unanswered questions that kept popping up in my head. Why does Gosling pick Carell as his scholar and not anybody else? What exactly drives Moore back to Carell, is it just his new way of dressing sharply? Why does Carell's son adore his dad so much for his love to his wife if he gets divorced? Why are Kevin Bacon and Marisa Tomei, two outstanding actors, wasted in filler roles? Why does Emma Stone's role feel so tacked on? And did we really need the part about the underage babysitter being in love with Carell?

If you didn't get my point, there's a whole lot of "too much" going on and none of the separate parts feels fully completed, it seems too many crucial scenes either ended up on the editor's floor or were just totally over-written. In the case of "Crazy Stupid Love" less would definitely have been more.

Don't get me wrong, the film makes for an entertaining watch, the actors give it their best shot and there are sequences that definitely work but in its entirety the movie just feels like three really good movies blended together, it never adds up to the sum of its parts.

Casablanca (1942) Review

Don't you hate when you watch a movie that has such a big reputation, won so much acclaim, is beloved by everyone, always pops up on lists of best films of all time and you realize that it's all just much ado about nothing? I watched Casablanca for the first time last night and let me tell you directly, it is a good movie but it's far from being as grand, important, lifechanging and whatnot as it is made up to be.

What we're dealing with here is basically just a love story, albeit an interesting one. Humphrey Bogart plays Rick who owns a night club in World War II Casablanca and he's a tough guy, as cynical a badass as there has ever been one. But when he is confronted with his long lost love Ilsa we realize he's a nice guy inside, he's just been hardened by the heartbreak she caused him.

If you really don't have any idea what Casablanca is about then I'm not gonna spoil the rest for you. This movie has been referenced, spoofed and honored so many times that any cinephile should recognize most of the shots. We get classic lines such as "Here's looking at you, kid" and "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship" while Bogart plays his signature role to a tee and Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa just shines throughout the film. My favorite character nonetheless is Claude Rains as Captain Renault, a corrupt official who you can't really figure out until the very end.

So one might ask, what is there not to like about this film and frankly, there's not much not to adore but one thing that just kept bugging me and in the end ruined the film for me and brought it down to "just" a good level. As great as Bogart is in his role, I didn't feel much chemistry between him and Ingrid Bergman. She is this beautiful and fragile woman and he is just tough, I felt it just didn't click between them. I bet lots of people would disagree with me on that but hey, this is my blog and my opinion!

Maybe it's better to see films like Casablanca, Citizen Kane, The Godfather and any other classic without bias, just take them for what they are and appreciate what you actually get. Then you might avoid the slight disappointment I experienced with Casablanca.

Me And You And Everyone We Know (2005) Review

I already pointed out in an earlier post how much I like to explore movies off the mainstream. And it seems to just keep going, there's so much more stuff going on than just comic book adaptations, sequels and computer animated children's films. So let's get to business: Miranda July's Me and You and Everyone We Know.

If you haven't heard of her or her films, she's a performance artist-turned-filmmaker and you can feel her origin when watching this movie. I'm not gonna spoil anything for you but it's way more offbeat than I initially thought.

Everything that's happening in the film seems random, ambiguous and improvised and this is essentially the breaking point where your taste has to decide what you'll make of it. If you like your movies in a classic three act structure with flawlessly beautiful people and Hollywood gloss then don't even bother thinking about this film, you won't be pleased.

For everyone else who's more open to experiments there's a lot to be charmed by. The film's improvised but still artsy feeling allows for moments of great emotion and sometimes insane hilarity, as I said I could spoil it for you but I won't, it's just great, these moments made the film for me. If you consider yourself a movie lover who's open to new things then go and experience this unique little motion picture!

500 Days Of Summer (2009) Review

As much as I love Hollywood and American movies there's one thing that I despise: Generic formula work. If there's a unique success story the big studios try to cash in on that by blatantly copying and rarely coming close to the quality of the original. One of the most overused genres in that respect is the romantic comedy. Honestly I am not a big fan of these movies, too many brainless Katherine Heigl and Jennifer Aniston vehicles have destroyed my belief in the genre. So you can imagine my surprise when (500) Days of Summer came along. I've seen this film probably for the sixth or seventh time now and I'm never getting tired of it so you can probably guess that this is gonna be another rave review.

The film's basic story is just the chronicle of a relationship, that's it, no unnecessary subplots, everything superfluous stripped off. But here comes the twist: The film's strictly told from the male perspective. Enter Joseph Gordon-Levitt, perfectly cast in the role as Tom, naive romantic dreamer. When he meets Summer, played by Zooey Deschanel, he thinks he has found his match. Unfortunately she has strong opinions against any sort of serious relationships which naturally collides with Tom's idea of dating her.

So what we have here is a romance with reversed roles, a story that jumps between different timelines to contrast their happy moments with their unhappy ones. On top of that we get an amazing soundtrack, two leads with perfect chemistry and a creative use of colors and editing.

You must be a real grump not to be charmed by this film, it does everything right that so often gets screwed up by big budget productions, where they have the dollar sign, this film has heart. If you still haven't seen it then go and give it a try, you won't be disappointed.