Mama Mia!

This is by far the best movie I have seen this year. I can't think of anything I didn't like about it. It was everything a feel good summer movie should be. And above all else it was fun. And yes I did catch myself singing along to a few of the songs.

The casting was perfect. It has only been in the last few years that I have become a fan of Meryl Streep and while I have come to enjoy her in the dramatic fair that she is so known for I most enjoy her in these kinds fun let loose roles. Even before I came to like her I always did enjoy her performance in Death Becomes Her. This performance was so great. I don't know if there will be any Oscar love for it but, I definitely anticipate a Golden Globe nomination and quite possibly a win.

I have enjoyed Amanda Seyfried in various projects over the last few years. And she has always taken steps forward in the differnet projects. This was most definitely her coming out party. And what a party it is.

All the rest of the cast was just fantastic. The best part was that they took it seriously. Not too seriously but, just enough to keep anything from coming off campy and dumb. Christine Baranski and Julie Walters were great as "The Dynamos" in other words Meryl's backup singers. Them doing the opening part of Dancing Queen was freaking great.

In all my years of loving Pierce Brosnan I never would have dreamed of him doing a role like this. He proved himself to be even more versitale than I thought he was. It doesn't get any better.

I saw this at a matinee (as I do most things these days) and it was worth so much more than that. No problem what-so-ever with paying full price for this. And I am hoping to see it again in theaters.

If you do see if be sure to stick around for the whole sequence between the end of the movie and the credits. It is well worth it.

And the Oscar...I mean Emmy goes too

Again this year the Emmy nominations are not my favorite but, then again I wasn't expecting much. When it comes to the actor categories I wasn't surprised by my overall disappointment. The bright spot being that at least James Spader got nominated again. He truly is a breath of fresh air among the boring male characters currently taking up space on television.

Of course the categories I watch closet are the actress categories especially Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series. I actually pegged 4 of the 5 nominees in that category. The only one I wasn't sure on was Sally Field and that's the only one of the 5 I don't watch. But, good for her. I find it very amusing that 3 of the 5 nominees are Oscar winning actresses. I do think there are good roles for them in film but, that they get a much greater chance to shine on television.

I think this will be the hardest one to handicap however, currently I think Glen Close has the edge. Her character was one you don't often see given to a women. She was a true villian and she just didn't care who got hurt in the end. At the sametime she played a villian out to help the little guy so it's a very interesting line there.

I just have to get a dig in at ABC here. I was very mad at them for canceling Women's Murder Club. I was even more ticked off about it when it turned out that it had a higher average viewership than the two male dominated shows that ABC renewed for next season. I told my friend that was a very stupid move because 3 of the highest rated and most talked about shows on cable were female driven cop dramas. (This was just after the premiere of In Plain Sight.) And then look what happens 3 of the 5 nominees for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series play cops. So I will officially say the people that run ABC are the biggest idiots in television.

I am very happy that 5 strong actresses that play 5 strong characters were nominated this year. And the fact that one of them is a villian only makes it better. This is the category I think everyone will be watching this year.

I must say though that I was disappointed that yet again a Lifetime original series was overlooked. When it comes to movies Lifetime usually gets some love but, they just can't get any for their series' and that is a shame. Army Wives really deserved some attention. I guess there are just too many great women on television at the moment and not enough room at the awards table for them all.

Indiana Jones and the Kindgom of the Crystal Skull

I was really not impressed with this movie at all. I enjoyed the previous Indy movies but, this one was really lacking. The story was rather boring and kind of lame and the action sequences left a lot to be desired. Most of the time I just kept thinking how obvious it was that Harrison Ford was to old to be doing another one. I think everything was constructed to what he could physically do. I also felt it wasn't as funny as the others. It had it's comedic moments but, it just didn't seem to be as much as before.

With the exception of Harrison Ford I thought the acting was quite good. Honestly I felt like he was phoning it in a lot. I felt bad at times for Shia LeBeouf because it seemed like he wasn't allowed to be as good as he could be. It was like he was instructed to not do anything that might show up Harrison. At least he got that great sword fighting sequence with Cate Blanchet. That was probably my favorite part of the whole movie. Cate was great as the villian.

I was very disappointed with the fact that there weren't as many sequences with booby traps or other things to escape from.

Went to a matinee and that was a little much to have spent on this movie.

Sex and the City

I wasn't really sure if it was a good idea to make a movie of such a great show. I was concerned that it wouldn't translate well to a long format. And in some respects I was right. There were times when it flowed very well. It felt very much like the show and those parts were very good. However, it was connecting those parts that caused the movie to slip and faulter at times. They didn't do a good job with the stories outside of the group scenes and Carrie's storyline. And it was a bit long.

The show was always at its strongest when the storylines for each character were strong and close to equal. I really felt the movie focused too much on Carrie. Yes the other ladies had a good amount of screen time but, they weren't given enough of their own storyline which is what made the show work so well. I wish they could have found more ways to have all of them together.

At least none of them tried to change their characters for the big screen. They were very much how they were on the small screen and that was very important. I also like that they didn't go over the top with crazy guest appearances. I'm sure they could have had just about anyone pop up in the movie either as themselves, or playing small characters. That would have been a big distraction so it's good that they didn't do that.

I really enjoyed the character of Louise, Carrie's assistant. Jennifer Hudson was fantastic in that role.

I thought the opening of the movie was very well executed. It was very smart of them to put together something that would quickly aquaint people with the characters. For someone less familiar with the show it gave them a reference for each character's personality.

I think the one thing I didn't like about the movie was them having Samantha in Los Angeles. They still managed to keep her quite active in the story but, I just didn't care for that story point.

Do to unforeseen circumstances I ended up seeing it at the discount theater. I would have gladly paid full price for it thought.

Wanted

For an action film this movie wasn't bad but, it wasn't all that great either. The action sequences themselves were pretty well executed even if some of them were a little too obsurd. There was potential for a good story however, that good story never came through. They really screwed it up in a couple places.

At least the acting wasn't a total disaster. That did manage to stay in check which is good. When the story of an action film faulters the way it did it can easily lead to over the top acting.


Spoiler Alert:


In theory the ideal behind the fraternity of assassins made since. If you could stop someone now from committing all kinds of horrible acts down the road, would you? However, the story lost all appeal when it turned out that they were getting the names of the people from reading a binary code in fabric coming off a loom in a secret room. It wasn't hard to figure out that Morgan Freeman's character was picking his own targets. Not just because the loom thing seemed so stupid but, because the story was too transparent.

The story line with the main character trying to kill the man he thought killed his father was not developed very well. It would have been much better had they spent more time playing a cat and mouse game. Clearly the writer couldn't figure out how to make that work with the twist of the story. That was a shame because that is what would have really made the movie work.


Overall it was a decent movie. I wouldn't recommend seeing it for more than matinee price.

The Hole

I am always on the lookout for those little movies that people did before they were famous. The ones that sometimes don't get released until someone in the cast does become famous. I love those movies because they are generally done before someone really worries too much about the projects they pick. When they are still just doing stuff because it's fun.

I found one of those little gems recently starring Kiera Knightly. It also stars Thora Birch. And to top it off it was a horror film. It's a right of passage in the industry doing a horror film. Very few people (especially these days) get away with not doing one. So I got it from netflix and watched it last night.

Thora Birch is the real star of the movie. It is about her character. While I am not one of those people who loves Ghost World I still enjoy Thora Birch. She's a fine actress. In fact I found myself wondering while watching The Hole why her career is so small. Is it because she doesn't fit the mold that Hollywood is always looking for? Or is it because she just doesn't care to work that much? I guess we'll never know. She does have the talent to play leading characters but, I truly think should she ever thrive big time in the industry it'll be as a character actress. She's destined to play some of those amazingly unforgettable supporting roles.

Anyway, the movie is quite different than I thought it would be from the discription. It's more of a phsycological horror as opposed to a standard horror film. That's really if you want to classify it as a horror film. I suppose it is because horror films are about fear and this one does feed upon some of peoples biggest fears.

There was only on actor of the main 4 that I wasn't familiar with. He was quite good though. In fact it was the other guy who I am most familiar with from the movie Wrong Turn that seemed out of place in this cast. It seemed he never quite figured out exactly how to play his spoiled rich son of a rock star character. It's almost like he wanted to make it seem like he actually had a heart and was a nice sensitive guy once you got to know him. Only problem was there wasn't any room in the script for that. And he's not a good enough actor to pull it off just because he wanted too.

Thora and Kiera were good as always. Kiera wasn't given a lot to do. But, she did exactly what was needed for the role. She didn't try to over play the popular, slutty, rich girl or turn her into something she wasn't. She played the character that was needed for the movie. Thora was spot on as the outcast of the group. Driven by her own desires and not letting what anyone else wanted or needed get in her way.

There is a scene in the movie where they do this sort of impromtu skit thing hoping it will get them out of the bunker they are trapped in. Watching them deliberately doing bad acting is quite fun.

It's a decent movie but, probably not one you want to rush out and see unless you like the someone whose in it. I'm not sure most people would enjoy it just for the story.

Into The Wild

A few weeks ago my boyfriend and I rented Into The Wild. It was a decent movie and a good story. However, it was a bit boring and long. The length of it wouldn't have been such a problem if it had a little better pacing. A lot of the problem was needless scenes that may not have been that long themselves but, once you start adding them all up it's a decent chunk of time. It was beautifully shot and it was some of those scenes that drug down the pace.

On the whole the acting was good. Sean Penn got exactly what he needed out of his cast. Aside from the unnecessary scenes his directing was good. I really don't think Hal Holbrook deserved his Oscar nomination. As an ensemble the cast definitely deserved attention. Broken down into individual performances though there wasn't any one that really stood out.

It's not really a movie I would recommend right off the top of my head if someone asked what they should rent. But, at the sametime I wouldn't tell them not to rent it either.

Nim's Island

I don't go to a lot of the so-called family films out there. Usually it's because they are animated and I'm not a super big fan of animated movies. Or the movie just looks rather lame. And I don't like dealing with all the children. So if it's something I'm at all interested in I will either go after it's been open several weeks or more likely I will just wait for dvd. However, if you throw Jodie Foster into the mix then I have to see it in theaters. Okay I probably don't absolutely have to but, by the crazy rules for seeing certain peoples movies that I have in my own head I did have to see it. And I had to see it on opening day.

That of course meant running the risk of dealing with screaming obnoxious children. Luckily that didn't happen as the movie was so entertaining the children were very engaged. When I do go to family films I have noticed that live action movies can be very hit or miss with the kids. Either it's right at their level and they love it or it's over their heads and they really have no idea what's going on. While they probably didn't really understand why Jodie's character wouldn't leave her house the writer and director managed to make those sequences very fun and funny so whether they understood or not they still enjoyed that aspect of the story.

I have seen the majority of Ms. Foster's films and I have to say even I was quite impressed with her comedic range. While there were only a few true slapstick parts she did them very well and slapstick is not easy.

As always I was impressed with Abigail Breslin. She is very talented and since she spends most of the movie alone with her animals and communicating via e-mail with Jodie that talent really shows through. The isolation of both her and Jodie's characters came through very well from both of them.

I think my biggest disappointment in the whole movie was that the two actresses didn't have more scenes together. The film isn't really what it is made out to be in the previews. It is more of a three storyline movie and all three storylines finally converge at the end. However, all three story's are good and they do come together good and make since together. The editing in that regards is top notch.

While the casting of the leads was good and everything involving them was well executed the film was hurt by part of the subplot with Abigail's character. The subplot itself isn't the problem. It's just that as usual with these kinds of movies they went for over kill with the casting. Instead of them being characters they seemed more like charactures. They went for your standard fat shlubby characters that don't pay attention to their kid and all that. And the people they got weren't good actors which only made it worse. Especially the one that played the son who actually has a scene with Abigail. That was just done right sad and a little painful to watch.

That aside it was a very good film. I enjoyed the overall story as well as the seperate stories. The comedy was great both in dialogue and action. It is very much worth seeing.

I went to a matinee and it was well worth that price. It would have been worth full price. I will probably even see it again and I may see it at night for full price.

The Other Boylen Girl

The previews for The Other Boylen Girl looked really good. And with Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson as the female leads I was definitely seeing this movie in theaters. With the previews and the cast I did run the risk of getting my expectations for the movie too high. That did not happen. The movie and the performances were every bit as good as I was expecting and then some.

I did find it interesting that while it's called The Other Boylen Girl it's not as much about Mary as it is about Anne. And most people have a tiny bit of knowledge about the story of Anne Boylen. I must admit I had no idea how devious she truly was though. Although that deviousness was not of her own making. I mean her family did bring it upon themselves in someways.

I also find in interesting how back then it was not frowned upon for a countries leader to bed other women. In fact it seems that it was quite often frowned upon if he didn't bed women other than his wife. Even more interesting is if the Queen doesn't give the King his male heir he is expected to find a mistress or several and keep impregnating them until he gets his presicous boy. Funny too how in this case after all things played out it would be King Henry's second daughter who would become one of the strongest and most respected leaders in all of Englands history.

Sorry that got off track from the movie itself. So the movie was very well put together. It had really good pacing. At least for the majority of the movie. The last little bit seemed to drag a bit. None of the movie seemed to be overdone. Everything from the costuming, to the sets, to the dialogue and acting was very well restrained. Sometime actors have a tendancy to go a little over the top in how they deliver their lines in movies like this but, that didn't happen here. I do attribute that to the fact that none of the other stuff in the movie was over the top.

The acting was fantastic. Scarlett didn't have quite as much to do as I might have thought she would but, for a supporting performance it was very good. Now Natalie she had a very wide range of emotions to cover and she did it superbly. She one hundred percent found and owned the character of Anne Boylen. It'll be interesting to see if this performance is strong enough to be remembered at the end of the year when it is awards time.


A couple of small spoilers coming up:

There was one part of the story that they really left hanging. At least for me. Some people might have gotten so into the rest of the movie that they forgot about it all together. At the time that they went to court and the King started his affair with Mary, she was married. He asked her if she'd mind if he sent her husband away. And apparently he did since we never saw him again. We also never heard of him again. He did not rejoin her when she was sent back to the family estate with her son. There was never any mention of him being killed or them getting a divorce/annulment. Yet in the end she married another man. I do wish they would have give that a little more thought and wrapped it up a little better.


Overall this was a fantastic movie that I would very much recommend. I saw a matinee but, would have been fine with paying full price to see it. It is worth the price of admission.

Atonement

While a good movie Atonement is not as good as I anticipated it would be. It just didn't have quite the emotional punch I thought it would have from the previews. The story itself was good although a bit choppy due to the manner in which it was put together.

They would show you basically the end of a scene and then back up and show you then entire scene from a different perspective. It made the story a little confusing at first. Once you got use to that it just made the movie a little weird in how it flowed and kind of slowed it down. To some extent I see why they did it the way they did but, for the most part I still feel like they could have done it differently and done a better job with it.

The movie is based on a book and normally that doesn't have an impact to me when seeing the movie. Generally I haven't read the book and the movie works as a movie. However, this time I really felt like there was a lot of stuff that was missing. There just seemed to be wholes in the story and things that I'm sure a little more detail could have really helpted the movie. The was very evident at the end of the movie. Which seemed to just come out of nowhere.

As for the acting. It was all good even though Keira Knightly and James McAoy really didn't seem to have that much to do. They did a great job with what little bit of emotion they did have to play with. And they did work well together. Even though I haven't seen many of the other nominated performances I do understand why they didn't get Oscar nominations. What I don't understand is how Saoirse Ronan got nominated for playing Keira's sister. There was nothing special or not worthy about the performance.

One thing I really liked about the overall presentation of the movie had to do with an interesting sound thing they did. You could probably say it was almost part of the score of the film. A big part of the story involves the little sisters imagination and her writing, which is done on a type writer. They used the sound typing to enhance the feeling of urgency of some of the scenes. When characters would be rushing places the key strokes would be used almost as the sounds of footsteps. I found that to a great addition to the movie.

Went to a matinee and that's what I'm comfortable having paid. I really don't think it is worth full price.

P.S. I Love You

Fantastic movie. It really is one of the best romantic comedies in awhile. Most of them this year have been rather flat but, this one isn't. Although it is more of a romantic dramedy. It is quite different story wise than anything that's come along in any genre lately. It's not nearly as formulated as you'd expect.

All the acting was quite good. The casting was excellent. I have to say while I like all of them I wasn't sure how well Hilary Swank, Lisa Kudrow, and Gina Gershon would work together. They worked excellently. At no point did I feel anyone was trying to steal a scene. My only casting issue was James Marsters. Luckily he wasn't in too much of the movie but, I still wish they would have found someone else for his part.

There was one really great dialogue moment but, very few people will probably get the joke. I am one of those people who got the joke and absolutely loved it. And no I'm not telling what it is because it'll ruin it for those who would get the joke.

I saw this at a matinee but, would have been perfectly happy paying full price for it. It's a great movie and I highly recommend it.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

I didn't see Elizabeth when it came out. I really wasn't interested in it and wasn't a yet a fan of Cate Blanchet. And I probably wouldn't have worried about seeing Elizabeth: The Golden Age if it weren't for my boyfriend. He's a big history buff and really wanted to see it. We did watch Elizabeth and it was pretty good.

At times Elizabeth: The Golden Age was a bit hard to follow. There was a lot going on in that time and so there were a lot of subplots going on that did all feed into the main plot. It's just at times it was difficult to figure out what was going on the first time or two they would go to one of those subplots. If you can keep up with it it's a good movie. Definitely don't see it if you are having trouble staying focused on things that day.

The acting was all very good. I could see Cate again getting nominated for the role but, I don't feel it has Oscar winning potential. There are definitely some things coming up that could challenge this movie and possibly even knock her out of the nominations. I think any real potential for wins here will come in the form of costuming and set design stuff.

I'm glad that both movies were directed by the same person so they had the same feel. Everything as far as movements and visuals lined up perfectly. That was really important because that was one of the things that really made Elizabeth work. Although there was one point in the movie that I didn't care for the directing. That isn't too much of a surprise though because I have a lot of issues with slow motion sequences in movies. They are always used with the intent of enhancing the drama and usually just result in killing it and that's exactly what resulted here.

I saw a matinee showing and that was the perfect price for me. I'm not entirely sure what it was but, I just don't think I'd have been too happy paying full price for it. One other thing about it. The next time someone tells you women aren't fit to lead a country. Tell them to watch both Elizabeth and Elizabeth: The Golden Age.

3:10 To Yuma

I'm not a big fan of westerns in general but, this one looked pretty good. And since Russell Crowe and Christian Bale are two of my favorite actors I was interested in seeing it.

It was a lot better than I thought it would be. Another movie with a villian who isn't quite the villian you'd expect him to be.

The performances were all very good. And while it was a small role I'm always happy when Gretchen Mol can get work. The supporting performances were right on par with the lead performances. Which was very important. With two leads that can easily control a movie and run circles around the supporting actors the movie would have been awful if those actors hadn't been able to hold their ground.

The directing wasn't the greatest in a couple places. Overall it was very good. There were just a couple spots that they really shouldn't have gone for the shots they went for. There are just somethings you can't do with horses it ends up looking bad and amatuerish.

Unfortunately part of the ending was very transparent.

Went to a matinee and it was very much worth it. I would not have been upset having paid full price for it.

The Brave One

Admittedly I'm a litte behind again but, I thought I was going to see this a second time right away so I was waiting to post a review until then. That hasn't happened so I'll go ahead and post now.

Overall the movie was pretty good. It was rather thought provoking. It wasn't as intense or suspenseful as I was expecting. I did feel it was let down by the directing at times.

As always Jodie was very good. It was a very interesting role and as seems to be her pattern of late there were some things that awhile back you would have never thought you'd see her do. Of course there was a time when the critics would have all out attacked her for one of the scenes in the movie because for some reason they didn't want her doing them.

I was a bit disappointed by Terrance Howard. It's not that there was a lot in the way of range for his character but, I just felt that his performance was very bland. Very cookie cutter for that type of character.

The arc of Jodie's character was rather interesting and again thought provoking. It takes a special actor to play a character like that and make you feel anything for the character other than disgust.

I don't know that this is a movie for everyone out there. What I do know is that people are going to take very different things from it. I don't think it's a love it or hate it movie. It's a very grey area movie. Two people could go to it and enjoy it but, they'd like it for different reasons. The same goes for not liking it. I think people are going to have vastly different opinions on the story and the character and the good or evil of it.

Do to scheduling issues I saw it at a mattinee and it was worth it. I would have been plenty happy to see it for full price.

Stardust

Stardust is not a movie that would normally appeal to me. I'm not much on fantasy or sci-fi stuff. However, the cast of this movie really caught my attention and the story seemed rather interesting. And I was not at all disappointed and my expectations for the movie were greatly exceeded. This is hands down the best movie I've seen so far this year.

Everything about it was top notch. The acting, the directing, the story, and the effects were all fantastic. I know the chances are slim but, honestly I think a huge number of Oscar nominations should come from this movie.

It's probably a shoe in for things like visual effects and costuming but, it deserves big time nominations.

This was the first movie in a long time that really let Claire Danes show her huge rage. I'd love to see her get nominated for this. Michelle Pfiefer was amazing as the wicked witch and a supporting nominations should not be out of the realm of possibilities.

The directing and screenplay were phenomenal and should get some awards of some kind. And at the very least they should get nominations.

The main reason I don't usually like movies like this is that they over do the effects. They use way too much digital stuff and it takes away from the movie and the story rather than enhancing it. That was not at all the case with Stardust. All the effects only served to improve the story.

I especially loved the ending. It was one of the best parts of the movie.

I'm going to skip the spoiler section of this review so no one is tempted to read it.

I paid full price and would pay full price to see it again. I recommend it to anyone at full price. Regardless of if you pay full price or a discounted price of some kind do try to see it in theaters to experience the full scope of the film.

I Know Who Killed Me

It's been a while since I posted and I return with my review of Lindsay Lohan's latest movie.

The story was very interesting and had a lot of potential. Unfortunately the directing really let the story down. The story also could have been a little tighter and some areas could have used a little more explaining.

Lindsay gave a terrific performance as always. She did everything she could to really make the whole thing work and it was a great step further away from the teenage fair that made her famous. The directing let her down as well. A better director really good have used her overall ability to enhance the story but, that didn't happen here.

The supporting cast was a bit of a disappointment. It's like they decided that since they weren't in it very much they didn't really have to try very hard. That or once they started filming they realized the movie wasn't going to turn out the way they expected so they just phoned it in.


Spoiler Alert:


One of the things that really hurt the overall story was the way they dealt with Lindsay's character getting her prostetic limbs. She was in the hospital for a few days then one day a guy comes in gives her the prostetics takes her down to the rehabe room and she is instantly a master with them and experiences no pain while walking on her fake leg. She then gets to go home from the hospital that day and everything is fine. That's not at all how it works. It takes quite a bit of time to get the hang of prostectic limbs. They could have easily used some dialogue or super imposed a time lapse on to the screen in the next scene to say some time had gone by rather than just rush it like that.

The ending was also a little rushed and I don't know if a lot of people picked up on exactly what the connection was between the victims. There was no reason to kill Lindsay's characters father. And the confrontation between her and the killer could have been a little more climatic.


I did pay full price to see this movie and it was actually worth it to me. Despite the story issues I still found it to be a pretty decent movie. But, I'd recommend just seeing it on video or even waiting until it was on a cable movie channel.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

I didn't see any of the other Harry Potter movies in theaters but, I did watch them all on dvd recently on account of my boyfriend being very into them. They were pretty good. I have to say each individual story was quite good and the over all story running through them was very good and very strong. I liked how they depicted a regular school life for Harry and his friends along with the main story and obstical for that movie.

That being said Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix did not live up to the previous four movies. I understand that it was an extremely long book so there was a lot that had to be cut out but, in all honesty they cut out the stuff that made the movies so good. This one was way to focused on the big bad for this story. There wasn't enough of the everyday stuff that was in the earlier movies and that really made it drag.

The thing is because the core audience here is viewed to be a younger audience they were clearly trying to keep it as short as possible. However, the kids that read these books and watch these movies soak it up they would sit through a slightly longer movie. As long as they get more Harry they are staying glued to the screen.

Aside from that everything else about the movie was good. The actors held up their end of the deal just like they have each time. And the special effects where very good. One thing I really like about the effects in the Harry Potter movies is they don't push them too far and they don't use them in places that they don't need to. A lot of movies the effects look hokey even in other movies of this type that can be the case. That is not the case with these movies which makes them easier for me to watch. Generally I avoid movies like this just because I don't like the effects.

For this being my first Harry Potter theater experience it was decent. I paid full price and it wasn't a complete waste. I would have prefered matinee price but that would have meant dealing with all the little kids so I'm fine with full price. It's definitely worth full price if your a big Potter fan.

Loving Annabelle

Loving Annabelle is a movie that covers a lot of controversial territory. Not only is it about a teacher and student falling for each other but, it happens to be a female student and female teacher at a private all girl Catholic school.

It is the student (Annabelle) who pursues the teacher. I found it interesting how the teacher did several things to try and avoid situations that put them together. Yet at the sametime I think she did other things not because she necessarily was looking for something to happen between them but, because she was hoping to get Annabelle to stop being so rebelious.

The story was very strong and well written. The movie itself was put together very well. For an indie film with a very short shooting schedule it had very high production value. The one thing that really hurt the film was it's ending. Or lack there of. It needed a stronger more real ending. And there was plenty of room time wise for it because it was only 77 minutes long.

Some answers as to the shortness of the movie were given in the commentary track. Commentary that I was very disappointed in since the director barely let Ering Kelly (Annabelle) speak. And for the most part all the director could do was complain about not having enough time or money to do the things she wanted. I finally stopped listening to it because every scene I was really interested in hearing about was just more whining.

But that really had nothing to do with the movie. It was good and I would have liked getting to see it on the big screen. Thanks to the not so great ending though it would have only been worth matinee price at best.

Come Early Morning

It hasn't been my normal practice to blog about stuff I watch on video. However, due to recent life developments and the fact that things still don't always come to a theater that I can easily get to I have decided to change this.

Last year there was a lot of buzz about Come Early Morning. As a big Ashley Judd fan I was very interested in the movie. My interest in it was also peaked by it being written and directed by Joey Lauren Adams. Unfortunately the movie either went straight to dvd or it just got a really limited release.

Thanks to netflix I was able to finally see it. Normally I'm not much on the whole average life kind of movie. I just don't get into watching a person go through day to day life. However, this movie was really well written and had a really good story. There were a couple parts of the story that could have used a little more development because they just kinda left you wondering what was going on. And it would have given a little more depth to Ashley's story.

It was one of Ashley's strongest performances in a long time. I've never been disappointed in her but, it's nice seeing her get back to where she started. For those of you who aren't familiar she got her start in a small little film called Ruby In Paradise. She really is more than just a pretty face. And movies like Come Early Morning and Ruby In Paradise really show that.

I was very impressed with Joey Lauren Adam's writing and directing skills. I hope she continues to do more of both.

I definitely recommend seeing this movie. I would not have felt jipped if I had paid full price to see it.

Evening

To me the female cast alone is worth seeing Evening. I always find it interesting how little Claire Danes seems to work. I don't know if that's a personal choice or if Hollywood has for some reason forgotten about her. What I do know is anytime she is in a movie I look forward to it and when she gets to be in a movie with a cast like this one it is even more worth it. Considering the fact that both Claire and Meryl Streep were in The Hours and Evening was written by the author of The Hours that was even more reason to see the movie. Not to mention the story looked and sounded really good.

The movie wasn't quite what I expected it to be. It was a good movie it just wasn't quite as moving as it could have been. The story also wasn't told the way it seemed like it would be. Also unfortunately Michael Cunningham makes a better novelist than a screenwriter. The movement of the story through the dialogue just wasn't what it should be for a movie. One scene I did find interesting was the one with Meryl and Vanessa. It was very much like the scene between Meryl and Claire in The Hours.

All of the performances were very good. Mamie Gummer who played Lila was very good. It wasn't until The Hours that I truly started to like Meryl. As my friend Liz Taylor's House and I later figured out it was because I never felt an emotional connection to Meryl. I must say that Mamie (who it turns out is Meryl's daughter) does not suffer that same problem. I was very much involved in her performance. Should she choose to continue in the industry I believe she could have a career very similar to her mothers. Although in this day and age it probably won't come with as many Oscar nominations as Meryl's.

I do wish that Natasha Richardson and Toni Collette had played opposite roles. I'm not a big Toni Collette fan and I would have prefered to see more of Natasha than Toni.

It'll be very interesting to see what if any awards nominations come from this movie.

Potential Spoilers Ahead:

From the previews and what I read I thought that it was about Vanessa telling this story of a weekend that changed her life to her daughters as she was dying. That isn't how it was. In fact Vanessa, Natasha, and Toni were rarely in the same scene. Instead it was that Vanessa was dreaming about that weekend as she laid dying. I didn't really care for that version of the story. There was really no need for Natasha and Toni to be in the story for the most part.

I did enjoy the story but they left out some very crucial information that I feel may have been better worked into the story had she been telling it to her daughters. I was left wondering why Ann and Harris didn't end up together. Was the tradgedy of Buddy's death just too much for them to deal with? Or did they just return to their normal lives thinking they would see each other again and then got so wrapped up in those lives they didn't see each other again?

Also when Lila comes to Ann's death bed I was left wondering how long it had been since they had seen or spoken too each other. I didn't know if they had drifted apart after Buddy's death. If perhaps Lila blamed Ann and Harris for his death or what. I found this a very odd question to leave hanging.

I also really didn't care for the side story involving Toni's character and her trying to come to terms with being pregnant. It felt very forced. As if they decided they didn't have enough story with just the story of Lila's wedding weekend. When in fact that was plenty of story and they could have fleshed it out and answered those lingering questions if they hadn't wasted so much time with the part of the story that took place in the present.

I paid full price for this movie and it was very much worth it for me. I feel most people would prefer it at matinee price though. I don't know if this will make since to a lot of people but, it really is more of a matinee movie overall.