Lars and the Real Girl

I love Ryan Gosling and had planned on watching this movie for a while, but the thought of watching a movie about a guy who thinks his girlfriend is a blowup doll seems kinda creepy. The surprising thing about this movie is that it isn't creepy; Lars' creation of this "girlfriend" from out of town who is in a wheelchair is a manifestation of his own screwed up mind and is mainly just sad and uncomfortably funny at the same time. Even though I don't think this situation could happen in real life, it seems very believable (with the exception of some of the townspeople's reaction to him) This movie left me wondering. One thing that is for sure though, Ryan Gosling is a great actor!

Smart People watch Reversation Road

Or Mary and Mary watch two movies, one in the the theater called Smart People with Sarah Jessica Parker, Dennis Quaid, Ellen Page, and Thomas Hayden Church. Mary liked that the characters seemed like real people with typical weird idiosyncrasies but the movie itself felt a like a patchwork quilt -- it just didn't feel like it was put together right like a quilt that was worked on by too many people. SJP's character seemed undeveloped as if they were trying to make her out to be odd while Dennis Quaid's character seemed overdeveloped by being too neurotic. I, Mary, agree that the movie did not hang together well and left me with "hmmph" at the end. Actually a double "hmmph" What to think? It was overall lame with tons of potential. The ever-cute Ellen Page was ever-cute but seemed so like her Juno character, snappy and witty, and the only real salvation to the movie was Thomas Hayden Church, who curiously also so seemed so like his Sidewise character. So that's what us smart people thought.

If you had reservations about watching Reservation Road, I would suggest you follow that feeling. It's a downer, man. Mary was glad that she was playing Scrabble during this movie so two hours of her life weren't completely wasted. Why did I get it? Awesome cast, I mean who doesn't like Mark Ruffalo and Joaquin Phoenix but movies about a little boy getting killed is just not my cup of tea. However, Rachel Weisz did an outstanding job as the grieving mother, Mary thought.

Speaking of reservations, I also saw No Reservations with Aaron Eckhart, Catherine Zeta Jones, and Abigail Breslin about an uptight chef who winds up with her sister's daughter after the sister's death. Cute and fun new chef, the sexy Eckhart, is Zubas and brightly colored Crocs, livens up the dour Jones character and of course they fall in love. It's an ok movie but kinda bland, especially at the end. The movie was based on a 2001 German film called Mostly Martha and reviews say that movie is much superior. So I am going to check that out and get back to you.

Enchanted and Love in the Time of Cholera

I just saw these two movies -- very different in tone but alike in their lack of weightiness. I kept hearing people compare Enchanted to The Princess Bride, so I felt I needed to see it. It was cute, it was no Princess Bride, it had no goofy Wallace Shawn or repetitive Enigo Montoya (sp) but still cute. Amy Adams was the best part of the movie. She is sunny in a bizarre way. She is worth seeing in Junebug, it you haven't seen that.

Love in the Time of Cholera is also pleasant -- I never read the book so I can't compare them but I imagine the book is better-- it was just a little too one note about one man's weird obsession with one woman who has a lot of sex with other women while he pines for her until they are in their 70s. Javier Bardem is the long-lasting lover.