Catch Up

What? Is it November already? School started and I became engulfed by work, work, work. I hardly got a chance to go to any movies or see any at home. Poor me. I thought about abandoning this List altogether – I mean really what’s the point? But, I guess there must some point because here I go with a few brief thoughts about the movies I saw in the past few months.
The Greatest Movie Ever Sold: This Morgan Spurlock documentary examines the pervasiveness of advertising in our world today. Even though this is a topic that has always interested me, I did think the movie revealed anything that new or interesting.
Everything Must Go: Will Ferrel plays a sad sack kicked out of his house and living in his front yard. There’s a cute kid a beautiful woman (the lovely Rebecca Hall) and a meager plot and yet I liked it, but not wowed.
Barney’s Version: life story of an unlikeable guy (Paul Giamatti) doing unlikeable things, blah.
The Conspirator: I like historical fiction and historical movies. The tale of one woman who was associated with the assassination of Lincoln sounds pretty good, eh? Despite having super cute James McAvoy, this movie too, is kinda blah.
I also watched Dexter season 4 (creepy), Treme, Season 1 (Not the Wire, but good), Lark Rise to Candleford (BBC miniseries, schlocky)

A few more Ryan Gosling Movies

I watch a lot of movies because this or that actor is in it. Of course, I have my favorites (criteria for a favorite has to do with my belief that this actor is a very talented and he or she has some quality, some je ne sais quoi quality that makes him so captivating on screen – this list does not include my favorite comedians btw) Here are some of my favorite dramatic actors, in no particular order:

Carey Mulligan: a new favorite, great in An Education
Claire Danes: I’ve always loved her starting with My So Called Life
Colin Firth: the best Darcy ever! Need I say more
James Franco: my love for him is waning, but 127 Hours, great – I even saw him in Howl
Keira Knightly: thought she was great in Atonement
Clive Owen: he made apocalyptic cinema great in Children of Men
Mark Ruffalo: ever since You Can Count on Me, I’ve been smitten
Viggo Mortenson: kinda scary sometimes, I even suffered through A History of Violence to see him
Laura Linney: so great in so many things, but first loved her in You Can Count on Me
James McAvoy: Last King of Scotland, adorable and a great actor

However, the actor whose films I rarely miss would have to be Ryan Gosling. I haven’t seen all of his films and even I won’t go to ones that are supposed to be terrible, but I've seen most (see Ryan Gosling movies listed on the side). With that in mind I have see two of his movies recently. Both not great, but worth a look if you are a fan like me:

All Good Things All Good Things: All Good Things tells about the fascinating real life story of a wealthy New York family and a creepy murder. It is based on a real story of Robert Durst. Ryan Gosling plays the put upon son and Kristen Dunst his hapless wife. Here's a fascinating link to a New York Times article about the real-life murders.


Crazy Stupid Love – This ensemble romantic comedy was, as my friend said when we came out of the theater, pretty stupid. But I got a lot of laughs out of Ryan Goslings’ gigolo character and guess what, the actor who can do it all can also be really funny. Emma Stone I thought was pretty good in it too.

Summer Movies 2010

Because I've been having too much time for fun like going to the beach and having margaritas with the visitors, I haven't been posting much lately. Of course, I have been watching some movies:

Alice in Wonderland: meandering fantasy with a few visually delightful moments but overall, yawn
The Last Station: this movie is a very enjoyable story about the followers of Leo Tolstoy during his waning years. It’s about the struggle between his wife and the Tolstoyans over his legacy. Tolstoyans are pretty interesting. They are devoted followers of Tolstoy with some strange rules thrown in like being celibate and refraining from killing bugs or some such things like that. There is a very sweet romance between two Tolstoyans, one played by the cute James McAvoy.
Whip It: Whip it is a fun coming of age drama with the likable Ellen Page. Her character, Bliss, defies her controlling mother to skate with some tough chicks in the Roller Derby.
Broken Embraces: the latest from Pedro Almodovar with the evervescant Penelope Cruz. The plot is hard to explain, but unfolds in the form of a memory from a blind film maker who tells of his love affair with Lena or the beautiful Penelope Cruz. Interesting but not as good as Volver.

Penelope

Penelope is a kids movie. I try to avoid those, especially animated ones, but wanted to see it because?..... guess. If you said James McAvoy; you would be right. Plus, I have always liked Christini Ricci's acting. Reese Witherspoon's film company produced the movie and she has a small role in it which is a bummer because she always brightens up a movie. It's a pretty slight movie overall, but a cute and kid appropriate fairy tale. It's not one of McAvoy's brightest roles or best acting turns, but he's so darn cute and just fun to look at. So now I can update my list of James McAvoy movie's seen with Penelope.


James McAvoy Movies
Wanted (20o8)
* Atonement (2007)
* Becoming Jane(2007)
Starter for 10 (2006)
*Penelope (2006)
* The Last King of Scotland (2006)
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
*"Shameless" (2004)
Inside I'm Dancing (2004)
Wimbledon (2004))
Strings (2004)
* "State of Play" (5 episodes, 2003)
"Early Doors" (4 episodes, 2003)
Bright Young Things (2003)
"Children of Dune" (1 episode, 2003)
Bollywood Queen (2002)
"Foyle's War" (2002)
* White Teeth (2002) (TV)
Swimming Pool (2001)
"Band of Brothers" (1 episode, 2001)
Replacements (2001)
"Murder in Mind" (1 episode, 2001)
Teacher (2001)
* Lorna Doone (2000) (TV)
Regeneration (1997)
"The Bill"
Rent (1997)

* McAvoy movie's I've seen

“Shameless” is a 2004 British TV series about 6 siblings living in a seedy housing development. Their father is a worthless drunk and the kids are cared for by their feisty and capable older sister Fiona. The show is currently in its 6th season, and I am trying to imagine how the story had enough material for that many seasons. It’s funny and the kids are good actors, especially the hard-nosed and smart Lip, but it’s a little too over the top sitcommy and unnecessarily vulgar too often, -- it just seems like it might get old after awhile. I did watch all of the first season. At first I could not remember why I rented this series. Usually I put something on my queue because of a review I read or a DVD preview I saw. But within the first 5 minutes of watching this quirky series, I knew the reason I added it: James McAvoy. He plays Steve, Fiona’s boyfriend. And like Ryan Gosling, I seem to have the goal of watching everything he's been in. Below are a list of James McAvoy movies. I put a star next to the ones I've seen. I guess I've got a few more to see.

Wanted (20o8)
* Atonement (2007)
* Becoming Jane(2007)
Starter for 10 (2006)
Penelope (2006)
* The Last King of Scotland (2006)
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)
*"Shameless" (2004)
Inside I'm Dancing (2004)
Wimbledon (2004))
Strings (2004)
* "State of Play" (5 episodes, 2003)
"Early Doors" (4 episodes, 2003)
Bright Young Things (2003)
"Children of Dune" (1 episode, 2003)
Bollywood Queen (2002)
"Foyle's War" (2002)
* White Teeth (2002) (TV)
Swimming Pool (2001)
"Band of Brothers" (1 episode, 2001)
Replacements (2001)
"Murder in Mind" (1 episode, 2001)
Teacher (2001)
* Lorna Doone (2000) (TV) Regeneration (1997) "The Bill"
Rent (1997) TV episode An Angel Passes By (1997) (TV) The Near Room (1995)

Atonement in the theater

It's always nice to see a movie in the theater; it seems like I do that less and less and watch DVDs more. Probably due to my Netflix compulsion. Anyway, I just saw Atonement after hearing mixed reviews from friends and critics. I had read the book (although I did some paging through the boring parts like the war scenes) and knew pretty much what to expect. While I could see why some people thought the movie was boring, I was not bored because it was so nice to look at -- it is so lush and beautiful -- beautiful mansion and gardens and actors. Keira Knightly and James McAvoy are both stunning and the young actress who played Briony is entrancing as well. The war scene on the beach is bizarre and marvelous, like a dream sequence. Each little scene is glorious in some way -- but maybe it's that the movie just doesn't hang together very well and seems a little flabby in parts, but it is definitely something to look at.

I also saw on DVD Hoax about the writer who pretended to know Howard Hughes and write his biography. It's a pretty outrageous story.

And I recently saw Jeff Tweedy, Sunken Treasure Live, a concert film. I liked watching and love Tweedy of Wilco's music and his fantastic voice. You got a glimpse of what kind of person Tweedy is and well he comes off kinda jerky at times but not so jerky that you don't still admire his music.

A Jane Austen Fanatic goes to Becoming Jane

When a Jane Austen fanatic, such as myself, goes to see a movie imagining what the real Jane Austen was like, well she enters the theater with both excitement and fear.
What will she find? How can she separate the Jane she knows and created in her own mind from the Jane played by Anne Hathaway on screen?
Well, the experience wasn't as jarring as it could have been. I was able to keep my own image of Jane safely maintained and enjoyed this movie-screen version of Jane (a totally different one than the one I know)-- way too passionate, way too pretty, and way too love-struck teenager.
Apart from this disconnect, I enjoyed the movie. I liked the lovely scenery, the snippets of scenes from Jane Austen's novels, and the sassy and sexy talking Tom LeFroy played by James McAvoy, last seen in the Last King of Scotland. He didn't seem like any kind of Jane Austen hero that I ever knew but what the hey.
Don't get me started on the implausibilities in Becoming Jane because I could go on -- about a weird parental scene at the beginning of the movie, or virulent boxing, or the cricket playing Jane, or writing Pride and Prejudice in a night on so forth. But I will spare you.
All in all, my Jane, still in tact, Anne Hathaway's Jane, cute and ultimately not that memorable.