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.

The Kids Are All Right

I was surprised by how much I liked this movie. I had read that The Kids Are All Right was trying to be too hip for its own good, and, yes, there is some of that. But, it is also funny, thought-provoking, and at times sweet about how hard it is to be married and raise a family. The family stability begins to unravel when the lesbian couple's (Annette Bening and Julianne Moore) two teenage children go searching for their mothers’ sperm donor, and, Voila, they find none other than the super sexy Mark Ruffalo. Paul, Ruffalo’s character, causes all kinds of disruption, some good and some bad, but most interesting is that his impact on the family is complicated and the director leaves room for ambiguity. The kids, Joni and Laser, (Mia Wosikowska and Josh Hutcherson) seem like real kids with real teen age insecurities and interests unlike so many TV shows and movies these days where the kids are over sexualized and behave like adults. With great actors like Bening and Moore, you know you are going to get some great performances, and they do not disappoint. The Kids Are All Right is more than just allright.

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.

Zodiac

I just saw Zodiac, out on DVD, a movie about a real-life serial killer, The Zodiac, who killed during the sixties and seventies in the San Francisco Bay area. Really though the movie is about a cartoonist who becomes obsessed by the case and later writes two books about it. Jake Gyllenhaal plays the cartoonist -- supporting characters of note are Mark Ruffalo as the beleaguered detective, and fellow newspaper man Robert Downey Jr. deliciously playing the role of the newspaper man gone nutty over case -- he's got some great lines in this movie. He actually becomes a completely destroyed alcoholic, which is interesting given Downey's problems with substance abuse. When I first started watching the movie I was giddy with excitement. I love movies set in a newspaper room, and I love movies where their is an intriguing problem for the actors to chew on. However, the movie kinda strays as it goes on and you start to wonder why the cartoonist is getting so obsessed, he even gets his kids in on solving the mystery of the killer's identity, but all in all Zodiac is worth watching even though it has a less than satisfying ending.