Please Give

I’ve thought a lot about Please Give since I saw it. Am I one of those people? By one of those people I mean liberal, socially conscious, but down deep caught up in meaningless grasps for stuff: property, furniture,decorative items, spray tans etc. (Well, I know I am not interested in spray tans!) The movie revolves around a married couple who buy and sell used furniture, waiting for old folks to die and then visiting their New York apartments looking for treasures. Meanwhile the couple played by Elizabeth Keener and Oliver Platt hope to expand their New York apartment after a cranky old lady next door dies. Perhaps, the one genuinely giving person in the movie is one of the old lady’s granddaughters, Rebecca played by Rebecca Hall (you may recall her from her great role in Vicky Christina Barcelona) who cares for her grandmother despite having to listen to her demeaning comments every time she visits. All in all, Please Give is a very thought-provoking movie.

Young Victoria

Young Victoria covers about 5 years of Queen Victoria of England’s life when she becomes queen and meets and marries Prince Albert. If you like movies about the English monarchy (and I really do!), you will like Young Victoria. Not only is the romance very sweet, but also learning about the insular and rare world that Victoria managed to thrive in is fascinating.

The Messenger

Why wasn’t Ben Foster nominated for an Oscar for his role in The Messenger? Woody Harrelson, who was nominated for best supporting actor, is good too, but wow, Ben Foster is amazing. The Messenger is a story about two soldiers whose job it is to notify family members about the death of their loved one in war. It’s just a story about two extremely messed up guys who have a very messed up job. Simple and well worth watching.

The Time Traveler's Wife

I had read bad reviews of this movie but still wanted to see it since I read the book. The Time Traveler’s Wife manages to take the exciting concept of time travel and make it boring. Even the ever radiant and cute Rachel McAdams, the time traveler’s wife, is not very interesting. In the book, the relationship between the wife and the traveler played by Eric Bana in the movie, is passionate, in the movie, enhhh. The best part of the movie comes when the cute little girl shows up, and that’s the last 20 minutes of the movie.

Adam

Hugh Dancy is Adam, a man-child who has aspergers. Rose Byrne is Beth, his new neighbor who is strangely fascinated by Adam and begins an awkward romance with him. A romance that starts with lines from Adam like, Were you sexually excited last night? The movie is funny and sad. I thought more sad than funny, but worth watching, mainly to see the great acting, especially Dancy. And I think the movie makers treated the difficult to understand condition of Aspergers with sensitivity and insight.

Greenberg

Noah Baumbach, maker of a The Squid in the Whale and Margot at the Wedding, gives us Greenberg, another look at and unhappy people and their ugly human qualities. While it’s not quite as funny nor is the plot as well-crafted as The Squid and the Whale, Greenberg, played by Ben Stiller, did get me thinking about aging and people’s futile grasps at meaning. Greenberg is so self-involved you want to slap him. He is house-sitting at his brother’s house while recovering from a nervous breakdown. He has nothing much to do but fills his day with meaningless tasks such as writing mundane complaint letters and making a dog house. He then decides to inflict his downer self onto Florence, his brother’s personal assistant, a victim who she allows Greenberg to verbally abuse her. Sounds fun, huh? Maybe not fun but revealing. The movie dissects a type of person who has no values, who is depressed, and lacks self-awareness, who may learn a little something at the end. If you like a character-driven movie, where the character is a jerk, then you may like Greenberg.

Movie Catch Up

I've been absent from my blog for quite a while. Some of that time I was in Ecuador and did in fact watch a lot of movies. A few on the airplane and a few of the unlicensed variety. Here's the recap:

Airplane movies: captive audiences who have nothing better to do than watch one the follow ennhhh movies!
Old Dogs -- This movie was actually shown TWICE on my way down and it is TERRIBLE! If I were Robin Williams or Jon Travolta I would try strike this movie off my resume. Super dumb!
My One and Only -- Renee Zellweger as aging beauty queen with two sons in the 1950s. This movie wasn't terrible but just kind of boring. I liked the sons played by Logan Lerman and Mark Rendell.
Hachiko, A Dog's Story: Richard Gere's character happens upon a cute little puppy from Japan in this heart warming tale about dog love. Right up my alley, not. But actually it wasn't that bad but it was no Marley and Me.

Movies from the streets of Quito, a.k.a pirated
The Blind Side: I can see why this movie is so popular. How can you not like that big guy Michael and root for his success?
Agora: The beautiful Rachel Weisz plays Hypatia, a Roman philosopher, astronomer, and atheist who studies at the ancient library at Alexandria. This movie was really fascinating and spurred a lot of Google searches.
The Lightning Thief: I enjoyed this "Kids" movie. Not having read the books, the teacher in me, liked the modern take on Greek mythology.
Invictus -- I forgot Invictus. The movie about a South African rugby team and Nelson Mandela. Very interesting and I enjoyed learning about what was going on in South Africa at this time. Morgan Freeman's Nelson Mandela is the price of admission. Not a great movie, I don't think but good.