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.

Into the Wild

After reading portions of Krakauer's book, Into the Wild, I have wanted to see the movie. I wondered what the quirky and abrasive Sean Penn would do with the movie. Would he edge it up and make it caustic, like him? Instead I think he sweetened it. The main character based on the real Chris McCandliss is a joyous lover of life. He reminds me of a poet friend of mine who is not the most practical fellow you'd want to meet but one who sees beauty is the smallest things and makes delightful observations. I knew the end of the movie was going to be wrenching. Actually the movie starts with the end of Chris' story and the end continues to be sprinkled throughout the movie. But when the final moments arrive it's hard to watch. Chicken Mary did a little fast forwarding -- it's true. Despite this sadness, the movie gave me the same feeling as watching Motorcycle Diaries; it made want to go on an adventure, sloughing off my worldly ways and take a bite out of the apple of life. (By the way, Chris a.k.a. Alexander Supertramp, takes an exultant bite out of an apple in the movie)

Moliere

Moliere is about the great French playwright who wrote in the mid 1600s and entertained the royal court with his farces. The movie is comedic and tries to be like the farces that Moliere wrote, lots of silly coincidences and broad characters. The actor who plays Moliere is Romain Duris who is funny and expressive does hilarious impressions (check out one particularly funny one of horses); there is also something kinda sexy about Duris in a waifish guy kinda way. ((My mother thought the man who played the absurd Mr. Jourdain was a better actor.) My seven-year old nephew, who can't even really read the subtitles, thought the movie was funny, "I liked the part where that guy fell off the horse." My mother really enjoyed it a lot and said that when we heard Moliere's farcical comments we all laughed. Also she enjoyed the cinematography, the movie is set in beautiful and grand rooms and includes incredible scenery.

Dan in Real Life

Set in Cheese Ball, USA, an idyllic cabin on a lake where loving families play games, put on a talent show, do family aerobics on the lawn, and of course, play a family game of touch football, Dan in Real Life shows the father of 3 girls, two of whom are ultra-snotty teens, who is visiting his parents and happens upon his brother's girlfriend (he doesn't know it at the time) and falls for her. Well, of course, the woman is Juliette Binoche, I mean come on who wouldn't fall for Juliette Binoche. I guess I'm just disappointed that a movie with the charming Steve Carell and one of my favorite actresses, the lovely Binoche, is just so mediocre. There's nothing worse than a movie that has tons of potential but falls flat.

Holly visits and we watch 3 movies

Margot at the Wedding by the same dude who did the Squid and the Whale was not as tight and funny as the Squid and the Whale but included a bitchy lead character to match the father Squid. Nicole Kidman's Margot was deliciously mean and Jack Black was goofy and kinda funny. Holly thought, "This is the weirdest movie I have ever seen."

We also went to the theater to see The Other Boleyn Girl. Holly thought,"The Scarlett role was played too nice and it didn't go coincide with the book and took away from the sisterly tension that was in the book." But overall, Holly liked it. Mary, who had just finished season I of the Showtime Tudors, found it not as compelling as that series about King Henry VIII, but enjoyed the ever cute Natalie Portman in the role as Anne and found her a better Anne than in the series. Both stories are a bit too soap operish, however.

Two Days in Paris was our last movie viewing of the weekend. Two Days in Paris was written, acted, and produced by Julie Delpy and examines the detioration and possible renewal of a two year relationship while visiting Paris. The actor Adam Goldberg played a Woody Allenish neurotic and paranoid lover to the beautiful and oversexed Julie Delpy. The parents, Julie Delpy's real parents by the way, were pretty funny but super odd. Worth seeing? Holly says, "It's mediocre but worth seeing." Mary watches all independent movies especially if they involve Paris so she says Yes, worth seeing.

Side note: all films involved a dead slaughtered and bloody pig. This, however, was merely a coincidence, but odd since Holly just gave up pork a few weeks ago for being grossed out by the thought of eating pigs. These scenes affirmed her decision.