"Everything Must Go" (2010); "Soccer Mom" (2008); "Outsourced" (2006); "Three Husbands" (1951); "I Love You Phillip Morris" (2009); "Goodbye Love" (1933)

Everything Must Go (2010)
Directed by: Dan Rush
Writers: Dan Rush, Raymond Carver
  
This film was a more serious role for Will Ferrell and so it's harder to watch him play a more developed character. That's the risk for comedy actors and the ability to bridge over into more serious roles. It was okay for a watch. It had enough humor amidst the heavy feel to keep Will Ferrell fans entertained. I really liked and felt for the character of Kenny, the young boy.

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Soccer Mom (2008)
Directed by:  Gregory McClatchy
Written by: Frederick Ayeroff


I love drag movies and watching a movie where a woman goes in drag as a man is rare to find. It was definitely a kid friendly movie (unless you have zero tolerance for gay innuendos). I did want to turn it off at one point (was watching it on Hulu) but stuck through it. Missi Pyle did a pretty good job playing the double characters. You know her. You've definitely seen her around and she was part of the Golden Globe winning cast for The Artist.  The movie was cute and something to watch. Predictable, of course, but what (family) movie isn't?

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Outsourced (2006)
Directed by: John Jeffcoat
Written by: George Wing, John Jeffcoat

Okay, I've been to India and I watched the 2010 TV show of the same name prior to learning about this movie. The movie represents India well enough. Makes it more rural than it can be. But watching the movie after watching the television show is a BIG letdown. The TV show was more upbeat, the characters were more lovable and entertaining. The movie didn't meet my expectations built up by the movie as far as mood went. BUT it did well to show the reality of culture shock. The actors in the movie honestly weren't 'Hollywood' enough in the looks department. I know we all say 'Why aren't actors more normal looking?' but this movie exemplifies how hard it is to be enthralled with 'normal' looking people. If you can handle a reflective movie, try this one out.

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Three Husbands (1951)
Directed by: Irving Reis
Written by: Vera Caspary, Edward Eliscu and Gertrude Purcell (uncredited)

So, my goal for the year is to watch one movie a week from this box set purchased over a year and a half ago.

The premise of this movie is that men take their wives for granted. We watch as three men discover a letter from their friend Max, telling the husband that Max and his wife had an affair. We get to see flashbacks and wonder for ourselves if it's true or not. Cute premise and nice message ;)

WATCH THE FULL MOVIE HERE!!

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I Love You Phillip Morris (2009)
Directed by: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Written by: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Novel by: Steve McVicker (book "I Love You Phillip Morris: A True Story of Life, Love, and Prison Breaks") (as Steven McVicker)

I think I held off on this movie for the longest time thinking it was similar to Thank You for Smoking (2005), misled by the name Phillip Morris, thinking it to be a reference to Philip Morris, the cigarette company. Oh, but how wrong I was. A trailer before one of my other movies cleared that right up for me.

I really liked this movie. It was conman love story with a twist and apparently based on a true story. If you aren't homophobic, you'll enjoy it.Watching the trailer makes me want to watch it again. That's a pretty good sign.

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Goodbye Love (1933)
Directed by: H. Bruce Humberstone
Written by: Hampton Del Ruth, George Rosener and John Howard Lawson


This movie is the opposite to the other old movie in this entry. The first one defends women, this one makes them out to be nothing but money grubbers. And the only 'good' woman in the movie is one that is 'just like a man'. But still, good for a watch. History, baby!

WATCH FULL MOVIE HERE!!

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So, that about covers it. 6 movies in 2 weeks. I really do hope you take the time to watch the two old movies shown here. They are shorter in length and witty. And although not super-memorable, still time capsules that can help you appreciate how far we've come, in many ways. PEACE.

 

 

"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" (2009); "Leaves of Grass" (2009); " Young Adult" (2011); "Adam's Apples" (2005); "Alice in Wonderland" (2010);

I thought I had a lot more movies to cover this time but I forgot my last entry. Still... on Dec 25th and 26th, I watched 3 movies each day. It's like I was back in school! ;) Movies that I rewatched: Easy A (2010), Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

My assessment of 'Easy A' from first watch in Dec 2010
My assessment of 'ZNMD' when first watched in July 2011
My assessment of Christmas Vacation when I watched it in Dec 2009... "always funny". I was lucky to get paid to watch it at our work holiday party this year.

Now onto the movies I saw for the first time since last entry!

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009)
Dir: Terry Gilliam
Writers:
Terry Gilliam, Charles McKeown



We all have heard of this movie for the fact that Heath Ledger died during filming. I was interested in seeing this movie and how they handled it.The trivia page on IMDB states:

After the death of Heath Ledger, production was shut down for a few months. Then it was re-started when Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell agreed to complete Ledger's role. The film's fantasy premise, and some clever rewrites, let the actors play a man whose appearance changes as he travels between imaginary worlds.

Another fact that interested me was:  

Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law gave all the income they received for this movie to Heath Ledger's daughter Matilda so that her economic future would be secure. 

 But the spookiest bit is this:

According to Terry Gilliam, the last line Heath Ledger spoke for filming on the set was "Don't shoot the messenger." When Johnny Depp filmed his role after Ledger's death, Depp asked Gilliam if he could try a new ad-lib: "Don't shoot the messenger", unaware that Ledger had improvised an identical line. Gilliam was astounded, remarking, "Heath is still out there. Johnny's channeling Heath somehow. I mean, Shirley MacLaine would love all this."

As far as my thoughts on the movie? I liked it well enough. (I had to pause part way through because it was X-mas and the family arrived.) It was a fantasy movie based enough in reality that one was able to follow along. And it was moralistic yet interesting. I do recommend this movie. I had been lukewarm going into... knowing that I 'should' watch it, but I did rather enjoy the outcome.

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Leaves of Grass (2009)

Written and Directed by: Tim Blake Nelson

A movie in which Edward Norton played twins, it was okay for a movie to watch if you have downtime. It was pretty formulaic and predictable however. I feel bad for not being more involved in the movie, because there were some big names in the movie: Susan Sarandon, Richard Dreyfuss. Keri Russell played the love interest. (Danny DeVito's daughter: Lucy DeVito and TV's Modern Family dad Ty Burrell)

The movie was a little hokey and predictable. It wasn't terrible and had it's funny moments. This one I leave up to you. 

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 Young Adult (2011)

Dir: Jason Reitman

Writer:  Diablo Cody

I liked this one. It was funny yet dark. Not so much a black comedy as a sad reality. Even though I forgot high school and moved on, it's interesting to see someone who so clearly hadn't. I can relate to the character a bit, and I wouldn't be surprised if most of us could. It shows us our deep, scary parts that we try to suppress.

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 Adam's Apples (2005)

Written and Directed by: Anders Thomas Jensen

It's pretty rare for a movie to get you to empathize with a Neo-Nazi but this movie does. It's dark, yet humorous and borders on the spiritual. It was slightly absurdist but I enjoyed the ride. 

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Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Director: Tim Burton

Screenplay: Linda Woolverton

Books by:  Lewis Carroll

I'll be honest. I've never read the books nor even seen the cartoon. I was also hesitant to watch this movie, probably for those reasons, but again, felt I 'should' watch the movie. So my mom and I sat down and watched it. 

While I'm glad it had a female as the hero, and I'm okay with some absurdity, it was a little hard to follow along and we even had subtitles, so that's saying something. If you're a fan of the books or Tim Burton (I am), you've probably seen it already, so I'm not trying to convince anyone. Would I watch it again? Hmmm. 

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