FEATURED THEME MOVIE OF THE MONTH: IN TIME FOR VALENTINE'S DAY:

ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND

Random thoughts for Valentine's day, 2004. Today is a holiday invented by greeting card companies to make people feel like crap.

Life is complicated enough, then you add in love and relationships. They are usually much more work and require a greater effort than does the initial attraction. So, is it worth it? The pain, the boredom, the real life, non romantic stuff? This movie wholeheartedly says yes. Often criticized for it's difficulty in following the out of sequence scenes, and the bizarre concept of memory removal, this film with Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet present the magic upon meeting a "special someone" and the pain often associated with the years to come. Like most of my other favorite nontraditional movies, while this is a love story, it is also a Valentine's Day movie just because it begins on VD. The characters are engaging and quirky in their own right. I love both lead performances as well. Carrey gets to have serious and funny moments. I like him best when he isn't over acting. The concept is beautiful; a scientific way to erase a past relationship from your mind in order to move on with your life: the effects "on par with a night of heavy drinking." What I like best about the whole movie, is the last scene. Would you do it all again, even if it meant you would eventually feel pain and suffering due to whatever went wrong in the first place? Would you? If so, way to go. Make sure to catch this flick!

ROMANCE AND CIGARETTES

ROMANCE AND CIGARETTES AN UNUSUAL COMBINATION
What an unbelievably odd film John Turturro has brought to us. Literally, as it finished production back in 2005, but due to studio politics, Turturro chose to use his own money to distribute it here. I think that movies go through trends just like other media. It appears that the year 2007 was the year for off-beat musicals. If others were "off-beat" than this movie jumped the tracks and kept on running. Nick (James Gandolfini) will probably remembered best with his work on the Sopranos. Who better to play a crude and unpolished unhappily married man that he? His wife, Kitty (Susan Sarandon) delivers an unexpectedly range of character; from softness to nag. So, with him unhappy wedlock, he does what any man does, he has an affair. Her name is Tula (Kate Winslett) and to date, I have not seen her in a more slutty, raw and crass character. She was totally unrecognisable during the first few scenes of the movie as we only see her in the shadows, dancing. The whole movie is like that. Strange and unexpected. It does not take itself too seriously or over the top, like it could have easily been. The song and dance numbers are engaging. To see the policemen pirouette, the pregnant women in step using their bellies as props... so bizarre and surreal. Parts of the script even comes from song lyrics. There are so many outstanding performances, even those in short cameos that constantly keep you drawn to the film. Christopher Walkin is Bo, Kitty's cousin who helps her deal with the whore who has been seeing her husband. It is truly full of excellence and just plain craziness. Some of the musical numbers didn't fit well into a scene, but the others outweighed the difference. There is serious drama in the film as much as the serious absurdity. Some were randy and crude and some touching and insightful. Well worth a peak.

PICK: What a bizarre and engaging film/musical and a powerful cast of characters is delightful.