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!

BEGINNERS: A TRUE LOVE STORY IN MANY WAYS

Hal: Well, let's say that since you were little, you always dreamed of getting a lion. And you wait, and you

wait, and you wait, and you wait but the lion doesn't come. And along comes a giraffe. You can be alone,

or you can be with the giraffe.

Oliver: I'd wait for the lion.

Hal: That's why I worry about you.

 

This film has the very essence of what I look for in a good film; it's magical and it's about love... the love between a parent and child, the love between a man and a woman, the love between a man and a life partner, the love between a man and a dog and the love a man has for himself. It really is a little slice of heaven. We meet Oliver (a cheeky Ewan McGregor who has just lost his father, Hal, to cancer. Lucky for us, we catch glimpses of their lives leading up to this time. Lucky for us we are engaged by Christopher Plummer as he finds himself widowed five years earlier and deciding it is okay to come out of the closet as a gay man and a man with a new lease on life. This performance is stellar. Oliver reflects on his parent's marriage and his upbringing as he meets and falls in love with a lovely french actress played by Melanie Laurent. Relationships are hard!!! It's amazing anyone has them at all. Of course, one of my favorite parts is the relationship Oliver creates with his father's dog, who does understand 160 words of English. The subtitles are very clever. Goran Visnjic is a surprising little gem as Hal's younger lover. It is a movie of hope within realistic perimeters. It is a story of love, struggle and redemption. It is a story you must see.  

PAPER HEART, FLIMSY BODY

"Seth Rogen: Your love glass is half full."

Charlyne Yi can't speak. Watch the bonus features and see how many takes it took to get what you see on screen because she giggles and stutters and has no composure whatsoever. She is a geek, but that is part of her appeal so we let that suspension of reality go for the time being. She has decided, with director Nick Jasanovec (who hired an actor to portray him onscreen) to go on the road and travel to all sorts of places to meet all sorts of people to try to find out what love is.

VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA

VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA: "Speak English!"

Who would have guessed that one of film making's worst and scariest bad-guy Javier Bardem in No Country For Old Men, would turn into a Lothario, dripping with charisma and raw sexuality?

Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlet Johansson) head off to Barcelona on a summer romp. Vicky is due to be married soon, to fit into her "role" as a woman, and Cristina is a restless soul, unsure of what she wants (but sure of what she doesn't want). It is there that they meet up with Juan Antonio (Bardem) who directly asks them both to join him on a plane trip to a nearby town and a night in bed. Despite all the warnings of how women need to act while traveling abroad, the two join him and the rest is a complicated Allen-esk tale of love, relationships, sensuality, romance and the complicated nature of combining all together. Woody is on top of his game with this film. The less I know of his personal life, the more I find myself enjoying his films. The dialogue was sharp and clever, but not pretentious. The plot held just enough suspense to keep it both real and enjoyable. The acting, by far, was top notch. It seems that Woody has his favorites and now it is Johansson. He wrote the part with her in mind and it shows. Hall and Bardem are also just right for their roles. However, it is Penelope Cruz, Maria Elena, Juan Antonio's ex-wife who cuts through the story like a wildfire. She is the perfect passionate Latina who is just crazy enough to be exciting and engaging. Just when the story takes another turn and you start to predict, you are thrown into another direction, much like Bardem who had to learn to drive for this film. This film is enjoyable and endearing, from the writing to the actors. The only explosion comes from Cruz and the chase scenes are much more sensual than frightening. Not to be missed.
BIG bite: Thoroughly entertaining and mesmerizing. Another tightly woven piece of film making art.

LARS AND THE REAL GIRL

LARS AND THE REAL GIRL A PERFECT MATCH
The world can be a lonely and terrifyingly lonely place when you are both alone and lonely. This is an original film about how one town joined together to make the world a little less lonely for one man. Lars (Ryan Gosling) is a painfully lonely man. He is socially awkward and very quiet; Until one day, he gets the best present ever. Her name is Bianca, half Brazilian and half Danish and the effect she has on him transforms him from recluse to bright and self-assured. Oh, a more more thing... she comes from a box. No, seriously. The difference between Lars and maybe every other man searching the site, is that all Lars wants is companionship. He's far too withdrawn into his own world that is takes a woman who can listen. But she does more than that. His brother (Paul Schnider) and wife (Emily Mortimer) who begs Lars to join them for breakfast, dinner, coffee, water?? get Lars to see the doctor, Dagmar (Patricia Clarkson) who diagnoses Bianca with "low blood pressure" and thus has to "treat" her (while attempting to look into his mind) regularly. After the initial shock, people begin (as requested by the doctor) to treat Bianca as a real person, while also showing support for Lars and whatever he's mixed up about. In his words, via Bianca, "All she wants is to be treated normal." He wrestles with reality as he argues with Bianca. It's safer. Soon Bianca has a social schedule that rivals Lars. The town really rallies together and piece by piece, the gap gets wider between Bianca and him. The conclusion of this film is sweet and heart touching. What's more touching is how the way this whole town reaches out for Lars, instead of making him an outcast, is genuine and sweet. This is a movie about what happens when someone is treated with compassion and care, despite the situation. Why can't we all remember to do this? (and yes, there is an actual 'Real Doll" site)
PICK: An original and odd premise to show the most simple kind of love. Well done.

THE GOOD NIGHT

THE GOOD NIGHT WAS INDEED GOOD

"Sometimes I wish that you could just hit the sack and never wake up. If your favorite song never ended, or your best book never closed, if the emotions mustered from these things would just go on and on, who wouldn't want to stay asleep? The guy who discovers that perpetual dream, he's my man."

This is the theory taught by Jack-of-all-trades, Mel (Danny Devito) who teaches a 'class' in lucid dreaming at the community center. That is the movie, in a nutshell. Gary (Martin Freedman) is the epitome of the walking dead. He is a musician at heart, once a pop star, who is forced to dampen his creative spirit for the bill-paying world of commercial jingles. Gwyneth Paltrow is Dora, Gary's girlfriend but is is neither a girl or a friend. She could dampen the room by merely walking in to it. She is draining the life force from Gary one day at a time. The only one with genuine heart is seemingly Gary, but it is sad and lays dying in his chest like dead weight. Until one day... or should I say night, Gary meets a beautiful woman, Anna (Penelope Cruise). She is alluring, mesmerizing and above all, she likes him; perhaps adores him. It's like she was waiting for Gary to fall asleep so he could join her in this blissful dream world. Then he wakes up. He goes on a quest of sorts to figure out how to use lucid dreaming to spend as much time as possible with this woman, enter Mel (Danny DeVito). This film is lovely. In the same vein of Vanilla Sky (also with Penelope Cruise) the lines between real world and dream world are blurred.We are brought to a climax with the conventional ending, fooled intentionally and then like real life, BAM... I rarely flinch or gasp aloud, even with scary movies. This ending hits the audience upside the face and we never saw it comin'. Obviously I won't get into details. This movie is a lovely look at the human spirit and how basic our needs can be. It is a creative and well thought out original film. The characters are fresh and dynamic, but above all else, real.

PICK: Interesting look at the reality of relationships as well as the reality with ourselves.

THE HEARTBREAK KID

THE HEARTBREAK KID HEARTBREAKINGLY UNFUNNY

The Farrelly brothers have previously brought us many films that were soooo either politically incorrect or gross-reality that were far more entertaining than 98% of this film would hope to be. There were a few, very, very few scenes that borderline on humorous in this film. For the most part, this film was long, boring and lifeless. Ben Stiller plays a man who weds too quickly and then discovers the "real" woman he married has many flaws. So, while ON HIS HONEYMOON he bumps into a bland, I mean, brunette, Michelle Monaghan, and falls in love with her. The plot is weak, the jokes are either predictable or flat dumb and it is way too long. We get the gag, and then get it again and again and again as if we didn't get it the first time. Stiller dozed off through the film where everyone else took full on naps. The only thing that broke my heart was having to sit through the whole thing. Note to self, write to Farrelly brothers and ask for rebate on rental fee.

NOT a Pick: Too long, not funny, not worth the time or money.

STARDUST

STARDUST IS PURE MAGIC
Once upon a time, there was an incredibly well done fairy tale for adults. It was a magical and glorious story about the quest for power, the innocent versus the evil but above all, love. Although, as with every fairy tale for adults, there was tragedy. The worst most unthinkable tragedy possible; no one knew it was there. This spell of invisibility may have been cast by a misleading film trailer or simply a jaded, bitter world where only the raunchy and unclever humor resides. The film begins in a simple country village where a young man, curious for what lie in other villages escapes a well guarded wall only to find a land of enchantment and mystery he never fathomed. Later, this man's son, Tristan (so well pulled off by relatively unknown but well cast Charlie Cox) has the same inkling, but this time he vows to escape the wall to earn his love interest Victoria, so vapidly portrayed by Sienna Miller. What he sets off to find is not what he discovers, not only the "prize" for his Victoria, but real love and a place for himself in this magical world. The star-power in this film is amazing (pun intended). Ian McKellan narrates our journey in the proper way a fairy tale should be told. Michelle Pfieffer, Peter O'Toole, Rupert Everett, Ricky Gervais and the list goes on. All were fantastic and strong performances, except for two outstanding actors. Claire Danes was enchanting as Yvaine. In a role that could have made her look terribly silly, she embraced the comical and added spirit and an angelic aura. She was believable in an unbelievable world. The second most distinguished performance was by Robert De Niro as Captain Shakespeare. I wish you to discover for yourself how this tough guy, the evil Max Cady in Cape Fear, shows a new side to the viewer. Words fail me except that it was priceless. A combination of the Princess Bride, Witches of Eastwick, Tales of Narnia and all else in the film world that is precious and sincere. I loved this film.
Rating: A magical and adventurous fairy tale about love with an all star cast. Not to miss.

PARIS JE T'AIME

Paris Je T'aime... and I loved this film too! "Little neighborhood romances"... This is a film about love and like love, and this film, it is simple and complex all at the same time. Actually this isn't quite one film, but 18 short films and the two ties that bind each is love and Paris. All 18 are different and unique as they are directed by 18 different and unique directors. From Wes Craven to the Coen brothers, these segments tell the tale of many kinds of love: tragic, funny, kinky, sweet, heart wrenching, pitiful, passionate, and bizarre. Just as there are these many types of love, they are portrayed by many types of characters. This is no average film about love, mind you. These stories are short, but they are filled with characters that you know well enough that compassion comes quickly. You may find a part of yourself in each character as they go through their own trials and tribulations. These are not mere characters, but diverse individuals who become familiar within seconds of screen time. As the directors are top-notch, the acting is unbelievable. I use that word, because rather than watching a movie, I felt like I was looking in on these people's lives; a voyeur of sorts. As there are too many directors of note to list, there are just as many actors to list, a few better known are: Steve Buscemi, Natlie Portman, Juliette Binoche, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gena Rowlands, Bob Hoskins. However, the biggest love story from this film is the love of Paris. The scenery is mesmerizing. This film transported me back to the City; the outdoor cafes, the Metro, even Pere Lachaise, the cemetery where Jim Morrison is buried (among others of course). If you have never been, you will catch a glimpse of the energy the city itself holds. Just as I loved Paris, I loved this movie.
Rating: A stellar collaboration creating an excellent film. Tres bien! (Partly subtitled)