Midnight in Paris

I'm back to blogging... mostly because I enjoyed this movie, perhaps a little too much!

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

I've known about this movie for a while and sure, it was nominated for an Oscar, BUT, Owen Wilson is in it! The last Owen Wilson movie I actually liked was Zoolander, hello 2001 (that's 11 years ago! How did time fly that fast?). Did you know there might be a Zoolander 2 coming out?? Okay, anyways, I was initially caught by this movies pretty movie poster and the fact that it's set in Paris! But little did I know that it's actually a quality movie (Woody Allen fans might be thinking "duh").

Let's start with Owen Wilson's character: Gil. Gil is an ex-movie script writer who is in Paris with his Fiancee, Inez (who is played by Rachel McAdams and P.s. I love this name!), who are traveling with Inez's parents on a business trip. Gil, meanwhile, is writing his first novel about a man who works in a Nostalgia shop. One night, when walking back to his hotel, he gets somewhat lost and then gets into a car with people he doesn't know. They take him to a party with people dressed in 1920s garb. Gil, who is fascinated by the scene, is taken aback when he meets Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald. He then every night makes the same trip back to the 1920s every night and wakes up in 2011/2012. It just so happens that the 1920 era is his favorite, ideal era in which to live.

The plot starts to thicken as Gil begins to fall in love with a woman in the 1920s, however, Gil and the lady take a car into the 1890s one night. We begin to find out that the woman feels like the best era is the 1890s and wants to stay there.

So why do I love this movie? Paris is beautiful! The costumes are fabulous! And Woody Allen writes a beautiful, lovely, rich script that is believable and gets me to care about Gil. But beyond that is to compare with my desires. I feel like I, like Gil, was born into the wrong era. I love the 1920s, the ROARING 20s. Gil learns in the end that while we may want to live in the 1920s, the people in the 1920s may not necessarily love the 1920s but the 1890s. And those in the 1890s do not think that the 1890s is the best era but that the renaissance era is the most favorable. Thus, we should embrace the era we live in as each moment is precious and will never be lived in again. This, 2012, may be the year that people in 2040 will wish they lived in!! Can you believe it? This is the golden age (even if we don't yet know it!). Embrace, embrace, embrace this time. We can know and appreciate the past, but we didn't live that time, we live now! And I think that's what Woody Allen wanted us to learn! And learn we shall!


Don't take my word for it... get out there and catch this beautiful, very well done movie!! And fall in love with your fellow literary characters once again!

And finally, the best part of this movie is Gil's appreciation of Paris in the rain. Paris. Rain. I like it. I would love to walk with my sweet heart anywhere in the rain... and yes, without an umbrella would be okay. But to be in Paris would be even more special!


Paul: Nostalgia is denial - denial of the painful present... the name for this denial is golden age thinking - the erroneous notion that a different time period is better than the one ones living in - its a flaw in the romantic imagination of those people who find it difficult to cope with the present.

Hereafter

Previews:
-Fair game (-)
-Due Date (Y)
-Faster (N)
-Little Fockers (N)
-Unstoppable (Y)

Let us set the stage. Nay and I walk into an empty theater (this tends to happen to us... why?) and we sit in the middle. And quite naturally, this lady, who knows we have our feet propped up on the chairs in front of us, decides to sit in front of us... and then apologize. Thanks lady. You're legit... not so much.

But really let's get to the movie, that's where it's at.

Let us set the stage for the movie! Okay, so we have Matt Damon who's age is really starting to show through, and his character is George. We have Cecile de France who plays a French reporter: Marie. We have Frankie and George McLaren who play some ridiculously cute/fabulous characters Marcus and Jason. And last but not least, we have Bryce Dallas Howard who plays Melanie. BDH is one of my favorite actresses and I really wish that her part in this movie was bigger, but no one consulted me.

George (damon) has an ability to talk to people from the dead. It's pretty cool but it is really quite detrimental to his social life. The movie basically goes through his life and the life of Marie and Marcus/Jason. So there are three story lines. The problem I faced with this movie was that it is a little slow. I didn't know what I was getting myself into when I bought a ticket to this movie, but I was pleasantly surprised. So, the movie is kind of slow and I really struggled with these three story lines. They really seemed disjointed at parts of the movie and kind of dragged on without a light at the end of the tunnel. Will we ever know what happens to them? The answer, of course, is yes. You will find out what happened to them. I don't want to give a whole lot away about the movie itself, but the acting was quite great. The twins who play Marcus and Jason really played convincing roles. It gave Nay and I the GOT (gift of tears). There were some emotionally moving scenes (primarily played by the twins) and I know I really took a liking to these characters and felt for them.

The great thing about this movie is that it is about death. Whether we believe in a person's ability to "connect" with the dead or not, there is a tendency to want to know where we go after we die, and where our loved ones have gone after their passing. This show explores this from many different angles and also creates a universal point of view; we are not alone in our curiosity about death.

A couple times, the music really bothered me. I'm not sure if it was because it was out of place, but I just got a little confused. This show is not a thriller; it is a drama. But on occasion, the music was a little scary. However, the music was not of great concern and altogether did not hinder our enjoyment or rather fixation of the plot. We were still hooked.

So, overall, Nay and I liked this movie. I don't know if I'll see it again, I know I wouldn't buy it, but it's worth a watch. Plus, the scenery in this movie is really fabulous. They filmed in: Maui, London, France, and some in California. The beach scene in the beginning is really breathtaking... hello... it's Hawaii, who's surprised? Hawaii is the most gorgeous place on earth (in my opinion).

But anyways, I encourage you to see this one! It was a good movie with almost no profanity, nudity, violence, etc. A good movie, indeed.

peace.

The Preview Scale

Every movie I watch in theaters, I rate the previews on the likelihood and interest I have in seeing them. I really just call this the thumb scale.

Thumbs up (Y): this is a yes, I have great interest in this movie and think it will be promising
Thumbs in the middle, or level (-): I have a little interest, but I might just wait until it comes out to rent on RedBox
Thumbs down (N): are you serious, ma boi? I don't think I'll ever see this movie, I'm not sure if it's my style or if it has any style at all... are they sure they wanted to make this movie?

So that's it. I'm going to try and write about previews when I get a chance and I'll just show interest (or lack thereof) by the thumb scale using the Y, -, and N to represent my views.

This was fun :)

Sha-nay-nay

I have a friend who actually reads this blog. And in order to appease her and myself, she will now be in it under the code name Sha-nay-nay. As that name is far to long to write each time we will shorten it. Therefor, Sha-nay-nay will henceforth be called Nay.

The Event

I figured it out today. What is it that makes a television show great? What is it that keeps us watching it week after week, month after month, and for years? Take Grey's anatomy, it has juicy plots and medical craziness. It makes us wish we had that profession (occasionally, at least). Reality shows build upon themselves and you can't really miss any to keep following along. But what makes a show like LOST different from a show like The Event. It dawned on me today. Lost is a great show. And the characters are dynamic, they have a past (which you actually get to learn about), you come to know and love and care about the characters. But Lost has a vital component to a dramatic tv series. The music.

Now, I can't claim that I'm some sort of musical genius. But I know when I'm hooked to a television show or not. When my family started watching Lost, 3 series were completed and the fourth season was just about to start. We started watching season one in the middle of Christmas break, and by the time I was back in my dorm room the week before classes started again, I had finished three seasons. Boom. Boom. Boom. whatup!! It's nice to get to watch shows consecutively and not have to wait a week. But when season four started, I didn't mind waiting. Because it was nothing short of awesome. But let's talk about the music. Nearly every episode had their five second intro LOST tagline. And every episode ended with the same musical burst of "oh my goodness, what will happen next??!?!?!" Michael Giacchino composed the music for Lost and a lot of other wonderful-ness. Why can't they sign him onto The Event.

So my problem with The Event (besides the alien factor) is that the music isn't all that great. They have their little tagline "The Event" thing that comes in after the first couple minutes. But it doesn't really get your heart racing. And the ending doesn't ever really hook me. I watch week after week because I have a slight curiosity to see if this show can fill the void that Lost left me with, but so far? has it? meh. I don't know. I don't love the characters. I know a little bit about them, but they're only so-so. I'm not convinced that any of them are vital to the show. And furthermore, I don't really care who dies (in the show, of course). I just don't love them. Perhaps what really gets me about The Event is the alien component. Now, I watched a season of StarTrek Voyager with my dad in middle school and I was hooked. It was fun and exciting. I love Star Wars. I think I could like battlestar gallactica if I ever watched it, but something about the fact that these people who look exactly like humans are aliens? I don't know if my imagination can buy it. I cannot fully get into this show. My parents and I are teetering on whether it's not worth watching. What to do?

Anyways, this is my first post in a very long time. But I thought about the musical component of Lost and how it affected my love of the show. It made me scared, happy, and all the other emotions; the music helped me feel what the show was meant to convey. The Event needs some help in this department. It might help for them to go to a beautiful island! Or maybe they should learn from other great shows and just get Lost!

A Quick Review

Howdy all!

Long time no writing. I have actually seen some movies since september... go figure. I feel pretty bad about it. But, alas, what's passed has passed.

Movies I've seen (and did not review but will briefly review now):
-Avatar
I went to see this with my dad. I really liked the graphics and thought it was interesting and fresh. However, I was unimpressed with parts of the story line. I didn't like that the main guy character basically committed treason and was killing fellow Americans.. that's not cool. And I felt like I was watching parts of Ferngully (sp?). My favorite part was when they walked on the ground on the native's turf and it lit up :). I also liked (though completely predictable) the part when the main guy character rides on the super cool and rare and mostly untamable bird/raptor thing. This was a fun movie and I enjoyed it. Likelihood of seeing it again... eh, pretty slim.
-Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
I went to see this with my older (fun) brother and my good friend Alaina. We had so much fun watching this and were those people in the theater that you cannot understand how they are laughing so uncontrollably. But this movie was fun and imaginable. I personally think it DOMINATES the book (I read it again shortly after seeing the movie and I stand my ground on this opinion). Steve was the best. Gummy Bears!
-Dear John
My mom (uh hem, Santa) gave me this book for Christmas the year it came out (like a year or two ago) and I didn't read it. When I heard they were making this into a movie, I quickly read the book. Upon reading it, I cried. And cried. And cried. Clearly it is Nicholas Sparks main goal to make people cry. Now, I'm almost mad that he does the things he does. After reading the book: I didn't even know how to feel. I really didn't care for the ending. Bah. Anyways, then I saw the movie. My problems with it>> I didn't like how they made Tom out to be old. AND Alan was not his son, but his brother. AND Savannah didn't fall in love with him because he got sick. That was frustrating. She fell in love with him and THEN he got sick. Whatev. I kind of liked the ending better in the movie because I so hated it in the book. I think, what I decided while watching this movie, though, was that it's not really about the romance between John and Savannah, but about the relationship between John and his dad. Just saying. That's really what it's about.
-The Lovely Bones
This movie was pretty legit. I actually have nothing to complain about except for I didn't like how the heaven seen made this movie seem trippy. It's not about drugs. okay. but I really liked the suspense. Gawsh, Stanley Tucci makes a GREAT villain. Enough said. This movie was a great portrayal of the book!
-Valentine's Day
I had so much fun with this movie!! I went with my fun friend KtB! It was funny and lovable. It showed so many various aspects of relationships and it was great to see so many talented actors in the same movie. Even though Valentine's Day is over, this movie is fun to see at least once.
-The Time Traveler's Wife
I actually saw this on a plane ride from Boston to Dallas/Fort Worth. It was good but it made me cry. Rachel McAdams is so talented and she can do wonders with any script. I loved the scenery and the sets. I probably won't ever see this again but I'm awfully glad I saw it. I just wanted to know how it works... you know the whole time travel thing. I was too curious not to see this movie.
-All About Steve
Not my favorite. Although I love Sandra Bullock, I am not a big fan of bradley cooper. He always seems so skanky.
-The Proposal
So good. But it's been too long since I've seen it to write anything concrete. But I really liked this movie and I love to watch Ryan Reynolds!!
-Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
This came out a looooonnnng time ago... but I waited to watch it with my dad (since the only reason he read the books was because I made a deal with him that I would read the Lord of the Rings trilogy if he read HP... he held up his of the bargain... and me... not so much). I recall liking this movie enough. As it pertains to the book, not the best book-movie translation... as a movie... not too shabby.

Also, I've been watching the olympics and i love it. And Texas A&M basketball... which might be the real reason that I haven't been blogging. I heart NCAA basketball and it'll only get worse with march madness. Bring it on!!


So, I'm going to try a bit harder to add my thoughts into cyberspace with a hope that someone will read them. If they're not.. Eh... this isn't really about that is it... just an outlet so that I may procrastinate and not read about contract law, torts, and health related issues.

lovelove

Love Happens

Howdy! My apologies for taking so long for this post to happen. But here goes.

I went to see Love Happens with one of my good friends! I was really excited... perhaps it was more for the company but whatev, I haven't been to the movies in at least a month so this was long overdue.

I must say that first and foremost, I really think that the title of this movie is misleading. I was expecting a chick flick (of which I think there is a certain balance which must take place to be believable and enjoyable), but it wasn't. So that kind of made the experience kind of... different.

As the movie starts, we see a man arriving in a city. And I'm thinking to myself... hmm... what city is this? And eventually you see Pike's Place Market and the Space Needle and wahlah... Seattle. I absolutely love Seattle, it's atmosphere, and it's weather and so the movie starts optimistically. We meet the two main characters Burke Ryan (played by Aaron Eckhart) and Eloise (played by Jennifer Aniston). Eventually, we meet Marty, Eloise's right hand flower shop girl, played by Judy Greer (who is, to no surprise, just a supporting actress...blah blah... seriously, will she ever have a lead role ex.: 27 Dresses, 13 Going on 30, Elizabeth town? Boring!). Oops. Got off on a tangent there. No strong feelings. Um... shall we continue.

While, I was not particularly pleased by this movie, as I was expecting a Romantic Comedy, and was greeted with a Drama Lite (I just made up that genre), I did tear up and shed a couple of tears, which says something. Basically, this movie does it's job. It may move you... though, if no one really close has died to you, I don't know how much it could help. Regardless, it makes you care about the characters and really what more can you ask for. That means we have some good character building.

I must say Jennifer Aniston is really quite enchanting. She has really perfected her career and everything she does is just a piece of work. Must mention how ridiculously cute her wardrobe was. It really makes you take a second thought as to where you're living. Maybe I should move north just so that I can sport some fun scarves earlier. Um, duh. Furthermore, as Eloise, Aniston gets to showcase a woman with interest, devotion, and love for nature in her flower shop. Her whole set up is tres chic! Makes me want to quit my studies and just open my own shop!

About the plot: It was a little slow. Basically, the movie takes place over about a week for a workshop to help some 100 people learn mechanisms to further deal with grief they're undergoing after losing a loved one. There was a really great subplot happening with a man named Walter who had lost his son. It was very touching and I think helped carry this movie. We are really following Burke Ryan, though, and his of the seminar about how to deal with grief. So, basically we get to learn more about him, his past, and you know... what he's going to do about the time he has left (aka: the future). There is some romance between he and Eloise (by the way... I love this name!). It's pretty fun, but is never something very promising throughout the movie, so, I'll leave you to guess what happens.

I just like to finish with a thought about movies coming out. This past summer, I made a list of movies I wanted to see that I had heard about via imdb.com. Amongst them was, 9, Precious, and some Japanese film and I have yet to see them. It came to my knowledge though, that Precious is coming out to the mass public either October or November for which, in the meantime I shall attempt to read the book it's based on, Push, before going to see it. Yay! There are just so many great movies being released right now and alas, I have not the time nor money to see them all. Disappointment.

Anyways, if you're reading this... thank you. I'm going to try harder :)

lovelove