Best Man Down

With renting movies always comes the risk of disappointment. I think this risk keeps most people from watching lesser known movies, but most of the time, these are my favorite ones. Best Man Down was one of those "lesser knowns," and I decided to grab it off the shelf when I saw Jess Weixler on the cover. I recently saw and loved her in Free Samples. Justin Long was also on the cover but I had mixed feelings about him... mainly due to my personal taste in movie genres. The "man humor" movies have never been my favorite, to each their own. Anyway, so this is my "process" I go through when I decide what to watch. First I look for actors whose roles I've connected to in their previous works, then I look for film awards and critic reviews. That being said, there are countless movies who don't have awards, raving reviews, or faces you've seen before that are still wonderful and worth watching. The last main thing I will look for is subject matter... do I care what this movie is about, does it interest me? Best Man Down attracted me first because of Jess Weixler and second because I enjoy a story about imperfections and perseverance.

The story revolves around the death of Lumpy (Tyler Labine), Scott's (Long) best man after Scott and Kristin's (Weixler) wedding reception. Lumpy's death raises the strains of Scott and Kristin's relationship to the surface but also allows them to learn more about someone that they didn't know as well as they thought they did. One of the beautiful things I experienced with Best Man Down was that all the characters are flawed in some way, even the most likable ones. I'm fascinated with human interaction and relationships. I connected to the flawed characters because we are all flawed and no one really has an answer of how to deal with that. How does anyone come together when we are bound to be frustrated with the other's imperfections? Too many fictional characters are unrealistically simple in personality, too good or too bad, without the complications in between. Then taking these flawed people and putting them in unpredictable situations just adds to my interest.

Scott and Kristin try to find people who Lumpy knew to tell them about his death. The journey takes them on a path they hadn't anticipated. They meet a young girl named Ramsey (Addison Timlin) who spent the most time with Lumpy in the last year of his life. I don't want to give too much away, so I'll just say that all three grow as people and grow closer to each other.

Once again I loved Jess Weixler! As Kristin she's a little crazy, impatient, and controlling but also funny, sarcastic (in the best way), and caring. In the two roles I've seen her act she's has this dry and harshly honest persona that I'm so drawn to. I just love to see an actress who doesn't play the typical damsel in distress, the generic female role. It's refreshing to see a strong actress who isn't afraid to be real! Justin Long was very enjoyable as Scott. He has the ability to be very charming and lovable while still being sharp and hardheaded. I think I like him best when takes parts that are more down to earth like this one, once again... just my personal preference. Jess Weixler and Justin Long had great on screen chemistry. I would love to see them act together again. Addison Timlin, who played Ramsey, was incredible! She was the perfect combination of broken and toughness with a delightful wit that the character Ramsey needed. This is the first time I've seen Addison Timlin and I hope I see her in other roles that are equally complex and beautiful. One of the most moving performances comes from the character who is dead in the first 5 minutes of the movie... Tyler Labine who plays Lumpy. Most of his screen time is in flash back from Ramsey's recollections of him. His acting was amazing because he had the challenge of playing a character who you feel one way about in the beginning that completely changes as the story plays out. The whole cast made each character feel real and made the bonds and conflicts between them meaningful. A wonderful success!

After all that... I hope you'll consider watching that movie you haven't heard anything about that sparks your interest! If the first one isn't your cup of tea, keep trying... it will pay off!

Le Week-End

FINALLY, something clever and refreshing I could connect to! It's been a while. Le Week-End was the complete opposite of most love stories, which is why I loved it! The premise is a couple celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary by taking a second honeymoon to Paris. Their marriage is filled with disappointment, desperation, and misery held together by bits of joy here and there. I appreciate a realistic take on love and commitment and grow tired of the dreamy romantic falsities that prevail the movie screens. Le Week-End is a story that knows when to laugh, when to be heartbroken, when to be ridiculous, when to be cruel, and when to love. It thoroughly satisfied the cynic and realist in me, which is somewhat hard to do ;).

Lindsay Duncan, who plays wife Meg, and Jim Broadbent, who plays husband Nick are wonderful and amazing. I've loved Lindsay Duncan ever since I saw her in Mansfield Park and idolized her in Under the Tuscan Sun, and I was very moved by Jim Broadbent in Another Year. He has the ability to become genuine likable characters and makes it seem effortless. Not to mention, who else could play Bridget Jones's dad :)? Last but not least my man JEFF GOLDBLUM plays Morgan, an old college friend of Nick's who Meg and Nick run into on the streets of Paris. Morgan is ridiculous but charming while also being repulsive, so of course no one else could pull that off but Jeff Goldblum!

I was very impressed and enjoyed the highs and lows and in-betweens of two people spending so much of their lives together. I found it beautifully true.

Nobody Else But You

A murder mystery/thriller... one of my very favorite genres of movie. Nobody Else But You is about two people... a small town starlit who believes she's the reincarnation of Marylin Monroe (Martine, played by Sophie Quinton) and a renowned crime writer looking for the inspiration for his next hit (David Rousseau, played by Jean-Paul Rouve). The interesting thing about this story is that the main character, Martine, is dead. She narrates the movie from the afterlife looking down on the living.

David Rousseau arrives in this small French town to find that Sophie's case has already been closed and ruled a suicide. Too many things are out of place for him to accept what he's told and leave her death unexplored. He goes to the morgue and gets permission to see her, saying he's family. In the eerily lit room of deceased bodies he opens slot number 5 and pulls out Sophie. Even blue and lifeless, you can still see the rising star that was once there. David observes a purple bruise under her right eye and needle mark on the inside of her right elbow before he is discovered and forced to leave. His snooping leads him to Sophie's house where he finds volume after volume of the diaries that she wrote in everyday. These diaries unlock the insides of her fascinating mind. In them David finds hints and clues, but most importantly they allow him to fall in love with someone he never has and never will meet. They bring to life a woman loved by all and understood by none only to remind David that someone cut her life short. In his exploration he makes many dangerous enemies, but also makes one ally... a young police officer who is as compelled as David is to expose the truth. The closer he gets, the more likely he is to sharing the same fate as Martine.

Nobody Else But You satisfied my craving for a gritty crime movie. It was well acted and realistic. Complicated enough to be interesting, but simple enough to be believable. It made me wish there was another movie about David Rousseau's next novel.

Les Miserables

I first saw Les Miserables when I was 8 years old in a beautiful old theater in England. Sitting in that dark theater watching people on stage become Fantine and Marius and Javert, hearing the expression of such profound emotion through music... the feeling will remain imprinted in my mind forever. I never thought anything could compete with that experience, but tonight, 20 years later, in a movie theater, I was able to feel the same connection to the story as I did one night so long ago.

For those of you who don't know, Les Miserables is a story of the people. By "the people" I mean those overlooked, down on there luck, people in hard times. In the beginning, that one person is Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman). Jean Valjean is a criminal serving a sentence for theft. He stole a piece of bread for his dying nephew. His prison guard, Javert (Rusell Crowe), makes it his mission to ensure Jean's life is as unpleasant as possible, especially when he decides to skip out on his parole. Valjean is given a second chance by an unlikely stranger. With this chance he becomes a new man who tries to do right by people. He becomes Governor of a small town and provides work for those in need. When he discovers that one of his employees, Fantine (Anne Hathaway), was fired without just cause, he promises her on her death bed that he'll take care of her fatherless child like his own, that she will "want for nothing." He keeps his promise and raises Cossette and protects her from all the threats of the cruel world. One of those threats being that they are constantly hunted by Javert, who is unrelenting in his chase, another being the brink of revolution and Cossette's sudden affection for a certain young revolutionary Marius (Eddie Redmayne). Everyone has something to loose and they are all willing to die to get what is important to them.

What a beautiful story of sacrifice and redemption, an expression of bravery and suffering. For me Les Miserables is a live piece of art that reaches out and pulls at everything that makes me human, every feeling that connects me and drives me to take actions.

Eddie Redmayne, who plays Marius, is an absolutely wonderful actor. Every look, every movement, every syllable is accomplished with an almost painful intensity. He's fantastic!

The next actor I must give praise to is someone with a some-what small, but very important role. Young Daniel Huttlestone plays Gavorche. He's a rough-tough gutsy little street kid who represents the heart and fight of the revolution. He's wise and fearless beyond his years, and seems to be at the center of what's going on in the streets. Huttlestone acts with such confidence and ease that I can't believe that he's so young and new to the whole movie world. I was beyond impressed with his performance, can't wait to see more from him.

I thought Hugh Jackman lived up to his reputaion of a theater man. He plays Jean Valjean well. I love Russell Crowe but was left wanting a little more from him. I wanted to feel his torment more deeply. His performance was a little muted for the strong stormy character Javert. Anne Hathaway gave a commendable performance as Fantine. She was really able to embody her agony with her singing. I was completely indifferent to the actress who played Eponine. It might bother me more than most because I've always felt a close connection with her. I feel like we didn't get to know her well enough, like she didn't have enough personality. Eponine is a girl that's one of the guys. A girl whose smart and tough and won't take any crap form anyone. She felt very blah to me in the movie. This leads me to another disappointment... Cossette. I keep waiting to be impressed by the actress Amanda Seyfried. I guess it's been enough for her to just get by with her looks so far. I felt no chemistry between her and her leading man Marius (Redmayne), which I don't understand because that guy could have chemistry with a rock. I should give mention to one more actor who I thought stood out. In the supporting role off Enjolras, a revolutionary and friend of Marius, Aaron Tveit's strength and integrity unites the rebels and brings a sense of brotherhood. I felt that the amazing actors were more than enough to comensate for the so-so performances.

Most importantly the movie was fantastic. It was as moving and inspiring as I remember it  being 20 years ago. Les Miserables will always be very close to my heart. I spent about 2/3 of the movie in tears, but for good reason, and it means that the movie was a success for me.
 

Salvation Boulevard

Needless to say... this one would be pretty offensive to the die hard Christians out there. So, let's just say, if you got offended by the movie Saved (written and directed by Brian Dannelly)... definitely skip Salvation Boulevard, but if you enjoyed Saved, as I did a great deal, then you might also enjoy this humorous jab at extremist believers. The story centers around an accidental shooting. The victim is Peter Blaylock, (Ed Harris) an atheist whose goal is to bring believers to see truth and reason. The shooter... (don't worry they give this part away in the previews) is famous and over the top Pastor Dan Day (Pierce Brosnan). The man in the middle... is recently saved, ex-Greatful Dead fan or "dead head" Carl Vanderveer (Greg Kinnear). Carl is married to Gwen (Jennifer Connelly) who led Carl to the Lord. Anyway, Pastor Dan, Peter, and Carl are in Peter's office discussing the idea of a pastor and an atheist co-writing a book of the two opposing beliefs when Pastor Day accidentally shoots Peter in the head. Pastor Dan proceeds... to place the gun in unconscious Peter's hand and tells Carl not to call the police.

This is when things get tricky. Carl doesn't know what to do so he calls 911 from a pay phone and anonymously reports hearing gun shots from Peter Blaylock's office. When Carl goes to his wife and father-in-law to reveal the truth about the shooting he is met with nothing but disbelief. They are convinced that he is having a mental episode of some kind. With nowhere else to turn, he goes back to the scene of the crime and confides in the security guard who coincidentally is an ex-"dead head" herself. Her name is Honey Foster (Marisa Tomei) and she represents a past life for Carl of partying and freeness that he is trying to forget. While the two are investigating, ninja like men jump out of a van covered in jesus-esque images and kidnap Carl.

To add to this huge mess, the news is released that Peter Blaylock is not dead but in a coma. Everyone is loosing their minds. Gwen, Carl's wife, is painting like a lunatic... images of demons tearing her husband away from the church and so on. Pastor Dan is trying to keep his "God's will be done" face on while really scheming a way to save his ass from jail, and Carl is trying to find a way to stay alive.

Well, Greg Kinnear is great in everything I've seen him in from Some One Like You to Little Miss Sunshine, and he was great in this as well. Pierce Brosnan has grown on me as an actor. I used to not care for him at all, but he gained my respect in Ghost Writer. In Salvation Boulevard he plays the perfect unlikable fake that he's supposed to be. For the maybe five minutes that Ed Harris is on screen he's wonderful as usual, and I love seeing Jennifer Connelly play the tightly wound unhinged lunatic. She does it so well (for example in the movie Virginia). All in all I have to say I still prefer Saved as a movie for exposing the dark sides of Christian extremists, mostly because I felt like I got closer to the characters than in Salvation Boulevard. But Salvation Boulevard was still a wonderful story of ignorance and stupidity and what you get when you stand against it... shot in the head...:) Only joking.

Detachment

Detachment is about a teacher, a substitute teacher named Henry Barthes (Adrien Brody). Barthes is "detached"... which allows him to be calm in the chaos around him. He begins substitute teaching in a high school where students threaten teachers with violence and even rape. What reward do these educators get for their time and energy? They get verbally assaulted and maybe even spat on. The kids are also academically well below par. So on top of stomaching daily harassment from students, teachers are expected to raise scores on state tests. Each member of faculty deals with the daily challenge of teaching differently. Henry walks in on his first day and says to his students that there is only one rule in his class... "If you don't want to be here, you are free to leave." He allows the kids to verbally attack him because he doesn't care, but when they attack another student they are... "free to leave." Henry slowly and some what painfully gains the respect/ trust of the classroom which then allows him to actually educate and influence.

Teaching is not the only struggle in Henry's life. Henry's grandpa suffers from dementia and lives in an assisted living facility. He visits his grandpa, who raised him, on a regular basis and is in a constant fight with his caretakers to actually care for him properly. As he cares for his grandpa he experiences flashbacks of his childhood and his mother's suicide. His mothers suicide forever haunts him.

On his bus ride home, after visiting his grandpa, he sees a young girl in a tight black skimpy top, a very short black skirt, and knee high fish-net stockings exchanging oral sexual services to a sleazy looking older man. The young girl and Henry get off at the same stop. After unsuccessfully offering her services to him, Henry decides to take her to his apartment and let her get cleaned up and stay there for the night. The two form a rare kind of bond and Henry lets her stay with him on the condition that she won't bring her "business" into his apartment. He provides a safe place for Erica (Sami Gayle), which seems like something she's never had.

I really love the character Henry. He cares but in a sensible way. He sees things clearly and has pure intentions. His emotions are guarded but that only helps him to be able to do what he needs to do. I don't know if I've ever met a character like this but it's someone I would love to know in real life. He has his problems, we all do, but he doesn't make them anyone else's. Plus, Adrien Brody is brilliant... I can't imagine anyone else playing this role and making it work. He conveys so much without doing a whole lot and I think that's an amazing talent. Sami Gayle also does an amazing job in playing Erica. She's someone you want to protect and tell her that things can change for her. She's someone you can tell could do anything and just doesn't know it.

In my opinion this movie is phenomenal! It is a story about this one man, but it's also about so many other things... it's about the education system, the pressures and realities of teaching, it's about suicide, its about family, it's about battling life's struggles. It's really a movie that everyone can relate to, and I think that viewers who work in education will have a unique appreciation for it.

Ruby Sparks

This movie has "me" written ALL over it ( and yes... mostly because it has Paul Dano in the cast... who i LOVE!). Calvin (Dano) is a young, and very successful novelist. He wrote his first and only critically acclaimed best seller when he was 19, which is enough to keep people calling him a genius and to get phone numbers from random girls, but he has been uninspired and unpublished ever since. He lives in his expensive house with his dog Scotty who pees like a girl which only adds to Calvin's own feeling of inadequacy. On a routine meeting with Calvin's psychologist, he is given a writing assignment in the attempt to end his writer's block. His assignment is to write a  fictional character who would find him, with all his insecurities, attractive and who would think his dog was cute, even though he pees in the squatting position.

That night Calvin dreams of this girl. In his dream... he's walking Scotty in the park. Scotty runs away from him and leads him to a girl named Ruby (Zoe Kazan). Ruby is laying on a blanket drawing, she's an artist. She's quirky and cute and silly and sweeps Calving right off his feet. Calvin wakes up and can't get to his type writer fast enough. He writes pages and pages about his dream girl Ruby. Then.... some thing unexpected happens... something impossible happens. There's a girl in his house! Not just any girl.... Ruby is in his house acting like she's been there all this time! She jumped right off of the page and into real life! After the shock of the situation passes and after Calvin accepts that she is not a hallucination but a real physical person, he sits back and enjoys his new life of being  "in love".

Everything is passionate and blissful until reality sets in. Even when you find the love of your life.. no one is perfect or will do what you want them to all the time... or wait... unless you have the power to make them. Calvin realizes that all he has to do is type the words and he can make Ruby do anything. Ruby is at Calvin's command with just the tap of the keyboard. If you had the power to change the mind of someone you love... would you? What about the little annoying habits or that time he or she talked a little too long to your attractive friend? What about when you thought they were thinking of leaving you or wanted a little too much space? If you could stop them with the touch of a button, would you??? Tough questions.

Ruby Sparks is fun and heartfelt and Dano and Kazan are brilliant together. The storyline is outlandish and wonderful... full of psychological questions that boggle the mind. Ruby Sparks addresses issues at the heart of every romantic relationship. It's in a genre of it's own... it's a romantic thriller. I LOVED it!