So I have been kind of looking forward to this weekend, because I didn't have much planned so I wanted to stay home and watch some rentals. There are like five movie rental boxes of various types within walking distance of my house so my roommate and I stopped to pick one up to watch last night after dinner. We ended up renting two, No Strings Attached and Knight and Day. Both were pretty disappointing. Lets go in the order that we watched them.
So No Strings Attached is the rom-com starring Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher. Its about two friends that decide to have a friends with benefits arrangement. There were many things that my mind picked up on that I couldn't understand. I don't know about you but I can barely remember people I met last weekend much less recognize someone and remember their names that I went to camp with like six years earlier. That is how these two characters met. Emma (Portman) and Adam (Kutcher) meet at summer camp at the age of 14 and then run into each other again in college and then again four years after that when they start having a sexual relationship... That bothers me.
There is also the problem with the fact that I don't really care about these two characters. Don't get me wrong I am a big Natalie Portman fan, but I really disliked this character. How many times have we seen the girl that doesn't believe in love that happens to meet this great guy that falls for her. If you want that story told well watch (500) Days of Summer. The relationship and the acting that I did enjoy in this movie were the best friend characters, Patrice (played by Greta Gerwig) and Eli (played by Jake Johnson). I also thought that Olivia Thirlby (best know for her turn as Ellen Page's best friend in Juno) was severely under used, because she was great.
The last thing that I wanted to talk about was the writing. I though, 'for sure that this movie was written by a man', because there is a scene that could not have possibly been written by a woman. I was wrong though because this movie was written by Elizabeth Meriwether, who I am guessing is a woman. Anyway, there is a scene where everyone that Emma lives with is on their period and Adam brings over cupcakes and a period mix CD for them. I can't stand this scene being a female. Emma is laying on the couch like she is near death, and her two female roommates are bickering back a forth. Emma is then force fed soup to make her feel better. I don't know about the rest of the female world, but my periods are not like this. I can actually function as a human being and go to work and hang out with my friends and not act like a whinny baby. Just saying.
Well I was gonna do a big review of Knight and Day here but I have ranted so long about No Strings Attached that I feel like you guys should get an award if you have made it this far and I don't want to be negative about yet another movie.... I really do see movies that I enjoy, its just been a bad string of movies here. If I can I will review it tomorrow other wise just know to not waste your time unless you want to watch an action flick that is not good.
Until next time....
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Green Lantern v. X-Men First Class
So I have to admit that I love going to see Comic Book movies. I enjoyed the first two Spider-Man movies and can't wait for the reboot (mostly because of Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone). I am a huge fan of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, and I am really looking forward to The Dark Knight Rises. I am totally in love with Marvel right now for their lead up the the Avengers movies. I love movie series, so I totally dig what they are doing with Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, and Captain America as a lead up the the Avengers.
So far this summer I have seen all three of the comic book inspired movies that have come out and I wanted to talk a little bit about two of them here. I got a text message from my friend Shawn Thursday while I was at work, asking me if I wanted to go to see Green Lantern at midnight with him. I have been a little hesitant about this movie but I saw it anyway. I probably should have stayed home.
I don't know if it is me or what but I don't find it interesting when the hero can do anything that he can imagine. This is my problem with Superman as well (he's just too perfect and good at everything). When a big green fist is what he imagines to punch out the bad guy I think its a little lame. Inception did this type of thing better I think, they could dream up bigger guns while still keeping the tension and the realism even though it took place in a dream. In the Green Lantern everything that he imagined was green and silly looking to me.
The look of the movie just didn't do it for me. They over both over did it and under did it with the CGI at the same time. There was too much of it, and it didn't look compelling to me. I know a lot of this movie takes place in outer space and it isn't a real place they were at but it also didn't look like it could have been real. I think they used too much green and purple.
The story left much to be desired. I think this is a time when having a long running comic series worked against the movie. Or maybe the writers didn't know where to pull from. The beginning of the movie left me asking questions like, "how did that guy get trapped on that planet?", and "who are these guys that accidentally let him out?". There was a vague answer to the first question later in the movie but nothing really concrete. Is this a problem just for people like me who have not read the comic books? Also, they kind of hint at a past relationship between Hal Jordan and Carol Ferris which is supposed to create tension between the two characters but they never really explain anything about that relationship. I guess that would just fall under the problem of a lack of character development in general.
Compare this to X-Men First Class, which for the whole time I was watching it I didn't think about the effects. Obviously there are effects, because I don't think that Jennifer Lawrence is actually blue, and can change back a forth. I just don't notice the effects that much. Also, the characters development is what makes that movie so compelling and interesting to watch. Along with the performances buy the entire cast (short of January Jones... ). Kevin Bacon was an interesting bad guy with intent and menus. While I love Peter Sarsgaard in most things that he does I didn't think that being possessed by black smoke was that interesting (gross, but not interesting). There are just so many good things that I can say about X-Men that the Green Lantern lacked, but I probably shouldn't write a longer essay about the Green Lantern than I did any paper I wrong when I was in college :) .
I hope to see The Art of of Getting By on my next day off, so I hope to be able to write about that one soon!
Until then....
So far this summer I have seen all three of the comic book inspired movies that have come out and I wanted to talk a little bit about two of them here. I got a text message from my friend Shawn Thursday while I was at work, asking me if I wanted to go to see Green Lantern at midnight with him. I have been a little hesitant about this movie but I saw it anyway. I probably should have stayed home.
I don't know if it is me or what but I don't find it interesting when the hero can do anything that he can imagine. This is my problem with Superman as well (he's just too perfect and good at everything). When a big green fist is what he imagines to punch out the bad guy I think its a little lame. Inception did this type of thing better I think, they could dream up bigger guns while still keeping the tension and the realism even though it took place in a dream. In the Green Lantern everything that he imagined was green and silly looking to me.
The look of the movie just didn't do it for me. They over both over did it and under did it with the CGI at the same time. There was too much of it, and it didn't look compelling to me. I know a lot of this movie takes place in outer space and it isn't a real place they were at but it also didn't look like it could have been real. I think they used too much green and purple.
The story left much to be desired. I think this is a time when having a long running comic series worked against the movie. Or maybe the writers didn't know where to pull from. The beginning of the movie left me asking questions like, "how did that guy get trapped on that planet?", and "who are these guys that accidentally let him out?". There was a vague answer to the first question later in the movie but nothing really concrete. Is this a problem just for people like me who have not read the comic books? Also, they kind of hint at a past relationship between Hal Jordan and Carol Ferris which is supposed to create tension between the two characters but they never really explain anything about that relationship. I guess that would just fall under the problem of a lack of character development in general.
Compare this to X-Men First Class, which for the whole time I was watching it I didn't think about the effects. Obviously there are effects, because I don't think that Jennifer Lawrence is actually blue, and can change back a forth. I just don't notice the effects that much. Also, the characters development is what makes that movie so compelling and interesting to watch. Along with the performances buy the entire cast (short of January Jones... ). Kevin Bacon was an interesting bad guy with intent and menus. While I love Peter Sarsgaard in most things that he does I didn't think that being possessed by black smoke was that interesting (gross, but not interesting). There are just so many good things that I can say about X-Men that the Green Lantern lacked, but I probably shouldn't write a longer essay about the Green Lantern than I did any paper I wrong when I was in college :) .
I hope to see The Art of of Getting By on my next day off, so I hope to be able to write about that one soon!
Until then....
Friday, June 17, 2011
About Me
Hello, my name is Liz and I am a movie addict. I see movies about once a week and I have always wanted to write about them. So I thought that this would be a good place for me to do that. I just wanted you to know a little bit about me. I am a twenty-something with a love for all types of movies. I enjoy the experience of seeing summer blockbusters and I also love the thought and insight of winter indie/Oscar contenders.
Two of my favorite movies are Never Let Me Go starring Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, and Keira Knightley. The story is based of a novel of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro and it is also one of my favorite books; this story just pulls at my heart-strings. The look of this movie is just so lovely and artistic that I can't get enough of it. My favorite chick flick is The Jane Austen Book Club which stars Kathy Baker, Maria Bello, Mac Blucas, Emily Blunt, Amy Brenneman, Hugh Dancy, Maggie Grace, and Jimmy Smits. One of my other passions in life (other than movies) is Jane Austen and I love how this movie takes some of the concepts and characters of these classic books and makes them relevant to today. And the end gives me butterflies, its so sweet.
I often see at least a movie a week (especially in the summer and winter when there are tons of great movies out) and I hope to be about to post my thoughts about them all here. Tomorrow I hope to post a review of Green Lantern which I saw opening night. I might give a little compare and contrast with the other superhero movies of the summer thus far as well.
So for now... I'll see you at the movies.
Two of my favorite movies are Never Let Me Go starring Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, and Keira Knightley. The story is based of a novel of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro and it is also one of my favorite books; this story just pulls at my heart-strings. The look of this movie is just so lovely and artistic that I can't get enough of it. My favorite chick flick is The Jane Austen Book Club which stars Kathy Baker, Maria Bello, Mac Blucas, Emily Blunt, Amy Brenneman, Hugh Dancy, Maggie Grace, and Jimmy Smits. One of my other passions in life (other than movies) is Jane Austen and I love how this movie takes some of the concepts and characters of these classic books and makes them relevant to today. And the end gives me butterflies, its so sweet.
I often see at least a movie a week (especially in the summer and winter when there are tons of great movies out) and I hope to be about to post my thoughts about them all here. Tomorrow I hope to post a review of Green Lantern which I saw opening night. I might give a little compare and contrast with the other superhero movies of the summer thus far as well.
So for now... I'll see you at the movies.
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