ALL GOOD THINGS

All Good Things was a little long and drawn out, so I can see why it wasn't to popular in the theaters.  Like I have said in the past, I'm not a big fan of movies based on true stories because you don't really know what actually happened and what is embellished - which is exactly what I couldn't tell about this movie.  It seemed to me that a lot of the story was sensationalized to make up for an otherwise anti climatic plot.  Ryan Gosling did a good job playing a guy who never really recovered from witnessing something horrible as a child. This, plus other "stressers" like his relationship with his father, most likely contributed to his mental instability later in life.  He was very haunting in this movie and it freaked me out a little bit.  Kirsten Dunst was convincing as a naive girl that got in-too-deep with a guy that she really didn't know very well.  This movie was okay, but I wouldn't rush right out to rent it.

You Should Watch Anything With Jason Bateman In It

The Switch is a hilarious movie starring Jason Bateman and Jennifer Aniston.  I love it when Jason plays a guy like this - a neurotic and snarky guy that few people can stand.  The little boy in this movie is adorable and he does such a good job of emulating Jason's character.  Jennifer plays her typical character, a bohemian type lady who has difficulty finding and keeping a man, but she's actually funny in this movie.  She and Jason play off of each other well.  I would recommend this movie. 

I Know Now After Watching HOW DO YOU KNOW That This Movie Sucked

This movie's story line was horrible and didn't lead anywhere.  I expect Owen Wilson to be in a crappy movie, but not Paul Rudd.  His talents were wasted in this movie.  Paul is great at playing the snarky, pessimistic guy who is hilarious, but instead he plays a awkward doe-eyed guy who honestly weirded me out  through the whole movie.  Jack Nicholson played his typical sleazy asshole character.  What he put Paul Rudd's character through was unspeakable.  Reese Witherspoon's character pissed me off the most.  When  speaking she never really said anything that made any sense.  She spoke in fragmented sentences.  I could not understand why these two men where so enamored with her.  And as a former softball player, I was not convinced that Reese could play a woman that had been playing the sport her whole life and was a member of the American Olympic Softball Team.  I would not recommend this movie.

Not Your Typical Woddy Allen Flick

You would never guess that Match Point was written and directed by Woody Allen.  First off, he is not in it, there is no narrator and it's not whiny like his other movies.  Jonathan Myers is sooo hot!!! He plays a total ass that does something unthinkable and gets away with it.  I'm not a fan of Scarlett Johanson, mostly because she can't act and the only reason they give her gigs is because she is shapely and has these huge lips, but I like how crazy she was in this movie.  She goes totally nuts and becomes this obsessively crazed woman who's threatening to ruin the Jonathan character's life.  The story is great and it has all of these twists and turns that you wouldn't expect in a Woody Allen film.  I wish he would do more movies like this one.  I would recommend that you pick this one up because it is entertaining.

ADJUSTMENT BUREAU Was Good, despite religious undertones

Back in the 90's there was this movie called A Life Less Ordinary starring Ewin McGregor and Cameron Dias in which they were followed around by two angels who were doing everything they possibly could to make Ewin and Cameron's characters fall in love with each other.  In Adjustment Bureau it was the exact opposite.  In this movie there were people following around Matt Damon's character doing everything they could to keep him away from Emily Blunt's character.  Now these people that were following around Matt Damon's character were only vaguely referred to as "angels", but that's definitely the first thing that popped into my head when we found out about their "organization" and what they do.  Also, the boss whom they answered to was a mysterious character called the "Chairman" (God?...or maybe Frank Sinatra).  When you get past all of that hokey stuff and a few holes in the plot it was a good movie.  Matt did a good job.  He played the "All American Guy" who has pulled himself up from his rough, meager beginnings instead of the guy he's been playing lately who carries a gun and is on some secret mission for the government.  Emily Blunt was good as the bohemian, care-free dancer who keeps getting swept in and out of this man's life. Gary liked the music because it was done by a guy that has done some other composing for other movies we've seen.  Also, whoever created the aesthetic for the settings, buildings, design, etc. that were used for this movie did a good job.  The architecture was amazing!  I would recommend this movie.

Editor's note: Another good score by composer Thomas Newman (American Beauty, Shawshank Redemption, Met Joe Black, Revolutionary Road, HBO series Six Feet Under and many more too numerous to list, but you would recognize almost all of them).

Yet Again, Kevin Costner Playing A Drunk Idiot

I've been going through my DVD collection and found a movie I hadn't seen in a while, The Upside Of Anger.  In this movie Joan Allen plays a woman who thinks her husband has left her and disappeared with his secretary.  She starts going through a breakdown of sorts, during which she also has to be a mother to her 4 strong-willed daughters while being pursued by a retired baseball player who spends his days drinking and doing little else (Costner's character). There's a plot twist at the end that you won't see coming that changes the whole mood of the movie.

I love Joan's character in this movie because she lets her grief poor out of her and says whatever she's thinking regardless of whether it's appropriate or not. The four daughters are played by Alicia Witt, Erika Christensen, Keri Russell and Evan Rachel Wood, who all do a great job.  Their characters are all trying to deal with the crap that their mother puts them through during her breakdown while trying to manage and live their own separate lives.

I liked this movie and I'm sure you will too.

Dustin' Off The Old Movie Collection

I went into my collection and watched a movie that most people probably haven't seen.  Imaginary Heroes is a movie about a dysfunctional family (my favorite phrase if you haven't noticed) that are dealing with the recent suicide of the oldest son.  Their lives were not so great to begin with and after the suicide things just got ten times worse.  Emile Hirsch stars in this movie and he looks like he is about 12, but he does a great job.  He redeemed himself from doing the movie Girl Next Door, another guilty pleasure of mine, which was like Jake Gyllenhaal's Bubble Boy.  Everybody has got to start somewhere, right?   I enjoyed this movie and I recommend it.