Dark and Light

Based on a (probably better) BBC miniseries, Edge of Darkness is about the lengths a father will go to in order to unravel the mystery surrounding his daughter's murder. What I didn't like about Darkness was that it was too slow and randomly violent. The story - government cover ups, nuclear weapons - is intriguing and interesting, I just don't think it was told well. By randomly violent, I mean violent just for violent's sake. I understand violence is often necessary and I'm all for destruction and mayhem, but the degree and severity of violence here just seemed excessive and unneeded. It's not that Edge of Darkness is bad, it's just that it's not great. If you want to see a great movie based on a BBC miniseries, go out and rent State of Play!

Surprisingly not (completely) awful was When in Rome. What's shocking is the the cast that was able to be assembled for this mediocre rom com. Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Will Arnett, Dax Shephard, Jon Heder, Danny DeVito, Don Johnson and Anjelica Huston. Angelica Huston! I guess given the cast, this movie should have been a lot better, but as it is it's cute, harmless and sweet. However, I'm still trying to figure out why there was an unnecessary Napoleon Dynamite reunion.

Did you catch SNL this weekend? It was a great show! Below is one of the best skits of the night.

Awards Season

The best part of the new year is awards season. And it's been super fun thus far. It's looking more and more like Jeff Bridges, Mo'Nique, Christoph Waltz and Sandra Bullock (I will try to contain my excitement) will be the actors to beat come Oscar night. The best highlight so far comes from the Critics' Choice Awards where Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock tied for best actress, pretended to fight and then kissed and made up!


Sandra Bullock Kiss Meryl Streep

Catching Up

Blogs aren't easy to keep up with when you're lazy. Here are some quick reviews, starting with last week.

The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus irritated me to no end. The dialogue, the characters, even the wardrobe bothered me and made me want to scream at the screen. There were parts of the movie that were unique and some of the effects were kinda cool - due mainly to director Terry Gilliam who is as weird as Tim Burton is imaginative, but there just wasn't enough. The only saving grace of Parnassus was seeing Heath Ledger's final performance.

If you've read The Lovely Bones (like I have), you'd understand what a difficult story it is to translate to film. I don't think Peter Jackson's adaptation is particuarly bad, there just seems to be something off in it - the focus perhaps. I didn't even really mind the the things from the book that they left out of the movie. What keeps this movie engaging is the wonderul young actress Saoirse Ronan - so great in Atonement and just as good here.

The Book of Eli surprised me a bit. I thought the idea of a post apocalyptic world searching for a book for survival was an interesting idea. It was unique enough to keep me interested, as was some of the action and Denzel Washington.




A friend of mine suggested we see To Save a Life - a film I had not heard about. It's a tiny, low budget film about compassion and realizing that helping others can be more rewarding and more important than anything you could ever do for yourself. I was a little split on this film. I did enjoy the story and was very entertained by the picture, but the often bad acting and the length of the film were a turn off.

When God loses faith in mankind, it's up to a fallen angel and a group of strangers at a diner in the middle of nowhere to protect and defend the world. That's the synopsis for Legion, a fun little picture with some nice action.

Doppelganger and Dublin

In Youth in Revolt, Michael Cera turns to his evil alter ego Francois Dillinger in order to win over the love of his life and finally lose his virginity. While I don't think Youth in Revolt is particularly exceptional, I did think it was original, quite funny and I loved Michael Cera...as usual.



There's not a person alive who couldn't guess the ending (or other major plot points) to Leap Year. In these formulaic romantic comedies, it's the journey that counts since we all know where we're going to end up. The journey in Leap Year starts off awkward and terribly unfunny, but it soon finds a nice rhythm in the beautiful Irish scenery. Also saving the film are stars Amy Adams and Matthew Goode (yes!) - each delightful individually, but doubly so together.

Holiday Feast Part 2

In Did You Hear About the Morgans?, Paul and Meryl Morgan (Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker) are whisked to Wyoming into the witness protection program after witnessing a murder in Manhattan. If I were Grant, Parker or more specifically writer/director Marc Lawrence, I would have hid in Wyoming when this stinker was released. Lawrence's dialogue always seems awkward and disjointed (look up his other films if you don't believe me), not to mention only mildly amusing - not exactly what you want in a comedy. Thankfully this is Grant's third film with Lawrence, so he was at least able to breathe some life into it. Very little life.

A Single Man takes us on an exploration of grief after George (Colin Firth) suddenly loses his partner of 16 years in a car accident. I had mixed feelings on this picture. I thought the film moved way too slowly at some points. It was like the film was holding its breath. I also thought first time director Tom Ford tried to do too much within such a small picture. It was like he wanted to try every camera trick he's ever learned. It was distracting. However, there were one or two camera tricks that actually worked, specifically the color effects. What I really liked was the whole look of the film - a very smooth 60's style. Colin Firth was amazingly solemn and bleak, while Julianne Moore was jubilantly damaged.

Jeff Bridges is great and nearly unrecognizable as a past his prime, alcoholic Country & Western singer/songwriter in Crazy Heart. After his romance with a local Santa Fe reporter, played nicely by Maggie Gyllenhaal, fizzles in dramatic fashion, Bad Blake finally realizes he's headed for an early grave if he doesn't change his life. I liked Crazy Heart and thought it had a great soundtrack.

I rarely say this, but I wished The Young Victoria was longer! Rather than telling her life story, this picture focuses solely on Queen Victoria (the glorious Emily Blunt) coming into power and selecting a husband. I wish we had gotten to see even more of her life and what happened further into her reign and marriage. The love story is incredibly sweet and the film is beautiful - costumes, sets, direction - all beautiful.

I'm not a fan of Nancy Meyers movies. They're always too long and they always seem too "grown up" and hoity toity for their own good. That's how the trailer for It's Complicated looked to me too. And that's how part of the movie went as well. Obviously, I was not a fan of that part of the movie. However, about half way through the movie it got fun - thanks largely to the repoire between Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. That is worth watching. What's also worth watching is a great supporting performance by John Krasinski. He definitely stole a few scenes.