I Give It a Year (2013)

 

Ok seriously, what am I doing to myself. Honestly, I Give It a Year is like the third chick flick I have watched probably within the past three months that I have watched that I have wanted to just rip my hair out watching. Is I Give It a Year a chick flick? Who the hell knows and who the hell really cares. I was bored from the moment it started.

            I really do not even want to write a summary about it no matter how short I can make it but let’s get this shit over with:

            Nat (Rose Byrne) and Josh get married after not really knowing each other for that long. Their family and friends are not totally convinced they will work as a couple. They start to see what everyone is talking about nine months into their marriage. Nat is neat and professional while Josh is a writer who spends most of his time at home not really writing.

            Nat takes on a new client named Guy (Simon Baker) and of course starts falling for him again. An old girlfriend of Josh’s named Chloe (Ana Faris) comes back into his life and all the feelings he had for her come back as well.

            Well, big surprise Nat and Josh hate being married to each other and realize they are in love with Guy and Chloe and they decide to divorce.

            God what a fucking bore I Give It a Year was. The only and only reason I even sat through this train wreck was because of my diehard admiration for Rose Byrne as an actress and she could not even save it and my boredom. Ugh, the movies I will sit through for an actor/actress I like! Byrne’s acting was not terrible at all the story and character just sucked. Simon Baker was actually good I liked him and liked his character. Baker and his character were the only good parts of the movie. Do not give I Give It a Year any chances, you will bore yourself to death.

 

Neighbors (2014)

“You called about your neighbors?”

            I was not the type of person to go out and party and still not. I am sure you can tell just by looking at how many posts I have done in the past few years on this blog.  The whole staying out late and getting so shit faced all you can see is blurry lines is not my idea of having a good time. I know a lot of people who like to party and have a good time. I can remember telling myself before I went away to school that I would open up and go out and party to meet people. I did go out twice because my roommate/friend was like that. At one time during our three years rooming together she was dating a frat boy. Well, technically he was not a frat boy because the frat he belonged to got kicked off campus for something totally stupid his past frat brothers did at a parade. But anyway, the frat had a house way off campus. It was an old house that was falling apart. It was so old that it had a tunnel leading under the basement to somewhere in the mountains in New Jersey because it was once part of the Underground Railroad. It was so big that at one point in its history the front portion of the house had been a doctor’s office. All the equipment was gone but you could totally tell it had been a medical office at some point. I did go to the house a few times. I was bored out of my mind. I am not the flirty type and I kept getting hit on by one of the guys all the time. If it had been a better guy with a goal in his life besides partying and looked like he had taken care of himself then I would have given him the time of day.

            Sometimes I feel like an old fart. All I want to do most of the time is come home from work and watch something on Netflix. On the weekends I love staying in my sweats and marathoning movies and working on this blog. Yes I know what a thrilling life I lead. I also have a degree in Art History and my ideal date is going to a museum and I can talk your ear off about the brilliance of Orphan Black all day long. If you are looking for a good time I am the right person to have a good time with ** I say sarcastically**. Eh whatever I am happy with myself and if I was looking to do something fun I would go looking for it.

            I am not big on movies that have to do with frat houses. Well I will say Animal House is hysterical and one of the greatest comedies ever. Then it was just all about sex and drinking and partying. Maybe they are still like that today but there is just something about the frat movies that are made today that just suck. So, why you may be asking yourself, did I even bother to watch Neighbors. I will tell you it is because of the cast and I must say I found it funny and very entertaining.

            Mac and Kelly Radner (Seth Rogan and Rose Byrne) are a young couple with a new baby. They have just bought their dream house in a nice quiet neighborhood. A house next door to them has just been put up for sale. They see a nice gay couple looking at the house and are excited to see a couple with a baby like theirs possibly moving in. A few days later they see a moving van pull up in the front of the next door house. It is not the gay couple moving in. It is literally a nightmare for all parents. The truck opens a load of frat boys and sorority girls swarm around it and start moving stuff out.

            Mac and Kelly are immediately worried about all the noise the frat will be creating that will be keeping their baby up all night. They do not want to get on the wrong side of the boys so they try to act really cool and just ask if they can keep their partying down. Kelly and Mac speak to Teddy (Zac Efron) and Pete (Dave Franco) the president and vice president of the frat. The guys seems nice enough with Teddy telling them to call and talk to him if they are ever being too loud. That night Teddy and the frat throw a party. Kelly and Mac go to the party and wind up having a good time.

            A few parties later Mac and Kelly do not like all the partying going on anymore. They are kept up all night with their daughter crying. Mac calls the police but the police officer makes it worse by pointing out to Teddy that they called. Soon Teddy and Pete and Kelly and Mac are in a war with each other. They sabotage each other in certain ways off and on. It is a battle of the young vs. the “old” throughout the rest of the movie.

            I absolutely loved the cast. I cannot lie I mainly watched it for Rose Byrne. Byrne is one of my girl crushes. I adore her as an actress because she has played so many different roles and has been fantastic at all of them. I was dying laughing with her in this movie she was hysterical. I loved hearing her Australian accent to me it made her character funnier. Byrne paired with Seth Rogan was awesome they looked good together and had great chemistry. Rogan was hilarious he was not over the top like he can get in some of his movies he was perfect. Zac Efron was very good. The guy is just so much fun to stare at. I am going to pull my girl card and say I was mush when he came on the screen he is just so damn hot. Dave Franco is not that great of an actor (I am in no way comparing him to his brother this is just a general observation) but he is a piece of eye candy. A lot of comedic actors show up in the movie: in a flashback scene Andy Samberg is one of the founding members of the frat, the guys from the show Workaholics are supposed to be the ones who invented Beer Pong, Jack Johnson is also in a flashback scene but I cannot remember exactly what he did, Lisa Kudrow is the dean of the school.

            I had a great time watching Neighbors. It is definitely not one of the greatest comedies ever but it was a good time. Sometimes in life I need a stupid movie and this was one of them. The cast was great I was not disappointed with them whatsoever. It definitely made me hate frats even more. Maybe I am getting “old” like Kelly and Mac! I would definitely be like them I would be the crotchety “old” person telling those young bastards to turn down their music and stop throwing shit on my lawn!  Partying is just so not me especially nowadays there is no way you could get me in a place full of people under twenty-five (holy shit I just made myself look old. I will be twenty-seven in a few weeks!). Neighbors was a fun movie. There were a lot of lines and scenes I was laughing really hard with. Watch Neighbors if you are looking for something silly with some great eye candy. 

This Is Where I Leave You (2014)

“It's hard to see people from your past when your present is so cataclysmically screwed up.”

            No matter “put together”, “good” or “nice” your family may be they are screwed up in some odd way. My family is a bunch of nutcases. My parents are still together and have been for thirty-three years. There is me and three younger brothers. We all care deeply for one another. We’re always there for each other. For some reason everyone loves my family. We are good people but my goodness if they lived with us! They would most likely have us all committed! We also, as individuals, have a lot of issues. I suffer from ADHD, depression and anxiety which was nicely passed down by my father who has the same issues. My one brother is an unholy mess and he just makes problems bigger than they are. We are dysfunctional but we all make do with each other.

            Watching This is Where I Leave You made me think of the relationships I have with each of my brothers. We are not as dysfunctional as the Altman family in the room. At least we know how to be somewhat civil to each other and we would never go months not seeing each other. Their relationships with each other I found to be endearing and at times very relatable.

            The story centers around Judd Altman (Jason Bateman) the second brother in a family of four. Judd thought he had a good life working as a radio producer with a beautiful faithful wife. He comes home from work one day to find his wife and his radio personality boss in bed together. A few months later Judd is still unemployed and is now living in a small apartment. He gets a call from his sister Wendy (Tina Fey) that their father has died. Judd heads back home for the funeral. His mother (Jane Fonda) tells them all that one of their father’s last wishes was that they would all sit Shiva for him so they could be a family again. None of the Altman children are very happy especially since they have not been in the same room together in a long time and now they have to be together for seven days.

            The story is not completely new because over the course of the seven days the family finds things out about each other, all their good and bad qualities come out, all their issues are brought out into the open, there are scenes where they have a good time together and also confide in one another. Judd even manages to find a nice girl from his childhood and is stunned to find she never left their small town.           

            Very typical story but what sets it apart from others is the acting and there are actually some surprises. So much praise goes to Tina Fey. The woman really does have a range. She was perfect as Wendy. The characters Fey plays usually have to hold their own and because of this she is sarcastic and sometimes bitter. That is exactly what Wendy was only she had to hold her own because she has three brothers and a few other things in her life made her bitter. I know perfectly well what it is like to have to hold your own with three brothers and it is not easy. Fey had some of the best scenes in the movie. All her scenes with Jason Bateman were fantastic. Bateman is such a good actor. I do not think he gets enough credit. Judd is character that shows up in movies and stories all the time but Bateman added something different to Judd. I am not sure what it was but what he did add made the character different and actually enjoyable. Rose Byrne plays the girl who stayed in their hometown. Byrne could act out the alphabet and she would be genius. She has such great range as an actress. She is pretty yet she can play the perfect dorky, odd character like the girl in this movie was or he can be awesome and fierce like her character in Damages. Kathryn Hahn is in the movie as Judd’s sister-in-law. Love all her performances too. Like Bateman and even like Byrne, Hahn is not given enough credit for how good an actress she is. Jane Fonda was bearable. Her character is actually one of the most surprising scenes in the whole movie and it is funny and like what the hell just happened. Corey Stoll and Adam Driver round out the Altman children. Cory Stoll played the older brother so he was like the authority figure in the family with the dad gone (he will always be Ernset Hemmingway to me and I will forever want to hear him say “Who wants to fight” no matter what he is in). He, Driver, and Bateman have a great scene together. Driver I am not really fond of. I cannot pin point what it is about him that I do not like. His character was a bit of an ass but that was not really it.

            My favorite line in this movie is when Wendy picks up Judd from the hospital. His ex-boss showed up there too (for reasons I cannot give away). Judd was going to walk away but Wendy decided to punch the guy out. When she gets in the car she tells Judd and Phillip (Driver) “You guys may be idiots but you’re my idiots.” I cannot even tell you how this has become a my mantra for my brothers ha ha.

            This is Where I Leave You was a great movie. From beginning to end I enjoyed it. I liked all the characters and the acting was fantastic. The story could be a bit predictable but then there are a few curves and surprises. The ending was I thought was very good. If you get a chance definitely see This is Where I Leave You especially if you come from a family with a few kids like me. 

X Men: First Class (2011)

“A new species is being born. Help me guide it, shape it, lead it.”

            With two of my younger brothers being typical boys and loving comic book stories and their movies I have sat through just about every action movie that has been based off a comic book. I have to say the X Men series is one of my favorite action/comic book film series. I think X Men has some of the best characters and stories and a really good philosophical take on good versus evil. I love a good back story and seeing where characters come from and what their motives are. In X Men First Class we are given the back story of how the X Men came to be and how Professor X and Magnet used to be on the same side.

            The film opens on a concentration camp as people are being separated for work or death. A young boy is separated from his mother and begins to cry and becomes angry. In his anger he is able to bend a metal gate. In the window above the gate is man named Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon). He is an American working for the Nazis on their experiments on prisoners. He sees the boy and has him brought up to his office. He manipulates the boy whose name is Erik Lenhsherr to seeing his ability. As time goes on Shaw trains the boy to use his ability but eventually Erik goes his own way in life carrying a grudge for Shaw. Erik (Michael Fassbender) is on a path of revenge to kill all the Nazis he can. He travels down to Argentina to kill two Nazis when he sees a picture of them with Shaw on a boat.

            Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) always knew he was different. He can read and control people’s minds. In college he studies the human brain and how it works to better understand how to use his powers. His “sister” is Raven aka Mystique. Raven is having some identity issues she is self conscious about her mutant self and her human identity.

            Charles is found by CIA agent Moira MacTaggert (Rose Byrne). She needs his help to understand mutants and their powers. Moira is looking for Shaw and she finds him with Charles’s help. Also by the boat is Erik. Shaw unfortunately gets away with the help of his mutant helpers who include Emma Frost.

            Charles has Erik come and help him. With the help of a man from the CIA who has been very interested in mutants has them come to an institution that was set up specifically for mutants and their study. Erik and Charles find mutants who can help them and who they can help as well.

            I really do not want to go into the rest of the story because it is long and I do not want to give away too much. Well, if you know the other X Men movies you know what happens.  

            I enjoyed X Men First Class a lot. I really liked how it took two historic occurrences- the Holocaust and the Cuban Missile Crisis- and used them as part of their story and how they had a hand in stopping the end of the world. The characters are just so good they were very well written and extremely well acted. James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender were greatly paired and greatly cast as the power head mutants. The only issue with Fassbender is it seems his accent changes a lot throughout the movie it gets a little weird. Rose Byrne is awesome she does not do too much she is just awesome all the same. I adore her as an actress she can do anything. The supporting actors were all excellent.

            X Men First Class is a fabulous movie. The action is nonstop and the story is so well done. Seriously I found everything about this movie to be so good. If you are a fan of X Men, movies based on comic books, or love a good story definite see X Men First Class.