(500) Days of Summer (2009)

“What happens if you fall in love?”

            (500) Days of Summer when I saw first saw it in theaters restored my faith in the film industry. Here is a film that is so unique, so carefully and wonderfully made that when I saw it I could not believe what I was seeing. I left the theater feeling happy at what had been played before me. The movie is so good and so different that for a while it may boggle your mind.

            Right from the beginning a title card tells us that this is not a typical love story. Yes it is a story of how boy meets girl but instead of the girl being the one who falls head over heels in love and cannot stand to be away from the boy and is heartbroken when they separate it is the boy who goes through those emotions.

            Tom (Joseph Gordon- Levitt) works in a greeting card company when he has a degree in architecture (*hey sounds like me I have a degree in Art History and I have only been able to get retail jobs*). His life is pretty uninspiring and boring until he sees the new office assistant Summer (Zooey Deschanel).

            The movie is not done in chronological order instead it goes through all the highs and lows of Tom’s five hundred days of thinking of Summer. One day we may see them sitting in the park all happy the next it may be after they had fight or Tom realizing that Summer did not love him as much as he loved her.

            There are so many scenes that just make this movie fantastic: Tom is so in love that he imagines himself dancing and singing to “You Make My Dreams” by Hall and Oates; when Summer has broken his heart he goes to see a French movie and he pictures himself in the Avant Garde movie; in the end when he sees Summer after a long at time a party the screen is split into “Expectations and “Reality.” I really like how the movie is so true to how life is. We all have expectations of how a relationship is going to turn out but those are our expectations not the expectations of the other person. We can feel so in love and on cloud nine the one day and a week later we can completely hate the person.

            Joseph Gordon- Levitt and Zooey Deschanel were fabulous together and as their characters. No other actors could have done a better job. Gordon- Levitt really did make you feel sorry for him when Summer broke his heart and we rooted for him as he was falling in love. Summer is not a character that is easy to like since we are being shown the relationship process through Tom’s eyes. She really is kind of a bitch (as my mom and brother so kindly put the character). I really like Deschanel a lot so I am bias when I say she was very good. I have yet to see a role that she plays where she is not good. But I guess I am not the only one who really liked her in the role since this basically launched her career even though she had been in several films before.

            (500) Days of Summer is a movie all film lovers should see because the director took a risk on creating a type of movie that was different from anything that had been released before it in the 2000s decade. The story is just great to sit through because you are not getting bullshitted around and the ending is not all happy and romantic like stupid chick flicks. (500) Days of Summer may not be for everyone (it is very hipster-ish) but for those who truly like movies and really want to see some thought and care go into a modern movie than sit through this one.

 

The Happening (2008)

“Science will come up with some reason to put in the books, but in the end it'll be just a theory. I mean, we will fail to acknowledge that there are forces at work beyond our understanding. To be a scientist, you must have a respectful awe for the laws of nature.”

            Yes, I have sat through The Happening. I sat through it in theaters when it was released too. Oh, and I also own it on DVD and I bought it the day it came out. I guess it is safe assume I am the only person who really liked The Happening. My one friend is ashamed of me for even admitting that I like it. The movie has a lot of faults but I liked the story very much because like many of M. Night Shyamalan’s movies it is different. Recently it has been very windy by me and I felt inspired to sit through the movie and scare myself a little bit.

            The movie begins in Central Park on a nice day. People are out walking with friends or family. The camera pans to two women sitting on a park bench. They are talking when one of the women hears someone scream she looks up and everyone around her is still. Her friend sitting next to her takes out a stick in her hair and stabs herself. Other people around her kill themselves as well. Not far from the park a group of construction workers jump off the building they are working on. The news reports that what happened in Central Park may be the work of a terrorist attack.

            News reaches a high school in Philadelphia where Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg) is a science teacher. The principle calls all the teachers to the auditorium to let them know what happened in New York and that everyone is allowed to go home and be with their family. Elliot’s friend and a fellow teacher Julian tells him that his wife has family out on a farm and that he and his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) can come as well.

            Elliot, Alma, Julian and Julian’s daughter Jess get on a train heading out of Philadelphia. The train stops in the middle of nowhere. When Elliot asks the conductor why they stopped the conductor replies they lost contact with everyone. Philadelphia has now been hit starting in and around a park. As the passengers from the train are in a local diner they find that more incidences are happening only in the northeast up to Massachusetts. When the power goes out everyone hauls ass and runs out grabbing a ride with whoever will give them one. Julian finds a family who is going into Princeton, he wants to go because that is where his wife was and he has since lost contact with her. He leaves Jess with Elliot and Alma. The three get a ride with a man and his wife.

            Once the man and his wife get their things together and head out they are stopped when they come to a road with bodies across it. When they go to turn around by a military station one soldier is left out of the station. Elliot figures out that they need to be separated into groups so that the trees and nature will not attack them all at once. Unfortunately a group is attacked and one by one they kill themselves with the soldier’s gun.

            Now Elliot, Alma, and Jess are running for their lives. Nowhere is truly safe since nature is all around them.

            There were a lot of great scenes and shots. One shot I thought was brilliant is when Elliot and Alma are in a field and it pans to Alma’s jacket blowing in the wind against the golden yellow grass. I liked the black of her jacket against the yellow of the grass it was really nice. One scene that will always stick with me is when Elliot looks over a hill where he sees a man starting large lawn mower and the man just lays down letting the mower go right over him.

            Elliot and Alma have an interesting story. Alma was never really ready to settle down and she is just not happy in the marriage. Elliot cannot see why she is unhappy because he loves her. It is cheesy but through the whole event they come to really love each other again and the ending is all happy and mushy. There is a deleted scene that explains their relationship and why Alma is so upset. It explains a lot but it was left out for the audience see their relationship fold up and I guess to add a little mystery and let the audience make up their own ideas. The deleted scene was filmed great there were so many great angles and shots especially of Zooey Deschanel.

            Alright so the acting is not the best ever seen which is a shame because Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel are two very good actors. Sometimes the acting was almost embarrassing and Wahlberg and Deschanel are so miscast as a couple but if you can get past those The Happening is not a bad movie. I liked The Happening. I think it has a good story and an interesting concept. That is one thing I like about M. Night Shyamalan his stories are always original and different to everything that is out today. It makes you stop and think every time you see trees and grass blowing in the wind. 

Your Highness (2011)

“They only say that stuff because of you, because you go out and have to pretend to be the best, and they look at me like I'm some sort of idiot.”

            Since the dawn of filmmaking there have been movies about knights in shining armor out to save their fair maidens from torturous old wizards. All of them have been sweet, heroic, chivalrous stories with knights you want to take home to your mother and maidens so fair they could make a guy propose on the spot.

            Your Highness could have been your typical medieval romantic farce… and I say could have been because it is rude, crude and totally hysterical from beginning to end!!  

            Fabious (James Franco) is heir to the throne of a faraway kingdom. He has completed many quests and is loved the kingdom over. Fabious has conquered the evil magician Leezar (Justin Thoreau) and taken his captive maiden Belladonna (Zooey Deschanel) as his bride. His brother Thadeous (Danny McBride) on the other hand has done nothing extraordinary with his life. He likes nothing better than getting laid, high and wasted. At the same time Thadeous is very jealous of his older brother but does not have any plans to do anything about it.

            On the day Fabious is to marry Belladonna, Leezar comes and takes the bride back to his castle. Now Fabious has to go on a new quest to get his bride back and wants Thadeous to come with him. Thadeous is none too pleased he has no desire to go on a quest with his brother.

            There quest takes them to many faraway places and they encounter many people/creatures including the incredibly sexy and courageous Isabel (Natalie Portman) who winds up protecting and helping the brothers on their quest.

            If I gave away any details it would completely spoil the movie and many of the scenes and lines are so dirty I blush a little (but laugh at the same time) thinking about them.

            Everyone in the movie was fantastic. Natalie Portman was awesome I liked seeing her as the tough ass. James Franco was so cute and dopy all I wanted to do was hug him. Zooey Deschanel as always was ridiculously adorable but she faked a horrible British accent! Justin Thoreau was so slimy but good as Leezar. Danny McBride is just hysterical that is all I can really say about him.

            Your Highness is a modern comical take on all the knights and shining armor movies and medieval stories. I cracked up non-stop throughout the entire movie. It was nice to get away from all the classic movies I constantly watch and see something with crude humor. I liked the movie so much I cannot wait to get it on DVD.

            Your Highness is very crude and has a lot of sexual jokes and references but if you have a very good sense of humor definitely see the movie.

 

Our Idiot Brother (2011)

“Did you hear what our idiot brother did?”

            I think it is safe to say that every family has that one member who they call an idiot. They are the ones who are always getting into trouble and constantly need some kind of help but deep down they have a good heart and will always be there for you. I definitely have an idiot brother and he is to some extent like Paul Rudd in the movie Our Idiot Brother.

            Paul Rudd plays Ned. Ned is a really sweet guy who runs an organic farm with his girlfriend and sells their produce at a local market. One while at the market Ned is approached by a cop to buy some weed and he gives it to the cop. The cop then properly arrests him since it was a sting. Ned spends only eight months in jail getting out on good behavior. When he goes back to his house he has with his girlfriend Janet (Kathryn Hahn) she does not want him there anymore. Janet has moved on with another guy. With nowhere to go Ned moves back in with his mother.

            Living with his mother is not something he really wants to do. He has three sisters- Natalie (Zooey Deschanel), Miranda (Elizabeth Banks), and Liz (Emily Mortimer)- who offer him a place to stay. Natalie is a free spirited person living with her girlfriend Cindy (Rashida Jones) and dozens of other people, Miranda is a snob who works for Vanity Fair and has a guy friend who likes her a lot but does not know it, and Liz is married to a guy (Steve Coogan) who does not love her anymore after being married for several years with two kids. Each sister has their insecurities and vanities.

            Ned lives with all three of his sisters for over periods of time. He is such a nice guy and naïve about certain things that he winds up accidentally messing up their lives. But through their idiot brother’s screw ups they see the problems with their lives and work them out.

            The cast was awesome right from the promos as soon as I saw Paul Rudd, Zooey Deschanel, Elizabeth Banks, and Kathryn Hahn in a film together I knew it was going to be really funny and really good. I have had a crush on Paul Rudd since I saw him in Clueless when I was younger and I go mush every time I see him in a film. He was so perfect as Ned. I have to say I was a bit bummed that Elizabeth Banks was Rudd’s sister in the movie ever since I saw them together in Wet Hot American Summer and Role Models together I have loved them as a couple. I was so hoping that somehow Rudd and Banks would hook up and my hopes were dashed when they were paired as brother and sister. Zooey Deschanel played hipster… as always but I still loved her. I was dying laughing hearing her curse (says the “F” word three times and it was awesome). No movie ever suffers when Deschanel is in it. Emily Mortimer I can usually take her or leave her I am not a big fan of hers but she was good as the older sister.

            I liked the story of Our Idiot Brother a lot. It was nice to see a good family story and how even though the brother is a screw up he is a nice guy who loves his family and helped them out. As I said my one brother is a bit like Ned just not a hippy. My brother tries all our patience and does stupid things but we still love him and he is always there whenever we need him. One year we attended the same college and I found out a teacher I was close to in high school died and as soon as I called my brother he came over and hung out with me for a while and gave me a hug. He was even there when my roommate was giving me shit and I needed to talk and cry.

            Our Idiot Brother has an excellent cast and a great story. I was hysterical laughing with several scenes and several lines. I highly recommend seeing the movie.