Recently Watched: Hannah Takes the Stairs and Easy A

Hannah Takes the Stairs was a fantastically realistic view of a girl who is confused about what she wants in relationship and how she wants to be perceived. Greta Gerwig who plays Hannah sees something she likes in every guy she meets in the film...she views everyone as a potential partner which sounds bad, but it's totally what people do.

Easy A made me kind of jealous of Emma Stone. Normally when I watch a movie I think (and this sounds bad) that I could do a better job acting (not actually true,) but in "Easy A" I felt like Stone was way funnier than me (WHATTTTT.) She was in every scene of the movie and she really WORRRKED IT. It has limited cheese, some good/funny dialogue ..along with a few flaws. EX: Like why is her hot childhood friend always alone and ..well attractive/available to her?? hmmm? riddle me that.

Recently Watched: "Conversations with Other Women" and "Enter the Void"

Kind of hungover today. I'm thinking in bullet points so here it goes.

Conversations with Other Women

-- Style of Before Sunrise/Sunset, guy and girl in real time with heavy dialogue
-- Made me appreciate Aaron Eckhart
-- Flashback scenes sometimes looked cheesy
-- middle of the night Netflix viewing session may have altered my opinion
-- overall I liked it, found it enjoyable to watch..once.

Enter the Void (deserves more than bullet points)

-- Wow.. this movie was intense. The beginning really drew me in. The lead character has a very "normal" American accent and tone to his voice, he doesn't sound like an actor and he doesn't look like an actor in the few shots that they show his face. We are mostly viewing the world through his eyes. He is a 20 something American living in Tokyo running with somewhat seedy people.

--The film is largely inspired by the Tibetan Book of the Dead..which I'm completely unfamiliar with. The lead character is reading it and is also heavy into hallucinogens. He gets shot by cops in a misunderstanding for lack of a better word and then is a spirit watching over how everything is playing out after his death. There are also cuts of his childhood, one being the day that his parents were killed in a car accident.

--The male lead is an orphan and only has his sister who moved to Tokyo after he did. She gets into stripping and is in an equally seedy situation. So when he dies he is looking over her.

--I watched this film in two parts ..its a whopping 2 hrs and some 23 minutes long. I understand why it was so long but even so I feel like it could have been 45 mins shorter.

--There were a few scenes that were particularly disturbing...nothing like Irreversible. I feel like this is a x2 kind of movie to have a well rounded opinion.

Cold War Kids @ 9:30 club

Recently Watched: Please Give

I'm a fan of both Nicole Holofcener and Catherine Keener as well as their past efforts "Lovely and Amazing" and "Walking and Talking." Holofcener writes parts for women that only a woman could write. In "Please Give" most of the main characters are women, and Keener takes the lead. She is a rich woman who has a vintage furniture business with her husband. As stated by her husband in the movie, "We buy furniture from dead people's children." Keener's character has a bit of a problem with this. Is it moral? To put her anxiety to rest she hands out money to nearly every homeless person on the street, and she won't buy her daughter overpriced jeans. In one scene Keener goes to hand a homeless man 20 dollars and her daughter grabs it and tells her to give him less. It's an interesting breakdown of an issue because who deserves the money more? Keeners character dresses well and obviously spends money on overpriced goods.. shouldn't her daughter live the same way? or should she spare 20 dollars to a homeless man?

The film deals with money, aging, consumerist culture, marriage.. it's a good mix of social issues. "Please Give," is both funny and sad, and it moves pretty fast.

Recently Watched: Fish Tank

"Fish Tank" is a slice of what it's like to live in Essex, England. All the kids are "street," listening to American hip hop, dancing in the street, swearing etc. A really young girl uses the "c" word frequently, but hey they are working class, riiiight!? Her older sister, who is played by Katie Jarvis takes the lead role. Jarvis was discovered by the director when she was having a fight with her boyfriend at a train station. I can see why she was chosen. She plays teenage aggression quite naturally.

The film is a coming of age story of sorts. Jarvis is living in a single parent home with her younger sister and within the first few minutes of the film it's understood that she has some behavior issues. Her mom isn't very supportive and talks down about her. Enter Michael Fassbender, her mothers new boyfriend. He takes interest in the kids and a bond starts to form. A series of kind of awkward sexual events occur (she hears/sees her mom and Fassbender together, he

spanks her when they are rough housing and she dances for him..) until it all builds up, blows up and falls apart. I think the relationships in the movie are pretty human, Fassbender is no good guy savior role... he comes in with his own problems and the turn out is surprising.

Recently Watched: "Sin Nombre" and "Dog fight"

I watched Sin Nombre on Netflix and was pleasantly surprised. The film was directed by first timer Cary Fukunaga who did in-depth research; conducting interviews with gang members and immigrants. Fukunaga road on train tops with immigrants to experience the dangers that lie in crossing borders.

The young actors gave really amazing performances and they all had really great looks for film. Casting is so important in these kinds of films because you need to believe that these kids are really from this hard area, leading rough lives. The film had a realistic look about it, but it managed to capture a gritty environment with rich colors. The interconnected stories were interesting, and I'm looking forward to seeing more from Fukunaga.

In a bout of insomnia I clicked on Dog Fight when Gideon Yago..yes..Gideon Yago .. tweeted about it. I had watched the commercial a long time ago when I saw My Own Private Idaho. I'm not sure what statements it was trying to make about men at war or the 60's... and that's where the movie didn't come together for me, but I really enjoyed both performances. The dogfight is a contest among soldiers to see who can bring the ugliest girl to a party. ..but it becomes kind of a love story! totally.