Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Busting up the Block--Summer Movie Reviews

As some of you might know, I'm a bit of a movie lover.  Maybe more than a bit.  My dad always asks me, "Is there anything that you say that doesn't come from a movie?"  Well, no.  Not really.  Even Jaime has taken on some of my favorite movie lines, like:

"Buy me last pape, miss?"

"You're not worth it!"

"Hit my knee on the damn coffee table."

and my personal fave:

"I've seen a wolf in every man I know, and I see a wolf in you."

Bonus points if you can name any of the movies these lines are from.  Sisters are excluded from this competition!

This summer has not been lacking as far as output of movies.  But the question is, are they any good?  In my opinion, yes.  There have been a bunch of great movies this summer, and believe me, I've seen 'em all.  So here's the run down.  I apologize for not giving a "summary" of what all the movies are about, but, you know, that's what previews are for!

Crazy Stupid love is the most recent movie we saw.  From start to finish, this movie was great.  Steve Carell played a loveable but somewhat downtrodden divorcee who is trying to find his "manly" identity. Ryan Gosling plays his super-sexy tutor.  The movie was full of laughs.  Both Carell and Gosling are funny, but totally endearing.  You love them both.  The movie also had some awesome female leads in Julianne Moore and Emma Stone.  Julianne Moore can do no wrong in my eyes (except when she uses a Boston accent) so I loved her as Carell's ex-wife/love interest.  This was my first real Emma Stone movie, and I was pretty impressed by her performance.  She played a "realistic girl" with all flaws intact.  Who doesn't like that?  I highly recommend this movie.



As a huge Harry Potter fan, I couldn't resist seeing all the movies, and maybe re-reading a book or two (for the third time . . . ).  I must say, the movies were always hit or miss with me.  I hated the first, liked two, three, four, and five.  The sixth was a major flop in my eyes, but the final two-part installment?  Excellent.  I especially liked part one.  I'm always into the "background story" of a series, and the seventh book and movie carry a lot of that.  I thought the second installment of the movie was very well done and very true to the book.  The only downfall?  In my eyes there was too much action and not enough story.  Was that a problem for anyone else?  Probably not.  As with all of my favorites, read the book.  You will not be disappointed.



My next summer blockbuster is Horrible Bosses.  While I was watching the movie, I was laughing like crazy.  It has some of my favorite people in it--Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, and Jennifer Aniston.  It also introduced to me Charlie Day who was the absolute highlight of the movie.  His crazy high-pitched voice cracked me up repeatedly and even cost me a few major snorts in a packed movie theatre.  Like I said before, while I was at the movie, I was loving it.  After I came home, though, it was kind of forgettable.  So, if you're looking for sheer entertainment, here it is.  Looking for something deeper?  Skip it.




Maybe you know someone like I know someone.  This someone who is obsessed with comic book culture and knows all the ins and outs of the comic book world.  That person is my husband.  He wants to go to every comic book movie no matter how horrible it looks (cue Green Lantern here...).  I wasn't too psyched to see Captain America, I must admit.  I mean, who is Captain America (I had no idea before I saw this movie)?  Why is that guy so shrimpy and why is it so dang patriotic?  Well, it turns out that Captain America came into being during World War II.  He was a fighting machine, made as a weapon to protect and defend America.  This was all shown and hashed out in the movie and surprisingly, I was totally into it.  I loved how the main character started out as an underdog (as many heroes do) and was chosen to become Captain America not because of his intellectual or physical abilities, but because he knew what it felt like to be bullied.  He had fight in him to do not what was popular, but what was right.  And you know what?  It feels pretty good to see a movie where the good guy is truly good.


It's pretty rare nowadays to go to a movie without knowing what it is about.  With all the movie trailers and commercials, and youtube, it's pretty hard to miss.  Somehow, though, I had no idea what Super 8 was about when one Sunday, Jaime begged me to go with him.  All I knew about it?  Aliens.  The end of the world.  Dogs disappearing.  I mean, that's all the previews showed you, right?  The previews got it all wrong.  This movie is not so much about aliens, but about a boy coming of age.  The movie starts out with a group of kids filming a horror movie together when they witness a mysterious accident.  I'll go ahead and tell you it all stems from one crazy looking alien.  After the accident, the boys continue on with their lives, still wondering about what caused it, all the while working on their movie.  Long story short, it's way more fun than an alien action movie.  It has heart and it has a good story--one that most anyone would enjoy.

I hope summer finds you beating the heat in an air conditioned movie theatre, popcorn in hand.  Enjoy the show.

1 comment:

  1. Crazy, Stupid Love has been panned in a lot of places, with Moore being blamed for falling into a harried, mother / wife stereotype. But I LOVE Emma Stone and was so excited to see she's finding quick success. Her big break was Superbad. I am excited to see a good review because this and Bosses are on the top of my list of to-see.

    ReplyDelete

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Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Busting up the Block--Summer Movie Reviews

As some of you might know, I'm a bit of a movie lover.  Maybe more than a bit.  My dad always asks me, "Is there anything that you say that doesn't come from a movie?"  Well, no.  Not really.  Even Jaime has taken on some of my favorite movie lines, like:

"Buy me last pape, miss?"

"You're not worth it!"

"Hit my knee on the damn coffee table."

and my personal fave:

"I've seen a wolf in every man I know, and I see a wolf in you."

Bonus points if you can name any of the movies these lines are from.  Sisters are excluded from this competition!

This summer has not been lacking as far as output of movies.  But the question is, are they any good?  In my opinion, yes.  There have been a bunch of great movies this summer, and believe me, I've seen 'em all.  So here's the run down.  I apologize for not giving a "summary" of what all the movies are about, but, you know, that's what previews are for!

Crazy Stupid love is the most recent movie we saw.  From start to finish, this movie was great.  Steve Carell played a loveable but somewhat downtrodden divorcee who is trying to find his "manly" identity. Ryan Gosling plays his super-sexy tutor.  The movie was full of laughs.  Both Carell and Gosling are funny, but totally endearing.  You love them both.  The movie also had some awesome female leads in Julianne Moore and Emma Stone.  Julianne Moore can do no wrong in my eyes (except when she uses a Boston accent) so I loved her as Carell's ex-wife/love interest.  This was my first real Emma Stone movie, and I was pretty impressed by her performance.  She played a "realistic girl" with all flaws intact.  Who doesn't like that?  I highly recommend this movie.



As a huge Harry Potter fan, I couldn't resist seeing all the movies, and maybe re-reading a book or two (for the third time . . . ).  I must say, the movies were always hit or miss with me.  I hated the first, liked two, three, four, and five.  The sixth was a major flop in my eyes, but the final two-part installment?  Excellent.  I especially liked part one.  I'm always into the "background story" of a series, and the seventh book and movie carry a lot of that.  I thought the second installment of the movie was very well done and very true to the book.  The only downfall?  In my eyes there was too much action and not enough story.  Was that a problem for anyone else?  Probably not.  As with all of my favorites, read the book.  You will not be disappointed.



My next summer blockbuster is Horrible Bosses.  While I was watching the movie, I was laughing like crazy.  It has some of my favorite people in it--Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, and Jennifer Aniston.  It also introduced to me Charlie Day who was the absolute highlight of the movie.  His crazy high-pitched voice cracked me up repeatedly and even cost me a few major snorts in a packed movie theatre.  Like I said before, while I was at the movie, I was loving it.  After I came home, though, it was kind of forgettable.  So, if you're looking for sheer entertainment, here it is.  Looking for something deeper?  Skip it.




Maybe you know someone like I know someone.  This someone who is obsessed with comic book culture and knows all the ins and outs of the comic book world.  That person is my husband.  He wants to go to every comic book movie no matter how horrible it looks (cue Green Lantern here...).  I wasn't too psyched to see Captain America, I must admit.  I mean, who is Captain America (I had no idea before I saw this movie)?  Why is that guy so shrimpy and why is it so dang patriotic?  Well, it turns out that Captain America came into being during World War II.  He was a fighting machine, made as a weapon to protect and defend America.  This was all shown and hashed out in the movie and surprisingly, I was totally into it.  I loved how the main character started out as an underdog (as many heroes do) and was chosen to become Captain America not because of his intellectual or physical abilities, but because he knew what it felt like to be bullied.  He had fight in him to do not what was popular, but what was right.  And you know what?  It feels pretty good to see a movie where the good guy is truly good.


It's pretty rare nowadays to go to a movie without knowing what it is about.  With all the movie trailers and commercials, and youtube, it's pretty hard to miss.  Somehow, though, I had no idea what Super 8 was about when one Sunday, Jaime begged me to go with him.  All I knew about it?  Aliens.  The end of the world.  Dogs disappearing.  I mean, that's all the previews showed you, right?  The previews got it all wrong.  This movie is not so much about aliens, but about a boy coming of age.  The movie starts out with a group of kids filming a horror movie together when they witness a mysterious accident.  I'll go ahead and tell you it all stems from one crazy looking alien.  After the accident, the boys continue on with their lives, still wondering about what caused it, all the while working on their movie.  Long story short, it's way more fun than an alien action movie.  It has heart and it has a good story--one that most anyone would enjoy.

I hope summer finds you beating the heat in an air conditioned movie theatre, popcorn in hand.  Enjoy the show.

1 comment:

  1. Crazy, Stupid Love has been panned in a lot of places, with Moore being blamed for falling into a harried, mother / wife stereotype. But I LOVE Emma Stone and was so excited to see she's finding quick success. Her big break was Superbad. I am excited to see a good review because this and Bosses are on the top of my list of to-see.

    ReplyDelete

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