Don’t See (500) Days of Summer…

UNLESS you are 110% secure that the girl or boy you are seeing it with is absolutely and unequivocally your soul mate.  I don’t want to get to into plot details, but lets just say that the relationship between Tom (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt aka the 3rd Rock From the Sun guy) and Summer (played by Zooey Daschenel aka the girl from Elf) is fairly eye-opening.  It reminds us that relationships have the power to transform our expectations about love.  Like any great movie (the movie is amazing, by the way) it got me thinking about love, specifically love in college.

In college there are two main types of romantics.

The first kind of person is the one who just wants to keep it casual because their expectations about love are cynical and uninspired.  These people are not heartless and are capable of being affectionate, but they value simplicity and detest having to cope with emotional complications.  These are the people that hook-up like it’s their business.  They play the field guided by a compass that always points in the direction of their self-interest.

The second kind of person is the one who needs to be in a relationship: that needs to put a definition on things.   “Are we a thing?” “Are we Facebook official?”  These are the questions that this person might ask.  Usually these people will enter college and then within minutes be in a relationship with the first person they click with.  They also might have a high school boyfriend/girlfriend that they call 12 times a day and even though they go to separate schools and see each other only during vacations, they are incredibly “committed.”

Ultimately these romantic labels can be assigned to Summer (Zooey Daschenel) and Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) respectively.  It’s also to note that neither of these labels should be looked down upon. In fact I know people who fall into both camps who are incredibly happy with their romantic life-style.  Truth be told, we are all going through transitional stages in our lives (myself included.)  Most people who I talk to have learned more about themselves in during their first year of college or their first year abroad then in their entire tenure in high school.  The movie also reminds us (the college crowd) that this process of growth will continue throughout the rest of our lives until the day that we die.  this might seem like a self-evident truth, but with so many movies espousing the certainty of “perfect love” that include idealized fairy tale endings, (I’m looking at you “The Ugly Truth”) (500) Days of Summer makes these romantics concept seem refreshing.

That’s the beauty about (500) Days of Summer, it is a lesson in love that is instantly relatable to anyone who has ever had a connection with another human, be it detached or deeply romantic.  By making the characters two young twenty-somethings who are struggling after college, they become more relatable to all of us undergrads who relish our Saturday night hook-ups or calls to our significant others who live out of state.

Even as I re-read this post I feel like an arrogant SOB.  I don’t claim to be an expert on love.  I’ve had many failed relationships in the past and I don’t expect that will change in the future.  What I do understand though and what the movie tells us is that it’s okay to take risks.  Be an arrogant asshole, be a sensitive lover, or swim in the gray in between.  We are the shapers of our own destiny, the film tells us, but should also embrace the idea of fate.  We cannot be either cynical or romantic, but instead find a hybrid of the two.  Somehow when we are able to approximate this idea and apply it to our own lives, we will become fully self aware.

Still, don’t see this movie with your casual other.  It will just make  you feel like shit.  Go see the movie and then you’ll know what I mean.

Julie VS Julia

I really enjoyed Julie & Julia (as evidenced by my last post) but I can’t help toy with the idea of a movie sequel: Julie vs. Julia.

In this sequel, Amy Adams and Meryl Streep would don armor and futuristic weaponry and duke it out in hand-to-hand combat.  If they could bump it up to an R rating, the film could feature intense amounts of blood and carnage.  Just as the Alien vs. Predator  franchise has been financially lucrative, Julie vs. Julia could yield similar results.

Thoughts?

Thoughts: Julie & Julia

After thoroughly resisting the idea of seeing Julie & Julia, I finally caved and drove to one of three movies in Jackson Hole, WY to catch the 8:00 PM show.  I am happy to report that it was a fantastic film and I can’t wait to illegally pirate it in the near future…um…I mean purchase the film at a licensed DVD vendor.

After seeing this film, it renewed my faith in blogging.  Sure blogging is an incredibly narcissistic venture, but if you blog about something you ACTUALLY care about, it’s a worth it.

Leave it to a movie to remind me that blogging about films is not a lost cause.  I was honestly about to give up on this blog, but I’m more eager than ever to keep posting.  Hopefully you’ll lend me your support.  All 7 of you.

Review: District 9

Since the radio broadcast of H.G. Welle’s War of the Worlds by Orson Welles, the American populace has been indoctrinated to believe that if aliens were venture to our planet, they would be creatures who crave nothing less than global domination and the extinction of humanity.  District 9, directed by South African new-comer Neill Blomkamp and produced by blockbuster champion Peter Jackson, is a film that aims to turn the stereotype of power-hungry E.T.’s on its head.  It’s not just an alien flick though.  District 9 is also a scathing social critique about humanity’s need to internally separate itself into class structures based on racial superiority.

The film pesents an alternate reality in which aliens, having made their way to Earth in the 1980′s, are segregated from humanity and forced to live in a Johanesburg slum dubbed District 9.  The district is a rotting landmass covered in garbage and plagued by violent Nigerian gangs.  The aliens, which are upright crustacean-like beings are referred  throughout the film as prawns.  The word prawn, which suggests the lowly status of a bottom feeder, is liberally used by the films human characters.  Although the terminology of the film might come off as somewhat humorous,  Blomkamp is quick to remind his audience that words and labels no matter how absurd contain the power to strip away a persons dignity (human and alien alike.)

Other moments such as the burning of a hut containing the alien eggs, referred to gleefully as a “prawn abortion” by the film’s dopy protagonist Wikus Van Der Merwe  (Sharlto Copley,) are equally disturbing.  Although the moment lasts for only a few seconds, the popping and sizzling of the alien eggs is a haunting sound that will likely ring in your ears far after you leave the theater.

The best part about D-9 is how the film continually reinvents itself.  One minute the film is a documentary, then a horror-thriller, then a no-holds-barred action film.  It’s kept together by an incredibly touching performance by Copley as Wikus.  Deftly switching from comedy to drama, Copley’s dramatic range is staggering.  His scenes with a prawn named Christopher, one of the most well realized computer animated creatures since Gollum from Lord of the Rings, are nothing short of fantastic.

Although this review is popping up a bit late, I still feel the need to tell people to go see this movie.  It’s one of the most compelling films of the summer and an instant science fiction classic.

District 9: The Musical

After getting back from a mid-night show of District 9, I can say with confidence that it’s absolutely amazing.  As the credits started rolling, I was little disappointed.  This was one of those movies that made two hours seem like five minutes and with no set-up for a sequel, it’s safe to say that the D-9 property might enter early retirement.  That being said, I’m now officially a D-9 fanboy and I’m craving to get a quick fix of alien-ghetto action.  That’s when it hit me.  After D-9 leaves the silver screen it should do what every great movie of the last 10 years has done: receive treatment as a broadway musical.  Think about it.  Aliens engaging in massively choreographed  dance numbers that combine broadway spectacle with Joberg street culture.  Lyrical songs about leaking alien contaminants and cat food sung to a sweeping score that combines classical composition with the drone of alien hover craft.

Now, some of you might be saying “okay, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard of in my life” and I totally respect that.  However, if a musical about feral street cats with depression issues can become a hit show, why can’t District 9?  I’m confident that with the right talent, this musical could really take off (pun intended.)  In the meantime, I’m gonna get to bed.  I just ate 2 boxes of candy and downed a large coke, so I’m about to die from a sugar crash.

Review: In the Loop

In the Loop, deftly directed by Armando Iannucci, is a gut-bustlingly funny political satire that demonstrates what can happen when the line between altruism and incompetence blurs beyond comprehension.  Stylistically it’s a cross between the faux-vèritè style of the Office and the improvised “mocumentary” style of director Christopher Guest.  It’s fast, sharp, biting satire that is not only one of the year’s funniest films, but also one of the most provocative. 

The plot follows a bumbling low-level minister in the British government named Simon Foster (Todd Hollander), who while giving an interview with the BBC, is given a question on the position of the British government regarding war in an unspecified country in the Middle East: a question very much outside the small realm of his expertise. Taking a moment to collect his thoughts, Simon claims that war in the Middle East is “unforeseeable.”  With a word so ambiguous in its intentions, Foster unwittingly ignites a firestorm amongst members of the government.  Since Simon’s words, seem to break ranks with the government line, his is given explicit instructions to publically recant his statement.  Unfortunately, Simon is so hopelessly incompetent that he is unable to resist making yet another ambiguous statement regarding war.  In order for one to achieve a state of peace, Simon philosophically muses, one must be prepared to climb the “mountain of conflict.”

Simon’s journey from no-body to pro-war poster child attracts the attention of a bellicose American official in the state department named Linton Barwick (David Rasche) who hopes to recruit Simon for his pro-war campaign in the Middle East.  He is aided in his efforts by Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi), a cynical British official whose usage of expletives defies comprehension.  Despite his fiery tongue, Malcolm is all about the thrill of the chase.  His ambition to convince the UN in favor of war on the basis of little to no evidence strikes him as only a mere technicality. Serving as the opposition to Linton and Malcolm is an ambitious American state official named Karen and a soft-spoken general played by Mimi Kennedy and James Gandolfini respectively.

The acting in the film is superb.  The actors who rely on a combination of written word and improvisation make the circumstances of the film seem very real.  Of course the irony of this is that the events that unfold in this film and the circumstances that follow them are actual realities that we as Americans are all too familiar with.  No one in this film is innocent. If someone speaks out in the name of righteousness, it’s only to further their selfish motives.  In other words, the films characters are more interested in landing a promotion than speaking the truth.  The only person who is able to cling to a sense of integrity is Simon. Unfortunately Simon is so inhibited by his stupidity; his noble attempts to thwart the nefarious war-plot fall by the wayside. 

When all is said and done, the movie will leave you feeling a little cold, but  that’s a good thing.  It gently reminds us that sometimes humorous folly can lead to disastrous consequences.  It’s a sobering film to be sure, but it’s also deliciously hillarious.  Go see this movie.

Viral: Neill Blomkamp’s Halo

It’s no secret that a Halo film was once in development.  It was set to be produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Neill Blomkamp who are the team behind the upcoming District 9.  While we wait for that film to enter the cinesphere, here’s a short film that gives you an idea as to what the Halo film could have been.

Rumor has it that Steven Spielberg is in talks to produce a Halo film based off a screen play adaptation of the novel Halo: the Fall of Reach written by G.I. Joe Scribe Stuart Beattie…ugh…please dear god. let this movie be good.

I’ve also included Blomkamp’s short “Alive in Joberg” which served as the basis for District 9