Up in the Air

Jeez, I saw this movie about a month ago and haven't bloggered on it yet. Let's see. It has Clooney and airports and that lady from The Departed. I don't have anything snarky to say about it--it's original, really well done, and very truthful, with the best female characters I've seen in a long time, and a great ending. I'm not saying you'll love the ending, I'm just saying it is what it has to be. I am trying very hard not to spoiler this movie, which is really hard because there's also a kick-ass cameo. MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY. Oh shit I couldn't help it.

The Young Victoria

I love me a historical drama. The Young Victoria was intriguing and pleasant and mostly focused on Victoria and Albert, so of course I was on board. I actually found myself wishing it had gone on a bit longer (shocker!). Take that as you will.

Nine Is Terrible

If you go to Nine hoping to see Daniel Day Lewis's character from There Will Be Blood burst into song, I am here to tell you you will be sorely disappointed.

Open Letters to Various Persons Affiliated with Crazy Heart

Dear Maggie Gyllenhaal's character in Crazy Heart,

Were you really surprised to find out the alcoholic musician twice your age, whose nickname is "Bad", didn't take good care of your son at the mall? No one is that dumb, even if they have a craaaaaaaaazy heeeeaaaaart.


Dear Robert Duvall's character in Crazy Heart,

You were the only good thing in this god damned movie, but even you couldn't save it. Thanks for at least being played by Robert Duvall.


Dear Jeff Bridges, star of Crazy Heart,

Shame on you. You know better.


Dear Scott Cooper, writer, director, and producer of Crazy Heart,

Fuck you, Scott Cooper.

Sincerely,
Lady Blogpants

Oh God, I am a fangirl.

Dudes. I *am* a James Cameron fangirl!

As previously discussed, it appears that I love me a good James Cameron version of a love story. Which are almost always tragic and make me cry (Avatar being an exception, aside from the crying part).

Sunday night I was flipping through channels and happened upon The Terminator.

Now, I've seen T2 a zillion times, and seen PARTS of the original one, and knew the basic gist: Arnold and other dude travel to past; other dude is protecting Sarah, ends up fathering John Connor in a weird, time-warpy twist. Good times. But I'd never actually WATCHED it. And now that I have, I totally love it. Who knew that the Terminator had a love story in it?! And of course, love story=tragic. Damnit. (Also? Arnold is fucking creepy as the terminator. Yikes!)

I may be overly emotional. (Kyle + Sarah 4evr!) Or I just need a date and am living vicariously through movie romances. Toe-may-toe, Toe-ma-toe!

P.S. Anyone know if Aliens has a love story in it too?

Leap Year

Instructions:

1) Go watch the preview for this movie.

2) Congratulations! You have now seen the entire plot (and can guess the ending), without the annoying parts, bad acting and horrible dialogue, PLUS saved some money!

You're welcome.

Avatar: Revisited

Last weekend Lady Blogpants and I went to see Avatar in THREE DEE (she hadn't seen it yet, and I kept having everyone and their mother tell me I had to see it in THREE DEE). I have to say that while some scenes were particularly cool in THREE DEE, in many places it was actually distracting and, at one juncture, made me a little queasy.

Anyway, I still like this damn thing. I can't really explain why? I mean, the CGI is of course awesome, but the story is completely predictable, a lot of the dialogue is lame (though not nearly as lame as in the Twilight movies), and its a little cheesy.

Then again, I'm one of those people who still LOVES Titanic, years later, and it still makes me cry. Maybe I'm just a James Cameron fan-girl and never realized it? Or a sucker for a love story.

Cinemarella's Top Picks of '09

Because I can't seem to find/think of five whole movies I liked enough to make a Top Five, I decided to break this down by category. Without further ado:

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Up!

Hands down. Awesome story telling, great computer animation, great characters. If Pixar can tell a man's life story in five minutes with no dialog and still make me cry, the rest of Hollywood needs to step it up.

BEST ZOMBIE MOVIE
Zombieland.

Duh. Gruesome, hilarious; the awesomeness of this movie renders me speechless.

BEST ACTION MOVIE
Star Trek.

Oh Hollywood...you have proven that you still have the cajones to not only make a funny, poignant, awesome action movie, but a Sci-Fi one as well. KEEP IT UP!!

BEST SUPERHERO MOVIE
Watchmen.

Soft-core porn and weird mutant cats aside, this movie was rather awesome. Again, a mixture of poignant moments, humor, action, and blood really work well together. Who knew?

Lady Blogpants' Top Five Movies of Aught-Nine!

This was a very good year for movies. I usually can't come up with five I didn't hate, let alone five for which I have a metaphorical movie boner. Now that I've made you thoroughly uncomfortable, here's my list! In ascending order of awesomeness!

5. District 9. I went into it skeptical and came out with my eyes falling out of my head. I can't wait for the sequel. Seriously, I'm not waiting. It's happening now.

4. The Hurt Locker. If you thought Point Break was Kathryn Bigelow's best movie, you're still right, but this one is a very close second. It will break your heart and your brain, plus it's got the best homoerotic army wrestling scene THIS reviewer has seen in years.

3. Star Trek. Attention Hollywood! This is how you make a good action movie! They should show this in movie class. I also love the little touches like the early scene where someone gets sucked out into space and there's suddenly NO SOUND except for all the nerds in the theater going oooooooooooooooooo.

2. Observe and Report. I don't really even have words. This movie is just so goddamned good, and so woefully underrated.

1. Zombieland. HOLY CRAP ZOMBIELAND!

Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Sexy Gentleman Fistfight

A movie set in Victorian London, starring Robert Downey Jr. and featuring an old-timey-sounding soundtrack where banjos and concertinas speed up and get loud during fight scenes? YES PLEASE!