Conclusion

Originally I intended this blog to be a movie review of various genres where I can talk about how each of these movie reflect society. I realize now that I primarily watch romantic comedies. This is of course no surprise to me because my mom raised me in front of these movies, but I thought I would expand my genre just a little bit. I did try a few new movies during this blog this semester, but as usual the movies I ended up watching every week were so called chick flicks.

I always complain that there are no good chick flicks in theaters right now. I now know that this is completely untrue. This whole semester I have found at least one romantic comedy to review every week. This blog did give me courage to try out the horror drama, which I did not like at all. I think that romantic comedies are kind of an addiction. They are an escape from my real every day life and for that I love them. I learned throughout this process that these movies are crucial to my life. I love every moment of watching the impossible stories and calling exactly what scene will follow next.

I didn't stick to the topic completely because I often just lapsed into reviews about the movie and my advice on whether or not to see the film. I did actually describe the female that was portrayed in each of these movies. I have noticed that older romantic comedies feature the stereotypical role of women as searching for marriage as there only means of support. This is true of my favorite Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn movies. What I love most about these is that women are in this stereotypical role, but they are very clever, funny, and smart. Now we see movies where our heroine is a real career woman. She is so focused on her job that she has a lot of difficulty in finding love. Luckily in each of these movies, she does find the man who is right for her. This is a reflection of how women have moved in society. Now we spend so much time getting successful careers that maybe we don't have time to date. Men can also me intimidated by the new role of woman so this movies reflect that fear of success. I have noticed that this is a common theme in new movies with the female being a neurotic control freak who still needs to be saved by her man. While I did not test multiple movies in my genre, I realized how much I love romantic comedies and how they truly reflect the role of women today.

Regardless I will always love this genre. It is such a silly and great escape that I can't help but love these movies. This blog helped me come to terms with the fact that these films will always have a place in my heart and no matter what genre I try, I will always come back to my first love of the romantic comedy genre.

Garden State

When I first saw this movie I completely hated it. I thought that it was weird, sad, and boring. I think my main problem was that I was expecting it to be a cheesy chick flick similar to the ones that I have blogged about all semester. This is definitely not your typical corny romantic comedy, but it is a love story that guys and girls like. So many of my friends love this movie and call it the only girly movie that guys like.

When Zach Braff wrote this movie he was already big for his role on scrubs, but after this movie he was seen as a movie star. However, lately I can't remember a recent movie that he has been on. People even loved the soundtrack to this movie and tons of copies were sold. Given the popularity of this movie and the fact that I still haven't met someone who doesn't like this movie, I decided for my last movie review of the semester to be on this chick flick that appeals to both sexes.

I have to admit that after seeing it again, I did begin to appreciate the story. I really like Braff's love interest played by Natalie Portman because she is so different than all of the other neurotic females we see in the movies today. Yes she is a bit odd with her pet funeral out back and pathological lies, but you can't help but like her. Portman and Braff have great chemistry in the movie as well, making it feel more authentic and likable. I guess this is the reason that it was so popular is because it is different. It is a nice story where we don't see all of the similar stunts and humor common to normal romantic comedies. It is refreshing that the woman in the movies isn't an uptight career woman who can't find a man because of being a workaholic perfectionist. If you notice this is a common trait in all of the modern romantic comedies that I have reviewed such as When in Rome, Leap Year, and even partly in The Back Up Plan. I'm glad I re-watched this movie six years after I saw and realized that maybe my movie tastes have evolved, even though I still really like those corny romantic comedies. It's kind of become an addiction.

Fever Pitch

For so many years I refused to see this movie because of its involvement with the Red Sox, but my friend finally convinced me to sit through it seeing as how it is the only chick flick I haven't seen. Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore play the leads with Barrymore as a successful business woman and Fallon as a high school teacher who is obsessed with the Boston Red Sox. The first half of the movie they fall in love, but when baseball season comes around their relationship begins to have problems as Fallon's character prioritizes his love of baseball above his lovely girlfriend. This could work out though because Barrymore has spent her life dedicated to her job so it might work out that they don't have enough time for each other. Despite this feeling, they begin to argue more and more as Fallon has to ditch Barrymore's work and family functions because he can't miss his Red Sox games. To be fair he has extremely good home seats to all of the games.

Eventually they break up and Fallon realizes that Barrymore was worth giving up his tickets for and decides to sell them. Barrymore likewise realizes that she is being selfish and rushes to tell him that he can't give up his tickets and that she loves him etc. Everything ends happily as expected and it really is a cute story about having to deal with a boyfriend and his sports. You can really insert whatever team and sport into the situation and you have an issue that comes up with different couples frequently. And you sympathize with the Fallon character because you realize that he should go to this important event to his girlfriend but at the same time he is missing the Yankee game.

The only thing wrong with the story was that the Red Sox were in it continually. Fallon's apartment is covered in Red Sox gear and this movie came out the year that they beat the Yankees for the World Series. I guess I felt better about watching it now that the Yankees won last year, but the ending of Fever Pitch is still painful as it shows their victory back in 2004. They had to change the ending when the movie was made because the ending relied on them losing as usual. It is also funny that there is a scene with Johnny Damon, who is now a Yankee.

The Back-up Plan

Jennifer Lopez's movie came out this weekend where she plays a woman who becomes artifically inseminated because she has given up on the traditional root of finding love and then having kids. I mean what if it takes forever to find the love of her life and then it is too late to have kids? She decides to do it on her own, but after leaving the hospital she meets the love of her life and begins the traditional chick flick dating scenes. The problem: she does in fact become pregnant shortly after. Forty minutes into the movie she tells the leading man played by Alex O'Loughlin that she has become pregnant via sperm donor. They fight for a little while but he decides that the two dates he has had with her go so well that he will stick around and help her raise the baby. Oh yeah and in a few scenes they find out that there are twins. So he will help raise two babies that aren't really his.

This one is definitely a rental. Not a good use of money, but if there are no other decent chick flicks to watch then this one would do. It is better than some other movies that I have seen recently but the story is pretty bad. It is obviously not a good idea to start a relationship when you are pregnant. They fight a little throughout the movie but the fact that everything just works out perfectly is CRAZY. If that is the lesson you are supposed to learn then it is pretty bad. Also I do not know how Jennifer Lopez's character is still single at the beginning.

The main problem with the movie is that it wasn't that funny. I only laughed a couple of times, but the humor of the movie is kinda ruined by the concept that this guy goes on two dates with this woman and then decides to deal with her pregnancy and raise the babies. This is legitimately crazy. But It all works out because this is a movie.

The Celebrity Apprentice

This week I have taken a break from reviewing movies and decided to discuss my new favorite shows. I absolutely love reality tv so I watch all of the dumb shows like the bachelor, the Kardashians, and the Girls Next Door. I have been following the Celebrity Apprentice and it is one of my favorite guilty pleasures. First of all Donald Trump is so funny. He has one of the biggest egos and I love watching him talk about how successful he is at the beginning of each episode before he makes the "celebrities" do their task. This season includes Sharon Osborn, Cindy Lauper, a Victoria's Secret model, Brett Michaels, and the former governor Rod Blagojevich. Sadly Blagojevich was eliminated a couple of weeks ago, but the show is still entertaining. Blagojevich was particularly amusing because he was clearly doing the show to profess his innocence and somehow taint the jury pool before he goes on trial. We got to see scenes of him walking through New York City as people called him a disgrace while he would yell he was innocent. During the tasks he would sit in the corner on his phone with his lawyer about witnesses who are betraying him and if there was any tape of that. Just before I thought he couldn't get funnier, we got to learn that he doesn't know how to type, e-mail, and can barely use the computer. I really don't understand how that is possible when you are a governor but it was funny nonetheless.

The other cast of "celebrities" like Osborn, Michaels, and Lauper are extremely funny to watch. Cindy is clearly crazy and doesn't make sense half the time she is talking. Although she does manage to come up with brilliant slogans or ideas eventually on each task. If you like reality tv, then The Apprentice is right for you as it is filled with ego, drama, and comedy.

I used celebrity in quotes because these characters aren't exactly A list celebs. Luckily I could identify two or three, but the rest I had to figure out who they were.

Mad Men

I am taking a moment to shift my focus away from movies right now and talk about a show that I recently got hooked on and have been watching all week. Mad Men is about ad men in the 1960s and shows their struggles at work and home. The main character is Donald Draper, played by Jon Hamm. He is an extremely successful and talented ad executive with a perfect family and wife in the suburbs. However, he continues to cheat on his wife throughout the episodes with female clients and other acquaintances. A young ad man named Peter Campbell makes it clear that he wants Don's job and constantly competes with him. Campbell like the rest of the men on the show also cheats on his beloved wife.

I really like watching it because it is a cool representation of life in 1960s Manhattan. While the characters still maintain their perfect nuclear families, society is changing. Don's receptionist for example eventually works with the men to creates ads. The show also illustrates attitudes of racism, anti-semitism, and misogynistic views toward women. The ad men are also dealing with the crisis of their cigarette clients impending law suits and research that shows that smoking causes cancer. The men constantly smoke and drink throughout the episodes and are shown coughing in meetings from all of the smoking. Don's wife is talking to her pregnant friend in some of the episodes and the pregnant friend is smoking and drinking. It is a weird thing to watch. But it is interesting to see life in the 1960s re-created.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

As I have been unsatisfied with the current romantic comedy movies available, I decided to watch and oldie. This is another Marilyn Monroe classic in which she plays the same character she always does-the dumb blonde bombshell. Her brunette best friend is played by Jane Russell and as usual is the brains behind the duo. While Marilyn's character always gets them into amusing problems, Russell always has the solution.

The two women are showgirls but the majority of the film takes place on the boat when the set sail for France. A rich and unattractive man has fallen for Marilyn, but she claims to love him to the point where they are on their way to get married. His father absolutely hates the idea of his son marrying a gold digging idiot so he hires a private detective to watch the girls as they set sail to meet the son in France. While Marilyn's character is unapologetically materialistic, Russell searches for true love. As she falls in love with the detective (unknowing his true motives for being on the boat), Marilyn spends her time looking for diamonds to the point where she has an old man give her his wife's diamond tiara.

The best part of the movie is how the two women perfectly compliment and care for each other. Marilyn is always trying to convince Russell to marry rich, while Russell helps her blonde friend gain the approval of her father in law. The movie also features Monroe's famous rendition of Diamonds Are a Girls Best Friend song and act. My favorite part of the movie is when Monroe finally confronts her disapproving father-in-law and explains that sure she became interested in the son for the money, but grew to love him. She then explains the reason he wanted her in the first place is for her looks and then he grew to love her. She asks him that if he had a daughter wouldn't he want her to marry a rich man and have all of the fine things in the world? The father's reaction is that he thought she was supposed to be stupid.

Sex and the City: the Movie

Until this week I had never actually seen this ultimate chick flick even though it came out a couple of years ago. I've seen the series and I liked watching a lot of the episodes that were early. Given that the second movie is coming out this summer I figured I should finally watch the first one. I really didn't like watching the episodes at the end of the series because it just got to the point where I felt bad for these women. I mean they spent ten years looking for love and struggled so epically to find it. They did seem to find love by the series finale but this movie was made to show that it wasn't happily ever after. It starts out where it left off with all of the happy couples and even Carrie and Mr. Big are finally going to get married.

On the wedding day all hell breaks loose because Miranda was all mad about her husband cheating on her so she told Big that he was crazy to get married. This led to him leaving poor Carrie before the wedding. The rest of the movie shows Carrie and Miranda moving on with their lives and their new apartments. Things do come full circle at the very end and Big and Carrie finally get married at City Hall and Miranda forgives her cheating husband. Somewhere along the way Miranda tells Carrie how she ruined the wedding and they fight for a while in the middle. This story line bothered me a lot because there is no way that Miranda could be responsible for ruining their wedding. If Mr. Big could be influenced THAT much by an angry comment then it is really just an excuse for him to not get married.

As for the subplots of the story and the other friends nothing much happens. Charlotte has no problems with her perfect family and even has a baby. Samantha continues to dress like she is in her 20s when she is approaching 50. She also decides along the way to dump her long time boyfriend and focus on her true love, herself. The end of the movie has the girls gathered on Samantha's big 50 celebrating with her forty something friends at a cool club in NYC.

Needless to say, I really didn't like this movie. It kind of ruined the tv series. The movie was about two and a half hours and was SO boring. I understand that the final scene was supposed to be happy and inspirational, but it is just kind of sad to watch. These ladies are too old for this anymore, especially Samantha. But they have made another one to follow where I am sure their lives will once again fall apart and go back to normal. I just hope they don't keep making ones to the point where we have to watch sixty year olds in bright, shiny clubbing dress with five inch heels still partying in the big apple.

Hot Tub Time Machine

If you liked the Hangover last summer then you will probably like the Hot Tub Time Machine. As you can guess from the title this movie involves four friends who are on vacation and find themselves in a time machine that transports them back to time to the eighties. The eighties is when they were in high school at Winterfest at this resort where they had the best times of their lives watching Poison and skiing. The three adult friends are also traveling with one of their nephews who is twenty years old. In the past he meets his mother who is partying at Winterfest drinking, doing various drugs, and having random sex with many guys at the resort. This is definitely one of those dumb guy movies like the Hangover, but it is still funny. There are a few gross scenes that made me cringe because they are just gross bathroom humor. There are only so many fart-like jokes that I can sit through and watch. I did laugh though mostly because of the way the characters handled the past.

Most movies when characters time travel they try to stay out of sight and relive the same actions so as not to change the future. These characters started out the same way, but soon realized that their futures suck. Because they hate their future lives they might as well do whatever they want and see how the future changes. As a result the past finds their iphones, energy drinks, and one of the characters sings a black eyed peas song for an entire audience. The scene where he starts singing it is definitely one of the best in the movie as the eighties audience hears the strange new music. Because I am not a huge fan of these kind of movies I would probably rent it, but if you like them it would be worth paying to see in theaters. The movie also has Darryl from the Office and he is pretty funny.

Leap Year

I now realize that this blog has become a review of each new chick flick that comes out mainly because that is what I primarily watch. I know there are great serious movies out there and people recommend them all of the time, but I can't resist every absurd romantic comedy that somehow gets made. Naturally I had to see Amy Adams in Leap Year. This movie didn't get a lot of attention and wasn't in theaters long. This isn't surprising considering the plot. Amy Adams plays some interior decorating woman who helps people make apartments look nice and sellable. She is about to move in with her long time surgeon boyfriend and expects a proposal. After he doesn't propose at some fancy celebration dinner, he flies off to Ireland for some medical conference. Amy Adams then takes it upon herself to fly to Ireland and propose to her boyfriend because according to Irish tradition, a woman can propose to a man every leap year.

Despite that premise, the movie wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. I know it is kind of weird to watch a movie that I expect to be cheesy and terrible, but I still watch every one of them religiously. The only romantic comedy I refused to watch was Fever Pitch because it involved the Boston Red Sox. But back to Leap Year, Amy Adams ends up stranded in Ireland and makes a long journey with some Irish guy to find her boyfriend. Of course she falls for the Irish guy (in the poster) along the way and realizes that he is right for her. I still don't really like movies where the characters switch their significant others so easily, but at least the surgeon wasn't likable in this movie. This was much better than the Accidental Husband because that one made absolutely no sense why Uma Thurman would ditch Colin Firth. Their relationship didn't have problems and he wanted to marry her.

New York, I Love You

Based on the successful french film Paris, je t'ame, New York I Love You tells about 11 short stories about love in New York City. I read reviews about this movie and it did pretty well, but I didn't really get it. I only understood a few of the movies and the rest didn't really feel finished. I guess I wanted to see more. I like the format of movies that tell multiple stories in one film like Love Actually, but a lot of these stories didn't have an ending or work out. A few of them were cute and made sense, but others I had on idea what happened. I think I would need to watch it again to understand. There were quite a few famous people in it like Natalie Portman and Orlando Bloom and there were also a lot of characters. I guess my problem is that you don't really spend a lot of time with any of the characters or learn their stories completely. Some of the characters I didn't even understand why they were even in the movie. A lot of the stories were also pretty sad and involved death of some kind. It was definitely not a chick flick or romantic comedy.

I did find it interesting how they incorporated New York city into the plot. The movie could be viewed as a tribute to New York City where the characters are in fact insignificant, but what is important is showing how many people are interacting and having some kind of story in the beautiful scenery of the city or central park. It does show different parts as well as cultures that are in New York so it creates a mixture of different economic and racial backgrounds. It also shows people of different professions from writers to artists to business men. It was also interesting how many scenes involved smoking cigarettes. It felt like the way most of the characters interacted was by smoking a cigarette outside with another person. Given how smoking is banned from television advertisement and pretty much vilified in society, it was interesting to show it as a way for strangers to interact and meet in the city.

The Accidental Husband

I really have no idea why I watched this movie. My friend had it and it was a chick flick so I naturally I couldn't resist. I can believe most plots in chick flick movies but for some reason the story and inconsistencies really bothered me. Uma Thurman plays a relationship advice radio person who in the beginning scene advises a caller that her fiancee might not be right for her. The fiancee is played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. He was in P.S I Love You. So he hears the whole conversation on the radio with his co-workers. He is a fireman. Obviously he is pretty mad this random lady could end his relationship, even though they must not have had a very strong one to begin with seeing as how she was seeking radio advice. To punish her, he has some techno kid he knows break into some database legal thing and make a marriage license so that they are legally married. This way she is punished because she really is engaged to Colin Firth, who incidentally is very angry when he finds out she is married. The rest of the plot doesn't really make that much sense. Spoiler alert they do fall in love. The rest of the movie is a bunch of random scenes that don't make logical sense as to what the characters are doing. For example, when Thurman first confronts her actual husband, which I am not entirely sure that document would hold up in court, he tricks her into getting drunk by making fun of her for not drinking with the fireman guys. Her life begins to spiral apart. He then finds her at work where he walks with her to the cake tasting. Makes a complete fool of himself with eating all of the cake. These two old ladies, however, love him and ask about how they met. This whole elaborate story of meeting could be avoided by saying yeah we are not engaged, he's just helping me or something like that. What really bothered me about this scene was that it didn't make sense why these two old women, already married to their respective husbands were at a wedding cake tasting place. They were like just eating a slice of cake and the beginning of the scene showed that the shop was only a wedding cake place.

Oh and of course as they end up together, Colin Firth easily lets her go because he can see that he lost her. Yea that would really happen. How can you be engaged to someone else, they had been dating for years, living together, and she easily ditched him. Oh and he was pretty casual about it. Of course they waited until the wedding to do so, which is just rude to all of those guests who came and brought presents. Oh and the fireman was really angry when he lost his fiancee at the beginning of the movie because she was the love of his life. But he got over that loss just fine.

I believed the premise of When in Rome easier. And that movie involved a plot where a woman steals coins from a fountain and those men who through the coins fall madly in love with her and stalk her in New York City. I guess movies where characters are in love with people and then ditch them right before the wedding bothers me. At least in this one the two dumpees didn't end up together because those endings are annoying as well.

Up

I never thought a kids cartoon movie would make me cry in the first fifteen minutes. People I know who saw it told me it was sentimental and made them tear up, yet I did not believe. I didn't get to see the movie in 3d because I had to rent it, but the visuals of the colorful balloons and animated people were still really cool. I really liked this movie because it was so well done and actually had a plot. So many kids movies now are really bad like the talking chihuahua ones that parents are forced to sit through for their kids. The fact that Up appeals to both children and adults is probably the reason it was so successful. It really touches on the idea that relationships are so important in our lives and that we need to appreciate the people we are with while we are still together with them. I thought that the little boy was cute, albeit annoying at many times. I guess I liked him from the moment that he stood on the porch and tried to help the old man to earn his patch. I thought that the way he advertised his help was really funny. The middle of the movie dragged on kind of long and I was sort of waiting for their adventure to end, but the ending of the movie was really good. It is strange how you can feel so much sympathy for these weird square headed people, but you really connect to them. I know that I am one of the last people to see this movie, but I would recommend it to people.

How to Marry a Millionaire

I really like watching old movies, so this week I decided to watch one that I haven't seen yet. How to Marry a Millionaire is a 1953 romantic comedy starring Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, and Lauren Becall. The three young women rent a fancy penthouse in New York City from a man who is trying to avoid the IRS by living in Europe. The three women plan to use their location to attract millionaire men they can marry. The movie follows the three women as they date various men and plan and trap them into marriage. All of the women are really funny and compliment each other perfectly. The brains behind their plan is Becall who is being courted by a millionaire, that she believes is poor. He obviously knows that she is a gold digger and wants to marry for love and to teach her a lesson in the importance of money. Betty Grable plays a ditzy blond who loves food and actually meets men by having them pay for her groceries when she "forgets" her money. Marilyn Monroe's character is definitely the funniest as her character refuses to wear her glasses because she believes men would not be interested in women who do. The comedy around her character comes from her running into walls and not knowing who any of the men are in the film. The movie is actually really funny and well done. The ending is perfect and you grow to love all of the characters, even though the women are gold diggers. It is funny to watch old movies like this and see how women are portrayed in the movies. Marilyn Monroe plays the same dumb blonde character in every movie I have ever seen her in. Lauren Becall is the actual smart female lead as she is the brains behind their operation and devises their whole apartment plan. There is one scene in the movie when all three women escort rich men to dinner and they are wearing long pretty dresses and sit there nodding and sounding impressed every few minutes. Their profession in the movie is modeling clothes for stores and using their looks to find men. It is just kind of interesting when you compare women in movies then and now and see how the stories have changed. But you really can't blame these women as their only chance at money and happiness seems to be from marring a wealthy man.

Thanking You For Smoking

I also re-watched Thank You For Smoking this weekend today because it is one of my favorite movies. This movie is based on a novel of the same name and stars Aaron Eckhart as the lead with a cast of many interesting characters. The humor would appeal to those who really like satire and this movie isn't afraid to be offensive. Eckhart plays Nick Naylor, the chief spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies whose purpose is to find a link between smoking and cancer. Given that they are funded by tobacco companies, they can not find any conclusive evidence. His days range from appearing on television shows and defending tobacco companies and smokers, to fighting the senate bill to add a skull and crossbones to cigarette packages, to meeting with Hollywood produces and pitching the idea of having stars smoke again in movies. Every week he meets with his two best friends for lunch, the lobbyists for the alcohol and firearms industries. The three nickname themselves the "merchants of death." Ironically the Eckhart character is the hero of the story and the character we root for, while the villain is a senator who wants to keep people from smoking. As you watch, you realize that the movie really ends up being about choice and people having the right to decide for themselves to smoke. It is also really funny as you watch the scenes and the lines throughout about the cigarette industry and what he does for a living. My favorite line from the movie is when the boss is yelling at his staff and says "We sell cigarettes, not tic-tacs! They're cool, available, and ADDICTIVE! The job is almost done for us." I think this line captures the spirit of the movie and I laugh every time sit down and watch it.

Roman Holiday

While I have been blogging about movies that are new or that I finally got around to seeing, this week I have decided to re-watch and blog about some of my favorites. My favorite movie is Roman Holiday, a 1953 romantic comedy starring Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn. I saw it for the first time years ago with mom and fell in love. Hepburn plays a rebellious princess on a diplomatic tour of the European capitals. During her stay in Rome, she is fed up with her predictable life and decides to break free and explore the city. In doing so she meets Joe Bradley, an American reporter who sees it as an opportunity to spend the day with her and write an exclusive article about her with pictures. She of course is unaware that he recognizes her. I think the word that describes this movie best is charming. It is a beautiful picture of the past and a glimpse into life in the 1950s. It is a really amusing old fashioned romance and you can't help but fall in love with the two leads. The ending of the movie is also surprising and perfect. This movie was actually Audrey Hepburn's first major starring role and she won an academy award. Interestingly Cary Grant was chosen to play the love interest, not Gregory Peck. Although I am glad he turned it down because now I can't imagine the movie without Peck. Another interesting fact about the movie involves the scene where the pair visit the "mouth of truth," a marble face that is rumored to bite the hands off of liars. In the scene, Peck's character scares Ann by pretending that his hand gets cut off. This is actually a joke played by Gregory Peck on Audrey Hepburn and her screams are real.

Valentine's Day

So tonight I finally went and saw Valentine's day with my sister. I had heard pretty bad things about this movie from critics who claimed that it was awful and unfunny. I actually really liked the movie. It follows many different love stories and couples living in L.A on their different Valentine's Day. It was similar to Love Actually in that it told the story of different people's lives, flashing back and forth between the different stories. Unlike Love Actually, this movie had a much lighter tone and the characters and stories were really all connected to one another. As we watch the movie, we see how each of the stories and characters relate to one another. I guess I liked the concept of that because it makes you think about how we are all connected to each other and how small the world is. I also liked that it shows many stories and there really isn't a main character. I thought it was better than say When In Rome, which just follows one hopeless romantic girl in her quest for love. We all have our own lives with our own stories going on and our paths simply cross each other in various ways. I also liked that it showed stories of young love such as a kid in elementary school, high school couples, young adults, as well as grandparents. I'll admit that it is still corny and predictable as I could easily call all of the future couples, but it was still enjoyable to watch. It certainly not a deep and brilliant movie, but simply a feel good movie that made me laugh. I should also note that my favorite characters were Jessica Biel's and Taylor Swift's. Biel did a really good job of playing a neurotic lonely woman on Valentine's Day and Swift was a ditzy teenager in love. Most of the time when I laughed it was at their characters. In conclusion, I would recommend Valentine's Day, that is unless you hate cute romantic comedies. If you love them like me this is perfect.

500 Days of Summer

So I finally got around to watching the hit romantic comedy 500 Days of Summer with Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. While this is definitely not a traditional romantic comedy, I really did enjoy watching it. At the very beginning of the film we are told that this is not a love story, but just a story of boy meets girl. Throughout the whole movie, we know what happens to the relationship between the two leads, but we get to watch to find out exactly what led to their break up. It is an interesting story telling technique used in that we know what the conclusion is, but as the audience we get to watch how the relationship ended up that way. You would think that this would make it difficult to enjoy the story and watching these two characters meet and interact as their love grows, but I still found myself interested in their story and rooting for this couple, despite the known ending. The movie had many clever and funny scenes throughout, yet still contained a dark tone by knowing about the end of the relationship and switching from the lighter and happier times to the eventual ending result of our devastated male lead.

I really liked the idea of this story because it was so different from every other chick flick that is normally seen. Instead of showing us a typical boy meets girl, faces an obstacle together, and then fall in love and live happily every after scenario, this movie simply shows us a relationship beginning as well as end. Most of our lives are not about a final conclusion and relationships end all of the time. I liked this movie because it gives us a glimpse in the life of the main character. Just because this relationship ended does not mean it is a story that is not worth telling. Not all stories have happy endings or profound meanings on our lives. This movie simply shows us a period in the life of a person and the girl he dated for 500 days. Their love was real, but it just ran its course and the characters move on.

The story kind of reminded me of our moment of being essays that we wrote a couple of weeks ago. It simply shows us a series of moments in a man's life where he fell in love. Even though their love ended and they went their own ways, their brief love story is worth watching because it is an aspect of their lives. Using this approach, 500 Days of Summer had a very real emotion as it simply captured a brief time in life. Most things in our lives eventually end, but that doesn't mean that we can't enjoy them while we can.

Pineapple Express

So after watching scary movies this week, I decided to view a comedy. I heard good things about Pineapple Express from critics as well as people I knew who had seen it. I guess I should have considered who recommended the movie to me when deciding to rent it because I could not wait for it to end. I am not a big fan of Seth Rogen and I like him even less now. Like most girls, I like James Franco, but he didn't look like the James Franco I know and love in this movie. I guess seeing him as a loser, idiot, stoner, drug dealer wasn't much fun to watch. I watched it with my roommate and like me she didn't really get it either. I know it would be a lot funnier if you watch it stoned. Otherwise it was like hanging out with a bunch of your stoned friends when you are completely sober and they just continue to laugh uncontrollably. To me, it was completely frustrating to watch. I mean they are being hunted down by these bad guys who want to kill them and their solution is to smoke weed every couple of hours. Every time they pulled over to smoke I wanted to yell at them. Definitely frustrating to watch for two hours. I heard from other people who enjoyed it that they thought the ending scene was completely hilarious. That scene where they are all stoned out of their mind talking and laughing pretty much captures the theme of the movie- pretty much just listening to and watching a bunch of stoners talk. The only way that the movie would be funny would be to watch it stoned otherwise its just boring.

The Silence of the Lambs/The Haunting in Connecticut

I recently decided to throw in some award winning movies, mainly because my viewing selection is often limited. Even though I hate scary or gory movies, I decided to watch The Silence of the Lambs mainly because it is one of those classic movies that many people I know have already seen. Earlier that day, I also watched The Haunting in Connecticut as I have been trying to expand my viewing genres. This way I basically just had a scary movie day. First I have to say that The Haunting really wasn't very good or scary. I'll admit that the kid in the story was creepy, but that is just because he is a weird looking guy. I don't even watch scary movies often, but it seemed to follow similar thriller patterns and you can tell exactly when the ghosts are going to appear. This movie doesn't make a lot of sense mostly in that when these crazy things start happening in the house and everyone finally knows it is haunted, it doesn't make sense that they would continue to live there. Lessoned learned if dead bodies begin to appear in bedroom, you should probably move- or at least not play hide and go seek constantly in the creepy old house. Silence of the Lambs, on the other hand was a really good and entertaining movie. Instead of trying to be super gory or scary, it left me with that eerie feeling when reflecting on the story. The characters are really interesting and the acting is amazing by both Hopkins and Foster. After finally watching the film, I understand why its an award winning classic.

Did You Hear About the Morgans?

Continuing with my romantic comedy theme, I also spent time watching Did You Hear About the Morgans with Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker this weekend. Unfortunately this movie wasn't very good at all. I was disappointed because I like Hugh Grant, but the main problem with this movie lies in the fact that he and Parker weren't really believable as a couple. There wasn't really any chemistry between them and I didn't believe that they were ever really a married couple. As a result you are not really invested in their story and by the end don't really care if they end up together. The plot itself is pretty weak. The busy New York ex-couple witnesses murder and they must soon be placed under the witness protection program, sending them to a small town in Wyoming. Here we are introduced to a multitude of stereotypical small town characters. They are all simple, gun toting republicans who directly contrast to the city couple. Most of the humor in the movie is supposed to come from the contrast between the Grant and Parker couple and the rest of the small town characters such as the married couple they live with. Parker is a member of PETA and a vegetarian, while the woman they live with loves to hunt and makes hearty them a hearty breakfast will sausage and bacon. This Manhattan couple is also alarmed by the clean air, nature, and stars in this small town. The whole theme of the city folk trying to deal with living in the small town has been done before and in this movie its not really effective. I could tell the scenes and lines that were supposed to be funny, but they didn't really work. I do appreciate the fact that Hugh Grant plays the same character in every movie as he just sits there being charming and makes sarcastic comments throughout every scene.

When In Rome

Last Night my friends and I had a girls night and went to see the new romantic comedy When in Rome with Kristen Bell and Josh Duhamel. This was a perfect movie to satisfy my chick flick craving as I had been experiencing withdrawal since the Proposal and the Ugly Truth came out over the summer. When in Rome is pretty much exactly what you would expect. It follows that chick flick movie pattern and you can guess the plot twists and the ending. It is one of those movies that you enjoy while you watch it, but a week later it is completely forgotten. I remember laughing during the movie, but even as I type this my memory of the details is pretty fuzzy, kind of like when you wake up and don't really remember the dream you just had. Although watching the movie in theaters completely enhances the experience for multiple reasons. First scenes automatically seem funnier when you hear everyone else laughing, especially because there is always that one woman with an insane laugh and thinks every scene is hysterical. Second, whenever there are those touching scenes between the two stars and the man says something really romantic, you get to hear the collective "awwwww" throughout the theatre. Third, you get to watch Josh Duhamel on a gigantic screen. And finally movie theatre candy is amazing.
Interestingly, the Kristen Bell character typifies the new type of woman seen throughout this romantic comedy genre. It seems that in most recent chick flicks there tends to be a theme of the modern uptight, workaholic woman who has a lot of difficulty in their love lives. This is a clear indicator in the time we live in as more and more women occupy the workforce and have begun to greatly value and focus on their career. Luckily in these movies, there is always a perfect guy just waiting to fall in love and sweep them off their feet. Overall I would recommend this movie if you are looking for a typical romantic comedy that makes you smile. In my opinion, this was far better than Did you Hear about the Morgans with Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant or Leap Year with Amy Adams. Basically if you are trying to determine a current chick flick to watch right now this would be the clear winner.

Introduction

The past few years I have really grown to love movies. When I was younger I used to mainly watch t.v. shows especially dramas where the story never ends and relationships are forever changing. In high school my love of television dramas began to fade as I grew tired of the fact that these stories never had a satisfying ending. When a t.v. series would inevitably come to an end, I was never satisfied with the ending the writers would piece together. The best ideas in television are always when the show starts, but after a couple of years the story fades, becomes boring, and you slowly watch the series die. The problem lies in the fact that the point behind a t.v. series is to make it last as long as possible and when it finally dies, an ending is kind of tacked on. As a result I lose interest in most shows quite quickly. There were only so many times I could watch Derek and Meredith get together and break up on Greys Anatomy before I lost completely interest. Movies, on the other hand, tell a complete, pre-mediated story and even if the ending is terrible, we reach a conclusion in a couple of hours.
I mainly stick to watching romantic comedies, although recently I have decided to expand my horizon and watch different genres as well as award winning movies I have never seen. This decision mainly resulted in the fact that I have sort of run out of chick flicks that I haven't seen as well as the fact that whenever people suggested movies I had no interest in seeing, I ended up loving them. For example, A Few Good Men with Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson was an amazing movie and I had never even thought of watching it until I finally gave into someone's suggestions a few months ago. Since then I have been watching movies whenever possible and continue to be fascinated with the way in which these different stories are told. The only genre I avoid is horror, but I am slowly confronting that fear and may even eventually blog about a scary movie or two. Although first I would have to stop watching these movies through my fingers as my hands cover my face.