The Holiday (2006)

Dir: Nancy Myers
Writer: Nancy Myers
Starring: Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Cameron Diaz, Jack Black

Over the holiday break back at home, I picked The Holiday to watch because I hadn't seen it in a while, and hey, it has to do with Christmas...sometimes. My husband reminded me of the first time we watched the movie, which was about a month into our relationship. The next day he left for tour for the first time, and also told me he loved me for the first time. I think that's why he likes the movie. (Plus, he gifted me the DVD several Christmases ago.)

I like it for that reason, too, but I also just enjoy a good rom-com with the likes of Kate Winslet. Her character is not as pathetic and amazing as Bridget Jones, but she'll do. The rest of the cast holds their own, though Diaz can be grating and Black isn't that believable as a love interest, but the light comedy does the feel-good trick.

When I saw This is 40 this weekend, there was a line in the movie about widowers and how everyone loves a widower more than a single guy or divorced guy. I immediately thought of Jude Law's character in this movie (perhaps it signaled my DVD choice the next afternoon). The characters are all extremely 'set up,' as is the house-swapping plot, but suspending my disbelief is one of my favorite things to do. As the Beach Boys put it, wouldn't it be nice?

The Best: Winslet. I love when she's on screen and when the focus is her character. I do wish she'd been given a love interest she had more chemistry with (oh would that Leonardo DiCaprio even considered doing a rom-com!), but she's still dazzling.

Fact: Dustin Hoffman had been driving by the Blockbuster used in the movie when he saw all the cameras inside. He knew the director, Myers, and they filmed his cameo on the spot, which made the final cut of the film.

Rating: ******* (7 out of 10)

The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

Dir: David Frankel
Writers: Lauren Weisberger (novel), Aline Brosh McKenna
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Emily Blunt

[Editor's note: time to get this blog back on track!]

This film is one of those highly enjoyable flicks that never feels too corny--mainly because you've got great acting and a fun premise. Hathaway plays Andy, a burgeoning "serious" journalist who lands herself an assistant-to-the-editor job at Runway magazine (a stand-in for Vogue). She's out of her element: as colleagues clack around in their stilettos and throw their shiny hair over their shoulders, Andy wears clunky shoes and doesn't look like she believes in getting her hair cut. This set-up leads to meeting her boss, the Anna Wintour-based character of Miranda Priestly, played to Oscar-nominated level by Meryl Streep.

One of the reasons I like this movie so much is that I do see a bit of myself in it. When I first moved to New York, I had a job interview at Conde Nast, though not for Vogue, but for another fashion magazine. I, too, was severely out of my element, and though I've moved on to another fashion-centric job, I am still  unable to keep up with my colleagues. I mean, I don't have a giant closet at work from which to handpick designer clothes. I digress.

The movie shows Andy choosing her career over her relationships, high-end over bargain bin, and many other classic tropes. However, Hathaway is charming and Streep is wonderfully menacing and they are both fun to watch even though it can be predictable. Each scene and montage works to pace the movie just right and I found myself laughing out loud all over again in rewatching the DVD.

The weakest element was the supposed romantic storylines of her boyfriend played by hum drum Adrian Grenier and a journalist flirt played by a not very charming Simon Baker. But they're pretty peripheral, and their scenes go by quickly. I understand their need, but always wanted to get back to the work scenes between Andy, Miranda, and Emily (played by Emily Blunt).

The Best: can anybody best Meryl Streep? It's hard to, and I loved the scene in which she asks Andy to get her daughters the next unreleased Harry Potter book--a revenge move for having overheard a private conversation.

Fact: Helen Mirren and Kim Basinger were both considered for the role of Miranda. But again, would either of them been able to best Meryl?

Rating: ********* (9 out of 10)

Reprise (2006)

Dir: Joachim Trier
Writers: Joachim Trier, Eskil Vogt
Starring: Anders Danielsen Lie, Espen Klouman-Høiner, Viktoria Winge

While packing for Paris, I looked at my DVD collection scanning for something that Jesse and I could watch together. I picked Reprise because Jesse grew up watching foreign movies with his father (it's Norwegian), and there are a few important sequences that happen in Paris that I wanted to rewatch. On our third night in Paris, after three days of constant walking and exploring and reveling in the nightlife, we chose to get into our comfortable hotel bed and watch the movie.

The film centers on two best friends, Phillip and Erik, who are writers. The film opens with both of them dropping their novel manuscripts in a mailbox in Oslo, Norway. From that moment the viewer jumps to an imaginary sequence (narrated) about their impending fame from being intellectual writers with published novels, to the reality set six months after that fateful send-off. It's an interesting premise, and the characters and setting of Oslo really guide the film through it's many plots and subplots.

What's most relevant among these plots is the major theme (the titular subject) that sometimes we'd like to do things over. That perhaps we don't have regrets, because through no fault of our own, something disastrous lay in the path we had set for ourselves and we can't go back. One character tries to adjust to his new path, the other tries to repeat everything as it was when it was 'good.' It's definitely a universal feeling, to want things to turn out differently--but, sometimes it simply doesn't.

It's not the best film in the world, but it's an interesting film from a young filmmaker. It finds influences in Jean-Luc Godard's French New Wave style and even Jean-Pierre Jeunet's more updated slick directing. But though it has many elements that sometimes collide over the narrative, I love it. It's sometimes frenetic, sometimes slow, but I'm always curious as to where the story and the characters will go next. The movie may have its flaws, but it's successful. I probably love it more because of it's weird nuances. And I'm looking forward to Trier's next endeavor.

On a sidenote, the subject matter of the film, and perhaps even the way it is filmed was particularly inspiring to me when I saw it a couple of years ago on a random Netflix recommendation. I was then working on my first attempt at a novel (NaNoWriMo), and I thought back to this movie frequently and believe it did motivate me and influence the narrative in certain ways.

The Best: There's really so many great elements in the film, from the interesting voice-over narration and quick cuts to the performances. I suppose the sequence I enjoyed the most was the heartbreaking 'reprise' trip to Paris that Phillip takes with his ex-girlfriend Kari, played with alien beauty by Viktoria Winge. It made me shudder with relatable emotion.

Fact:  In the movie, there is a reclusive Norwegian author both Phillip and Erik idolize and want very much to meet and follow in his footsteps. In the movie his name is Sten Egil Dahl, and apparently he's based on Norwegian writer Tor Ulven. Ulven gave only one interview in his career, but he is regarded as one of the most important writers in Norway during the eighties and nineties.

Rating: ********* (9 out of 10)