Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

Dir: Wes Anderson

Writers: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola

Starring: Kara Hayward, Jared Gilman, Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Frances McDormand, Bill Murray

I saw this earlier in 2012 the weekend it was in limited release (I love living in New York!), the day after being the maid of honor in my best friend's wedding. You could describe my best friend as whimsy and stylized in the same vein of Wes Anderson--she's a huge fan, of course. So it felt like a honor that on the weekend of her wedding, we were able to catch this movie, and that it turned out to be perfectly adorable, fun, and great.

The story of two young teenagers living on a fictitious little island off the coast of New England in 1965, Sam and Suzy are outcasts who find an attraction to each other as kids not accepted by their peers, adults, or their parents. Anderson's directing takes another step towards ultimate quirky sophistication, and I think he's grown considerably since his earlier works with this foray. His shots look like old '60s photographs as he pans across his characters.

I popped this in the player on New Year's Day--it was my first movie of 2013! It was a great way to welcome the new year, as I sat next to my husband delighted and laughing the whole time.

The Best: The moment Bill Murray takes off his shoe and throws it at Ed Norton's character is one of my favorites, but I have to give it to the leads Hayward and Gilman--from when they awkwardly meet each other to their 'playing house' on the beach.

Fact: The screenplay was just nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay!

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

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

 



Dir: Colin Treverrow
Writer: Derek Connolly
Starring: Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson

I saw this movie this past summer and it was quite the difference from the movie I'd seen earlier in the day -- Prometheus. However, I took to the small, independent, and heartfelt movie. It may also be because I love Mark Duplass in everything.

The movie is about a loner magazine intern who doesn't quite fit in with her surroundings, no matter what they might be. Plaza plays Darius with her usual acerbic wit, but the softer side of her was there, too. Her boss (Johnson) brings her along on his assignment to seek out the author of the 'Safety Not Guaranteed' ad (on the poster), and that's where we find Duplass as Kenneth, a slightly weirder loner, but one that Darius instantly connects with.

While the plot was a bit shallow--never diving too deep--the movie was enjoyable, especially the scenes betwen Darius and Kenneth. I was not as taken with Johnson's secondary plotline of finding an old love, but it makes sense with the themes of the movie.

The ending was probably the part that really got me. I liked the movie, but then the end had me grinning from ear to ear. It's not the year's best movie, but it might be its most feel-good. At least for me.

The Best: Mark Duplass. Because he's having quite a year, for good reason! See his other 2012 roster: Your Sister's Sister, Darling Companion, People Like Us, The League, The Mindy Project, Zero Dark Thirty.

 



Fact: The ad that the movie revolves around is a real ad that was run in a 1997 issue of Backwoods Home Magazine. It was a last-minute filler by a guy who worked at the magazine, and eventually circulated on television and the internet. In the movie, the original author of the ad makes a cameo as the first guy to open a PO box that Darius and her co-intern are watching.

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

The Princess Bride (1987)

 



Dir: Rob Reiner
Writers: William Goldman
Starring: Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Wallace Shawn, Christopher Guest, Andre the Giant

A couple of months ago, my friend Jaime and I started watching Homeland and when Mandy Patinkin as Saul came on the screen I looked at her and said, "My name is Inigo Montoya! You killed my father, prepare to die!" Jaime stared back at me quizzically, and I understood the horrifying fact that she had never in her thirty five years of life seen The Princess Bride.

"Inconcievable!"

My dad happened to call me on that fateful night and also joined in my absolute astonishment. Since the following week was my birthday, he happened to send a copy of the DVD, since I had lamented my last one had been stolen (right off my DVD shelves!). I invited Jaime over recently to finally introduce her to Wesley, Princess Buttercup, and all the favorite lines I grew up with.

The movie really does stand the test of time; I remember watching it repeatedly as a kid (this, and Big). Watching it as a twenty-nine year old was just as enjoyable. Jaime and I laughed out loud, I slapped my knee a few times, I said the lines I remembered so well, I pointed out who the actors were to Jaime (that's Billy Crystal! That's Christopher Guest!), and we even thought of what a great group costume the characters of movie would make for Halloween. It was fun to rewatch it, and even more fun to watch it with someone seeing it for the first time.

The movie is a bit of a fantasy, but grounds itself with the storytelling of a grandfather (Peter Falk) to his grandson (Fred Savage). The script nor actors ever miss a beat, and the movie is a great adventure from start to finish. It defines the word enjoyable for a film!

The Best: Cary Elwes has never been as good as Wesley, though I still love Robin Hood: Men in Tights. I just love when he reveals himself to Princess Buttercup while falling down a cliff: "as youuuuu wiiiiiish!"

Fact: When Count Rugen hits Westley over the head, Cary Elwes told Christopher Guest to go ahead and hit him for real. Guest hit him hard enough to shut down production for a day while Elwes went to the hospital.

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

Gentlemen Broncos (2009)

Dir: Jared Hess
Writers: Jared Hess, Jerusha Hess
Starring: Michael Angarano, Jemaine Clement, Sam Rockwell, Jennifer Coolidge

This is one weird movie. But I love it.

I remember seeing the trailer for it in a theater and thinking "well, that looks dumb." Cut to last year when my friends Jaime and Andrew had me over to their apartment and decided I needed to watch. They were reciting the lines during the movie, and then afterwards when we went to a bar they continued. Many lines are now inside jokes between friends; sometimes when I say bye to a friend in-the-know, I say "Remember who you are and what you stand for!" while flashing two metal signs, as Jennifer Coolidge's character says to her son Michael Angarano as she sends him off to a writing festival for homeschooled kids.

I digress.

The movie is about the Benjamin, living in the bland surroundings of Utah, much like director Jared Hess' previous film, Napoleon Dynamite. He's a teen sci-fi writer who has hopes for his first novel with a lead character named Bronco who fights evil on distant planets. The great hilarity of the film centers on the fact that his novel is played out on screen several times -- as his own version with Sam Rockwell as a long-haired, tough Bronco, as a version low-budget filmed by his friends, and as a version stolen and plagiarized by his idol, Chevalier (played so well by Jemaine Clement). In Chevalier's version, Bronco is now Brutus, and Sam Rockwell plays him as well, but this time in a pink suit, long blond hair, and lispy accent.

When you have Sam Rockwell saying lines like--"Oh my holy crap, surveillance does... I hate those. This is ridiculous, that's the most well guarded yeast factory I've ever seen!"--you know it's a different kind of movie. But Rockwell owns both characters and all their ridiculousness. If you haven't gotten it yet, this movie is absolutely crazy. And not everyone will like it, enjoy it, or even get why people are laughing at the random (and sometimes gross) jokes. But I did!

Proceed at your own risk. If you enjoyed this movie for what it is, we'd probably be friends.

The Best: Sam Rockwell, hands down. The guy puts everything into his roles no matter how weird. His tackling of two roles is the best part of the movie.

Fact: The opening credits have a series of fake sci-fi novels to showcase the stars. The cover artwork was created by acclaimed fantasy and science fiction artists Kelly Freas and David Lee Anderson.

Rating: ******** (8 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)

Bridesmaids (2011)

Dir: Paul Feig

Writers: Annie Mumolo, Kristin Wiig

Starring: Kristin Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy, Chris O'Dowd, Rose Byrne

I remember seeing this movie in the theater last year on opening weekend with a group of my best girlfriends, all of us giddy at our recently engaged friend choosing us to be her bridesmaids. We all laughed to the point of crying, and I noticed many other movie-goers were busting up as well. I left the theater thinking, yes, finally a good comedy that isn't filled with a bunch of man-boys who refuse to grow up (Apatowian film culture).

Last weekend I watched it again with the one bridesmaid who didn't come with us that first time, and hadn't seen it yet. And though it was perhaps my tenth time watching the film in the past year, I still laughed to the point of hysteria.

Annie (Kristin Wiig) and Lillian (Maya Rudolph) are best friends--and Annie is floundering in adulthood with a failed bakery, creepy roommates, and the worst 'friend with benefits' situation ever (except for the fact that he is played by, and therefore looks like, Jon Hamm). Lillian just got engaged to some nothingburger and has asked Annie to be her Maid of Honor. Cue the hilarity.

The group of bridesmaids, even called by Lillian at one point as a "stone-cold group of weirdos," brings on the laughs from the engagement party to the wedding. Rose Byrne's treacherous Helen serves as a threat to Annie, but comes around by the end. Melissa McCarthy's Megan steals every scene she's in.

The Best: Kristin Wiig, hands down. Not only for her wonderful script, but for her acting. The airplane scene alone in which she becomes inebriated midflight and thinks she sees a colonial woman on the wing? Priceless. (I also have to mention that her impression of a penis had me gasping for breath.)

Fact: The woman sitting next to Kristin Wiig on the plane, who talked about having a dream with Annie in it, is the co-writer, Annie Mumolo. And Melissa McCarthy's air marshal is her real-life husband.

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

Midnight in Paris (2011)

Dir: Woody Allen
Writer: Woody Allen
Starring: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard, Michael Sheen, Kathy Bates

I remember seeing this movie in the theater last June with my best friend Kelly and my dad. I knew hardly anything about the plot, just that the trailer showed off a great cast and there's nothing I don't love about a movie set in Paris - one of those cities I have felt romantic about all my life, despite never having traveled there. It's all the cinema's fault, really, what with Before Sunset, Moulin Rouge, Amelie, and the Godard and Truffaut and Deneuve.

There's also something about the 'oldness' of Paris. Living in the United States, there's not exactly castles and centuries-old monuments at every turn. Paris, like many parts of Europe I've seen in films, looks like it's out of another era. Which is the perfect setting for this movie.

Owen Wilson plays the screenwriter Gil Pender, who loves Paris and is trying to complete his novel. His novel, and he as a person, seem to revolve around the idea (and ideals) of nostalgia. His fiancé - played to wonderfully bitchy effect by Rachel McAdams - is not amused by Paris, nostalgia, or his attempts at being a novelist (she prefers his lucrative "hack of a screenwriter" career).

I've not been a fan of Woody Allen films for a while - their protoganists, even when not played by him, are usually just as neurotically annoying (save for Vicky Cristina Barcelona), but Wilson plays those neuroses down with his own brand of charm and wonder. I was, indeed, charmed by the whole film. Part of that was the locale, but the other part was the inspiration reverberating across the screen - the characters, the scenes, the glee in partaking of the time-travel adventure with Gil. Yes, time-travel.

To see Gil wander into the good company of the 1920s Paris literary and art scene, was at once shocking to me as someone who had no inkling of the plotline from the trailer (best trailer I've seen in a while in retrospect!) and also as someone who loves literature and art and historical inside jokes. I laughed, a lot.

The movie was wonderfully fun, and I enjoyed the overarching theme about missing the present while being stuck in the past. All of the acting was superb (from Michael Sheen's pedantic character to Alison Pill's Zelda Fitzgerald, it was a great ensemble) and the writing and directing were near perfect. One of my favorite movies of 2011, and perhaps ever.

The good news is that my husband, Jesse, has surprised me with a trip to Paris next month, which was part of the reason I re-watched this. I cannot wait to walk along the Seine like Gil, wait on those steps at the Sacre Coeur, and maybe, just once, feel like I'm in a different time.

The Best: While Wilson was a great protagonist, the real scene-stealer was Corey Stoll as Ernest Hemingway. He brought to life the giant persona and wordsmith - he spoke as he wrote, it would seem, and I loved it.

Fact: I don't always agree with film critic Roger Ebert (though I love him!), but I just wanted to share a quote from his review of this movie, which I completely agree with - "There is nothing to dislike about it. Either you connect with it or not. I'm wearying of movies that are for 'everybody' – which means, nobody in particular. Midnight in Paris is for me, in particular, and that's just fine with moi."

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