nomadreader

The backstory: Please Give  is nominated for Best Screenplay at the 2011 Independent Spirit Awards and is also the Robert Altman Award winner. The basics: A true Manhattan story, Please Give  features married vintage furniture store owners Kate (Catherine Keener) and Alex (Oliver Platt) eager to expand their apartment by buying the one next door, currently inhabited by a very old woman whose granddaughters (Amanda Peet and Rebecca Hall)somewhat reluctantly take care of her. My thoughts: A quintessential independent comedy that could just as easily be called a drama, Please Give  was thoroughly engaging from beginning to end. It's a character-driven story that is a little light on plot, but the characters are so well developed it feels like plot. For me, the film is an insight into these characters' lives. It feels like reality because of its ode to the everyday. Catherine Keener and Rebecca Hall were the highlights of this film for me. Oliver Platt was fine, but I f...

The backstory: The trailer wooed me. The basics: Jake Gyllenhaal is a Pfizer drug sales rep in Ohio in 1996. Anne Hathaway has early onset Parkinson's. My thoughts: There is a lot of good in this movie, and most of it involves Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway. As a film, it doesn't work because it tries to do too much. It's part political message (prescriptions are heavily and disturbingly marketed to doctors/Viagra makes money while drug treatments for Parkinson's are neglected), part love story (including the requisite sappy chase scene), part frat boy humor (the brother of Jake's character is annoying and unnecessary), part erotica (there is a lot of nudity and sex people), and part professional odyssey and it makes it a rather messy film. It's a shame to fantastic performances are overshadowed by the film's lack of focus. The supporting cast is mostly solid too: Hank Azaria, Jill Clayburgh, Oliver Platt and Judy Greer are fine, but they don't h...

The backstory: While chick flicks aren't normally my first choice of films, I thought the trailer for this film was fantastic. Seriously, I cried all of the four times I saw it. It's set in Verona, a city I happen to love, and it stars Amanda Seyfried, whom I have adored since Mamma Mia!   The basics: The trailer is pretty awesome in its own right, but Amanda Seyfried plays Sophie, a fact-checker for The New Yorker  who dreams of writing for it instead. She's engaged to Victor, played by Gael Garcia Bernal, a restaurateur who doesn't really prioritize their relationship. The two set off on a pre-honeymoon a few weeks before their wedding to Verona. Victor is more interested in meeting vendors and going to a wine auction than spending time with the delightful Sophie, who soon makes friends with the women who answer the letters to Juliet.  Sophie happens to find a very, very old letter and writes back. My thoughts: Most of this film is cute and fun to watch...

  A Single Man is one of many films more deserving of a Best Picture nomination than The Blind Side or Avatar . It's the first film by Tom Ford (yes, the fashion designed Tom Ford). It stars Colin Firth, who is rightly nominated for an Oscar and won a BAFTA for his role. The film is absolutely riveting. Colin Firth is phenomenal, and if I were voting for the Academy Awards, I would pick him over Jeff Bridge. Yes, I adored Crazy Heart and Jeff Bridges' performance; that's how good Colin Firth was. Colin Firth is a British English professor living in L.A. in the 1960's. His lover died recently, but he is present in flashbacks. Julianne Moore stars as Firth's best friend, who also emigrated from England. She's a delightful alcoholic with her own problems. As a director, Tom Ford shows immense promise, even if it felt he tried to hard visually at certain times. There were a few overly long extreme close-ups that did not add much to the scene. He was clearl...

  I put off seeing The Blind Side for months. Even after hearing all of the Sandra Bullock Best Actress hype, I waited. After she won the SAG award, I decided to see it, but it still took a Best Picture Oscar nomination to finally coax me into the theater. I went in with an open mind, and I enjoyed parts of the movie. The problem, however, is that it's not a great movie. It's less deserving of it's Best Picture nomination than Avatar is. Hear me out. I know people love this movie, and that's fine. Loving a film does not make it great. Yes, I teared up a few times during this film, which plays upon the viewer's emotions numerous times. The problem with this movie is that it doesn't play to the viewer's intellect at all. The Blind Side is a better than average sports movie. It's an average movie. It lacks nuance and intelligence. It's a tearjerker without much substance. It's an oversimplification of a true story.  On a continuation...

Young Victoria  is the story of Queen Victoria's early years. Emily Blunt stars as Queen Victoria, and she was nominated for quite a few Best Actress awards, most notably, the Golden Globe. The film begins a year before Victoria becomes Queen and continues through the first few years of her reign. I was not terribly familiar with Queen Victoria's early life, and I found the film fascinating. Emily Blunt shines as Victoria. She plays her with a beautiful mix of energy, youthfulness, spunk and properness. This Victoria is caring, idealistic and eager. Part of the story focuses on Victoria's desire for love and uneasiness about finding a partner who will love her for her rather her throne. Through a modern lens, it's both a beautiful and frightening love story. It's a quick courtship, and it works for them, but the modern skeptic in me cannot imagine a courtship of mostly letters, especially when you're the Queen of England and have so much to protect. I...

Nine is not a film for everyone. It's a film based on the stage play, which was based on Fellini's classic film 8 1/2. Musical films are rather hit or miss in general, and this one seems to be especially polarizing despite its all-star cast. Here's a breakdown of its stars: Daniel Day-Lewis plays an Italian movie director about to start shooting his latest film that has only a title, a crew and no script. He finds inspiration from the women in his life from imagined musical numbers of them singing. Fergie plays a prostitute from his youth. Nicole Kidman is the star of his film. Marion Cotillard is his wife, whom he met on a film. Sophia Loren is his mother. Dudi Dench is the costume designer. Kate Hudson is a writer for Vogue . Penelope Cruz is his mistress. Each woman gets her own musical solo, and Marion Cotillard gets two. For more than half of this film, I was ambivalent. I enjoyed it, but it didn't capture my attention; it lacked a little mag...

Admittedly, I am not the biggest fan of Nancy Meyers. I usually want to like her films or really enjoy the premise ( The Holiday) , but I usually leave the theater disappointed. I left the theater wanting to see It's Complicated again, preferably immediately. What makes this film so much better than anything else Nancy Meyers has done? Fantastic actors and a script that doesn't take itself too seriously. Meryl Streep has been divorced from Alex Baldwin for fourteen years. They have three grown children, who are all wonderful. On a side note, all three are believably Meryl Streep's children, which is wonderful look-a-like casting. Jon Krasinski is about to marry their oldest daughter, and he almost steals the entire movie. He's fantastic. Also fantastic, of course, are Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin (Streep's architect who is designing her dream addition). In the midst of the humor (and almost every scene is laugh out loud funny), are wonder...

I still can't believe Avatar won Best Picture at the Golden Globes. The good:  Visually, this film is lovely. It's the first movie I've seen in 3D, so perhaps it was especially stunning for me. Pandora, the planet where much of the film takes place, is pretty cool looking, and 3D helps. There were lots of little touches enhanced by 3D. For seventy minutes, I was completely absorbed in the film and uttered the word "wow" more than once. The bad: The story, the script and the length. James Cameron should never have full control of a script; he's not a writer. He's barely even a storyteller with this film. There's a good idea in there somewhere, but movies should not be a purely visual medium. I'm absolutely baffled the studio gave him (allegedly) $300 million and didn't insist on someone else writing the script. The film had zero depth, which is ironic given the visual depth. It went from lame to ridiculous. I rolled my eyes. I considered l...

I'll focus on the positive about the 2009 Golden Globes: it was a really enjoyable telecast to watch. Ricky Gervais was funny but mostly absent from the stage. Mostly, he introduced a few key presenters of his choice with hilarious and surprising bits. As a telecast, the flow was good. Most recipients knew if they had time to talk (actors) or if they didn't (producers of miniseries and foreign films). The order of awards kept things fresh too; there weren't lulls. The Movies I am mostly baffled by the movie awards. Not only were many of those I didn't think should even be nominated winners, but the Hollywood Foreign Press seem to be pandering to mainstream, mall-shopping, corporate movieplex-going America. They have enough power with what movies are made; let us keep our quality films, please. There is nothing wrong with mainstream hits. Avatar  is an important movie for it's technical advances for the genre, but it is not a good movie (my review will post tomo...

The Hurt Locker , directed by Kathryn Bigelow, is the story of a U.S. bomb squad in Baghdad in 2004. It's a raw, honest war movie. It's hard to watch at times because it's intense.  It's very, very good, but it is not quite great. Is it worth seeing? Yes, I think it illuminates the war in a way still photos, news footage and articles cannot. It's important to have a richer understanding of war and this war. Each scene opens with a graphic of the number of days the unit has left on their tour. What keeps this movie from being great as a movie is the lack of transcendence. Much of the film feels like a documentary, which is fine. When a story makes an appearance, it feels out of line with the rest of the movie. Perhaps there's too much side story or perhaps there's not enough. Either way, it was a nice break from the constant stress and tension, but it didn't quite work for me. See this movie. It's not easy to watch, and at times it reminded me o...

On my quest to see at least the five films nominated for Best Musical or Comedy movie and Best Drama before the Golden Globes air Sunday night, one of the films I most looked forward to seeing was (500) Days of Summer , even though I didn't understand the title. (Summer is the name of the main female character.) (500) Days of Summer  is allegedly a quirky romantic comedy. It's actually the tale of a sad man (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who falls in love with Summer (Zooey Deschanel) even though she tells him she's not into relationships. Then, of course, he gets mad at her for not wanting to be in a relationship and proceeds to mope. The film is slightly bearable because it's not told in chronological order. The narrative bounces between the happy days (double digits days of summer) to the miserable (far too many).  It's clear I was not a fan of this film. I wanted to like it. I laughed a few times, but I never identified with any of the characters. Summer is presen...

After sort of liking the book Twilight ,  I was curious to see the movie. I liked the second half of the book because things actually happened, so I figured any movie adaptation would focus more on the action and be forced to leave out some parts of the story. Imagine my surprise when I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of the movie and found the second half rather underwhelming. Stephenie Meyer is not much of a wordsmith. I don't mean to malign her. I think she can write a compelling story, but I am not wowed with her command of the English language. The clunky, dull first half of the book was mesmerizing visually. The backdrop of the Pacific Northwest became a character in the film; it's beauty was stunning. In the book, many things seemed redundant and over-the-top, but the film used finesse to introduce the audience to the characters. Kristen Stewart was fantastic. I haven't seen her in anything but interviews, and I was amazed how much I enjoyed her performance, ...

My book blogger holiday swap present arrived this week! I was thrilled to discover it in my mailbox. Inside, my Secret Santa, (who took the time to wrap my present in actual wrapping paper!), gave me the dvd of The Jane Austen Book Club , from  my Amazon.com wish list ! I also got some gingerbread cookies. This year was the first time I participated in the book blogger holiday swap, but it was so much fun! Thank you to my Secret Santa, whomever you are. Happy Holidays!

It's not a secret I rarely go to see a movie in the theater. I love the experience, but I do not love the cost. I'm mostly content to wait for the dvd. Still, when people ask if I've seen a movie, I absolutely love to reply, "not yet, but I read the book." With the new summer movie preview issue of Entertainment Weekly in hand, I decided to do a little research to see how many books I need to read to stay abreast of summer movie season. Traditionally, of course, summer movie season is not a literary playground, but there are a few treasures heading to the movie theaters. Here's the breakdown by month of release: May X-Men Origins: Wolverine - not based on a book, but it is a spin-off of the X-Men series, of which I've seen zero of the three films. Terminator Salvation - not based on a book, but is the fourth Terminator film, of which I've seen none. Rudo y Cursi - not based on a book Drag Me to Hell - not based on a book Up - not based on a book ...

I've had Michael Clayton sitting around from Netflix for an embarrassingly long time. It's one of those movies I really wanted to see, but I was never in the mood to see. I'm so glad I finally took the plunge. The film is deliciously dense. It's so clearly a film written to be a film; it treasures the visual medium. Dialogue is often minimal, and the viewer is forced to pay attention. The story is told in the details, and I thought I was missing things at first. It's subtle and seems subdued until the last ten minutes, when all the details and images come together seamlessly. It's a film that gets better the more you think about it; one further realizes how intentional every frame is. I've enjoyed many of Tony Gilroy's films , but I may have to actually see The Cutting Edge now. I'm quite curious about the one film that doesn't fit with the rest of his resume. Overall, I think it was better than No Country for Old Men , which won the Best Pict...

I won't mince words: I adored The Jane Austen Book Club . It was intelligent, warm and real. Impressively, in less than two hours, the film managed to deal with more than six storylines well. Sure, it's a little schmaltzy, but it's oddly satisfying. The film (based on Karen Joy Fowler's book of the same name) is not only an ode to Jane Austen, but to literature as a whole, especially its resonance over the years. As Jane Austen's novels are too, this movie is about life, love, loss, trust and friendship. The cast was brilliant: Mario Bello, Kathy Baker, Emily Blunt, Amy Brenneman, Hugh Dancy, Maggie Grace, Jimmy Smits and Lynn Redgrave. It was wonderful to see Emily Blunt have so much to do, especially after seeing her do little but smoke a joint and take her clothes off in Charlie Wilson's War . Mario Bello was fantastic. Despite so many excellent female performances, Hugh Dancy stole the movie. He was charming, dapper, awkward and ultimately endearing. In so m...

It's not a secret I have a soft spot for (in order): Mos Def, Michel Gondry and Jack Black. I read the middling reviews of Be Kind Rewind, and I had moderate expectations. The film is slow to start. When it does pick up, it's delightful, witty and surprisingly poignant. By embracing the ridiculous, yet brilliant plot, the film manages to plausibly straddle the line between preposterous and believable. It's refreshing to see Jack Black do comedy and drama; it helps restrain his wackiness into something more endearing. Danny Glover and Mia Farrow were fantastic. In this all-star cast, relative newcomer Melonie Diaz gave the best performance. I plan to make a point to see more of her films soon. This movie delivers many laughs and quite a few tears. It's definitely worth seeing. Even though it's perhaps not brilliant filmmaking, it is unique, refreshing, entertaining and touching. If I had the power to edit out the boring beginning and elongate the last hour, I would. ...

Although Made of Honor included a few patches of humor and charm, it was lousy. Patrick Dempsey is endearing, Michelle Monaghan, whom I had no opinion of, was lovely. The supporting cast was fantastic: Kadeem Hardison, Busy Phillips, Sydney Pollock. It's a testament to the acting prowess of the cast that the wretched script didn't seem so egregious most of the time. The story itself is trite and uninteresting. The attempts at comedy were randomly slapstick and always unoriginal; the movie was almost a caricature of itself. I appreciate comedy with my humor, but it has to balance. Inserting slapstick into a poignant moment makes the poignancy laughable and the intended humor groan-inducing. Ratings: 1 star (eh); if you have low expectations and a bottle of wine, there are worse ways to spend a night snowed in

First, let me be honest about relevant biases I hold. I am not a fan of Tom Hanks. I don't like Forrest Gump , and aside from Big , I've never really understand his massive appeal. I either really enjoy Julia Roberts (i.e. Mona Lisa Smile or Steel Magnolias ) or I'm lukewarm about her performances. I think Philip Seymour Hoffman is brilliant in everything he's ever done. Finally, Aaron Sorkin is a dynamic writer. The dialogue is fast-paced, which I usually adore (i.e. 30 Rock , the funniest show on television). When rapid dialogue coexists with Southern accents, it is sometimes difficult to understand. This movie is all dialogue. I found myself listening too hard to the individual words to always understand the depth of plot. It's certainly a history lesson, and the story is fascinating. Philip Seymour Hoffman steals every scene he's in, and he deserved the Oscar nomination for it. I happen to believe his performance was even better than Javier Bardem's win...