HE AND SHE AND A MOVIE MAKES THREE

A Scanner Darkly

SHE: This movie was awesome. So awesome. I know it has an all-star cast, but being animated made it less noticeable. I kept thinking what it would be like if it was a straight foreward movie, and I don’t think it would have been as effective. It was so easy to get lost in the story. Easy to be carried away by everything, forgetting that you’re watching Keanu and Winona and Downey Jr. The style of Waking Life is so perfected, that it creates it’s own kind of magic.

The world of being a drug addict is completely accurate. It is all very familiar if you have been there yourself. It did not seem forced, or false, but real. Like the millions of people who are stuck down in that life. I’m not sure how those performances were accomplished…. Oh wait. The actors playing those roles have a VERY good idea of what they’re portraying. Maybe that’s why they were picked. Maybe Woody Harrelson is in there because he KNOWS. He’s been up in that tree before.

HE: I picked this up on Blu-ray because I’m a big fan of Richard Linklater and Waking Life. I hadn’t ever really heard anything negative about this movie either, so why not get the Blu-ray? I think I’m glad I did?

Now, I haven’t really had much time to process what I just watched, but I’m pretty sure I liked it. I knew basically from the start that it would be a movie that I probably wouldn’t understand until the end, and even in the end I’m not sure I understand it fully. Sure, the basic idea is there for me, but do I really “get it”? No, seriously, what the fuck is going on?

I don’t have any experience in the world of drugs, let alone crazy future drugs, but I thought it seemed to be pretty realistically portrayed. A lot of the time I was wondering if something was a crazy drug trip, or if something was happening simply because it was the future. I’m still not really sure. Goddamn the future is a tricky bitch. I’ll definitely want to watch it again.

I can’t NOT mention the visual style. Linklater borrows from his previous film Waking Life but this time it’s not annoying. It really lends to the film and honestly, transforms it from mediocre to something special. The visual style is half the character of this movie. BUT SERIOUSLY WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?

Damn Future, You Scary!

All this week we’ll be watching movies about how the not-so-distant future is coming and holy fuck it means business. That’s right, scary ass not-so-distant future movies. From drugs to robots to aliens to wars to whatever, it doesn’t matter; the not-so-distant future is some serious shit. It’s gritty and it wants your soul. Better recognize.

Academy Awards 2011

As far as I’m concerned, the Golden Globes are the real awards show that matters. I care more about what the associated press thinks of movies than what Hollywood thinks of themselves. None the less, Kari and I decided to see as many of the Best Picture nominees as we could this year so we could make some predictions on here. We both set our own personal records for most Best Picture nominees seen before the Oscars have aired, with 6 out of 10 movies. We saw Inception, Black Swan, The Fighter, The Social Network, The King’s Speech, and True Grit. Not bad. Anyway, on to the predictions.

Best Actor in a Leading Role

• Javier Bardem for Biutiful
• James Franco for 127 Hours
• Jesse Eisenberg for The Social Network
• Jeff Bridges for True Grit
• Colin Firth for The King’s Speech

Oh god, attack of the J names! I can see this going two ways: Colin Firth wins for the King’s Speech, or Javier Bardem wins for Biutiful. Myself and Kari are both rooting for Colin Firth for this one, and we also think he’s going to win.

Best Actress in a Leading Role

• Annette Bening for The Kids Are All Right
• Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole
• Jennifer Lawrence for Winter’s Bone
• Natalie Portman for Black Swan
• Michelle Williams for Blue Valentine

This one isn’t really fair, since I haven’t seen anything here except for Black Swan, but I still think it’s pretty obvious that Natalie Portman has to win this one. Kari agrees, and we think the old people will too.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

• Christian Bale for The Fighter
• John Hawkes for Winter’s Bone
• Jeremy Renner for The Town
• Mark Ruffalo for The Kids Are All Right
• Geoffrey Rush for The King’s Speech

This is definitely between Christian Bale and Geoffrey Rush. Until yesterday, I was 100% certain that Christian Bale would take it, but The King’s Speech really surprised me, so I’m thinking Geoffrey Rush might take it. But again, Kari and I are in agreeance that Christian Bale will ultimate take this one home, and he’s our pick as well.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

• Amy Adams for The Fighter
• Helena Bonham Carter for The King’s Speech
• Melissa Leo for The Fighter
• Hailee Steinfeld for True Grit
• Jacki Weaver for Animal Kingdom

This is a tough one. I think everyone is about equal in this category, and Kari and I can’t seem to agree on one winner. I think we’re both going to be rooting for Hailee Steinfeld, but I feel like it’s going to go to Melissa Leo or Helena Bonham Carter.

Best Director

• Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan
• Ethan Coen, Joel Coen for True Grit
• David Fincher for The Social Network 
• Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech 
• David O. Russell for The Fighter

Besides Best Picture, this is probably the most difficult category for Kari and I. It’s really anyone’s game here, but I’d personally love to see Darren Aronofsky win, so I’m going to be rooting for him. Kari as well. However, I’m thinking that the Academy will go for David Fincher.

Best Screenplay

• Another Year: Mike Leigh
• The Fighter: Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson, Keith Dorrington
• Inception: Christopher Nolan
• The Kids Are All Right: Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg
• The King’s Speech: David Seidler

I’m basing my choice on what the category says, so I’m thinking that Inception should win since the screenplay is absolutely insane. But the Academy is likely going to choose The King’s Speech, which I’m totally alright with.

Best Adapted Screenplay

• 127 Hours: Danny Boyle, Simon Beaufoy
• The Social Network: Aaron Sorkin
• Toy Story 3: Michael Arndt, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton, Lee Unkrich
• True Grit: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
• Winter’s Bone: Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini

The Social Network will take this one easily, and it just so happens that we’re both rooting for it.

Best Picture

• 127 Hours
• Black Swan
• The Fighter
• Inception
• The Kids Are All Right
• The King’s Speech
• The Social Network
• Toy Story 3
• True Grit
• Winter’s Bone

Here we go. The big one. Now, I have three movies that I’d like to see win. Black Swan, The Social Network and The King’s Speech. But if we had to pick one, Kari and I would both REALLY like to see Black Swan take it. But we’re pretty sure it’s going to be The Social Network or The King’s Speech.

The King’s Speech

HE: I don’t normally like movies like this; movies that seem like they’re manufactured to win awards and that’s it. I really didn’t expect The King’s Speech to be any different, but I was wrong. I was as wrong as Winston Churchill in a tubetop. The movie ended up being fantastic all around. Great performances, great directing and cinematography, and it actually managed to make a movie about the British royal family interesting. The teeth were far too nice though. I guess you can’t win em’ all.

So the movie is basically about British Frasier and Niles Crane. Except, instead of Frasier not being able to shut up, he can’t speak without stammering. I guess his brother was a little more like Niles, but really, this analogy is pretty weak and I’m surprised I’m going with it. I could tell right from the beginning that my heart was about to partake in a wonderous journey of learning and acceptance. Oh how right I was.

This is my favorite Geoffery Rush role, not that I’m all that well versed on his career, but he’s perfect here. Colin Firth isn’t someone who I’m terribly familiar with either, but this movie convinced me to respect him as more than just “that asshole from those Bridget Jones suckfests”. I didn’t have a choice for Best Actor this year before yesterday, but now I’m sold on Dr. Firth (He has a doctorate in emotion). I hope he wins.

SHE: This movie made me really interested in a subject I never put much thought into: The English Royal Family. I had no idea about the history and Albert’s speech impediment or his brother”s abandonment of the throne. I want to watch it again. Geoffrey Rush was great and Colin Firth was just so fantastic, he’s just got to win the oscar. That climactic moment at the end of the film was so wonderfully triumphant, I had to restrain myself from clapping.

 Helena Bonham Carter did a very good job playing the wife of King George VI, but she didn’t get that much screen time. She was perfectly witty, head-strong yet still proper, but her performance didn’t blow me away like the other actors did. Maybe because Elizabeth wasn’t a blow-you-away kind of a personality. Maybe she nailed the character of the real-life woman and I’m too American to see it.

True Grit

SHE: I would like to preface by stating that I have never seen the 1969 version of this movie, and knew nothing of it’s plot ahead of time.

I thought this movie was a serious drama about the old west, not an amusing sideshow trying to be bigger than it really is. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed this movie. I just don’t think it lived up to the hype or was nearly as amazing as everyone made it out to be. It was well-shot, had realistic sets and costumes and I really cared about that little girl getting her revenge. It also had ridiculous characters that contributed nothing other than to make the moment weird. Was that bear-man necessary? Or just there to be kind of funny?

I thought Jeff Bridge’s character was supposed to be a rough and tumble hard-as-nails gun for hire. Not a drunk old failure who’s only been a US Marshall for four years. He played the role perfectly; speaking slurrishly, living sloppily and being generally unpleasant.

The real star of that movie was the girl. Holy shit! She carried the whole movie. She was the really impressive one with the legendary performance. She was the one with true grit.

HE: Let me just say that I liked the movie, but I don’t understand all the fuss about it. It wasn’t anything special. Except for Dr. Bear Man, I don’t see why this is nominated for best picture. It’s a remake of a pretty average western, and it managed to remain pretty average. But you know what? True Grit is the funniest movie I’ve seen all year, and I’m not really sure if it was supposed to be. No really, there was some seriously hilarious line delivery.

The movie itself is beautiful. There are loads of great landscapes shots and the backdrops of the west enhance the film in a way that I can’t really describe. I especially liked any scene where it was snowing. However, a lot of scenes were really drawn out and really disrupted the pace of the movie. You know something’s wrong when you stop caring about a scene and just want to see what happens next. Mattie talking to the trader could have been about 5 minutes shorter, and the ride home at the end of the movie didn’t have to be 10 minutes long.

Why does the girl get nominated for Supporting Actress and not Leading Actress? She’s the main character, the narrator, and she’s in every scene of the movie? Whatever. She was great though. But let’s talk about Jeff Bridges. Without him this movie would have been unwatchable. This is, in my mind, the best role from Jeff since The Dude. In a lot of ways, Rooster Cogburn and Jeff Lebowski are very similar. They both like to drink, they both like to sleep, they’re both kind of lazy, they both have beards, and they both have eyepatches.

All in all, I was underwhelmed by the movie. I doubt it will ever be considered a classic and I’m sure it will be forgotten once the Oscars are over. Goddamn ducks.

I Will Survive

So since you’re a smart, observant and beautiful person, you’ve probably noticed a lack of updates in the past week. Simply put, we needed a break. Between guests visiting from out of town, our one year anniversary, and me getting a PS3, we’ve needed some time off from a movie every night. However, that will change in the coming days, as we plan on getting back into a movie watching rhythm. So tell your friends, tell your kids, tell yo wife, cause they watchin’ every movie up in here.

Maybe not tonight though because Survivor’s back on. That Jeff Probst is so handsome. Take me now you CBS money rocket!

Before Sunset

SHE: I was looking forward to this sequel, but it made me sad. It takes place ten years after the first movie, and was actually filmed ten years later, so the actors have aged appropriately. No make-up or effects to pull it off. It was a really true-to-life story, about running into a lost love a decade after losing them. About how you hold on to those memories and feelings, and about how time can slap you in the face with a large dose of reality.

I had such high hopes for their reunion. The romantic in me was thinking, “they’ll pick up right where they left off. Love will bloom in the European air, and they’ll share their experiences and growth and it will be a beautiful thing.” Unfortunately, that’s not how life works. There were no passionate kisses, just tales of scornful relationships. There were no heart-felt sharings of feelings, followed by loving embraces. Just heart-felt sharing of feelings followed by wishing that things were different. Sorrow and loss.

Then the ending makes you want to see the next one. Makes your hopes for this perfect couple soar into the sky again. That maybe they will be together like they should be. That they will tear off the burdens of their unfulfilling relationships and do anything to be with each other. I want there to be a new chapter in this saga every ten years for the rest of my life. I know they were meant for each other. It will happen. It will. Now, how long exactly do I have to wait for the next movie?

HE: So Before Sunset picks up 10 years after Before Sunrise, and when I say 10 years, I actually mean 10 years. It took a decade for this movie to get made, which might be why it’s so good. The characters are the same, but they’re older. They’ve had new experiences, they’re wiser, and they have more to talk about (and so much to catch up on).There’s some really special about watching these two people. I feel a real connection to them and I care about 
what happens to them.

Before we even started watching, Kari and I had this intense urge to see how everything turned out. I mean, we know they’re not real, but I kind of wish they were. There really aren’t any other movies I can think of where I care so much about wanting to see what happens next, especially not romances. It’s a romance that really has no place in Hollywood films. It’s real, it’s happy, it’s sad, but it’s all fake.

The way they speak is so believeable. They each have mannerisms, and they aren’t super in your face. Ethan Hawke makes jokes and is constantly saying “I’m just kidding!” because Julie Delpy is so understandably gullible. I mean, I know she’s gullible, but wait, she’s just acting; pretending to be gullible. FUCK I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. I never want to see them apart.

On that note, I kind of want Richard Linklater to continue the series every 10 years, with them getting older, going on with their lives, but remaining friends who are still in love with each other. Or even eventually becoming lovers. I don’t really care, I just want more of these characters.

Before Sunrise

HE: Kari and I couldn’t decide if we wanted to watch something romantic in honor of Valentine’s Day, or something horribly violent. We decided on the former, because I recently purchased Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. Two Richard Linklater talk fests.

He always manages to come up with interesting conversations; whether it’s about dreams and life in general in Waking Life, or in the case of the Before movies, love and relationships. A lot of the stuff they talk about I can relate to. Or maybe they’re just things I’ve thought about but never realized that other people felt the same way about. Things that seemed meaningless to me at the time. But that’s the beauty of this film. It’s all thought provoking, and it’s all stuff that you’ve thought about it. Relating to it makes you feel smart and experienced.

The directing style is very interesting. Like I said, the movie is 95% speaking only. This allows for shots that are about 10 minutes long, and conversations that flow naturally. I mean, that’s pretty important if your characters won’t shut the fuck up. Sometimes I wish Ethan Hawke would, but then I digress and I realize that these two people are perfect for each other. Who couldn’t fall in love with a cute French girl like Julie Delpy? And Austria never looked so interesting. This movie makes me want to sit on a train and travel through Europe with no real destination. Maybe some day I will. IN BED. What?

It’s always nice to see love develop in a movie, and then have the love be believeable. That’s not easy to do, but it’s done effortlessly here. I think what I liked most about this movie is the fact that there’s a sequel that continues the conversation. But, we’ll save that for tomorrow. Right now, this movie really got me in the mood.

Hey! No I’m not crying and touching myself to pictures of Betty Boop. GET OUT OF MY ROOM!

SHE: Ahh, l’amour! A fantastic love story for the Hallmark day of love. Even though I’ve never been particulary impressed with Ethan Hawke, this is one that I thoroughly enjoyed. It’s probably because this film is a Linklater movie; where the conversations are what keep you interested. Heck, that’s all this movie is! One giant dusk till dawn conversation. I hope that we all have had this experience: Meeting someone so interesting and captivating, that it feels like nothing at all to stay up all night talking. These are the times that life is made of.

 The first time I learned the name Linklater was after I randomly saw “Waking Life” on New Zealand’s version of HBO and had no idea what I had just watched. I was blown literally out of my socks. After I bought new socks I found out that he did one of my favorites from high school: “Dazed and Confused,” whereupon I became confused as to how someone that did my best-loved hippie stoner movie also blew my mind man. That’s Linklater. That’s Before Sunrise. It’s mostly about the conversations, in regards to the characters and locations and situations. That seems pretty broad when I see it spelled out.

If you took away any of the creative or poetic elements of this movie, it would lose a lot of it’s charm. The cinematography. The dialogue. The progression of relationships, no matter how fleeting, all build up to this emotional epiphany. It’s so wonderful. Really artistic Linklater movies are like taking all the best most profound conversations ever had by modern people, and laying them out, spread eagle for you to see. Be it silly or serious, these are exchanges that everyone knows, even if they never said them outloud.

Top Gun

SHE: I grew up with this movie in the background. It was so popular, my family even had it on VHS. I was sad, I was thrilled, I was triumphant. I mean, anytime I hear “danger zone” I picture jets taking off of an aircraft carrier. In the 80’s this movie was so fucking cool. Everybody loved it.

This time when I watched Top Gun, I realized how bad it is. Maybe I’ve seen it too many times. Maybe knowing what fate awaits Goose makes it boring. Maybe trying to catch a glimpse of Val Kilmer’s elbow lump was a little distracting. That volleyball scene lost NONE of it’s appeal, though. That definitely is the only part of the movie I enjoy more now as an adult than I did as a kid.

If you’ve never seen Top Gun, don’t rush off to see it now. You missed your chance. That ship has sailed to the Indian Ocean and been sunk. It was great in it’s heyday, but that was 25 years ago, and not everything can stand the test of time.

Seeing as how I just advised you to NOT see Top Gun if you’ve never seen it before (unless you’re in the navy) I will go ahead and say Goose dies. He hits his head and is more dead than Kelly McGillis’ career.

HE: This movie is so gay. I don’t mean it’s bad, I mean it’s gay. Literally. Besides people checking out each other’s asses hungrily, and shirtless volleyball set to “Playing with the Boys”, check out some of this dialogue:

“He’s on my tail, coming hard”

“This gives me a hardon.” “Don’t tease me.”

“I want some butts!”

“Iceman, your kisses are so tender on my neck.”

Somehow, I only made up one of those.

I guess I never really got into jets as a kid. I just never thought they were all that cool, which is probably why this movie does nothing for me. Sure, it’s got shots of jets flying through the air and very rarely exploding, but that’s about it. The action is laughable though. They constantly reuse shots of jets doing jet things. Woohoo. Look at how excited I am.

It’s a super cheesefest, so I guess not thinking jets are cool makes this movie hard to watch. The relationship between Goose and Maverick is probably the best part of the movie. Anthony Edwards always has the saddest death scenes. Did anyone see those episodes of ER where he died? Holy shit that was sad. Maverick is kind of an interesting character and he does cool guy stuff I guess. He rides a motorcycle, wears a cool jacket, wears sunglasses indoors, does it really matter though? The best thing to come out of this movie was Danger Zone.

Risky Business

HE: Another Tom Cruise classic I’ve never seen. This movie is basically Ferris Bueller’s Day Off with whores and an R rating.

Right away, I’m intrigued by the directing style. Wait a second, how serious is this movie going to be? I guess I always kind of thought it was a comedy or something. The directing kind of reminds me of what indie movies look like these days. It’s really strange to see an 80’s teen movie done like this.

The music makes everything super unsettling. I kept feeling like everyone was going to wake up from a weird dream, or have sex with each other. Like Tom Cruise having sex with a girl near a door as it gently blows open and gets leaves all over his living room. Wait, that actually happened. Thankfully, that mess cleans itself up by morning. I mean, can you imagine trying to explain all that semen and yard trimmings to your mom?

I have a pretty hard time buying Tom Cruise as a teenager. He still seems so old and mature. Or maybe it’s just distracting seeing him this young. It’s like “Hey, that kid looks exactly like Tom Cruise. Oh wait, it IS Tom Cruise.” Also, why the fuck does this guy need to be calling a hooker when he looks like a young Tom Cruise? Sense, it doesn’t make any.

SHE: Speaking of hookers, this movie is all about them! The plot spins out of control so fast. One minute little Tommy C. is doing his homework, minding his own business, and the next thing you know his house is full of high-priced call girls. How is it that they are all so classy looking? Aren’t they whores? I know that hookers with expensive price tags exist, but to end up with like, fifty of them under one roof? Whaaaa?

This is the only movie I’ve seen Tom Cruise in where he actually looked cute (oh, except for Legend). I’m not sure what happened to him, but he sure lost it quickly. Maybe the older he got, craziness started building up inside him, and it was perceivable on the outside even thought we weren’t sure why. Then one day the craziness grew to be so big, it began leaking out and he got comfortable with it. So now he dances on Oprah’s couch and believes in a religion that was made up on a bet. Way to rock that stardom, Tom.

This movie was totally fun, completely entertaining and 100% unbelievable. It’s not even close to being within the realm of possibility. This young entrepreneur is eighteen? NEVER! Why does he need to call a hooker anyway?! He’s hot! Where are all the highschool girls? Oh there they are. They’re turning tricks.

Rain Man

SHE: I’m sort of at a loss for words, even though I’ve seen this movie several times. Maybe that’s the problem. It’s been around since I was a kid, and I was too young to watch it. Then when I got older it was already ingrained in movie culture, and I knew everything about it’s plot. Regardless, it’s a wonderful film. Dustin Hoffman is outstanding, and Tom Cruise is a dick (as usual). 

Something I don’t get is how a cold hearted asshole transforms in the space of six days because of his brother. His autistic brother that he didn’t even know existed; his very difficult brother who manages to babble incessantly while talking about nothing at all. Raymond drives Tom Cruise insane for most of the movie, and then they have a couple of touching moments and BAM! He loves his brother so much he wants to live with him forever. It doesn’t make sense. He should’ve bought Ray that hooker.

It also doesn’t make sense how the dealer in Vegas wasn’t onto them immediately. I mean the instant Raymond says, “There’s lots of queens,” and then three queens get turned over, the dealer should’ve kicked them out. Maybe 1988 Las Vegas was a little dumber than it is now. It certainly wasn’t as fabulous, regardless of what that sign said.

Anyhoo, I feel like this is one of those movies that you’ve probably seen already, and if you haven’t you should. I mean, it won a butt-ton of awards, and the academy knows what they’re doing, Right? (don’t mention Shakespear in Love.)

HE: Another movie that took me far too long to finally watch. Unfortunately, I don’t have very much to say because it didn’t really wow me, and it wasn’t awful. This movie won four of the biggest Oscars you can win. What four and why you ask? You ask too many questions, but here’s the lowdown.

Best Actor? Dustin Hoffman. Holy crap. He is Raymond Babbit. No question. There’s a reason he won Best Actor for this. Tom Cruise on the other hand, plays unlikable in a way that makes him totally likable. Other than that, the girl from Hot Shots was pretty good I guess. Dustin Hoffman just outshines everyone though, it’s kind of embarrassing.

Best Director? Sure, why not. This movie makes middle America look appealing. The directing is really odd though, because there are some genuinely cool shots, but then there’s also a lot of shots that should be uninteresting or shots that are far too long, but they still end up working for some reason. I can’t really explain it. Still good though, especially for the type of movie it is.

Best Writing? Despite all this emotional build up, I was really expecting and ending that would satisfy my hunger for completion. Unfortunately, I felt a bit let down by the ending. It wasn’t a happy ending, and it wasn’t a sad ending. It just sort of ended on a somber note. There wasn’t really much payoff after watching their relationship grow. Best Picture? Definitely, definitely a let down.

Cruise’n for a View… s’n?

What’s better than watching Tom Cruise jump on a couch? Watching Tom Cruise act on a couch. In the 80’s. The 1980’s to be exact. You better believe we’re going to be watching the hell out of some of his classic 1980’s fare. When we asked Tom Cruise what he thought about our idea for an 80’s Tom Cruise weekend via our time machine, I was lucky enough to snap a picture of his reaction. Look at how excited he is.

Also, apologies for the lack of updates this week. We got busy. Not with each other, with life. Which isn’t to say that we don’t get busy with each other, just that in this particular case it was with life. Aw, shut up!

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

HE: Where to begin. I was anticipating this movie quite a bit when I first saw the trailer. I don’t think it quite lived up to the hype that I created for it in my mind, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t good. Maybe good isn’t the word. Cool, unique, hip. Those words describe this movie a lot better. 

I don’t know too much about the comic. Scratch that, I don’t know anything about the comic, so I wasn’t really sure how crazy of a movie I was expecting. I know a lot of the people like the video game references, but they all seemed like playing-it-safe references. It didn’t really stray to far away from what you would expect; Zelda, Mario, etc. You know what I’m talking about. It works in this movie though, since that’s sort of the scene.

Maybe it’s just because I got a Blu-Ray player today and we watched this in really high def, but this is a good looking movie. An ocular clusterfuck of sparklemagic in my eye sockets (that’s a good thing). There’s some really fucking cool stuff going on in this movie. The action is well done, and the visuals are really creative. It was also a refreshing take on the Michael Cera I’m used to. I believed he could be Scott Pilgrim.

Anyway, this movie was fucking weird. Maybe too weird. It captured the comic book feel better than anything I’ve seen before, and I don’t know if that was a good thing. Don’t get me wrong, I really liked this movie. I enjoyed the style and I giggled at all of the video game references and the humor. But it feels more like cinematic masturbation. Celluloid Hot Topic. A lot of fun though.

SHE: I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I wanted to see it since I saw the trailer and recognized that Ramona’s hair and goggles are TOTALLY stolen from my friend Jessica. I heard some not-so-positive feedback about the movie, and it made me afraid that I wouldn’t love it. Now, having finally seen it I am sure that if you are too young or too old, you won’t like this movie. I am of the PRIME age range to want take this movie to bed tonight.

I was present for the hay day of arcade games, before they got to be really sophisticated. Before the good graphics existed. Before you had a good game system in your home. When the coolest kid you knew had Mario Bros 3, and that was where everyone convened on saturday afternoons. This movie totally fed that aspect of my past. I deserve a 1-up just for going back that far in my mind. So fast-paced; so fun. I’m sure I will watch this one a dozen more times and always catch something new and love it. Yet it IS a very specialized movie. He gets coins when he defeats an enemy. He gets combo bonuses while fighting. The music from Zelda is scattered about, making me hand-clappy-giddy.

Michael Cera is a joy as always. I have yet to dis-like him in a movie. He’s just so damn appealing. I want to make him lunch. I have never seen him kick ass until now, and even afterwards, he’s still the bashful meek boy next door that we all love. He couldn’t hurt a fly, let alone seven evil exes! Well, that first guy had it coming for a looong time. I wanted to destroy him myself.

The Usual Suspects

SHE: I could just go on and on about this movie, so I’ll try to limit it. The twist at the end is famous. If you haven’t seen it, you’ve probably heard about it. I was lucky enough to have seen it with with my momma in theaters. I was fourteen, and this was my first R-rated in-theater movie, so it was awesome. When the movie ended, I’m pretty sure every single person in the audience was sitting there, jaws dropped, astounded. Seriously, if you DON’T know what the twist is, and you haven’t seen it; Go watch this movie right now. NOW DAMMIT!

 This movie was full of firsts for me apparently. It was the movie that first introduced me to Kevin Spacey, yet my love for him didn’t develop until American Beauty some years later. He’s so smooth, but not in a sweet talking kind of a way. He is just so believable. Ah, that doesn’t sound quite right. He’s the kind of actor to get under your skin, every scene is delicious; feeding you. Yet you never think that while watching him. It’s only afterwards that the WOW kicks in. Egads, man. This brings me to another point.

Why hasn’t he done more movies that people talk about? It seems that he is known for The Usual Suspects, American Beauty, portraying Lex Luthor, Se7en and a few other things I haven’t seen that are from more than ten years ago. What happened to this guy? Where did he go? The only thing recently that I loved was just his VOICE in Moon! I need to force Cody to watch Beyond the Sea. Enough people have told him that it sucks, and so he refuses to watch it. We’ll see….

Back to the movie. Shit this one is great. Even knowing the twist, it’s still completely enjoyable, even after all these years. It’s like going to see an old friend that you caught in a massive lie back in high school but you still love them anyway. You look forward to your reunion, and introducing them to your current freinds. You really hope that your current frinds will be tricked by the same lie that got you so many years ago, and that they too will love him for it.

PS: My dog is named Kaizer, and I get endless amounts of joy when people call him “Keyser Söze!”

HE: This is my first time seeing this movie. I guess I never really cared about seeing it because everyone hyped it up as this movie with an amazing twist, and I had the ending spoiled for me like 10 years ago. Who spoiled it? Fucking Scary Movie. Goddamnit. So I had a pretty hard time paying attention to the beginning of the movie because I was so distracted by the fact that I knew the ending. However, I was eventually pulled into the plot and I found myself comfortable vested in the story.

I really enjoyed the cast. Kevin Spacey seemed pretty weak, acting wise, which is rare. I didn’t really buy his cripple impression, which I guess is kind of the point. Benecio Del Toro was hilariously good though. Too bad he wasn’t in it to win it. Gabriel Byrne was whatever. It was interesting to see Kevin Pollak in a role like this. Too bad he went the route of shitty comedies. Of course, we can’t forget Stephen Baldwin. He was in this movie too.

At some level, I think knowing the spoiler ahead of time actually increased the amount of joy I got out of the ending. I had pictured in my head all these years, this really slick reveal of the twist. I kept awaiting the moment. This moment of “GASP, I JUST GOT FUCKED IN THE BRAIN BY A MOVIE.” The reality is, the twist is revealed in a pretty unsatisfying way. I didn’t like the slow reveal. What I had pictured in my mind for 10 years was very different. Give us the instant “OH MY GOD” moment, and then start explaining the twist; not the other way around.

But like I said, despite knowing one of the biggest spoilers in film history, I still ended up enjoying the movie. I can only imagine how much more I would have liked it if Scary Movie had never been made. Hell, the world would probably be a much nicer place and maybe the Wayans would be running a soup kitchen instead of whatever it is they’re doing now. Probably making a movie about a hilarious soup kitchen. Goddamit.

The Social Network

HE: When I first heard about the Social Network back in 2008, I laughed at the idea. “A Facebook movie? Sounds interesting.” The sarcasm in my voice was palpable. Why would anyone want to watch a movie about Facebook? I found out later that my approach to the idea was all wrong. It wasn’t a movie about using Facebook; it was a movie about Facebook. Then David Fincher came along and it all made sense. Wait, no it didn’t. That just confused me more. Then I saw the trailer, and I got it.

I couldn’t have even imagined how this movie would have turned out, but I’m glad to see that it turned out very well; better than I would have ever thought. The film is constantly interesting, and after two hours, I wasn’t ready for it to end. There was probably some embellishment in the writing, I’m sure, but it wasn’t enough for me to ever question the legitimacy of what I was seeing. Jesse Eisenberg, someone whose career I’ve been secretly following since 2002’s Roger Dodger, is a wonderful asshole. Who knew? He’s hopefully doing what Michael Cera was never able to do, and breaking out of his mold of mediocrity. I enjoyed him in both of his ‘land’ movies, but it’s nice to see that he’s doing something different, and doing it well.

Only David Fincher could have turned this into a winning formula. His style is so blunt and dark, and not in an annoying way. He makes every minute intense, and it’s a movie about goddamn Facebook. The use of Trent Reznor and his amazing score has to be mentioned as well. It blended with the movie perfectly, and the only times I ever picked up on it, I was glad I did. 10 years ago, if you had told me that Trent Reznor was going to do the music for a movie about a website that wasn’t about people being murdered, I would have slapped you in the face.

I think my only hangup with the film itself is that the ending was kind of abrupt. I enjoyed the movie so thoroughly, that I think I expected it to have some sort of amazing ending. It didn’t need one though, and in hindsight, I’m glad it ended the way it did. Also, I almost crapped my pants when I recognized the little boy from Jurassic Park. I don’t like crapping my pants, so I’m glad I didn’t. But in the end, I’m really glad this movie was made. With the amount of hours I’ve spent on Facebook, I’m nice to know that Mark Zuckerberg is kind of an asshole.

(Note to Mark Zuckerberg: Please give me one million dollars)

SHE: I’m not sure what to say about this movie. Really profound movies are hard to write about in a way. What should I say? That the storyline was amazing; the characters and dialogue well written? This film is based off of reality. I don’t know exactly how much of it is really truthful, although I’m going to assume that it’s pretty much spot on. The only person that could argue is Mark Zuckerberg, and I seriously doubt he reads this site (fingers crossed, oh my god, read this site. Read this site and like it.)

Oscars are coming up, and at first I was wondering why this movie was nominated for best picture. Don’t send a lynch mob after me, I’m just used to the monumental emotional cinematic rollercoasters of oscar winners of the past like Titanic or Dances With Wolves (dating myself). This movie while extremely worthy, is unlike most movies that have come before it. It is so good, and not in a “blew my socks off” kind of a way like Black Swan. It’s very real. While watching it, you forgot that you were watching a movie at all. Its not Hollywood.

Alright, The Social Network is a movie that makes my world even smaller. I appreciate that which I sort of took for granted these days: Status updates, event invitations, check in’s, tagging a picture. My own father (who lives thousands of miles away from me) doesn’t have a facebook and I give him shit for it. Something that is so engrained in our lives came from an idea. An idea sprouted from one man. One man who probably has fuckloads of facebook friends, or perhaps none at all. Who knows. I wonder what he really thinks of this movie. Maybe if I’m lucky he’ll blog about it.

Okay, time for me to go check my newsfeed. Oh! I have a messege and two notifications!