Hats Off To You, Ben Affleck!

You remember Good Will Hunting: Best Original Screenplay that catapulted then 24-year-olds Matt Damon and Ben Affleck to instant celebrity? You remember the movies Matt Damon went on to star in: Saving Private Ryan, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Departed, Ocean's 11/12/13, Invictus, and the Bourne trilogy? And you remember the movies Ben Affleck went on to star in: Forces of Nature, Pearl Harbor, Daredevil, Jersey Girl, and (gasp!) Gigli? No? Doesn't ring a bell? Probably because you either A) were wise enough to prefer a root canal over anything with Affleck's name attached to it or B) flirted with the idea of asking Regal Cinemas for your money back and then promptly forgot about the movie entirely in that same train of thought. I fell into category "B".

Apparently Ben himself wishes he could turn back time. According to an entertainment magazine, "I was definitely frustrated and wanted to withdraw from a part of my life that I was starting to hate," he says. "I was caught in that intersection of celebrity and tabloid culture, and it was beginning to upstage the movies I was trying to do." Remember "Bennifer" (Affleck's high-profile relationship with his Gigli costar Jennifer Lopez)? Shudder.

Then in 2007, Affleck decided to get behind the camera rather than in front of it with Gone Baby Gone, a haunting adaptation of Dennis Lehane's South Boston-set novel. The movie received terrific reviews, gave Ben's little brother Casey his first major leading role, and drew an Oscar nom for Amy Ryan. Not too shabby. Looked like Ben was onto something. Little did we know that three years later, his childhood hometown would be the key player in yet another Affleck-directed movie.

Curtain up on Act 2 - The Town. My friend Tiffany lives in Charlestown, the backdrop for the film, and after seeing this movie, I am in fear for her life. Ok, that might be a bit dramatic but according the statistic shown in the beginning of the film, Charlestown is infamous for producing more bank and armored-car robbers in one square mile than anywhere else in the U.S. Dear Lord. Tiffany, please buy Mace.

In The Town, Affleck (who also co-wrote the screenplay, based on Chuck Hogan's 2004 novel, Prince of Thieves), plays Doug, the ambivalent leader of a practiced heist ring, who falls in love with Claire (Rebecca Hall), a bank manager who is briefly held hostage during one of the group's robberies. I won't give anything away here, but it's definitely not your typical heist flick. Not only does The Town have a delicious supporting cast including Mad Men's Jon Hamm as an FBI agent, The Hurt Locker's Jeremy Renner as Doug's volatile ex-con buddy, and Gossip Girl's Blake Lively as Doug's drug-dealing ex-girlfriend but Affleck also studded the cast with real-life working class locals and ex-cons with thick Beantown accents. Though I'm not quick to say the movie's the best heist film I've ever seen (that title goes to Michael Mann's 1995 film Heat), it is a triumphant comeback for Affleck and a chance for him to pull out the big guns - literally.

Welcome back, Ben! Hats off to you! You may be a late bloomer but I'm sure glad you are finally showing your true colors. Now stay put behind that camera. Yours truly, Amateur Critic.

NEW: I'm adding trailers at the bottom of my reviews... starting now.

Trailer for The Town

Feeling Like A Barrymore

For any city-dweller, there are days when you simply loathe living in the city. Here in Los Angeles, it's any day you sit in traffic (read: every. single. day.) and when you are forced to deal with the crazies (my trendsetting - that's questionable - hippie-vegan neighbors). Then there are some days when you can't imagine living anywhere else. Here in La-La Land, today is that particular day.

A dear friend of mine, who happens to be an Ellen Show staff member on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank (damn straight I'm bragging!), invited me to attend a private screening of Going the Distance (the movie doesn't hit theatres until Sept. 3). The film was screened in WB's theatre, an elegant cinematic space centrally positioned on the expansive lot. Only WB employees were invited to the screening so I felt so Hollywood! with my guest pass. I was even asked to "flash my pass" at the security gate before entering the lot. After smiling coyly and wishing the security guard a good day, I walked away thinking, "I'm so made for this!"

Going the Distance, starring real life on-again-off-again couple Drew Barrymore and Justin Long, follows Garrett (Long) and Erin (Barrymore), a couple who try to sustain a relationship 3,000 miles apart (she's in San Francisco, he's in New York). They meet when Erin is in NYC for the summer working as an intern for a New York newspaper. When Erin returns to San Fran at the end of the summer, they agree to a long distance relationship. What follows is a romantic comedy that tries very hard not to conform to a standard rom-com formula.

In a hopeful attempt to amuse any male audience member, Going the Distance is bursting at the seams with f-bombs, s-e-x scenes, and vulgar supporting characters (all of whom I actually adore... in other films), and Barrymore's typical sugary sweet-tomboy act (i.e. "I'm totally okay that your roommate listens to us having dirty fun time through the paper-thin walls."). Personally, I prefer Barrymore with costars she hasn't dated in real life (i.e. Adam Sandler and Jimmy Fallon). The chemistry between fictional Garrett and Erin is much too similar to the probable chemistry between Long and Barrymore. It's like watching their relationship play out on the big screen. To be fair, there are a couple of scenes and one-liners (shout outs go to Christina Applegate as Erin's overly protective sister and Charlie Day from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia who plays Garrett's roommate) that spark a collective laugh from the audience, but for the most part the film is predictable fun. It's entertaining but forgettable.

Movie aside, my VIP experience on the WB lot rocked! After the movie, I accompanied my friend back to her personal office (yeah... she's kind of a big deal, not gonna lie) for a quick tour of the Ellen Show offices (squeal!). If it wasn't forbidden to take photos, I absolutely would have clicked away! I mean, these offices house Emmy-winning writers for crying out loud!! I was awestruck to say the least. I looooove having friends in high places!

It's days like today that remind me why I love living in LA.

La Dolce Vita

Julia Robert's character, Elizabeth Gilbert, may have titled her 2006 memoir, Eat, Pray, Love but if I was Gilbert I'd have named my memoir Eat, Eat, Eat as I would've never left Italy (then again if I could suffer through India knowing I'd have Javier Bardem waiting for me in Indonesia I might not have a choice). The cucina italiana - that's right, I have Italian roots so I can pretend to know the romance language and not admit that I used Google Translator - is reason enough to stay. The pasta! The pizza! The gelato! The vino! I salivate daily watching Giada De Laurentiis cook her beloved Italian dishes on the Food Network let alone watching Julia Roberts consume an entire pizza margherita in one sitting. I knew I always liked her! However, when I read that she ONLY gained seven pounds during filming in Italy, my immediate reaction was, "Liar!" Seriously, I've been to Italy. She's lying. Trust me.

I digress. Let's talk about the movie shall we? Gilbert said it best when asked her thoughts on the film adaptation of her bestselling novel, "It was my book, but it's Julia's movie." I couldn't have said it better myself. Since Liz Gilbert appears in every scene of the movie, Ryan Murphy, director of EPL and co-creator of the hit TV show Glee, had to cast an actress who could enrapture the audience throughout the 2 hours and 30 minutes. Who better than Julia Roberts? In the words of Murphy, "To be quite honest, the reason I did it is because I wanted to work with Julia... I call her Lady Julia."

We swoon and we cheer for her during her journey of self-discovery. It's a journey of finding balance in her life. The fascinating people she befriends along the way (including characters played by James Franco, Richard Jenkins, and Javier Bardem) are her compass and her teachers, guiding her and imparting indelible life lessons and pearls of wisdom including la dolcezza di non fare niente, the sweetness of doing nothing. An Italian gentleman teaches that it's generally an American belief to feel we can only relax when we've earned the right to do so. Italians apparently don't share this same sentiment, rather, fully (and often!) relishing in the enjoyment of life (hence the copious amounts of wine!).

Billy Crudup plays Steven, Gilbert's ex-husband. The scenes that Roberts and Crudup share are some of the more emotionally raw in the movie. While reading the novel a few years back, I remember feeling that, during the demise of their marriage, Gilbert was a tad unfair to Steven, suddenly declaring that she was unhappy and wanted out. If I was Steven I would've thought, "Wow, thanks for the heads up!" But since I wasn't a witness to their marriage I have to assume that Gilbert's plea for divorce is for the best. During her darkest moment, she desperately cries out for help from the floor of her bathroom and it moved me to tears. During that scene in the film I thought, "Don't worry, Julia! Soon you'll be stuffing your face with pasta and all your worries will be eased with chianti!" Not to mention in real life, Gilbert ends up married to Felipe (Bardem), the Brazilian-born man of Australian citizenship who'd been living in Indonesia when they met. In her latest book, Committed, Gilbert frankly examines through historical research, interviews, and personal reflection what the institution of marriage is all about.

When I heard EPL was being adapted for film, I was curious to see how a book consisting mainly of internal thoughts from the author would be made visible on the big screen (also, can they make the part about India more interesting? With the exception of Richard from Texas, I became bored with Gilbert's repeated attempts to meditate properly). I needn't have worried. The movie was just as enriching if not more so than Gilbert's memoir. Bottom line, Gilbert's story could be anyone's journey of self-discovery: a mom, an aunt, a sister, a friend, a neighbor... yourself. "From ruin comes reconstruction" is a poignant line in the movie that applies not just to the Roman ruins but to the human soul.

Just for Fun: STA Travel has travel packages inspired by Eat, Pray, Love. Click here for your chance to win a trip to Italy, India, and Bali!

The Kids Are More Than All Right

The Kids are, in fact, a refreshing story about a family and a marriage (and I'm not even talking about gay marriage since the movie isn't trying to be an advocate for same-sex unions). The Kids Are All Right directed by Lisa Cholodenko simply wants to tell a story about a family. This family may be unconventional - the mother/father roles are lesbian couple Nic and Jules (Annette Bening and Julianne Moore, respectively) and their teenage children (Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson) are actually products of a sperm donor (Mark Ruffalo) - but they are real.

Before Paul (Ruffalo) enters their lives and upsets the fruit basket, Nic, an overprotective and overbearing doctor, her partner Jules, an earthy and free-spirited "landscape designer," and their kids are one big happy family who act like, well, a family. Rather than abusive parenting and teenage angst (I heart you John Hughes films but only because that's not my reality!) we are given conversations about the importance of writing thank you notes in a timely fashion (if my mother sees this film she will nod her head vigorously in agreement) and moving a college-bound daughter into her new dorm (does she need extra bedding? and make sure she has a desk lamp!). This is what happens after couples say "I do." The credits don't roll because it's not the end of the story. It's just the beginning. It's the happily-ever-after roller coaster of life; an adventure of building a home together through life's bumpy ups and downs and sharp right turns that catch you off guard. Enter Mark Ruffalo.

Oh, if only those teens didn't care about finding their sperm donor dad. Haven't they ever heard of curiosity killed the cat? While Ruffalo is down-to-earth in a sexy "I dropped out of college because I wanted to do rather than learn" kind of way and the kids totally take to him right off the bat, he of course causes the tension that moves the plot along. When the kids introduce Paul to their moms, Nic is hesitant about their new relationship while Jules agrees to landscape his backyard. As Jules and the kids grow closer to Paul, Nic finds herself becoming more and more isolated from the family unit she nurtured and carefully cultivated for so long.

The Kids Are All Right is not only supported by brilliant acting turns from Bening, Moore, and Ruffalo, it also plays with the full spectrum of human emotion from funny (very!) to awkward to concerning to tearful and finally to comforting. It's a winning portrayal of family life at its best and worst, with its successes and failures, and most importantly, its unconditional love for the people who know you better than anyone else.

Dream A Little Dream

It's a shame I wasn't asked to contribute my dreams to the new Christopher Nolan movie, Inception. I didn't see Leo walking through his high school hallways butt-naked and anxiously wondering when his classmates will notice that he's not wearing any clothes. And Ellen Page certainly didn't experience how unbelievably frustrating it is when, no matter how hard you try, you just can't seem to open your eyes. And Joseph Gordon-Levitt, in his zero-gravity hotel room, doesn't know what it feels like when your bed suddenly flips over, sending you hurtling through the earth at 100 mph. And I won't even mention the dream where all my teeth fall out. What's that about??

Apparently my dreams are tame (and lame!) compared to the crazy nightmares in Inception. Somewhere between the suspenseful action sequences you'd find in a James Bond film and the sci-fi fantastical imaginings you'd see in The Matrix, lies Inception, a film about dreams. More specifically, dream snatchers. Leonardo DiCaprio (put his name up on the marquee and watch Angelenos practically drool) is Dom Cobb, an industrial spy who steals secrets when his victims are asleep and dreaming. Dom and his team of specialists, including a right-hand man (Gordon-Levitt) and an architect (Page) have developed technology to actually enter the victim's dream. Once on the premises, they can steal secrets. Dom has an even rarer ability, that of inception. He can plant an idea in someone's sleeping mind and watch it grow and take root in reality. This specialty captures the attention of a tycoon (Ken Watanabe) who hires Dom and his team to undo a business rival (Cillian Murphy).

The movie plays to your head and heart as you are constantly trying to keep up with the techniques and lingo being thrown at you - best to believe whatever they tell you and refrain from ordering a large Diet Coke as you don't want to risk a bathroom run while Leo is explaining what "somnacin" is - while feeling for Dom as he struggles with the grief and guilt of his wife's (Marion Cotillard, a beautifully cruel and tender portrayal of a woman who disrupts Dom's dreams and reality) suicide and his long absence from his children. Like Momento before it, director Nolan gets a kick out of audiences who desperately try to put the pieces of the puzzle together for two hours only to have the entire film culminate in the last ten minutes. Gotta love the "ah-ha" moment when you realize that a second viewing of this film might be necessary.

With a string of mostly disappointing summer movies, Inception is a popcorn blockbuster - not amazing but definitely fascinating and entertaining. Escape the heat and get ready for a total mind-trip that rides on a haunting Hans Zimmer score.

Just for Fun: Check out this Up and Inception trailer mash-up.

Toys...Not Just For Tots

Toy Story 3 is, without a doubt, the BEST installment of the franchise!  See it and I beg you to disagree with me.  Its animated, clever, and downright funny action-adventure story line makes you wish you didn't sell your Barbies at that neighborhood garage sale when you were thirteen, claiming you were too "old" for Mattel products.  Oh, and did I mention that Michael Keaton voices the Ken doll with the fabulous dream house outfitted with a closet that would make Carrie Bradshaw green with envy??  In fact, Michael Keaton was the selling point to getting my husband to agree that he wasn't too "old" for Woody & Co. (Sidenote: my husband has a slight obsession with MK.  Just say Mr. Mom or Multiplicity and watch his face light up like a kid in a candy store!)

11 years.  That's how long we've had to wait for the third movie.  Toy Story 2 came out in 1999 (Toy Story hit theatres in 1995.  Box office sales for both films? $850 million globally!) which means I was in eighth grade.  Eighth Grade!!  I'm now 25 and married!  So why did the third movie take so long to get off the ground?  According to articles I've read, it's a long and complicated story but you can point fingers at former Disney CEO, Michael Eisner, and the contractual tensions between Disney and Pixar.  After Eisner left Disney in 2005, Disney wound up buying Pixar under new CEO Bob Iger who appointed John Lasseter, the creative heart and soul of Pixar and the director of the first two films, to help run both studios' animated divisions which meant that Toy Story 3 was back in business.

In Toy Story 3, Andy is all grown up and going to college.  Andy (voiced by John Morris) is the owner of the beloved toys including Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), Jessie (Joan Cusack), Mr. Potato Head (Don Rickles), Rex (Wallace Shawn), Hamm (John Ratzenberger), Slinky Dog (Blake Clark), and Barbie (Jodi Benson, who also voiced Ariel in The Little Mermaid).  Andy's decision to put his childhood friends in the attic or donate them to Sunnyside Day Care is a pretty tough decision for every child making the transition to young adulthood.  How long should one hold onto that childlike innocence?  When are toys from your past no longer needed in your future?  And what do your toys do when they think you've outlived their affections?  For Woody and the gang, they get ready to embrace day-care life until they begin to comprehend that Sunnyside is more of a dictatorship than a democracy, run by cold-hearted Lots-o'-Huggin Bear, the Southern-accented, strawberry-scented leader of the day-care toys.  Now it's up to the Gang to bust out of day-care and get back to Andy before he leaves for college.  Richard Kind, Teddy Newton, Whoopi Goldberg, and Timothy Dalton, along with Keaton, voice new Sunnyside toys who partake in all the fun-packed (and emotional!) action.

Those of us who have grown up with the Disney/Pixar franchise have matured with Andy.  At some point we all threw our toys into the dusty chest in the corner to make room for more adult toys like cars, cell phones, and computers.  For me, it was my stuffed animals.  Feeling too guilty to give them up, my three favorite bears still sit on a chair in my childhood bedroom at my parent's house.  Someday, these lovable bears will bring joy to my son or daughter just like they brought me joy all those years ago.

And now that I know of the horrors toys face at day-care, donating them is entirely out of the question.

Sex and the Sand Dunes

Last week, thousands of women slipped into their six-inch Manolos, grabbed their Vuittons, and met the girls for a cosmopolitan before heading to the theatre in groups of four to see the much-anticipated sequel to the first Sex and the City blockbuster.  As for me (and yes I'm going to brag about this), I happened to be in Las Vegas for Memorial Weekend and saw SATC2 in true Vegas VIP style - in a private screening room that resembled a home theatre complete with large, cozy reclining chairs and the kind of leg room that makes you wish your legs were six inches longer just to take advantage of all that extra space!  Oh yeah, and I even got to munch on bottomless popcorn.  For an amateur critic, there was nothing amateur about this movie-going experience.

The movie, which takes the gals out of their beloved NYC and places them in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (another city synonymous with extravagant spending), was all kinds of couture cheesy but what else were you expecting?  Note to SATC fans: PLEASE don't see this movie if you have difficulty getting past the fact that the fab four don't always bend to Middle Eastern culture and gender roles.  For crying out loud people, it's Sex and the City for heaven's sake!  If the ladies weren't dripping in couture while riding camels, I would have been sorely disappointed.  As writer-director Michael Patrick King brilliantly puts it, "It was 110 degrees and they're out there in their Hermes and Chanel.  I mean it's crazy!  And it should be.  This movie never stops being big."

Carrie, Charlotte, Miranda, Samantha, and... Liza?  Yes, Liza Minnelli guest stars in the sequel as the officiant of Stanford and Anthony's nuptials and even performs her own rendition of Beyonce's "Single Ladies."  Penelope Cruz, Miley Cyrus, and Tim Gunn also have cameos.  And then of course there's Aidan.  If the producers were intent on making this movie bigger than Big, they sure pulled out all the stops!

SATC2 picks up two years after Carrie and Big (finally!) tied the knot.  Carrie's (Sarah Jessica Parker) about to publish her fourth book and ponders what it means to be a married woman.  Charlotte (Kristin Davis) is struggling with the challenge of raising two young children (and then there's the braless-brogue speaking nanny...), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) is dealing with a new boss from hell, and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) is fighting the onset of menopause.  Each woman, in her own way, is resisting traditionally defined roles.  In the words of Cattrall, "To transport these emancipated new-millennium women to a world that has not changed, in a lot of ways, since biblical times was a fascinating idea... Using that kind of tension to comedic effect was very clever."

And just like Miranda's character was in this film (refreshing!) so too was the idea to put a movie about a lavish, exotic, five-star vacation on the big screen in the middle of a recession.  Hasn't escapism been the main draw of cinema throughout the generations?  I mean, who wants to see Carrie & Co. wearing polos from Target and shopping in thrift stores?  Boring!!

Sure SATC2 may not be as popular among the legions of extremely loyal female fans as the first movie, but I guarantee that you'll leave last season's Havaianas at the door in favor of this season's more fashionable Jimmy Choo's.

Ruling with an Iron Fist

I wouldn’t allow my husband to see Iron Man 2 without seeing the first Iron Man (and without giving him grief that he might have been the only human being on the planet who didn’t see Iron Man when hit theatres two summers ago).  After he had Iron Man under his belt, it was off to the big screen to see its much anticipated sequel.

Robert Downey Jr. aside (the aviator sunglasses! the swagger! the neckties! that head of hair that rivals McDreamy!), I will admit that this particular Marvel Comics installment is quickly becoming a favorite of mine (move over Spiderman!).  Of course there’s the action sequences (Scarlett Johansson, can I be you for a day?) and the voice-activated technology in Stark’s lair that I’m pretty certain won’t exist in the real world until the late 22^nd century.  But what puts Tony Stark a notch above the ever so humble Peter Parker and Bruce Wayne is his penchant for narcissism. 

Stark’s self-absorption is comical and even endearing.  Leave it to Downey Jr. to make an egotistical playboy and conceited billionaire someone I’d root for.  If you thought Stark was vain in the first Iron Man, he’s even more so in the second, having single-handedly achieved world peace.  However, it’s just a matter of time before Tony is served a rather large, welcomed ego check from two credible villains: the fast-talking weapons manufacturer, Justin Hammer, played brilliantly by Sam Rockwell and his partner in crime, Ivan Vanko, a nasty Russian villain played by badass Mickey Rourke.

When Stark reluctantly agrees to let down his armor (literally and figuratively), he is joined by an elite and super-secret espionage agency called S.H.I.E.L.D. led by Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury and his assistant, Black Widow, played by Johansson.  Together they bring down the bad guys and leave the film open-ended for Iron Man 3.

Where Iron Man was short on comic book hero fight scenes and long on backstory, Iron Man 2 picks up the slack and delivers blow by blow that holds your attention and leaves you never wanting to meet Mickey Rourke in a dark alley.

A Balcony Dweller's Inspiration

How sugary-sweet is Letters to Juliet?  So dolce in fact that I'm surprised I didn't get a toothache by the movie's (ridiculously predictable) end!  People Magazine called Letters to Juliet a "cinematic wish-fulfillment fantasy composed as a sonnet" and I have to agree.  However, this romantic modern day fairy-tale's over-the-top moments is precisely what makes this movie so delizioso.

Letters to Juliet is based on the book Letters to Juliet: Celebrating Shakespeare's Greatest Heroine, the Magical City of Verona, and the Power of Love.  More interestingly, Juliet Capulet, of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, is responding to love letters from the grave!  More accurately, her secretaries are.  That's right.  For more than 70 years, a group of about 15 "secretaries," the Club di Giulietta, all volunteers from Verona, have collected the notes from the wall at Juliet's house and the letters that arrive in the mail by the thousands, and then they write back, dividing the letters up according to their languages and romantic problems.  The letters contain requests for everything from matchmaking help to kissing tips to advice on how to mend a broken heart.

Amanda Seyfried (Mamma Mia, Dear John) is Sophie, a fact-checker for The New Yorker and a hopeless romantic who travels to Verona with her wildly clueless chef fiance played by Gael Garcia Bernal (whom, even though Sophie and her quest take a backseat to his business, I have trouble disliking as he spends the entire movie doing nothing but sampling exquisite Italy vino and eating pasta and cheese), stumbles upon the secretaries to Juliet, and decides to answer a 50-year-old letter she finds. Enter Vanessa Redgrave (her first film since the death of her daughter Natasha Richardson a year ago) who shows up as the letter writer accompanied by her snooty yet charming grandson played by Australian cutie Christopher Egan.  They set out along the dazzling back roads of Tuscany to find Lorenzo, her Italian long-lost love from half a century earlier.

SPOILER ALERT! In the end, Redgrave's character finds her Lorenzo (played by real-life hubby Franco Nero) and they get married, Sophie finds true love with not-so snooty and perfectly charming grandson, and her story gets published in The New Yorker on her first try.  An endearing trifecta for a happily-ever-after!

If you, dear reader, are like myself in that you are a hopeful romantic with a slight obsession for the beautifully tragic story of two star-crossed lovers and are easily seduced by mass-appeal love stories then you will undoubtedly shed a few tears.  Whether, later, you will admit it to your friends is up to you.

Regardless, you will want to book a flight to Verona ASAP!

A Hot Tub and A Rabbit Hole

Last week I was hurtled backwards in time to 1986 via a hot tub where I shamelessly crimped my hair, wore scrunchies, and listened to cassette tapes on a Walkman.  Today, time stood still when I fell down a rabbit hole and learned that I was late for a very important date to battle a Jabberwocky. Curiouser and curiouser, I dare say!  

Ok, so maybe that didn't happen to me, but I did witness both methods of time travel in Hot Tub Time Machine and Alice in Wonderland.  I also noticed that these two seemingly uncommon movies actually have three things very much in common: Both have time travel portals that are just a little bit left of center (a hot tub and a rabbit hole, respectively), both star Crispin Glover (an actor who is quite practiced in the art of time travel, see Back to the Future), and both time traveling main characters have wacky sidekicks (a foul-mouthed, suicidal, alcoholic funnyman and a lovable, Bozo-esque, gap-toothed, Mad Hatter, respectively).

Hot Tub Time Machine.  This hilariously, crude movie is pretty much summed up in the title but here's a brief synopsis: Three long-lost best buddies (plus one cousin) reunite after a near fatal accident and decide to take a trip to a mountain ski resort to relive their 80's heydays. After a night of heavy drinking in a hot tub, they wake up the next morning, and to their hung-over shock and amazement, find themselves in 1986.  Hilarity ensues as they attempt to get back to 2010.  Notable 80's pop icons make cameos throughout the film such as Ronald Reagan, Michael Jackson, Poison, ALF, JanSport, leg warmers, and Kid 'N Play hairstyles.

Alice in Wonderland.  Do I even need to outline a synopsis?  Who hasn't seen Disney's take on Lewis Carroll's classic novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, or read the sequel, Through the Looking-Glass?  Even if you haven't (gasp!), you've at least heard the adventurous tale about the young English girl who falls into a rabbit hole and is met by peculiar creatures such as a consistently less-than-punctual white rabbit, a hookah-smoking caterpillar, a sassy, toothy Cheshire cat, two rotund, suspender-wearing, identical teenage boys, a cooky, tea party-loving Mad Hatter, and of course, Her Royal Ugliness, the Queen of Hearts.  In 1951, Disney gave us a colorful and cutesy 2-D, animated Alice and Co.  In 2010, they decided to bring Alice and her adventures in Wonderland back to life in 3-D, only this time the Mouse House wanted to tell a sinister, grittier version of Carroll's classic, so, naturally, they deferred to dark and twisty director Tim Burton (The Nightmare Before Christmas) to tell his side of the story.

In Burton's tale, Alice (Mia Wasikowska) returns to a nightmarish "Underland" as a 19-year-old where she reunites with her old friends including the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp, brilliant as always!) and learns that it's her destiny to end the Red Queen's (Helena Bonham Carter) reign of terror and to restore the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) to her rightful throne by slaying the terrifying dragon-like Jabberwocky (taken from Carroll's short poem, Jabberwocky).  Burton's Alice in Wonderland delights with a no-nonsense, head-strong heroine who encounters (for her second time) the magic, enchantment, and, oh alright I'll say it, wonder of a land that is just beyond the possible impossibilities of her wildest dreams and gravest nightmares and tickles the childlike imagination of the audience.

Here are some of my favorite time traveling flicks: Back to the Future, Big, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Groundhog Day, Kate & Leopold, and 13 Going on 30.

Audiences love a good time travel story and Hollywood is more than happy to serve them up!  Let's face it, who, given the chance, wouldn't want to travel either back in time or forward into the future?  Who wouldn't want to be given the opportunity to alter an event in the past to change the outcome of one's future?  I think it's safe to say that while your life achievements and disappointments, past or present, shape you into the individual you are today and the one you will become tomorrow, everyone, at some point or another, would like at least one "do-over" in their lifetime.  Wouldn't you agree?  That's why time travel is such a winning (and moneymaking!) story for all ages.

You gotta admit, time travel is a pretty cool concept, or as Marty McFly would say, "Sounds pretty heavy."

David v. Goliath

My apologies to any avid readers of my blog (read: myself).  It's been over a week since I've written to you regarding the Academy Awards.  Honestly, for the past week I've been debating whether or not I should even honor the awards show by writing a review.  I've come to the conclusion that my Oscar-season posts deserve some sort of closure; I just needed time to stop feeling sorry for the viewing public - myself included - who wasted 5 hours of their precious Sunday evening watching an awards show that was, to put it nicely, one huge yawn.

Surprisingly, the 82nd Academy Awards was the highest-rated Oscars in five years, with 41.3 million viewers.  Maybe the five additional best picture nominee slots drew viewers or perhaps it was funnymen cohosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin (who, with the exception of their Paranormal Activity spoof and matching Snuggies, produced lackluster laughs).  Gone was Hugh Jackman and his highly entertaining old Hollywood song-and-dance numbers and in his place stood Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother) to open the ceremony with a poor man's version of the same routine (Harris scored delightfully as host of the Emmy and Tony Awards but fell short here).  Were ten Best Picture nominees and two comedians really enough to spike the ratings?

If you didn't see the Oscars here's what you missed.  Nothing.  Seriously, here's what you missed: A touching tribute to the late, great director John Hughes (The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Home Alone, etc.).  A strange salute to horror films.  Ben Stiller presenting in Avatar getup.  Farrah Fawcett's memorial montage snub.  Best Documentary Short producer, Elinor Burkett pulling a Kanye West to director Roger Ross Williams who won for Music by Prudence.  The first African-American, Geoffrey Fletcher (Precious), winning a statue for screenwriting.  The first woman, Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker), taking home the gold for Best Director.  The lowest-grossing film ever to be named Best Picture ($21 million worldwide) knocking the highest-grossing film of all time ($2.6 billion) to the ground.  YAWN.  

Ok, I guess the making of history will go down in the books, but I was still unimpressed.  Apparently, according to Entertainment Weekly magazine, so were the guests of honor themselves: "There were times during the ceremony when even some of the nominees seemed to be struggling to stay focused.  A number of them, especially the ones who had lost, spent the bulk of the evening at the bar in the theatre lobby, watching the show on the monitors. 'We're done,' Matt Damon told EW, laughing."  Well, Matt, I can't say that I blame you.  If I hadn't been foolish enough to give up alcohol for Lent, I would've spent my entire evening at the bar too, just as a way to keep myself entertained.

So why were the ratings up this year?  My guess?  The David and Goliath story of The Hurt Locker v. Avatar was probably why people tuned in to watch the 2010 Oscars.  The same reason they tuned in to watch in 1998 when the biggest blockbuster of the year, Titanic, won Best Picture.  The audience wanted to see history repeat itself.  And they were disappointed.  They paid $15 to put on a pair of 3D glasses and spend 3 hours on the moonscape of Pandora versus seeing yet another Iraq war drama and the special-effects extravaganza didn't even win Best Picture.  What gives??  My guess?  The new voting system for ten nominees.  In the past, when only five Best Picture nominees were slotted, Oscar voters had only one vote for their favorite film.  With ten nominees, voters numbered all contenders in order of preference.  From there, all first place choices were counted and if no picture earned 51% of the votes, the second choice is looked at, then the third, and so on until one film has earned 51%.  In other words, The Hurt Locker may not have been voters' first choice, however, it received 51% of the votes so it was named Best Picture.  I don't think it's pushing the envelope to say that the Academy's rule change was not universally favored by Academy voters or the viewing public.

Oscar producer, Adam Shankman, was quoted as saying, "I think everything just conspired to make a good evening of television."  I whole-heartily disagree with you, Mr. Shankman.  That was quite possibly the dullest, dreariest, mind-numbing, most predictable Academy Awards I have ever seen.  Yes, even more tiresome than the year Lord of the Rings made a clean sweep in 2003.

Congratulations are in order to my favorite wins: Up for Animated Feature and The Cove for Documentary Feature.  And I'll leave you with one final thought:  If I had a nickel for every time I saw a celebrity chewing gum on the red carpet pre-show, I would be a rich woman.  Just saying.

Dear Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Please do better next year.  Yours truly, Amateur Critic.

An Amateur's Oscar Picks

The best thing about turning 17 years old?  I was finally able to see R-rated films without parental supervision.  For most 16 going on 17 year olds, seeing R-rated films legally was like turning 21 and finally being able to drink... legally.  They had been blessed early on with the ability to purchase a ticket for Men in Black II and guiltlessly sneak into Gangs of New York.  I was not blessed with this ability.  Fear kept me from tagging along with the other brave souls of my age.  Not fear of getting caught and kicked out of the cinema but rather the all-consuming fear of total embarrassment when I had to explain to my friends just how my mother would end my life if she found out I saw Happy Gilmore without her knowledge.  And every spring, that fear would turn into unbearable, gut-wrenching pain on Oscar's biggest night... the Academy Awards.  

With the exception of 1992 when Beauty and the Beast was nominated for Best Picture (the first animated film to be nominated in a Best Picture category), most Best Picture nominees were R-rated films.  Since Oscar season is a season I look forward to with breathless anticipation (ok, it's not really a season but it should be... spring, summer, fall, winter, Oscar), not being "of age" to see the nominees I so desperately needed to see in order to properly fill out my ballot nearly killed me... until 2002 when I turned 17.

Since Academy Awards 20o2 when A Beautiful Mind took home the golden statue for Best Picture, I am proud to say that my Oscar predictions exceed my amateur critic status as I have been legally and loyally enjoying (or despising) every nominated film for the past (almost) decade.  

So without further ado, here are my 82nd Annual Academy Awards predictions:

BEST PICTURE

Avatar

*Avatar deserves this win, however, wouldn't it make for an entertaining awards night if a low-budget film like The Hurt Locker took home the Oscar in this category over the highest-grossing film of all time?  Indeed!

BEST ACTOR

Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)

BEST ACTRESS

Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Mo'Nique (Precious)

BEST DIRECTOR

Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)

*Even though I think James Cameron should win for his ground-breaking technology, my vote goes to Bigelow who picked up a Director's Guild award for her war drama in January and is the clear favorite to become the first female winner ever in this category!

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner (Up in the Air)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

The White Ribbon (Germany)

CINEMATOGRAPHY

The Hurt Locker

VISUAL EFFECTS

Avatar

SOUND MIXING

Avatar

SOUND EDITING

Avatar

*With the exception of last year, Sound Mixing and Sound Editing awards are usually given to the same recipient.

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

The New Tenants

*With its Tarantinoesque banter, I think it might have an edge over Kavi, a story about a boy born into slavery in modern India.

MAKEUP

Star Trek

FILM EDITING

The Hurt Locker

DOCUMENTARY SHORT

Music by Prudence

*A story about a disabled singer from Zimbabwe is a clear winner over other nominees such as The Last Truck, about a GM plant in Ohio.

ORIGINAL SONG

"The Weary Kind" (Theme from Crazy Heart), music and lyrics by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

ORIGINAL SCORE

Avatar, music by James Horner

*An apology to my sister for this one.  Allison, I know Ann Marie Calhoun, the violinist in the Sherlock Holmes score, is one of your artists but I think James Horner will take home the gold for this category since he took home the prize for Titanic, his last James Cameron collaboration.

COSTUME DESIGN

The Young Victoria

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

The Cove

*If The Cove moved Academy members like it moved me (I bought a "Save Japanese Dolphins" bracelet after seeing this doc!), then it's a sure winner.

ANIMATED FEATURE

Up

ANIMATED SHORT

A Matter of Loaf and Death

*Four-time winner Nick Park is a safe bet for his new Wallace & Gromit claymation.

ART DIRECTION

Avatar

Well, there you have it folks!  The Amateur Critic's picks for the 2010 Academy Awards!  So on Sunday, March 7, gather with friends and family, grab that glass of champagne to toast the winners (unless you're a moron who gave up alcohol for Lent like I did!), and tune in to watch Steve Martin & Alec Baldwin co-host the 82nd Annual Academy Awards on ABC at 5:00pm.

Dear John & Valentine's Day: Where did Cupid's Arrow Land?

Our two Valentine's weekend front-runners were Dear John starring Amanda Seyfried and Channing Tatum and Valentine's Day starring every actor in Hollywood.  Seriously, how can you compete?

Dear John, an adaptation of Nicholas Sparks's novel and the first film to overthrow the reigning Avatar, is a tearful story of boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl (in two weeks might I add!), boy leaves for war, many love letters ensue.  The love letters between John Tyree (Tatum) and Savannah Curtis (Seyfried) carry the plot.  What makes the plot convincing is the undeniable chemistry between Amanda and Channing.  For those who haven't seen Dear John, there's a flush-inducing, steamy nighttime barn scene that makes those two hours worthwhile!  I'm just saying...

Anyway, as an avid Nick Sparks reader, I was quite surprised how closely the film followed the events of his novel.  More often than not, as most of us romance novel readers can attest to, the novel rarely translates to film 100% accurately, resulting in inevitable disappointment.  Disappointment is how I felt after seeing Message in a Bottle and A Walk to Remember (I didn't dare give a dime to see Nights in Rodanthe, Sparks's worst novel, hands down).  I was pleasantly pleased with Dear John until the end.  The happily-ever-after ending may have been what the audience paid to see but definitely not what Sparks wrote, which in my opinion, was the more realistic ending, not to mention the more clever one.  Hollywood took liberties to give audiences what they want: A sappy Valentine's Day movie that ends predictably happy.

Valentine's Day, directed by the ever-so popular Garry Marshall (creator of classic TV show, Happy Days and the director of hit films, Pretty Woman and The Princess Diaries), is a two hour tribute to romance with a handful of intersecting (and at times, surprising!) story lines, some bittersweet and others downright hilarious!  

Recruiting Hollywood's most attractive and attractively humorous cast, probably wasn't too difficult for Garry Marshall seeing as how the majority have previously starred in his movies.  And it was an ingenious idea.  If it hadn't been for the A-list cast, would the box office numbers reflect the millions of love-stricken, shameless women who rushed to the theatre to indulge in a movie aimed at their demographic?  Hard to say.  I mean, let's face it, those who saw the trailer for the film knew not to expect much from the plot except for silly enjoy-ability.  Aha!  That's where we were all fooled!  For those lovelorn and hopeful romantics who were gullible enough to open their pocketbooks for this film, our low expectations gave way to high marks for a movie that made us laugh heartily and love even more deeply (and it didn't hurt that McSteamy Eric Dane appears shirtless or that the Marina del Rey Marriott, my wedding reception venue, had a cameo!)

So it looks like Cupid made his mark on both our Valentine's movies... and our hearts!

An Education on Life, Love, and the Pursuit of Happiness

When I was 16 years old, I was a sophomore at a Catholic high school in Orange County and my primary concern was remembering to look out for cross-walking pedestrians when making a right-hand turn so that I wouldn't fail my driving test (I still forget to look out for pedestrians from time to time - oops!).  My secondary concern was not-so patiently waiting for some immature, albeit cute, high school boy to ask me to my first high school Homecoming dance (which I later regretted as said immature high school boy ditched me the moment we stepped onto the dance floor).  And my last concern was how in the world I was going to pull an all-nighter to finish my religion project (my fault entirely as I was quite the procrastinator back in the day... unfortunately I still am).  None of my concerns included achieving high enough grades to be considered an applicant for Oxford University and they certainly didn't include wondering whether or not my father would allow me to accompany my 35 year old boyfriend on a trip to Paris.  However, that is exactly the two concerns of our heroine, Jenny (captivatingly played by Carey Mulligan) in An Education.

Jenny, a 16 year old schoolgirl in early-1960s suburban London, falls for a charming and mysterious older man (Peter Sarsgaard) and soon finds herself in over her head socially and emotionally.  Jenny is at a crossroad having to choose between her thirst for knowledge and her desire to be cultured.  Her two choices raise this question: What should be valued more? An education from textbooks and classroom lectures or an education from living life properly (in Jenny's case enriching her life with art, poetry, jazz music, traveling, and fine dining)?  When David Goldman (Sarsgaard) introduces her to this new world, Jenny has a decision to make: College or Culture?  

Which would you choose, dear reader, when both options are presented to you on a silver platter?  Would you choose the responsible, long-term investment of a school-bound education or would you choose the short-term gratification of fulfilling your passions?

In hindsight, having a college degree under my belt, I'm proud that I made the decision to seek out a higher education.  On the other hand, I graduated almost three years ago and I'm unemployed so a romantic weekend get-a-way to Paris and sipping champagne and munching caviar at a jazz nightclub doesn't sound so bad.  In fact, if I'm really honest, it sounds downright tasty and there's a good chance I'd give my left arm to be doing that right now!

It's Official!

It looks as though my predictions weren't far off.  For the most part, the actual nominees match my predictions in most cases and were surprising in others.

Here are the actual nominees for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards in the eight major categories (the nominees in italics are ones I did not predict):

BEST PICTURE

Avatar

The Blind Side

District 9

An Education

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Precious

A Serious Man

Up

Up in the Air

BEST ACTOR

Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)

George Clooney (Up in the Air)

Colin Firth (A Single Man)

Morgan Freeman (Invictus)

Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker)

BEST ACTRESS

Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side)

Helen Mirren (The Last Station)

Carey Mulligan (An Education)

Gabourey Sidibe (Precious)

Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Matt Damon (Invictus)

Woody Harrelson (The Messenger)

Christopher Plummer (The Last Station)

Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones)

Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Penelope Cruz (Nine)

Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air)

Maggie Gyllenhaal (Crazy Heart)

Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air)

Mo'Nique (Precious)

BEST DIRECTOR

James Cameron (Avatar)

Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)

Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)

Lee Daniels (Precious)

Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

District 9

An Education

In the Loop

Precious

Up in the Air

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

The Messenger

A Serious Man

Up

Watch the 82nd Annual Academy Awards live, Sunday March 7, and check back before then to see my predictions for the winners!

Oscar Nom Predictions

Below are my nominee predictions for the top eight categories for the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. 

(My predictions are based on previous Golden Globe, SAG, BFCA, etc. nominations and wins) 

And the Nominees Will Be...

BEST PICTURE

**This year there will be five additional Best Picture slots to fill.

Avatar

The Hurt Locker

Inglourious Basterds

Precious

Up in the Air

(if there were only five slots, my guess is the five films above would be nominated)

An Education

Invictus

The Messenger (or District 9, both films have cult followings)

A Serious Man

Up

BEST ACTOR

Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)

George Clooney (Up in the Air)

Colin Firth (A Single Man)

Morgan Freeman (Invictus)

Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) 

*The fifth slot could also go to Viggo Mortensen for The Road

BEST ACTRESS

Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side)

Carey Mulligan (An Education)

Gabourey Sidibe (Precious)

Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia)

Helen Mirren (The Last Station)

*The fifth slot could also go to Emily Blunt for The Young Victoria

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Matt Damon (Invictus)

Woody Harrelson (The Messenger)

Christopher Plummer (The Last Station)

Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones)

Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air)

Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air)

Mo'Nique (Precious)

Julianne Moore (A Single Man)

Samantha Morton (The Messenger)

*The fifth slot could also go to Penelope Cruz for Nine

BEST DIRECTOR

James Cameron (Avatar)

Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker)

Clint Eastwood (Invictus)

Jason Reitman (Up in the Air)

Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds)

*Outside contender is Precious's Lee Daniels

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

An Education (Nick Hornby)

Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach)

Precious (Geoffrey Fletcher)

Up in the Air (Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner)

District 9 (Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell)

*The fifth slot could also go to Nora Ephron for Julie & Julia or Tom Ford for A Single Man

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal)

Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino)

A Serious Man (Joel & Ethan Coen)

Up (Bob Peterson & Pete Docter)

(500) Days of Summer (Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber)

*The fifth slot could also go to Nancy Meyers for It's Complicated

Watch the Academy's President, Tom Sherak, announce the nominees live on ABC tomorrow, February 2nd, at 5:30AM PST.  I know I will!!

Good luck to all the contenders!!  May the best men (& women!) be nominated!!

Taking Back the "Football" Films

The Blind Side debuted on November 20, 2009.  I, however, am just getting around to seeing it (On Nov. 20, I decided that attending my wedding seemed infinitely more important than seeing a movie – GASP!).  So last Friday, the hubby and I had a date night at the movies and we agreed upon The Blind Side.  I’m so glad we did!  After seeing a string of depressing films recently (a sure sign that it’s Oscar season) with not-so happy endings, The Blind Side centers on a young man who is rescued from his sure-to-be unfortunate fate to become an All-American football player. 

Based on the true story, Michael Oher, homeless and traumatized, lives in the Memphis projects where most of the young men his age fall victim to gang shootings or drugs.  As a boy, Michael and his brother are removed from their home by child protection services due to their cocaine-addicted mother.  Shortly after a stroke of luck lands him at Wingate, an affluent “white” Christian high school, he meets the Tuohy’s, a well-to-do white family who change his life forever.  Sandra Bullock plays Leigh Anne Tuohy in an Oscar-winning performance.  Leigh Anne is a tough as nails, take no prisoners southern woman who takes Michael off the street – literally - and into her home.  Michael stays with the Tuohy’s and they become family, encouraging him in his studies and fine-tuning him to become one of the greatest left tackles in NFL history.

The term “blind side” is a football reference, actually, (I learn something new every day) that is credited to Lawrence Taylor's 1985 hit on Joe Theismann that created the shift in offensive football strategy where teams started to choose large players to fill the position of the left tackle and protect the "blind side" of right-handed quarterbacks.

I'll explain that further for the football challenged like myself (I had to ask my husband to verify this next bit): Let's say a quarterback makes a right-handed pass.  Since he is right-handed, the side in which he cannot see is naturally, his left.  That’s where the left tackle comes in.  It’s the paramount job of the left tackle to protect the quarterback’s left side, his blind side.  Michael learns to become a great left tackle by honing in on his best natural instinct, protecting those he loves.

The Blind Side, a wonderfully executed film, covers the full spectrum of human emotion, which, in turn, is what makes films similar to The Blind Side so successful – an unlikely hero with an ill-fated past who meets someone of significance who has the tools and the means to change the hero’s life forever.  And of course, results in a happy ending. 

Theatre Creme de la Creme

For my birthday, my husband treated me to a movie night at the ArcLight Theatre in Hollywood.  This was my first ArcLight experience.  What is the ArcLight you ask?  I'll let the ArcLight's website do the honors: 

"Designed to exceed THX standards of presentation excellence, ArcLight auditoriums begin with a 'black box' design aesthetic which favors undistracted viewing over opulence, and feature the best in sight and sound technology, allowing films to be presented as the filmmakers intend.  Auditorium comfort levels are unsurpassed.  All cinema chairs are 3 inches wider than current megaplex standards, with 6 inches more legroom.  Even the retractable armrests are 'double-wide.'"

(Note to potential ArcLight visitors: I agree with the "best in sight and sound technology" bit, but the chairs, though they may be wider, are not any more comfortable.  In fact, they aren't comfortable at all.  My tookus was quite numb after two hours of watching Crazy Heart).  

To avoid having to wait in long lines or the embarrassment of having to save seats for your mom, dad, sister, sister's boyfriend, and your annoying next-door neighbor who are across the street at Starbucks ordering lattes, the ArcLight also offers reserved seating and the convenience of printing your tickets at home or picking them up at the automated kiosks.

Entering the lobby of the ArcLight is like stepping through the doors of Grand Central Station with its giant ticking clock and digital board(ing) of movies and their respective showings.  The ticket counters resemble a concierge desk at a four-star hotel.  Once you've bought your ticket and secured your seat, you are invited to relax in their cafe bar before your movie.  Yes, you heard me right, their cafe bar.  So we did.  We sipped martinis and enjoyed fried ravioli bites, cheese quesadillas, and delicious warm bread pudding for dessert.  Not your average movie theatre.  

The actual cinemas, or "black box auditoriums," are located up the grand staircase.  Were we attending a movie or a live theatre performance?  The "special attraction" of the concessions are the ArcLight's signature caramel popcorn or regular popcorn with real butter - mmm!  The screens inside the auditoriums are extra wide and curved to maximize peripheral view and minimize projection distortion.  Before your feature presentation, a crew member welcomes you to the ArcLight and stays after the lights go down to ensure that quality of the sight and sound meet ArcLight's high standards.  Not too shabby.

For $15.50 ($11.00 for matinees) you are paying not just for the movie, but for the experience.  

The Hurt Locker v. Other War Movies

James Cameron's comment on ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow's film: "I think this could be the Platoon for the Iraq War."  Well, Mr. Cameron, if The Hurt Locker is the new Platoon, then Avatar is the new Pocahontas (even the Na'vi used bow and arrows and wore loin cloths).  I digress.  The one thing that The Hurt Locker has in common with Platoon is Willem Dafoe.  Bit o' trivia: Dafoe was originally set to star alongside Colin Farrell and Charlize Theron in Hurt Locker and Dafoe actually starred in Platoon, playing Sgt. Elias Grodin.  

What I'm trying to say is, The Hurt Locker doesn't hold a candle to the 1986 Vietnam war film.  Not to say it was a just another war movie.  Au contraire.  With its documentary-style of filming, The Hurt Locker distanced itself from the big budget war films that rely heavily upon special effects and focused more on character studies of three soldiers in the company.  With Ralph Fiennes and Guy Pearce starring, I thought I'd have some pretty decent eye-candy to counteract the intense, heart-pounding portrayal of Bravo Company's elite team of soldiers whose job it is to disarm bombs in the heat of combat.  Not so much.  Both Fiennes and Pearce are in the movie for all of five minutes.  Oh well.  

Bigelow's movie, which was filmed in Jordan, was, for the most part, realistic - moving between high intensity and longer periods of breathless anticipation (I literally found myself holding my breath more than once!).  And if it wasn't realistic (having no combat experience myself, I can't truthfully claim that the film is indeed a realistic account of the horrors of war) then it certainly fooled me.  For all the war movies that result in grunts and eye-rolls (I'm speaking to you, Jarhead!), The Hurt Locker holds its own with the other heavyweights in its genre.

Precious-ly Depressing

I was getting cabin fever so I decided to brave the rain and head to Sunset 5 to see Precious.  I'll be honest, if it wasn't for a potential Oscar nod, I normally wouldn't see a movie like Precious simply because I don't like paying $11.00 to sit in a dark theatre and be depressed for two hours.  On the rare occasion I do see a film that highlights the unfortunate (a severe understatement!) lives of children or young adults who are victims of sexual and/or physical abuse, neglect, or rape, I ponder why it is that some people are handed a fate that seems so hopeless, so incredibly painful.  Precious the movie is hauntingly narrated by Precious the teenager and it's through her narration that we witness her daydreams which create a more fascinating and flattering world than the one in which she lives.

Gabourey Sidibe plays Claireece "Precious" Jones, an overweight, illiterate 16 year old who lives in Harlem in the late 1980's.  Precious is pregnant with her second child by her father (her first child has Down syndrome and lives with Precious's grandmother).  Her abusive mother, Mary, flawlessly portrayed by Mo'Nique, lives off of welfare and spends her days in front of her television.  After Precious becomes pregnant for the second time, she is suspended from school.  Her junior high principal arranges to have her attend an alternative school which she hopes can help Precious change her life's direction.  Through the inspiration and encouragement from her new teacher, Precious is finally able to open up about her dysfunctional family and take charge of her own life.

Mariah Carey's role as Mrs. Weiss, Precious's social worker, is a surprising one.  Mariah effortlessly loses the diva persona (shocking!) and steps into the shoes of a character who is, well, definitely not a diva.  Mo'Nique, who recently won a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Mary Jones, will certainly receive an Oscar nom, and probably the Oscar.  Her last monologue in Mrs. Weiss's office at the end of the film should secure her win.  Newcomer Gabourey Sidibe mumbles through most of the film and relies on her costars to provide the drama and to move the plot along.  Your heart goes out to her character, Precious, so it's easy to see how the viewer can get reeled into her world, however, Gabourey's acting is almost non-existent.  She shouldn't get nominated for this role, but she probably will.

Even though Precious's message is a hopeful and eye-opening one (and reminds you to count your blessings!), I have to say I'm glad movies like this don't come around very often.  If you enjoy going to the theatre for escapism (which, let's face it, why else would you go?), this is not the movie for you.  If you want to get out of the rain and you've already seen Avatar 13 times, seeing Precious won't be a total waste of time.

Your Leading Lady

Hello Silver Screen Sergeants and Movie Maniacs!

An "amateur" is a person who engages in an art, sport, science, or other activity as a pastime rather than as a profession.  Literally speaking, "amateur" is a French word meaning "lover of."  That being said, I am an amateur of motion pictures.

I love movies.  Always have.  I love movies like Rhett loved Scarlett (Gone with the Wind - 1939), like Rick loved Ilsa (Casablanca - 1942), like Linus loved Sabrina (Sabrina - 1954), like Nickie loved Terry (An Affair to Remember - 1957), like Tony loved Maria (West Side Story - 1961), like Harry loved Sally (When Harry Met Sally - 1989), like Jack loved Rose (Titanic - 1997), like Will loved Viola (Shakespeare in Love - 1998).  Get the picture?  (Pun intended)

Since Oscar season is upon us and because I never keep my New Year's resolution so I might as well surprise myself (a blog being my NYR for 2010), here it is - drumroll please - Reel Reviews from an Amateur Critic.  Subject: Movies.  So if you fancy reading, writing, and talking about movies - blockbusters and busters - like I do, please read further.  You may not (read: probably won't) agree with me on most things (read: everything) I write about, but rest assured that nothing pleases me more than an intellectual (and sometimes superficial) discussion about all things relating and related to films.

This blog is for anyone who has seen a film.  Here's looking at you, kid.

Scene.