Movie Review: Changeling

Rating: ***** (5 stars, baby!)

When I saw the previews for this movie I was intrigued. The basic premise of this movie is that a single mother (Angelina Jolie) goes to work, leaving her young son home alone, and returns to an empty home. She waits for weeks to hear any news about her missing child, and suddenly is contacted that her boy has been found. Of course she is elated, but she shows up at the train station only to be greeted by a young boy who is not her child. She vehemently denied that this was her son, but was told she had to take him as he had no where else to go. The LAPD basically coherced her into keeping the child, giving her a million reasons why she was crazy and that the boy was really hers. She continued to deny it and was placed in a sanitarium until she would agree that the child was hers. She wouldn't, and she stayed put until a pastor that she was aquainted with got her out of jail. I won't go into further details because I definitely recommend this movie and don't want to completely spoil it for those that are interested. The movie was based on a true story, and also stars sexy as hell Jeffrey Donovan from Burn Notice (which I've never seen, but would totally watch b/c he's so good looking). For more information on the true story, click here.

Movie Review: 27 Dresses

I know, I know, everyone else saw this movie well over a year ago. Good for you. The last horse finally crossed the finish line, and I'm going to tell you what I think of the movie. I am not going to discuss the premise of the movie because, most likely, you've already seen this. Several times.

In general, I do not care for romantic comedies because the part where there is this uncertainty on how things are going to work out and it seems like the "couple" might not get together really frustrates me. (Which is why I loved to hate the movie, Definitely, Maybe) This movie didn't drag this on too long, so I liked it a fair amount. I also sort of liked that although she totally freaked out on her sister and she forgave her as she probably realized how much better off she was. I also loved that the guy she was crushing on never turned out to be a jerk, which is what often happens and you want to hate the guy...this was not the case. So basically, for a chick flick, this wasn't bad, and I think a guy could possibly watch this movie and not throw up. Or throw a temper tantrum.

I also realize this is a terrible movie review. I'm not even giving it a star rating. I really phoned this in.

Movie Review and Rant

First of all, I'll start with the rant. Get the pain out of the way to start with, plus I'll reward you by giving you a movie review when it's all over.

I can't run. I mean, mechanically, it seems I am incapable of running. In my knee's defense, I tried to go from 0-60 on running, and I am going to have to start over and try to jog at like 4 mph (which hardly seems like a jog, but the knee doesn't seem to know that) After several weeks on the elliptical I tried to go right in at 6mph as a warm up and that didn't work. So it's my bad, but I'm still a little (lot) depressed about it. I feel like if I can't run I'll never get the weight off, as running has always worked for me. Ellipticals, diet, other exercise-they all help, but the running is key. Ok, rant over.

Movie review time: Mircea and I watched the movie Waitress and really enjoyed it. It's one of those slightly artsy fartsy movies with a lot of "la la" music in it, but it was really enjoyable, although predictable. I've decided that my star rating should be nothing more than level of enjoyment, so on my LOE rating, it's getting 3.5 stars. I don't want to share secrets, but basically a woman is unhappy with her marriage and wants to escape her life, only to find out that in one night of drunken weakness with her husband she got pregnant, making all hopes of escape vanish. The story is basically how she deals with this and who she meets along the way. I definitely recommend it, and although I think you can get a guy to watch it, it might be one of those, home alone, relaxing with a glass of wine chick flick nights. So rent it. NOW!

Movie Review: 88 Minutes

ZERO STARS!

This movie, 88 Minutes, starting Al Pacino and a host of B list celebrities, was terrible. Laughable.

Ridiculous. Stupid. Do you even want to know anymore?

The premise of this movie is that this forensic psychologist's testimony put a man in jail for a brutal rape/torture (yes, the movie opened with this and it was uncomfortable). Well, fast forward 9 years and it's the day the man is to be executed and all of a sudden another murder with the same M.O. happens. Which of course raises doubt that this man was the real killer and he gets a stay of execution. Well Al Pacino gets a phone call and says "you have 88 minutes to live" and for the next roughly 100 minutes we watch what could best be described as this guy's "worst day ever" and it's laughable, ridiculous, and corny. We only finished the movie because we had to know what happened. Let's just say it was dumb. Really really really dumb. OMG it was dumb. So the movie ends, and I turn on Monday Night Football and feel a little better. But still, it's on the list of terrible movies like Wicker Man and Twisted. Blech!

Movie Review Monday

Into the Wild

3 stars

This movie was really interesting, just seeing how a person can give up all their worldly possessions and follow their dreams. Based on a true story of a young man who graduated college and “threw it all away” to travel across country with a backpack and a dream that lead him to Alaska for the winter. The cinematography was amazing, but the story was touching as well. Very good movie and lots of big name actors in it. Some nudity, but nothing sexual. There was just something about this movie that I can't describe. There was nothing exciting or thrilling about it, but there was just this feeling that you were "witnessing" something special.

Movie Review Monday: A Day Late

Definitely, Maybe

I am giving this a 5 star rating. I’m not saying this is an epic film, but this was just a great movie to watch by yourself or with pretty much anyone. There wasn’t any bad language and no sex scenes, which I can always do without, so it was good. The premise of the movie is a little girl’s parents are getting divorced and she asks her Dad why they even fell in love in the first place, and why they were out of love now. He replies that it is complicated and she demands to know the story, so he tells her about his past relationships, but he doesn’t tell her which one of the women in the movie is her mom and she spends the movie trying to figure out who it is through his story of love and loss. It was just a really cool movie and I thought it was not very chick-flicky at all. I definitely recommend this movie, and it’s even worth paying the full outrageous Blockbuster rental fee. Plus, I have a strange love of Ryan Reynolds. I always thought he was a doofus and then I dated a guy who looked a lot like him (not as ripped, don't you worry) and realized that he too was a doofus, but I just have an affection for him. He plays a good "average joe".