The Soloist

Debut: 2009
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Robert Downey Jr.
Director: Joe Wright

I was extremely fortunate to fit screening into my crazy schedule this week, but what a beautiful film it was. If you are someone who has ever had any kind of love for music, then this is the movie for you.

I read the book after Christmas, and thought the movie did a bang-up job of capturing the characters and the story. Downey stars as Steve Lopez, an LA Times columnist who finds a story (and a friend) in Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, Jr., a homeless man who once attended Julliard.

The story is beautiful, the acting is beautiful, and the music is breathtaking.

Hamlet 2

Debut: 2008
Director: Andrew Fleming
Starring: Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener

In a word: amazing! So I went to see this with a few friends, and it was basically awesome.

I will say that it's slow-moving for a while, but the ending is a blowout. The "Rock Me Sexy Jesus" number is completely hysterical, and the movie has way too many funny moments to be overruled by the slow ones.

DEFINITELY worth your time and money, unless you're easily offended.

The Producers

Debut: 1968
Director: Mel Brooks
Starring: Gene Wilder, Zero Mostel

I'm gonna go ahead and say that I love anything and everything that involves Gene Wilder, but this is truly a classic if you've never seen it.

I'm not even going to say anything else, just check it out already.

Tropic Thunder

Debut: 2008
Director: Ben Stiller
Starring: Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black

So I'm going to go ahead and freely admit that I am currently feeling a little mixed about this one, but I will probably see it again just to get it all.

As we know, it's a movie making fun of movies, a huge challenge that has rarely been pulled off successfully. I will say it's a challenge in this film to remember that while you're watching, and that if you don't specifically remember that, it's pretty easy to think it's not that great.

But, if you are watching it and realizing that every last bit of action is exaggerated and every last actor takes themselves too seriously, you will find it hilarious.

I'm gonna go ahead and say my favorite part, which you catch a glimpse of during the previews, is when their director (played by Steve Coogan) actually gets blown up by stepping on a land mine. Stiller's character convinces the others that this is just a stunt to make them believe the director is seriously, and starts playing with the prop head that is supposed to be the real head. It's kind of disgusting, but it's also hysterical.

I do think a lot of work ( A LOT) went into this film, and it's important to recognize that everything is there for a reason. Including Tom Cruise dancing his ass off in the final scene, which, if not for anything else, this film is worth seeing.

The Graduate

Debut: 1967
Director: Mike Nichols
Starring: Dustin Hoffman

I'm working on the classics, and I finally got to this baby. It was pretty all right. The story, as everyone knows, is about a boy who sleeps with a neighbor's wife, and then ends up dating and falling in love with her daughter.

I'm going to go ahead and say Dustin Hoffman was basically adorable when he was younger. After watching this I totally understand why it's such a big deal.

Aside from that, I'm amazed at the quality considering how long ago it was made. The whole movie is some kind of wonderful, so I'm just going to tell you to watch it for yourself.

Pineapple Express

Debut: 2008
Director: David Gordon Green
Starring: Seth Rogen, James Franco

In a word: amazing! So people can agree to disagree but I thought it was as funny as Superbad and Knocked Up. But everyone has agreed that it is pretty hilarious, and worth your time.

Seth Rogen plays Dale Denton, a process server who spends all his time smoking weed and has a girlfriend in high school (he's 25....) and Franco plays his drug dealer. One night, when smoking, Dale witnesses a murder, committed by Franco's dealer's dealer. After that, they're on the run.

It's pretty much an awesome movie and you definitely need to see it. I would say, at the least, it is the best of the Apatow bunch since Superbad - since a bunch of the other ones didn't go so well. Needless to say, two thumbs up. P.S. Bill Hader in the beginning = hysterical.

The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Empire

Debut: 2008
Director: Rob Cohen
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Jet Li, Maria Bello, Luke Ford

So this was pretty entertaining, and I don't often use entertaining and "good" interchangeably, and I won't in this case either. The movie keeps you occupied, but if you're a thinker, as I often am, you're going to find a lot wrong with the film.

There happened to be numerous plot holes and impossibilities (so many white people in China in the 1940s? Doubtful...) but it was worth watching.

That being said, I have to comment on this Luke Ford fellow. He's like a younger Matt Damon (exactly) and it's too adorable. I love it.

I have to say, going off of that, it was ridiculously annoying that this kid (who is clearly in his mid-20's) is playing Brendan Fraser's son. This is an all-too-common occurrence on the CW, yeah, but I would have thought better of the Mummy creators. They could have toned it down and found someone who was in their teens to play the son (although, again, I didn't totally mind...) but nuff said.

This one is more worth your time to rent than to shell out $9 to see in the theaters. P.S. the abominable snowmen (called Yettis) are AWESOME.

Be Kind Rewind

Debut: 2008
Director: Michael Gondry
Starring: Jack Black, Mos Def, Danny Glover

You know, for having mediocre reviews, I actually thought this was pretty amusing and the ending happens to be adorable.

The story takes place in an ancient video store where, yes set in present time, still only rents VHS's. Jack Black's character undergoes some electric shock and ends up as a magnetized person (which in itself is quite entertaining) and erases all of the videos in the store on accident. Jack Black and Mos Def's characters then decide to re-create movies for their customers using their own scenes and themselves as the actors, which is extremely entertaining. For example, Jack Black tries to sing the Ghostbusters theme song but gets it way wrong. It's great.

At the end, they make a film about a historic jazz figure who is supposedly from their era, and it's actually adorable. Oh yeah, the part with Jack Black doing black-face is amazing as well.

Check it out.

Broadcast News

Debut: 1987
Director: James L. Brooks
Starring: Holly Hunter

I hate to put it like this, but having taken journalism classes, they made Holly Hunter seem like a fighter for all we're supposed to believe in.

Hunter plays the managing editor of a major network's nightly news feature. She ends up having a fling (falling in love, I guess) with her co-worker and fights to keep the news an honest profession.

I seriously felt like this could have been written based on a college student before they enter the news world. I, for one, am a huge critic of the news but at the same time take classes in the Jschool at Drake, so it's kind of an interesting balance that most probably don't believe or understand. But I suppose we all go into journalism with this mind that we're going to keep it honest and just tell the story, when the reality is that many journalists lose those values along the way. I really enjoyed this movie for those reasons.

I wasn't crazy about the ending - she totally should have ended up with Aaron, duh, but aside from that, it was a pretty decent flick.

Swingers / Made

Swingers
Debut: 1996
Director: Doug Liman
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau

Made
Debut: 2001
Director: Jon Favreau
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau

I put these together, even though they totally don't belong together because their goodness is so far apart. As everyone knows, Swingers is basically amazing and Made is not so much so. I'm not going to really discuss Made for that reason.

Swingers was kind of a launching the careers of both Vaughn and Favreau, and helped them become BFF's even more, after Rudy of course. The entire film focuses on Favreau's character's search for either a new girl or a way to get back with his old girl. It's basically these two guys that don't have much of a life besides bar-hopping and using the catchphrase "it's so money, baby."

I loved it, I might even buy it. But in the meantime you need to check it out.

Nanny McPhee

Debut:
Director:
Starring: Colin Firth, Emma Thompson

I would be lying if I said I didn't start watching this on ABC Family and that I wasn't sure from the get-go. But it was actually a pretty decent movie. The only thing I didn't approve of was the techni-color set - it looked a little kitsch for my tastes.

Other than that, the characters, the story and everything else were on par. Emma Thompson plays Nanny McPhee, a hideous nanny who is basically the real life Nanny 911 and tames some uber-crazy children. They end up loving her most when she has to leave, and she helps the father find a bride.

It's a pretty cute little dig, so check it out.

Drugstore Cowboy

Debut: 1989
Director: Gus Van Sant
Starring: Matt Dillon, Kelli Lynch, Heather Graham

Not as good as the previous entry, needless to say. This story was basically about a group of addicts who rob drugstores for a living.

I guess I sort of got bored during this film and tuned out, so it's hard for me to give it a fair opinion, but then again if I got bored and tuned out, there's your review.

My Own Private Idaho

Debut: 1991
Director: Gus Van Sant
Starring: River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves

I was pretty into this one, I'd have to say. The story just follows two males prostitutes on their excursions - in particular, Phoenix's character's quest to find his birth mother.

The thing that really made this film interesting was that it kind of gets you thinking about prostitution, and not really in any sort of bad way. It really seems to get inside what gets prostitutes into prostitution, and in reality, I guess I came out of it thinking that most prostitutes aren't so bad. Watching the film, you kind of realize that sex for a prostitute really isn't what the rest of the world places it up on a pedestal for - that for a prostitute it's meaningless and cheap. It sort of makes you think that we should probably shame those who go to prostitutes more than the prostitutes themselves.

Well, that's maybe a little more philosophical than the movie intended (perhaps not with Gus Van Sant at the helm...) but the movie was interesting and fascinating enough.

Looking forward to.... Pineapple Express

Debut: 2008
Director: David Gordon Green
Starring: Seth Rogen, James Franco

I'd be lying if I said that half the reason I want to see this is because I love James Franco (because he's hot) but I love them both from Freaks and Geeks as well. And although Franco's hot, it kind of cancels out in this movie because he's playing a pothead with long hair.

Well, I think it will be good. I actually have no doubts - besides Franco and Rogen are Gary Cole (awesome), Darrell from the Office (no one knows his real name) and that new up-and-comer Danny McBride. All signs point to good.

And even if it's not funny, it appears to have a solid amount of action, so that will do either way.

Game 6

Debut: 2005
Director: Michael Hoffman
Starring: Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr.

Whoa, I didn't think Michael Keaton had made anything since Batman.... thanks for proving me wrong, man. Please see that comment as harmless, because he was basically amazing in this film.

Keaton plays this guy Nicky who writes plays for a living and has one coming out soon, and lives in fear of a horrible review from Steven Schwimmer (Downey). Downey tells the honest-to-God-awful truth in his reviews, so he lives in isolation and wears disguises when he leaves his building.

Anywho, Nicky is also obsessed with the Red Sox - to the point he misses his own play's opening night. He leaves the bar (after watching the losing game six....) furious without even knowing Schwimmer's impression of his play, wants to kill Schwimmer (finds him with Nicky's daughter....yikes!) and they end up working things out because they are both Red Sox fans. Maybe that last bit was a SPOILER ALERT. I didn't even realize it until I wrote it. Sorry.

Well, basically everything was great. It was easy on the eyes, easy on the head, and that's how I like it. Ooh, and it was short. You can tell I spend my days watching Blues Clues with the boys when I complain about most movies being too long or too much action. But this one was adorable, and completely worth your time.

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back

Debut: 2001
Director: Kevin Smith
Starring: Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, a bunch of random celebrities

So basically I love most Kevin Smith movies (and by most I mean all but this one...) yeah it wasn't so great. I normally find Jay and Silent Bob hilarious, but yeah. This just didn't do it for me.

I think a lot of the parodies were pretty off-key. Yeah they weren't good at all, I would say. There's a fine art to doing parodies, which SNL proves from being on the air for 33 years, and Kevin Smith did not seem to find that fine-tuning. I'm not going to bash him, I'm sure he knows it's not his best.

And it's a little ironic that he made fun of all of his other amazing movies in this one - the one that wasn't so amazing. I don't really know what to say, but if you're a Kevin Smith fan, you're only going to be disappointed.

Sherrybaby

Debut: 2006
Director: Laurie Collyer
Starring: Maggie Gyllenhaal

Um, I would side on the "liked it" side, but I'm not completely sure. I don't know that I would watch it again, which generally is my personal indicator as to whether I liked it or not. Hmm.

Well, it's about this girl who gets released from prison on a drug charge and ends up in a transition house. She's extremely trashy and supposedly only wants a better life for her and her daughter.

It's just plain hard to watch I suppose. Just not my style, not my thing, not anything I could ever relate to, so maybe that makes it a little bit harder to sit through. Gyllenhaal plays the kind of girl you would frown upon and the movie, in no way, ever makes you feel bad for her or relate to her at all. You still kind of just judge her and don't really think that she makes anything better for her life.

Whatev.

The Practice, Season One

Debut: 1997
Creator: David E. Kelley
Starring: Dylan McDermott, Michael Badalucco, Camryn Manheim, Steve Harris, Kelli Williams

So back in the day I was like a fanatic of The Practice. And you know what, after watching the first few episodes, I am completely shocked it ever took off. I never saw the beginning, and lately it's been on in the morning, and I was like, all right, I'll go back and watch them because I loved it so much.

Wrong. The first episode is about a drug charge. A DRUG CHARGE I say. Yeah, most of their shows were about serial killers and murderers, and they kicked it off with a drug charge case. BORING. Aside from that, Helen Gamble (Lara Flynn Boyle) was not in the picture yet, and apparently she made the show significantly more interesting.

Well, don't bother with the beginning of the great show. There was just no chemistry yet, nothing. Lame. And for some God-awful reason, that's the only season on DVD. Thanks for nothing!

Soapdish

Debut: 1991
Director: Michael Hoffman
Starring: Sally Field, Kevin Kline, Whoopi Goldberg, Robert Downey Jr., Elizabeth Shue

My gosh, I finally understand that clip that is always in a Scene It? question.

I don't feel like talking about the plot, so I won't. But I liked it, quite a bit. This one was extremely witty - which is more my kind of humor. In no way is it laugh-out-loud humor (have I mentioned I HATE the phrase LOL?) but in no way does that ever mean a movie isn't funny. This one was extremely funny.

I haven't really seen many Kevin Kline movies (except Wild Wild West when I was like 10.... I don't want to talk about that...) , and he was excellent. I mean he was great. Actually, everyone was great so I don't want to single him out. This was Sally Field when she still played more cutesy characters and less serious Mom characters.

The entire movie was adorable, and I'm thinking I'm going to have to take a peek at it again sometime. Check it out for yourself.

Fargo

Debut: 1996
Directors: Joel & Ethan Coen
Starring: Frances McDormand, Steve Buschemi, William H. Macy

Loved it. I had seen bits and pieces of this one over and over on TV or something, but knew that one of these days I would have to sit down and watch the whole thing, and of course, as everyone knows, it's great.

The acting is too funny - being in the Midwest and going to school with like a bazillion Minnesotans, it's just cute I guess. I don't even know anyone whose accent is quite that exaggerated, but it's just plain fun.

Aside from that, the story is great. If you haven't seen it yet, like my lame self hadn't until yesterday, I suggest looking into it.