2014: Week 2: Her

Her

Genre: Drama, Comedy, Romance

Main Players: Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, voice of Scarlett Johansson

General Gist:  A man develops a relationship with his personal operating system.  No seriously.  That's really what it's about.

Deb's Take:
I walked out of this movie quite torn.  I am a sucker for romance and drama, but this movie pushed the whole idea to the limit.  The movie was just bizarre.  I have two thoughts that keep running through my mind.  Either the movie was suppose to enlighten us about the overtaking of media and computers and how we are loosing connection with reality.  Or, we are to be enlightened by the ability for emotions to take on any shape or form and that underneath it all, we just want to feel loved.  I suppose maybe it wasn't either of those, but that's what I took from it.

Joaquin Phoenix plays some pretty quirky characters, and this movie was no exception.  He is always right on the edge of crazy to me, and he did it again.  He was wonderful in this movie, don't get me wrong, but wonderful and crazy fell pretty close together in this one.  Amy Adams had a minor role, but did it well.  Scarlett Johansson was just the voice of the computer, I guess I didn't really feel a connection with her because she wasn't "materialized".  Another hmmm moment.

Although I think this movie taught some good lessons, and will make you think twice about life, love and relationships, I guess I'm a sucker for the old fashioned romance.

Deb's Rate:  Rent It.
                           
Tiff's Take:
I felt like I entered bizarro world the minute I sat down for this movie.  We saw this at the Alamo Draft House downtown and for their previews they had these weird retro clips about computers but with a sexual twist.  I'm sure it was just because of what the movie itself was about but it made me feel strange.  And the movie hadn't even started.

I knew this wouldn't be just a normal love story with Joaquin Phoenix as the main guy.  It wasn't.  It was set in what appeared to be a futuristic LA maybe?  But not so futuristic that it didn't seem realistic.  But, apparently in the future everyone will be awkward.  Almost like awkward is the new black.  Everyone was awkward and it was perfectly normal.  Is that really what we're destined to become?!

So in a nutshell, Joaquin's character is trying to get over a bad marriage and falls in love with, for all intents and purposes, a computer.  They go on dates and have sex and all the normal stuff a couple does except one half of the relationship doesn't actually have a body.  I will say though, after you get over the crazy (or maybe not so crazy) concept, it really felt like they just had a long distance relationship where they never got to see each other.  If you thought of it that way it was sort of a sweet story.  Unlike Deb, Scarlett Johansson as the voice of the computer, made me connect with the whole idea a little better.

But the bland colors, unfashionable hair and wool slacks that sat way too high on their waists reminded you that this is not a conventional story and maybe too far out there.          

Tiff's Rate: Matinee.  Can't get over the odd feeling it leaves you with to give it a higher rating.

Preview:  Taking one for the kids..."The Nut Job"

2012: Week 36: The Words

The Words

Genre: Drama, Romance 

Main Players: Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana, Dennis Quaid, Olivia Wilde, Jeremy Irons

General Gist: A writer finds someone else's story and publishes it as if it's his own work.

Tiff's Take:  
This movie had a really interesting concept.  It was like a story within a story within a story.  I should mention it was a little confusing too.  Generally speaking I thought it was a decent movie.  The story was good, the acting was good and the chemistry between the actors were good.  But...I felt like there was information missing here and there.  Or maybe just depth.  I don't know.  It just didn't have that emotional pull like I thought it would.  It left me wanting a little more.  And did I mention it was confusing?  Unnecessarily so.

I thought Bradley Cooper and Zoe Saldana had great chemistry but Dennis Quaid and Olivia Wilde just didn't seem like a great fit.

So this one was sort of neutral for me.  Not bad but definitely not great.  Probably not worth going to the theater for this one.  

Tiff's Rate: Rent It

Deb's Take:
I really was expecting more from this movie.  The previews were misleading to me.  I expected a love story, intertwined with an authors challenging dilemma.  Well, I suppose that is what it was about,..kind of.  The movie was slow.  I felt like I got lost in boredom at some points.  I wasn't really buying the relationships and the plot was weak.  I feel like the movie could have been good, but it was a story, about a story book, about a story...too many stories.  (lol...side note, I didn't read Tiff's review, as I usually don't, before I wrote mine..sometimes our conversations is just too similar!!)  The worse part was the ending.  Nothing was wrapped up, nothing seemed to be resolved and all in all I was disappointed.

The actors did okay in their parts, but I think it's hard to act a poor movie sometimes.  I also think the premise behind the movie could have been quite intriguing if written better.   All in all I expected more and got less.  I actually don't have a whole lot to say because I just really didn't like it.

Deb's Rate: Don't Bother...read a good book instead!

Preview:   "Won't Back Down" is on the docket this week.

Week 32: The Change-Up

This week we saw The Change-Up.  We had the joy of seeing this movie with our hubbies.  A good one to see with them too.  This is definitely not a see with your mom type movie.  It's heavy on the swearing and nudity.  There was potty humor galore.  Basically this was right up Russ's alley.

All the previews pointed towards a good comedy but I'll tell you at first I wasn't sure if I was going to like it.  Ryan Reynolds character was awful at first.  Or maybe it was that Ryan Reynolds himself was awful at first.  Before the two changed places he acted more like a mentally challenged adult then the drug-doing irresponsible adult that he was suppose to portray.  Good thing that only lasted for a small part in the beginning.  After they switched places it was all good.  Super funny the whole way through.  Oh and did I mention nudity?  Lots of nudity.  Did I mention Russ liked it?

Jason Bateman was the other guy doing the switching.  He was good from beginning to end.  I absolutely love his humor and so far I have never been disappointed with him.  He was the perfect person for this character.  Loved him.

The two main female characters were Leslie Mann and Olivia Wilde.  Both good but not a whole lot to their characters since it was mainly about the guys.  Although Russ would say they played a major part beings as both of them were naked at some point.  Did I mention Russ...oh never mind.

I would say if you get offended easily don't see this one.  If you don't then be prepared to laugh continuously throughout the movie.  Don't tell anyone but Russ said he thought this was better than The Hangover.  *gasp*

To Sum it up: A lot of profanity, a lot of skin and dirty, dirty humor.