I don't believe I need to post a trailer to this one as man, beast, and flora has been subject to its special effects.
Unnecessarily sarcastic comments aside, this movie was, by far, one of my favorite of the series. I actually saw it twice in theaters, and the first time I went with my poor brother who had no idea what he was in for. By that, I mean I wept through the entire Snape storyline and, after I had exhausted my own sweatshirt as a sponge, I moved on to my brother's tshirt. he was a very good sport.
Win Win (2011)
I stumbled upon this little movie while I was checking what was playing at the Crest, the $3 theater in north Seattle. It had quite a few little yellow stars by the title, so I decided to check it out. I should have avoided reading the glowing reviews before seeing it because I was a bit disappointed. To be fair, I was exhausted after a long day's work, but I found myself spacing out on more than one occasion.
Quoting myself in a phone conversation with a friend, Win Win is about "Paul Giamatti being fat and high school wrestling." Pretty accurate, that. Giamatti is a husband and father to a young daughter. his law practice is about to go to the dogs when he finds he can make a bit extra money per month by finagling his way into being a guardian for one of his dementia-riddled clients. Eventually Giamatti comes across the guardian's estranged grandson and through a series of events, becomes a father figure, coach, and mentor to this silly, bleached moptop. The movie tries to be quirky but comes off as a bit too cozy, and I'm not a huge fan of Giamatti, so I felt that I was forced to look at him a bit too often. The dialogue with the grandson got quite a few giggles out of me, but I think this independent film is being overhyped. I've seen much, much better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPJOmH9g8WM (embedding disabled, copy and paste)
The Tree of Life
Where to even begin with the The Tree of Life... This piece of art is a two+ hour meditative poem on the existence of faith and the meaning of life. It is exquisite, every frame is carefully crafted and could stand alone as a piece. The acting reaches unusual depths; there was not only a complete suspension of disbelief throughout the dream (?) sequences but immense emotional involvement.
The Tree of Life tells the story of a grown man, Jack (played by Sean Penn), who looks back on his life growing up in suburban Texas in the 1950s with his two brothers, father, and mother. he struggles to come to terms with the death of one of his brothers, his pubescent loss of innocence and period of rebellion, and most importantly, aches to reconcile the struggling forces of Nature and Grace, Father and Mother. The only frustrating part of this film was that the bits with grown-up Jack didn't seem to fit into the grand scheme of things. His scenes read as sad little add-ons and almost took away from the emotional depth of the flashback familial scenes.
This film works as a patchwork of scenes. It is totally anachronistic, has no plot, and includes a CGI sequence of considerable length that documents the creation of life, from the Big Bang to dinosaurs, and eventually back to our Southern suburbia. I would hesitate to recommend this movie widely, because, well, quite odd, and undeniably slow at times (though that never bothered me). Many people will be put off because they expect a linear story, or a story at all, and I respect that. But if you think you can handle the nonconventional nature of this film, I urge you to see it immediately. It is exquisitely beautiful, involving, and thought-provoking. The soundtrack is also unbelievable.
(If you've seen it, did the final beach scene remind anyone else of "Big Fish"?)
Bridesmaids (2011)
Silly, goofy, gross fun. Kristen Wiig doesn't turn off the funny. I'd say she is the funniest cast member of SNL. Sadly, this movie has been mismarketed as a typical chickflick (actually, it's really been undermarketed). It's fresh and although not surprising plot-wise, will cause you to belly laugh at least once. Probably during this scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABmTxZl4NK4
Mehh, pretty funny. I laughed the most at Charley Day, and that's probably because I was getting "kitten mitten" flashbacks from that episode of "It's Always Sunny." It's far from original but the cast is impressive and the naughty bits are entertaining, obviously.
