Reviews

Review: Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist

Chick 2 says:

In the refreshing generation of movies like Juno, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist is good, but not great.  Two high schoolers dealing with the usual heartache of the teenage years find what they are looking for in each other during one night of trying to prove who they are to the rest of their teenage world.  Michael Cera is as endearing as ever, immediately likeable, and plays confident nerd superbly.  Up-and-comer Kat Dennings is all at once vulnerable and strong and delivers her down to earth but quippy lines with relatability.  While music is a definite factor, it doesn’t play as big of a character in the movie as much as I would have hoped given the title.  I did however pick up a few possibilities for my iPod.  The supporting cast also adds something to the layers, including drunk friend Ari Graynor and always fun Aaron Yoo.

 

IF you’re satisfied with clever lines, new actors on the scene, and the latest version of John Hughes teen-angst, THEN GO.

Posted on by wj11 in Reviews, The 2000s Leave a comment

Review: Nights in Rodanthe

Chick 2 says:

In typical Nicholas Sparks form, Nights in Rodanthe delivers all the required chick-flick elements, although a friend of mine has recently termed movies of this particular type “Estrogen Movies”, and this one definitely falls into that category.  Two strangers are thrown together in the midst of their respective mid-life crises and, wait for it, fall in love.  Shocker.  While Richard Gere and Diane Lane give good performances, the script just about pulls them down like the hurricane in the movie that represents “the storms of life.”  Mae Whitman, who plays Lane’s teenage daughter, is one bright spot showing that the memorable performances she’s given since the age of five were no fluke.  The Inn in which the two have their 5-minute romance is gorgeous but I don’t believe the actors ever set foot there, as the lighting indicates that even the ocean was green-screened in.

 

IF you are waiting for a good rental, or perhaps actually enjoy the sappy melodrama of a Nicholas Sparks’ script, THEN GO.

Posted on by wj11 in Reviews, The 2000s Leave a comment

Review: Blow Dry

Rachel Griffiths & Alan Rickman strut their stuff

Rachel Griffiths & Alan Rickman strut their stuff

Chick 1 says:

I’d been wanting to see this quirky little British movie for several years.  It has an amazing cast & looked like the hairstyling version of Strictly Ballroom, a movie I love. 

Blow Dry stars Alan Rickman as Phil, a hairstylist in the small British town of Keighly, who was once an international hairstyling champion.  He now owns a dumpy barber shop where he works with his son, Brian, played by Josh Hartnett.  Phil, has not competed in 10 years since his wife, Shelley, ran away with his hair model, Sandra (Natasha Richardson & Rachel Griffiths).  Shelly and Sandra now own a salon in the same town.  The storytellers kick things off with an announcement that the international hairstyling competition is coming to Keighly and the revelation that a character has cancer, then sit back and let the madness ensue. 

Well, kind of.  Read more

Posted on by Chick 1 in Reviews, The 2000s 59 Comments

Review: The Women

Chick 2 says:
The Women is a movie that celebrates, well, women.  This story is all about women living their lives – with each other, with their family, with their careers, and with men, although the latter cannot be seen anywhere in the film, not even on the camera crew.  Walking though a door opened by Sex and the City, this movie makes a statement about finding out who we are (not some expected cliché of who we ought to be) and being true to that, even if things don’t always end tied up in a pretty little bow.  Just as important as being who we truly are is finding a family of friends who will love, support and accept us along the way.  Hopefully giving a comeback performance, Meg Ryan leaves behind some of her rom-com quirks and builds a character that is somewhat realistic.  Also believable is the conglomerate of the four friends (Annette Benning, Debra Messing, and Jada Pinkett Smith) as they handle their friend’s crisis in the midst of their own day to day.  It’s not a perfect family of friends, but such a support system is necessary, rewarding, and fun to watch. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IF you want to spend an afternoon or evening celebrating your female relationships, THEN go.

 

Posted on by Chick 1 in Reviews, The 2000s 3 Comments

Review: Burn After Reading

Things aren't going well for Brad

Things aren't going well for Brad

Chick 1 says:
While I certainly appreciate the talent of the Coen Brothers, I can’t exactly call myself an expert or even necessarily a fan.  My personal taste in movies doesn’t usually gravitate toward dark or graphic violence so that eliminates quite a few of the Coens’ major films, including last year’s No Country For Old Men, from my sphere of enjoyment.  However, I have enjoyed their comedies quite a bit.  O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Raising Arizona are among my favorite movies.  I even like Fargo, though I confess I’ve only seen an edited version on cable.  (Sacrilege for a film fan, I know.)  So I was both excited and a little leery about this dark comedy. 

  Read more

Posted on by Chick 1 in Reviews, The 2000s 61 Comments
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