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On The Couch #51: The Proposal

After gorging myself silly on Christmas deserts on the 25th, I returned home, plopped down on the couch and realized I had just enough energy to pick a movie on Netflix Instant Streaming. I wanted to watch something light-hearted because it was Christmas. After browsing Netflix’s choices for far too long, I think I was at the 25 minute mark before I picked  something, I settled on Amy Adams in Sunshine Cleaning.
An Amy Adams comedy is the textbook definition of something light-hearted, right? Two minutes into Sunshine Cleaning a guy shoots himself in the face with a gun. There goes my Amy Adams theory. Back to the drawing board, er I mean back to the instant streaming queue.
I almost saw The Proposal during the great Red Box experiment of August in Cape Cod. I think I saw When in Rome instead. I should have rented The Proposal. It’s much better than When in Rome.
I gave The Proposal an “I liked it” rating on Netflix. The ending cost me rating it “I really liked it.”  I thought the ending was completely ridiculous. The whole movie set up that Ryan Reynolds should have ended up with his non-psycho ex-girlfriend, Vince Vaughn’s wife from Couples Retreat, not his completely psycho boss. But once Sandra Bullock skips town, Ryan Reynolds and Betty White announce that Ryan Reynolds now loves Sandra Bullock, so it must be true, the previous hour and a half of The Proposal be damned! The one redeeming quality of the ending is that it provided the opportunity for the INS interviews that take place during the credits, which were some of the funniest parts of The Proposal.
The Office’s Oscar Nunez has the best scenes in The Proposal. He seems to be the only person employed in this small Alaskan town, pulling quadruple duty as a caterer, male stripper, general store proprietor and ordained minister. His unshaven stripper dance will haunt you.
It was weird watching a movie where Sandra Bullock isn’t playing the cute girl next door type. Seeing her play someone as cold as her character in The Proposal was really jarring, but she did a great job with it.
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed The Proposal. It’s not perfect, but it’s good. I recommend watching it the next time you’re stuck on the couch in a food coma.
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At The Theater #49: True Grit

True Grit might be the best movie you see this year. I thought it was better than every other movie likely to receive a nomination come awards season. Black Swan and Winter’s Bone, please say hello to the movie that will cost you some golden statues, True Grit.

I never saw the original True Grit starring John Wayne, so I can’t comment on how well Jeff Bridges’s performance holds up against his. But Jeff Bridges is wonderful as the mush-mouthed US Marshall who is the hero of True Grit.

Matt Damon is as charming as you’d expect Matt Damon to be, which is plenty, playing a Texas Ranger on the hunt for the same man as Jeff Bridges. Damon’s best line, “…or should I say, your eye?” is in the preview, but he delivers it so well that I still laughed when I heard it during the movie.

With a sub-two hour running time, going to see True Grit won’t seem like a chore. It seems like it’s an unspoken rule these days that westerns, period pieces and fantasy movies all need to clock in at the three hour mark. I’m glad that the Coen brothers made a very tight two hour movie here.

After reading an excellent biography on the Coens last year, I planned on watching all their movies in order this year. That didn’t happen, and with only two movies to left to watch on the couch, won’t happen this year. Maybe next year?

If you’re planning on seeing True Grit, I recommend catching it at the Brooklyn Heights Cinema at Henry and Orange. They have the best popcorn in the city and it’s playing all day there. Treat yourself nice and follow it up with dinner at nearby Noodle Pudding or Ozu.

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At The Theater #48: How Do You Know

To end Super Tuesday, I caught a 7 PM screening of How Do You Know at the AMC on 19th and Broadway with some friends. The final movie of Super Tuesday was also the most disappointing. Oddly, it was also the only movie where I felt no regrets before the movie started. Don’t worry, those came afterwards.

Lesson learned from How Do You Know: Just because I find Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson adorable does not mean the combination of the three of them guarantees a good movie. The three of them were adorable in the movie, but they all played adorable but annoyingly dumb characters.

Reese Witherspoon is a cute as How Do You Know is annoying.

How Do You Know is also about a half hour too long. There was no reason for this film to be two hours. I’m still trying to figure out what the plot of the movie was.

That’s the look of an actress who regrets saying yes to a movie role.

Watching How Do You Know felt like watching the filmed version of a first draft of a screenplay. Who greenlit this movie? A friend told me the rumored budget of How Do You Know was $120 million, roughly the same price as Terminator 3. How does he know? I didn’t ask. Big name actors carry big number price tags. Unfortunately they didn’t spend money on a good script. Or was this a case where a movie was rewritten so many times that it ended up a complete mess. Who knows?  How do they know?

“Why are we in this terrible movie?!?”

So that’s it for Super Tuesday. I went from 44 movies at the theater to 48 in one day! I’m feeling good heading into the last week of the year. I’m currently trying to figure out what movies I’d like to see to finish things out. I really want to see True Grit and Somewhere. I said in the past that 2010 in a bad year for movies, but with the exception of How Do You Know, December is really redeeming it.

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At The Theater #47: The King’s Speech

The most packed movie of the day was the 3 PM showing of The King’s Speech at Clearview’s Chelsea. This movie was way more packed than any 3 PM weekday screening had any right to be.

Once again, regret immediately hit me as the movie was about to start. Should I have seen I Love You Phillip Morris instead? I didn’t even know what The King’s Speech was about. Two friends recently raved about it on Facebook, but one of them is a huge Colin Firth fan and might have just been happy to see him in a new movie. The other was her boyfriend, who might have been just trying to score points. Plus, isn’t a Colin Firth movie something I should be seeing with my girlfriend? Wasn’t there a thriller out that I’d be better off watching alone?
 
When The King’s Speech started and Colin Firth stammered his way through his speech, I thought “This is going to be a long one. Crap.” But once the film got underway and they showed his first attempt at having his speaking corrected, I realized this movie was going to be great.

If King George doesn’t get his speaking skills corrected, his wife Bellatrix Lestrange will cast crucio on him!

 
Definitely see The King’s Speech. Colin Firth is his usual charming self, but it’s Geoffrey Rush as speech therapist Lionel Logue who steals the show. Every time he called Colin Firth’s King George VI “Bertie,” I was rolling.

You can do it, Bertie!

 
If your girlfriend wants to see a movie together this holiday season, steer her towards The King’s Speech. It’s got Colin Firth, so it should work if she’s anything like most girls I know. The King’s Speech is a charming movie that will have you laughing throughout and make you leave the theater with a smile on your face.

Super Tuesday continues!

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At The Theater #46: Winter’s Bone

Once Inside Job ended, I race-walked up Broadway to catch Winter’s Bone at the Quad Cinema. Winter’s Bone seemed to be playing forever earlier this year at Brooklyn Heights Cinema, but for some reason I never bothered to see it, or even find out what it was about. Seeing it at or near the top of so many year-end best-of lists sparked my interest to see it now.

I barely made it to the Quad on time. Construction and slow moving tourists can really drag down one’s walking speed.

As the theater darkened, I realized my mistake. I was still pissed off from just seeing Inside Job and wasn’t in the right frame of mind for a dark drama. I should have caught a comedy instead. I had a hard time paying attention to the first minute of Winter’s Bone, a montage of images. The ticket’s paid for though. I’m stuck here. Thankfully, my regret quickly passed as the movie got underway.

I can see why Winter’s Bone is at the top of a lot of best of 2010 lists. It’s a great movie, a dark mystery about a 17-year old girl who needs to find her father because he’s due in court and if he no-shows, her family will lose their home that he put up for his bond.

There are no soft characters over the age of seven in Winter’s Bone. Everyone is hard and no one can be trusted. Winter’s Bone makes me want to stay as far away as possible from the rural south. Also, all the characters have names you’d expect to hear in Los Angeles, not the south. Names like Teardrop and Little Arthur.
 

Teardrop: 2010’s Scariest Uncle.

Go see Winter’s Bone. But maybe see it on a different day than Inside Job.

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At The Theater #45: Inside Job

As soon as Shades of Ray ended, I hopped on the subway into Manhattan on a far too crowded for 9:45 AM A train to catch my first movie at the theater for the day, Inside Job at the Angelika Film Center.

I really like seeing movies at the Angelika. I think this has a lot too do with the ground level café area, which is strange because I think that café is overpriced. But it’s a nicer place to wait for friends than most movie theater lobbies. I’m flying solo today, so instead I found it a nice place to walk through on my way to the downstairs theater.

The three person audience for the 10:45 AM screening of Inside Job was a nice cross section of viewers. There was me, a female NYU student and an old man who claimed after to movie to have worked for one of the investment banks featured in Inside Job, “though long before any of this went down” he was quick to point out.

Waiting for Inside Job to start, I popped open Flixster on my iPhone and experienced something that would occur at the start of three of the four movies I saw in the theater today; I would regret seeing this movie instead of another in the same time slot. It happened here when I saw that I Love You, Phillip Morris was playing at 10:35 AM at Clearview’s Chelsea. I’ve wanted to see that for the past few weeks and cursed myself, thinking that a comedy would be a better way to start the day than a sure to be depressing documentary about the 2008 financial crisis.

This regret passed quickly. Inside Job should be on everyone’s must-watch list. It’s bound to frustrate you and infuriate you, but you need to see it. It’s the Food Inc. of the financial industry. Unfortunately for us, unlike Food, Inc., which ended with some hope, Inside Job shows us how the financial industry screwed us and why it’s bound to happen again. It also explains terms you probably heard on the news, but never had explained, like what exactly a credit default swap is.

It amazes me that in the wake of the two financial crises that bookended the last decade that there isn’t an outcry for stronger financial regulations. But the financial industry has its fingers in so many pies, that better regulation seems unlikely. Inside Job shows not only how powerful the industry’s lobby group is in Washington, but even their hold on business education in America. The same professors who are teaching ideas that fall in line with the way the financial industry thinks are serving on the boards of major corporations. Conflict of interest?

The most egregious part of Inside Job is that no one involved in the economic collapse in 2008 will even admit that mistakes were made by their companies. The fear of lawsuits and any culpability make interviewing these people pointless.

Matt Damon is a great as the narrator. His voice is the only part of Inside Job that won’t piss you off. It’s a nice anchor in the storm.

Inside Job is the scariest movie of 2010. Make sure you see it.

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On The Couch #50: Shades of Ray

Never give up. That’s what I took away from Rudy and what was going through my mind when I decided I needed to do something drastic to catch up if I wanted any hope of hitting 52/52 at the end of 2010. Thus on Tuesday, 12/21/10, Super Tuesday was born, a day where I would watch movie after movie.

To start Super Tuesday, I plopped down on the couch at 8:00 AM and watched Shades of Ray on Netflix Instant Streaming. Shades of Ray was originally recommended to me back in the earliest days of Tuesday Night Movies by my uncle and again by a friend. I said I’d get right on it. Apparently by “right on it” I meant that I would wait until the second to last week of the year to watch it.

I should have watched it sooner. Shades of Ray is a great romantic comedy, possibly the best romantic comedy I’ve seen this year. If you like the TV show Chuck, you’ll probably like Shades of Ray as well. Zachary Levi basically plays a slightly smoother version of Chuck. Ray is Chuck minus the video game geekery and with a slightly darker skin tone. Ray even has a Morgan Grimes-esque sidekick in the form of his roommate and best friend Sal. I guess the casting of Joshua Gomez as Sal would have made things too eerily similar for Chuck fans.

Also like Chuck, Ray has both a blonde and a brunette vying for his affection.

In case this blog has a Secret Santa, I really, really want the pink shirt that both Ray and Sal buy from Lloyd from Entourage.

Brian George is batting 1.000 with me. First in his most famous role, as Babu Bhatt in one of the most memorable Seinfeld episodes ever, then as Raj’s father on my current favorite TV show The Big Bang Theory and now in Shades of Ray. Researching this post, I was surprised to find out he was born in Israel to Jewish parents and immigrated to India as a child. The second thing I was surprised to discover was just how many things he’s been in over the years. He’s the textbook example of a working actor, with 192 screen credits currently on IMDB.

“You’re a very bad man, Jerry Seinfeld! A very, very bad man!”
Classic.

If you’re looking for a funny romantic comedy you haven’t seen yet to watch one night, you’d have a hard time doing better than Shades of Ray. This movie proved to be a great start to Super Tuesday. Time to hit the theaters!

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On The Couch #49: The Iron Giant

Some things I like: comic books, superheroes, robots, cartoons. How have I never seen The Iron Giant? It makes no sense. I loved The Incredibles and knew that Brad Bird also directed The Iron Giant, but I never sought out to it until now.

I was browsing Netflix’s streaming selection, looking for something under two hours to watch when I came across The Iron Giant. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like this movie, so I started it up.

For some reason, I thought The Iron Giant was about 10 years older than its 1999 release date. I though incorrectly that the movie came out in 1990. When I heard Jennifer Anniston’s voice as Hogarth’s mother, I thought “Wow, this is her first big movie, not Leprechaun.” But I was wrong. I’m still trying to figure out why I thought the movie came out much earlier. Maybe it’s because I remember seeing it in one of those bulky, oversized, plastic VHS cases that I associate with the 1990s.

WANT!

I recognized Harry Connick Jr and Jennifer Anniston’s voices quickly, but for the whole movie I couldn’t figure out who played the General. The voice was so familiar, but I couldn’t place it at all. It wasn’t until the credits rolled that I found it was Frasier’s dad, John Mahoney. And Vin Diesel was the voice of The Iron Giant? What the..?!

I could feel the tears welling up twice during The Iron Giant. The first time was when The Iron Giant became afraid of his own destructive capabilities and ran away. The second was when The Iron Giant flew up into the sky to stop the missile.

Wow, that movie was awesome. How has there never been a sequel?

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On The Couch #48: Charlie St. Cloud

SPOILER WARNING: If you haven’t seen Charlie St. Cloud yet, and your desire to see it isn’t just based on wanting to ogle Zac Efron, you might want to come back to this post later. If you’ve seen the movie, only want to see it to ogle Zac Efron or have no interest in seeing it, than please come right in!

If your interest in Charlie St. Cloud was based purely on ogling Zac Efron, you should really check out the deleted scenes. The first one answers the question on everyone’s mind during the movie, namely “How has Charlie St. Cloud stayed so buff these last five years?” The scene is nothing but a tank-topped Zac Efron doing pull-ups, bicep calls and jumping rope. I feel like this scene was filmed just for the deleted scenes, to give all the squealing girls who saw Charlie St. Cloud in theaters a reason to buy the DVD.

Everyone knows this is why you wanted to see Charlie St. Cloud. You might as well admit it.

I was perfectly content for Charlie St. Cloud to just have flipped his lid when his brother died. He plays catch with this dead brother every day and eventually has to choose between his fantasy construct or his new, real, live love.

But wait! Everything you knew was a lie! His imaginary brother and dead military friend? Actual ghosts! His live girlfriend? Also a ghost! Say what? It’s true. I have it on good authority that during the premiere of Charlie St. Cloud, director Burr Steers yelled “M. Night Shyamalan ain’t got shit on me!”

Once you’ve wrapped your head around those twists, another one spins you around. Despite appearing to Charlie as a ghost, his girlfriend Tess isn’t dead! Like Cary Elwes in The Princess Bride, she’s only mostly dead. And if I learned anything from The Princess Bride, being mostly dead means she’s still a little alive. Charlie and company sail out to save her, aided by Charlie’s brother who points out Tess’s location like a signal flare on his way to heaven! Crazy!

I got that same medal on a Carnival cruise. What’s the matter, St. Cloud? Not good enough for the ship on a stick trophy?
Donal Logue plays Tess’s sailing coach. I really liked Donal Logue in Grounded for Life and The Tao of Steve. I can’t believe how much weight he’s lost since the last time I’ve seen him in something. He looks completely different now. Good job, Donal.

Remarkably, I enjoyed Charlie St. Cloud more than this synopsis might lead you to believe. But I did. It’s true. I liked that it wasn’t just a story about crazy Charlie who imagines his dead brother and how Charlie’s mind is saved by Tess’s love. And I’m enjoying it more after the fact, because I really love explaining twist after twist to my friends.

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On The Couch #47: Fred Claus

It was a two-fer of Vince Vaughn movies on Saturday. First I caught early Vince Vaughn in Rudy and then I watched some more recent Vince Vaughn in Fred Claus.

What Fred Claus really wants for Christmas is to look once more like he did in Rudy.

When I was taking screenwriting classes, I had the bright idea that the best movie to write from a purely financial standpoint would be a Christmas movie. If it’s any good, it will have good sales year after year on DVD and be syndicated to kingdom come. Write a hit Christmas movie and then sit back and let the royalty checks pour in every December.

The idea I came up with in class was for a movie about Santa’s brother. The guy would be the opposite of Santa in every way possible and would have the goal of ruining Christmas, like the Grinch, but on a worldwide scale. I never got past a paragraph long story idea for it. The makers of Fred Claus did a much better job with the Santa’s brother concept than my paltry idea could ever hope to achieve. It’s a very cute Christmas movie and I really enjoyed watching it.

I think one of Fred Claus’s strengths is that it made Fred a sympathetic character right from the start. Young Nicholas Claus is very similar to Own Wilson in Little Fockers. He means well and is always doing good deeds, but he doesn’t quite get how his actions, altruistic as they may be, hurt those closest to him. In Little Fockers, it was Owen Wilson unintentionally screwing over Ben Stiller. In Fred Claus, it’s young Santa Claus screwing over his big brother Fred.

I’m amazed Mrs. Claus is cool with Elizabeth Banks’s low-cut uniform.

If you’re looking for a good Christmas comedy that you can watch around the kids, you’d do well with Fred Claus.