Tag Archives: Angelika

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At The Theater 2011 #1: Happythankyoumoreplease

I saw 52 movies in the movie theater last year and I’m just getting to the movie theater for the first time this year! How is that possible? This has been a seriously long break from the theater. Except for taking in The Fighter for a second time (because The Fighter is that good), catching a free screening of Happythankyoumoreplease at the Angelika was the first time I’ve been to a movie theater since seeing Tangled on New Year’s Eve. That’s 62 days without seeing a new movie! The only good movies out at the beginning of this year seemed to be the best of last year, so it doesn’t look like I’ve missed much.
The poster and trailer for Happythankyoumoreplease couldn’t have tried harder to get me to think this movie should have been titled Garden State 2: Across the Hudson. Written, directed and starring the lead actor of a popular sitcom? Check. A soundtrack heavy on indie music? Check. A protagonist that needs to find his way in the world as well as his true love? Double check.

But watching Happythankyoumoreplease, it becomes apparent that the similarities between it and Garden State are mostly superficial. This news will either be a cause of joy or sorrow for you, depending on your view of Garden State, a movie which I’ve noticed people tend to have only extreme feelings about.

I enjoyed Happythankyoumoreplease, but my main complaint about the movie is that I felt that it would have worked better if it wasn’t an ensemble piece. The most interesting storylines in Happythankyoumoreplease are Josh Radnor’s character Sam’s relationships with prospective love Mississippi (Kate Mara) and with pseudo-little brother Rasheen (Michael Algieri). If these are the A and B stories of the movie, then I would call the Annie (Malin Akerman) and Sam #2 (Tony Hale) love story the C storyline and the Mary Catherine (Zoe Kazan) and Carlos (Pablo Schreiber) story the D story.

Malin Akerman proves she doesn’t need hair to be pretty.

Normally, I’m fine with ensemble movies and TV shows about three couples (Traffic Light and Perfect Couples are two of my favorite new shows), but I think the addition of the fourth story on top of them is just too much. Out of the four storylines, I thought that the Mary Catherine/Carlos story could have been cut. At the same time, I thought Zoe Kazan was great in this movie, and some of the best dialogue appears here, specifically Mary Catherine’s and Carlos’s New York vs. Los Angeles argument.

During that NY vs. LA argument and at some other points in Happythankyoumoreplease, I couldn’t help but think that the characters were soliloquizing Josh Radnor’s thoughts on life. But without access to Josh Radnor, that’s just theorizing on my part.

But we’ve all heard the NY vs. LA argument before, either in movies or conversations with our friends, so dropping that in favor of giving more time to the movie’s most unique story, Sam’s accidental and illegal adoption of Rasheen.

LA’s trump card: The Double-Double.

Another argument to drop the D storyline is that it costs Kate Mara screen time, who I thought was the best part of Happythankyoumoreplease. She played her character Mississippi with a combination of hope and world weariness that I’ve seen all too often among anyone in New York with dreams for themselves that haven’t been delivered yet.

happythankyoumorekatemaraplease

Josh Radnor’s sitcom, How I Met Your Mother, is often shortened to HIMYM in print and I have a feeling that he’s going to become part of another acronym with HTYMP. Let’s end this era of initializing titles. When you buy a ticket for Happythankyoumoreplease, be sure to say the whole title, and say it without any spaces between the words as author Josh Radnor intended.

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At The Theater #7: The Last Station

Walking into the theater at The Angelika, I didn’t know anything about The Last Station other than James McAvoy stars in it. When I sat down, and was told it was about Tolstoy, I reaction was “Really?” Inside I was thinking “How did I let this happen? Great, time to prep for something boring and pretentious.” But as it turns out I need not have worried. The Last Station is a surprisingly humorous movie, especially considering that it’s a movie about Tolstoy. The movie features what will probably be the funniest sex scene of James McAvoy’s career. I did think it was weird that my companions and I were the only ones laughing during some scenes. Maybe the other theatergoers were also prepped for something boring and pretentious, and no amount of humor was going to rob them of that.

The scene right before this picture is worth the price of admission.

Christopher Plummer plays Tolstoy. This is the second movie this year that I thought Christopher Plummer was Ian McKellen. This is also the second movie where upon finding out he wasn’t Ian McKellen, I thought he was Christopher Lee. For some reason, I forgot Chrisopher Lee’s last name and thought Christopher Lee and Christopher Plummer were the same person. “He looks so different than when he played Saruman,” I’d think. “It must be because his beard is so much scragglier here than when it was so nicely combed in Lord of The Rings.” Because I thought Christopher Lee and Christopher Plummer were the same person, I found it very funny when one of the characters with a General Zod-like beard was on screen at the same time as Tolstoy. Luckily someone that looks like General Zod is funny no matter who is starring alongside him. It turns out not only is Christopher Plummer not Ian McKellen or Christopher Lee, he hasn’t played a wizard in any of the Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings movies. How is this possible?

Not Gandalf.

Helen Mirren plays Tolstoy’s wife Sofya. Helen Mirren is turning 65 this year. Is there any actress who is sexier at 65 than this woman? Good looking for her age seems like an insult. The woman is good looking.
♫Sexy and 65/My little Tolstoy queen♫

Beards play a very big role in The Last Station. If you’re wondering how important a male character is in the movie, just check the size of his beard. Tolstoy sports something that is Santa Claus meets ZZ Top, so it’s no wonder that everyone hangs on his every word. Paul Giamatti plays Vladamir Chertkov, Tolstoy’s Head Sycophant in Charge (HSIC). It’s only natural that he has the next most complicated beard, even having a line “There was a problem with the wax,” when questioned about the state of his moustache. James McAvoy’s Valentin Bulgakov is the new guy at the compound, so it makes sense that his beard is understated, about the same size as the General Zod clone who is of a similar rank as him in the Tolstoy compound.

“Son of Jor-El. Kneel before Tolstoy.”
This is not Christopher Plummer, but this beard does make an appearance in The Last Station.
I saw The Last Station at The Angelika Film Center. Like The Brooklyn Heights Cinema, The Angelika gets an A for their popcorn. Movies are $12.50 there, the same price as the Regal in Union Square. Is $12.50 the current standard price of movies in Manhattan? Have I been spoiled by Brooklyn, where $10 seemed steep just a couple of weeks ago?

The Last Station is at the bottom of my list of movies I’ve seen at the theater so far in 2010. But it’s a good movie and I recommend seeing it. I’ve just been lucky to see plenty of good movies so far this year. Hopefully this keeps up.