I Love You Man

Movie: I Love You Man

Genre: Comedy

Rating: **** 4N

This movie was pretty funny.  There were parts that slowed down at the end, but the build up of the rest of the movie was great enough to support this slight dive in comic relief at the end.  The commentary on the male relationship and it’s significance was insightful.  Every woman who’s been upset at their boyfriend or husband for spending too much time with their “boys” should watch this film. 

Of course Paul Rudd and Jason Segel were amazingly funny.  I think they are my favorite duo since Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in Wedding Crashers.  For a good time with friends or a date, I would highly recommend this film.

Fast & Furious

Movie: Fast & Furious

Genre: Action

Rating: ***** 5 N

This movie was amazing.  It was as good, if not better than the original.  Albeit, there were a few sequels in between that were heinous to say the least…like Tokyo Drift.  I mean, what was that about.  With no repeating characters, for the exception of the five second appearance of Dominic played by Vin Diesel, all the characters were new and horrible.  It was simply another drag racing movie with very little drag racing.

This movie, however, goes back to the basics.  The original team is back!!! Even though the death of one character really hurt me, it proved to be vital to the rest of the story line.  The majority of the cars are domestic with amazing modifications which I can only imagine a true car lover cooked up.  Vin Diesel gets behind his Charger, which will make a lot of viewers happy.  There is also a great deal of driving involved in this film, which made me a very happy girl

Overall, this is a must see film.  And for all those politicians who say that this movie will increase collisions in the streets, I only have one word : Apachaaaaa!!! Fine, that’s not a real word, but why should I use logic and intelligence to counter argue a benighted assertion proposed by such people.

Update

Hello everyone,
I’ve been away to Cuba and as such have been unable to put any posts up.  And shortly after returning from my trip I got pretty sick and have been bed-ridden

However, I’m glad to say that I’m going out with the girls tonight to watch Duplicity.  I am uber excited since Julia Roberts is my favorite actress…she has class, beauty, sense of humour and of course is an amazing actress.  I am expecting nothing short of excellence!!!

Side note: This Saturday is my 1 year anniversary with my boyfriend.  He’s planning on making me a romantic dinner at his place which is where we first met.  To say I’m excited about it is an understatement. He is the first man that I’ve actually fell for and he has fulfilled my every expectation and much more.  He’s done numerous romantic things these last 365 days…one being his post on his blog: http://dsight.wordpress.com/2009/03/27/co-op-in-life. Reading this, you’ll understand why I love him so so so much.

FU: Fired Up

Movie: Fired Up

Genre: Comedy

Rating: ***3N

This is NOT another cheerleader movie.  In fact, it is actually really funny. It makes fun of typical cheerleader movies that take themselves much too seriously.  The jokes are funny and some homosexual references are absolutely hilarious.  I found myself slapping my leg in two particular scenes that sent the entire theater roaring.
This is a feel good movie that should be watched by anyone who needs a good laugh!!!

Street Fighter” The Legend of Chun-Li

Movie: Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li

Genre: Video Game

Rating: *** 3N

Based on the very popular video games, this movie aimed to bring entertainment while explaining the origins of Chun-Li. However, as my boyfriend pointed out, this movie had very little to do with the video games.  The only similarities were the names and perhaps the depiction of Gen.

I enjoyed the first Street Fighter movie, which led me to be very excited, and inevitably disappointed, by this one.   But don’t be disappointed, the very hot Kristin Kreuk showed off some exceptional fighting moves.  With the help of technology and camera angles, Chun-Li stayed true to her character and paralleled some of her fighting moves from the video games.

As a Street Fighter movie, this film failed miserably.  But as a movie that had nothing to do with the game, I enjoyed the fighting scenes greatly and was entertained.

The Wrestler

Movie: The Wrestler

Genre: Drama

Rating: ** 2N

Okay…so the movie was bad.  Perhaps not as bad as I expected, but bad.  It was a very low budget film which was obvious due to the cheap settings and basic filming techniques.  Mickey Rourke’s massive facial reconstruction was just as bad as I expected, but surprisingly didn’t impact my viewing experience…I thought I would be annoyed by it a lot more than I actually was.

The storyline was simple…an individual who refused to let go of a dream despite old age and injury. This is your everyday “guy down on his luck” movie.  I wouldn’t recommend it, unless you have nothing else to watch.

What to watch next

Okay, sooooo here’s the deal.  My boyfriend wants to watch the Wrestler, which I’m not too excited to see. Watching a movie with a washed out wrestler with way too much surgery is not my idea of a good time.  I understand that there are numerous positive reviews, but none have been able to convince me to watch it.

However, because I love my boyfriend very much, I agreed to watch it with him on Sat.  Much to my demise (NOT…hehehe) there happened to be a bad storm which forced us to cancel it.  But oddly, I’m not relieved…in fact, I’m more curious than ever to watch the film.  I’m a complex person I know LOL.

So here’s the deal: I will be watching it with the bf on Wed.  Let me know if there’s anything I should watch out for.

Confessions of a Shopaholic

Movie: Confessions of a Shopaholic

Genre: Chick Flick

Rating: *** 3N

Based on a series of books, this film is about a girl who grows up with zero financial responsibility.  She is in debt to a number of credit cards and has a collector chasing her around town. The only thing she seems to be responsible about is ensuring that she knows who the collectors are and finding ways to avoid them. *Not exactly a difficult plot to follow*

This movie was decent in relation to other films of it’s genre that have been released recently.  However, as a comedy in general it’s not great.  All the funny parts were already revealed in the T.V. commercials.  It may have been better had they kept a few of them as a surprise.  Every time I wanted to laugh, I realized that I had already done so at home, as a result, the jokes felt redundant.  Since I didn’t really go in with great expectations, I wasn’t greatly disappointed.

My friend, Atafe, had read the books and commented that the movie didn’t really follow the books.  So for those of you who have read the books, please remember this when watching the film.

Slumdog Millionaire

Movie: Slumdog Millionaire

Genre: Drama

Rating: ***** 5N                                 MUST SEE!!!!

Through a series of events, Jamal finds himself as a contestant on the Indian version of “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”.  He is accused of cheating and sent to jail where he is tortured. He maintains his innocence and the film takes the viewer through Jamal’s life and illustrates how he gained the knowledge to the game’s questions.

This movie is touching, inspiring, honest and heart wrenching.  For those who have seen poverty in a third world country and have had first hand experience of what is like to have nothing but the shirt on your back (and even that isn’t always supplied), this movie was a truthful depiction of the pain that so many suffer everyday, the joy of trivial triumphs and the drive that seems to get you nowhere.

And for those who have only seen such things in movies, this is an eye opening experience of what the rest of the world holds. Being a resident of a first world nation places you in the top 2 percentile of human civilization. That means, that for every 100 people in the world, you are living far better than 98 of them.

There were two messages that this film instated in me 1) if nothing else is achievable, love is…in the end that is all that matters 2) honesty should not be determined by an individuals economic states…despite how often we make this mistake. Watch it, enjoy it, and let me know what you learned from this film.  Would love to hear from you!!!

He’s Just Not That Into You

Movie: He’s Just Not That Into You

Genre: Chick Flick

Rating: **** 4N

This is a great girls-night-out movie.  The film tries to dissect 4 relationships in a blunt and honest manner by taking off all the sugar coating that goes into romantic films.  It also attempts to naturalize the female mentality towards relationships (which hit and missed the mark at different points in the film).

I found the film very funny and entertaining.  There were points where I could identify with different characters or even parallel characters to my friends.  However, as much as I enjoyed it, I felt that there was too much filled into one movie. I mean, each relationship could have had it’s own movie and gone deeper into the female and male psyche.  I would have loved to see more of the male mentality…for instance, Alex’s character has an epiphany where he sees how destructive his cynicism is.  But how does he get there? What motivates him? Why does he end up in love with a girl that he pitied the entire film?

And does anyone else find it ironic that one couple’s marriage is ruined by the fact that the male felt pushed into the marriage and yet the film ends with another couple forcing the male to get married?

I definitely plan on buying this film once it is released in order to sit around the TV with my girls and investigating the characters, motives and claims further.  As someone who is fascinated by the male/female relationship and mentality towards life, relationship and everything else, I found this film invigorating. If you do end up enjoying this film, I would recommend that you read “You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation” by Deborah Tannen, PH.D.