And The Award Goes To...

 

I have a habit of looking to see what movies will be coming out way before their release date and when I ran across this one, the previews had me counting down the days until the release.  I even went as far as putting this movie up on my Facebook page as the must-see movie of the summer.  Granted, I wasn't too excited about the sequels that were set to come out this summer (aside from The Hangover), as you can probably guess from my lack of summer movie posts.  I will say however, that I think the industry saved up most of its energy for August, and plans to end the summer with a bang! At least that is my feeling with this one,...this movie is a winner! 

Crazy, Stupid, Love is a film about Cal (Steve Carell), who while going through a divorce, after his wife cheats on him, reinvents himself with the help of a ladies man, Jacob (Ryan Gosling).  

The summer is finally here!! And we all know what that means...warm weather, barbecues, beautiful beaches, cool pools, and summer blockbusters!  The movie industry loves to put out some of the hit- makers that will earn big bucks during the summer months and one sure fire way to draw people into the theaters (besides the air-conditioning)...sequels.  There are a few movies that I have been looking forward to the summer bringing, and to kick things off I went to see The Hangover Part II.

I hadn't seen the first installment of The Hangover in theaters but watched it on DVD.  Having seen the first part, I was excited to see The Hangover Part II and see what the guys, Phil (Bradley Cooper), Stu (Ed Helms), Alan (Zach Galifianakis), and Doug (Justin Bartha) had gotten themselves into this time.  I found The Hangover to be incredibly entertaining but not quite as funny as most people thought the first part to be.  It did, however, make an impact on me for being so unpredictable and original.  If you know the story, then you know in the first part Doug is getting married on the day following his bachelor party (which most people do) however in this case the guys have a crazy and wild night in Vegas and wake up with the worst hangover in history.  When they wake up the next morning they can't remember a single thing from the night before and worst of all...the groom is missing.  So they spend the movie trying to piece together what happened which they hope leads them to finding Doug. 

The great thing about this movie is that as they learn what happened the night before, so does the audience.  The audience is brought along for the wild and crazy ride!

Part II has basically the same premise as the first one except this time Stu is getting married to Lauren (Jaime Chung) and the movie is set in Thailand.  This time the madness ensues in Bangkok when Phil, Stu, and Alan lose Lauren's brother, Teddy (Mason Lee) after a night that starts out calmly around a bonfire on the beach.  So again the guys try to retrace their steps and fill in the blanks to find Teddy before the wedding.  I thought the film was entertaining and full of laughs.  I personally felt I laughed more this time around but that this time the film seemed to fly by and was perhaps shorter.  A sequel often has a hard time living up to the success of the original but I think this one managed to come pretty close. 

A great way to start the summer! See it! Check out the trailer here:

The Stoning of Soraya M. is an incredibly gripping film based on the true story of an Iranian woman falsely accused of adultery by her husband, where the punishment is death.  This is all so that her husband would be able to divorce her and marry a fourteen year old girl.  

This story is based off of the book The Stoning of Soraya M.,  written by a French-Iranian journalist, Freidoune Sahebjam.  When Freidoune's car breaks down in a small village in Iran he is approached by a woman named Zahra, Soraya's aunt, who tells him Soraya's story.  This book is actually banned in Iran today.  

Although, some of the scenes in this film are simply horrific, this movie is worth attempting to sit through because it is heart-wrenching, intense, important and meaningful.  To think that women are treated as less than nothing in Iran is simply unbelievable.  Soraya's own father shunned her and was the very one to throw the first stone.  Her own sons also took part in the stoning of their mother.  It was truly astonishing to see how cruel people can be to one another and how little regard some people have for the human race.  One person thinking that they are better than another is how the world ends up confused and in total disarray. 

I was blown away by the strength of Soraya's aunt, Zahra, who did not let fear cripple her and protected her niece as much as she could, speaking out against what she knew to be wrong, to the people who were in charge of this false accusation.  She is an incredible person to have told her story to Freidoune Sahebjam so that the world would know the truth and be able to see what happens to these women.

You may recognize Shohreh Aghdashloo, who plays Zahra, and Jim Caviezel who plays Sahebjam in the film.  They did a phenomenal job as well as Mozhan Marnó who plays Soraya.  To see this woman's story played out on onscreen...there simply are no words.  This film, in Farsi with English subtitles, really sheds a light on how the women are regarded as less than nothing and how stoning is still practiced around the world, which is truly sad to think.  

The Stoning of Soraya M. was recognized at the 2009 Critics Choice Awards, The Los Angeles Film Festival, and The Toronto Film Festival. 

Here are links to the movie and the book courtesy of Amazon.com:

Check out the trailer here:

I saw The Green Hornet this past weekend in 3-D.  To get right to the point, I have to say, I think it was a bit mediocre.  There were aspects of the movie that I enjoyed but overall I think there were a few things that needed to be adjusted.  The movie is about a young guy named Britt Reid, played by Seth Rogen, who comes from a wealthy background being that his father is the head of the city's newspaper.  His father dies pretty early on in the film from a bee sting and Britt realizes that the city needs some cleaning up and therefore comprises the role of a superhero named The Green Hornet.   Britt fights crime with his father's assistant who becomes his sidekick, Kato, played by Jay Chou.  The catch is, the two not really knowing anything much about being superheroes, decide to pose as villains in order to throw off the bad guys.  They rely on Cameron Diaz's character, Lenore, who is Britt's secretary to unknowingly guide them along the way.

The fighting scenes were great! In the original series Kato, was played by Bruce Lee so one can expect the fighting scenes to live up to a certain standard that was set by the original series.  And Seth Rogen allowed for a few laughs in the film.  I will give the movie that.  

But what was most disappointing about the film was the villain, Chudnofsky, played by Christoph Waltz.  Action movies need a good villain who is bad enough to make the audience squirm in their seats.  Take The Dark Knight where Heath Ledger undeniably played a terrific villain as The Joker, or Gary Oldman who played Stansfield, a dirty cop, in The Professional--amazing!  The point is, an action film is only as good or as bad as its villain.  The strength of the villain measures the strength of the hero.  A good villain needs to be a little sinister, a little crazy, and a lot smart.  I think the movie would have done better had it stuck with James Franco as the villain, who made an appearance in one of the first few scenes.  His character seemed better suited for the role.  This really made the film more of a miss to me because I felt like Chudnofsky was not threatening enough.  If this were a reality, the police could have easily taken him down on their own, and if that's the case, who needs a superhero?

I am really excited about this film, as I was going to see it the last time that I was at the movies, but unfortunately chose to go with How Do You Know instead.  This time, I had actually set out to see Black Swan but it was sold out.  So it seems it was meant to be, The Fighter and I were meant to be united, and what a delightful film experience it was.  

First off, the acting here is really superb! The cast put on phenomenal performances!  The nominations are endless...the Golden Globes, the Critics' Choice Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and I am sure the Oscars, are well deserved and I hope it picks up the win in each of the categories that it is listed under.  The Fighter has heart! It has depth! It has meaning!  

This movie is based on a true story about what happens when you let others get in the way of your success.  Micky, played by Mark Wahlberg, is a young fighter trying to make it in the ring but with his crack addicted brother, Dicky, played by Christian Bale, ultimately sabotaging his chances, he fails every time.   

Excellent story! Incredible cast! This is a great movie! Well worth the accolades that it has already received and will continue to receive in the coming weeks, I'm sure.