Romance

Rabbit Hole

  • Title: Rabbit Hole
  • IMDB: link

Is there anything worse than the loss of a child? Adapted from his play, writer David Lindsay-Abaire gives us the tale of a couple struggling with the death of their young son Danny (Phoenix List) eight months after his death.

On the outside the lives of Howie (Aaron Eckhart) and Becca (Nicole Kidman) seem normal enough. But we can tell something is wrong. We slowly realize there is a missing member of this family whose absence is not only felt in every frame but is slowly destroying the couple from within.

For 90 minutes we follow Howie and Becca through their pain, various coping techniques, and watch each of them struggle with their inability to move beyond such a devastating loss. Director John Cameron Mitchell‘s film is not a fun hour-and-a-half by any means. This version of Lindsay-Abaire’s play is full of raw emotion just under (and often boiling over) the surface.

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I Love You Phillip Morris

  • Title: I Love You Phillip Morris
  • IMDB: link

“I’m gonna live my life my way. Be the real me. Buy what I want. Do what I want. Fuck who I want. My way. I’m gonna be a fag! A big fag!!!”

It’s odd that I Love You Phillip Morris is based on the true experiences of con man Steven Jay Russell because if the film has one major flaw it’s how cartoonish and unbelievable some of the events appear on-screen.

As the film opens we are introduced to Steve (Jim Carrey), a respected police officer, with a loving wife (Leslie Mann), and a dark secret – he’s gay. A car crash causes Steve to reexamine his life, come out of the closet and live his life how he’s always wanted – the most stereotypical gay man ever caught on film.

An unforeseen problem arises when his new expensive lifestyle causes Steve to look for alternate sources of income by becoming a professional con man. This new career will eventually land him behind bars.

While in prison Steve meets the naive and trusting Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor). They begin a doomed love affair, both in and out of prison, centered around Steve’s inability to stop lying and Phillip’s blind acceptance of those lies.

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Morning Glory

  • Title: Morning Glory
  • IMDB: link

Sometimes, I suppose, some people just need to watch a nice movie where nice people end up in nice places, despite not nice situations. Hollywood knows this, and they know it well. They crank out these nice movies like a long, processed line of uninterupted sausage, knowing it’ll find some sort of audience. It doesn’t matter if they’re using Grade A or Grade F meat, because this stuff is proven to do some business.

This can all be said of Morning Glory, a movie about a nice girl that, in the end, get’s everything nice that she deserves. That nice girl is played by Rachel McAdams, a young up-and-get’m who lands a job as Executive Producer on a morning news show ala Today, only one dying a slow, ratings-denied death. Things are bad enough before she takes a chance and hires Ted Koppel approximate Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford), as a co-anchor. It turns out he hates soft news, and doesn’t care if the show stays on the air. Oh no, they might get canceled!

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Pirates, Vegans, and Lesbians. Oh, my!

  • Title: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
  • IMDb: link

Based on the comic series of the same name young Canadian slacker Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) meets the girl of his dreams (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) only to learn he must face-off against, and defeat, all seven of her evil ex’s (Jason SchwartzmanChris Evans, Brandon RouthSatya Bhabha, Mae Whitman, Keita Saitou, Shota Saito). Director Edgar Wright‘s take on the comic is an awful lot of fun and holds up well to multiple viewings. For more check out my original review of the film.

The Blu-ray version of the movie is loaded with extras including multiple audio commentary tracks, featurettes on the making of the film as well as its look and sound, alternative footage, deleted scenes (with director commentary), bloopers, along with standard BD Live extras, a copy of the film on DVD, and the ability to stream either Pitch Black or Tremors for free.

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Going the Distance

  • Title: Going the Distance
  • IMDB: link

Romantic comedies are far from my favorite genre. The cream of the crop are passable at best, and for the rest, well, just take a look at Kate Hudson’s filmography sometime. Perhaps it’s because the bar is set so low that Going the Distance finds a way to be a halfway decent, and at times even funny, entry into the genre.

The story focuses on the burgeoning relationship between low-level record company exec Garret (Justin Long) and waitress Erin (Drew Barrymore) which is put on indefinite hold when Erin’s internship working for a major metropolitan newspaper ends and she leaves New York for San Fransisco.

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