i love movies. sadly, my schedule doesn't allow me to see them as often as i'd like. neither does my checking account for that matter. but occasionally i like to catch up on movies i have been wanting to see by spending an entire day at the theater taking in as many as i can. luckily, there is a second run theater in my town that offers movies for $3.99 so i'll wait til they are showing multiple movies i'd like to see and see them then instead of paying $9.25 to see them when they first come out.
today was one of those days spent at the theater and what a great day it was. i saw an excellent lineup of movies. i was hoping to take in 5 movies today, but had to settle for 4 as my last movie didn't let out in time to get into the 5th before it started so i'll have to catch 'tinker tailor soldier spy' another time. i did get to see 'my week with marilyn', 'young adult', 'moneyball', and 'the help.' so without further ado, my very poorly thought out reviews of these movies:
"My Week With Marilyn"
i have never seen an entire marilyn monroe movie, but now i want to. i have seen a lot of clips and several interviews she gave as well as seen multiple photographs of her. i grew up with a father who loves her and even has a life-sized cut out of her in his basement. based on my limited knowledge of ms. monroe's ability to act and her actual persona, i spent a lot of the movie in complete awe of michelle williams ability to become her. i was completely captivated by her. and eddie redmayne isn't getting nearly enough recognition for his role as colin clark. when the two of them were on screen together, everything and everyone else faded into the background and that included amazing talent such as kenneth branaugh and dame judi dench. i tend to get bored quickly with movies like 'marilyn', but i didn't check my watch once and would have loved for the movie to actually be longer. i have now seen 3 of this years academy award nominees for best actress and michelle williams would totally get my vote. i would recommend this movie to everyone.
"Young Adult"
i have a weakness for all things diablo cody. i loved 'juno' and 'the united states of tara'. so it was with great anticipation that i went to see 'young adult'. and i was not disappointed. this movie isn't for everyone. it doesn't have a fairy tale ending. it isn't flashy and full of special effects. in fact, it's kind of sad and pathetic...or at least the characters are. but it is real. and it is funny in a dark kind of way in all the right spots. charlize theron was great in the lead role and i always enjoy patrick wilson, patton oswalt and elizabeth reaser. theron and oswalt both played completely messed up characters that it would make sense to stay away from but i just wanted to hug. wilson and reaser were the 'normal' people in the movie...and in reaser's case, the bit of fresh air from all the mopiness. like i said, 'young adult' isn't a movie for everyone...especially if you like your movies to have happily-ever-after endings, but if you enjoy indy-type movies, definitely check this one out.
"Moneyball"
i love baseball and i love baseball statistics so this movie was my idea of a nearly perfect movie. throw in brad pitt and it becomes the perfect movie. i remember the season of baseball featured in the movie. i remember the confusion people had over how oakland was playing baseball. i've read excerpt's from the book 'moneyball' when it first came out and would love to sit down and read the whole thing. and i love the idea of the crap taken out of picking a team and just going with the good old fashion idea of numbers. it appeals to me because i love numbers. and i hate crap. i don't care how a baseball player (or any athlete) acts off the field. just that he can put up consistent numbers and help my team win. and that's what oakland's gm, billy beane, and numbers genius, peter brand, try to do in 'moneyball.' beane has no money to replace some important players who have left due to free agency and he has no way to get more money. no money, means no high priced talent. enter brand and his belief in a method of numbers only baseball. does this crazy concept win oakland the world series? watch the movie to see. watch the movie because pitt and jonah hill (who plays brand) are great. watch the movie because aaron sorkin knows how to write a script that should be boring, but isn't. shoot, sorkin made the pretty uninteresting story of computer programmers very interesting. he's done the same here with a pretty bland story of baseball statistics. and according the some of the people in the theater with me, you don't have to like baseball to enjoy this movie. the baseball is just an added bonus.
"The Help"
i watched 3/4 of this movie over the summer when it first came out, but due to a scheduling conflict didn't get to see the end. i didn't want to pay full price to try and see it again in theaters so figured i'd just get it from netflix when it came out on dvd. but due to it's oscar campaign it is back in theaters so i got to watch the entire film today. i enjoyed this movie. but i enjoyed the first 3/4 of the movie i had already seen and though i sat through the last 1/4 this time, for some reason i didn't enjoy it as much as rewatching the first 3/4. there was something about the last 1/4 that seemed unnecessary and rushed. i have also read the book and in all honesty if i had to recommend the movie or the book to someone, i'd tell them to watch the movie. i found the book to be lacking the heart that the actors brought to the movie. all the best parts of the book made it into the movie and as anyone with tv and the internet can tell, the acting was fabulous as is evident by the multiple oscar nominations. but while i enjoyed the performances of the three ladies nominated, it was bryce dallas howard that i felt made the movie. her performance as hilly holbrook was stole every scene she was in i thought and when she wasn't stealing the scene, sissy spacek playing her mother did. while the performances in this movie was good and definitely deserve recognition from the various award shows, i didn't feel it deserved an oscar nomination for best picture, especially since it beat out 'my week with marilyn.' to me, a best picture nominee has to have something for man and woman alike and 'the help' is just a little too sentimental for that. it's a movie for women.
now if you only see one of these four movies, make sure it's 'my week with marilyn'. it was the first one i saw today and stayed my favorite of the day through 3 other great movies.
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