Jamie (Gyllenhaal) has never been the best at anything - well, except for wooing a different woman into his bed every night. It's easy to see why this talent was overshadowed by two doctors and a multi-million dollar businessman in the family. It is his wealthy brother, Josh who suggests Jamie put his selling bravura to a better use and join the world of pharmaceutical sales. And so, he embarks on a journey to small town USA to sell Zoloft to the physician elite. He manages to get his foot in the doors of doctors' offices through the hearts of their easily manipulated secretaries. It is in one such office, as he poses as a shadowing intern to promote the benefits of Zoloft, that he meets the free-spirited and artistic Parkinsons patient, Maggie (Hathaway). In the short time following their meeting Jamie manages to offend and outrage Maggie with the coming to light of his doctor act all while he attempts a shot at acquiring her phone number. She instead storms away and he is left to weasel her phone number out of another secretary with flattery and empty promises.
They meet up in the coffee shop where Maggie works and the two partake in some back and forth banter - touching on Jamie's inability to face the reality of his life and Maggie's woe-is-me complex due to her illness before they rush back to her apartment for an afternoon quickie on Maggie's floor. Afterwards they form a sex-only relationship and agree to expect nothing more from each other. Over the next few days, however, Maggie somehow breaks down Jamie's wildly lustful relationship patterns and he begins to throw phone calls and drop-in dinners into the mix. Despite Maggie's protesting, Jamie continues to pursue more emotional ties with her until she relents and agrees to an actual relationship.
It's a little suspect that Jamie leaves his falandering ways behind within days of meeting Maggie, but since the rest of the film is dependent upon this happening, I'll let it go. Both characters are likeable with little quirks that make the viewer interested. The film tries to go deep, addressing the sacrifice required in loving a person with a serious illness, allowing onseself to experience love in spite of fear, and believing in one's own potential. Their relationship attempts to meet each other's needs and function in the face of insecurities and I can appreciate watching their learning process.
Love and Other Drugs is definitely a chick flick with a little more depth that makes me like it more than the average chick flick. Since every chick flick is complete with "funny" friend LAOD uses Jamie's brother, Josh to function in this role. He is overweight, always messy, and quite vulgar. His presence would not have been missed. While some light humor is necessary amidst the heavier subject matter, the character of Josh is a parody and serves to make his scenes as awkward as possible.
Gyllenhaal and Hathaway are enjoyable to watch and the film makes a good attempt at forming a worthwile relationship for the two. There is a feeling of wanting more from their characters, however, in order to embrace the deeper themes the film throws at us.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
127 Hours
Everyone who goes to see 127 Hours knows that the central character is going to cut his arm off with a dull blade right? Well, I certainly knew that this film would be chronicling the 127 hours Aron Ralston spent with his arm lodged between a canyon wall and a boulder and the steps he took to free himself. I bring this up because it was impossible for me to watch this film without that knowledge affecting my viewing. I sat eyes glued to the screen with nervous anticipation for its duration, awaiting "the scene."
Aron Ralston, hiking-enthusiast-adventure-junkie-extroardinairre, wakes up, takes a shower, ignores his mother's incoming phone call, finds the equipment necessary for a day of hiking (minus his swiss army knife), and leaves town with a few photocopied pages of a hiking guide - alone. It's pretty clear from his off-roading trek into his start point and his almost dance-like movements over the desert topography that he knows this place intimately, a second home. So when he meets two women hiking through, attempting to figure out what direction they need to go, it is only fitting that he offer to guide them and show them the hidden beauty of his home. He takes them on an adventure, shuffling through a canyon wall only slightly wider than their bodies, suspended in air with their hands and feet pushed against the wall in front of them. Ralston pulls his hands and feet away from the canyon wall and drops into the unknown. Awaiting him a few dozen feet down is a refreshing pool, an oasis in the middle of desert. The girls remain suspended, deciding whether to fully trust their crazy adventure guide and experience the same rush and refreshment Ralston offers. They drop and Ralston gets the praise for showing them the heart of the desert - a place they would have never found on their own.
This is who Ralston is. He is the one who takes lost people and sets them straight. He is the one with the knowledge, the insight, the right moves.
He ends up leaving the women and they head off in different directions back to the points from which they started. Weaving in and out of small crevices, testing the strength of the ground he walks on, pausing to look ahead for unstable rock, one knows all his knowledge will not save him from what is to come. The boulder he stands on gives way, his footing is lost and that same boulder he once stood on has pinned his arm against the canyon wall.
The remainder of the film is the story of Ralston's will to survive. With only a rope, a flashlight, a dull knife, a Nalgen full of water and a muffin, the situation looks grim. We see his regret for refusing to pick up his mother's phone call that would have provided at least one person with his location. We see his attempts at making pulleys, shaving off bits of rock, anything to get that boulder to move a few centimeters. Then comes hopelessness, an understanding of his horrific situation and hallucinations of past experiences. He is experiencing ten minutes of sunlight a day and forty degree nights. His fingers have turned grey, mostly certainly dead by this point. With a rescue near impossible and no chance of moving on his own, we see Ralston survive by drinking his own urine and keeping his spirit alive by roleplaying on his videocamera. The dull blade sits on top of the rock and it's coming. The knife too dull to cut through bone forces Ralston to break his arm twice. He then stabs his arm as deep as he can, cutting through muscle, tendon, and wincing at the cut of every nerve. His arm from the elbow down remains lodged between the canyon wall but he is now free to stumble out of the cave into sunlight, eventually encountering two groups of hikers who are able to help him until a helicopter arrives.
I have now heard a lot of people say that anyone in Ralston's situation would have done the same thing. They argue that the will to live gives one the power to do anything to make that happen, that this is inherent human nature. I would like to believe that with a lack of water, sleep, and the experience of hallucinations egging me on, I too would be able to sever my arm in order to live. I just don't think I could. Maybe the type of person who has it in him to cut his arm is the type of person who goes hiking in the middle of nowhere by himself with no one knowing. I'm not that type of person either.
Anyway, Danny Boyle directed a beautiful film for more reasons than the prinstine landscape he was able to capture. The way the days roll into each other, the blur of relationships attached to the thought of experiences that would never be given a chance to exist, the cringe of pain from the cutting of each nerve as the viewer is invinted directly into Ralston's arm. James Franco nails the spirit of a lone ranger - a man too busy on a quest for adventure to be bothered with precautionary measures, a man who believes himself to be the precautionary measure for the random lost hiker. The emotional journey he travels through regret, hopelessness, fear, humility, courage, relief is conveyed believably the whole way through. His eventual Oscar nomination will be deserved for playing a man at the high of his life to the very lowest in a mere 127 hours time.
Aron Ralston, hiking-enthusiast-adventure-junkie-extroardinairre, wakes up, takes a shower, ignores his mother's incoming phone call, finds the equipment necessary for a day of hiking (minus his swiss army knife), and leaves town with a few photocopied pages of a hiking guide - alone. It's pretty clear from his off-roading trek into his start point and his almost dance-like movements over the desert topography that he knows this place intimately, a second home. So when he meets two women hiking through, attempting to figure out what direction they need to go, it is only fitting that he offer to guide them and show them the hidden beauty of his home. He takes them on an adventure, shuffling through a canyon wall only slightly wider than their bodies, suspended in air with their hands and feet pushed against the wall in front of them. Ralston pulls his hands and feet away from the canyon wall and drops into the unknown. Awaiting him a few dozen feet down is a refreshing pool, an oasis in the middle of desert. The girls remain suspended, deciding whether to fully trust their crazy adventure guide and experience the same rush and refreshment Ralston offers. They drop and Ralston gets the praise for showing them the heart of the desert - a place they would have never found on their own.
This is who Ralston is. He is the one who takes lost people and sets them straight. He is the one with the knowledge, the insight, the right moves.
He ends up leaving the women and they head off in different directions back to the points from which they started. Weaving in and out of small crevices, testing the strength of the ground he walks on, pausing to look ahead for unstable rock, one knows all his knowledge will not save him from what is to come. The boulder he stands on gives way, his footing is lost and that same boulder he once stood on has pinned his arm against the canyon wall.
The remainder of the film is the story of Ralston's will to survive. With only a rope, a flashlight, a dull knife, a Nalgen full of water and a muffin, the situation looks grim. We see his regret for refusing to pick up his mother's phone call that would have provided at least one person with his location. We see his attempts at making pulleys, shaving off bits of rock, anything to get that boulder to move a few centimeters. Then comes hopelessness, an understanding of his horrific situation and hallucinations of past experiences. He is experiencing ten minutes of sunlight a day and forty degree nights. His fingers have turned grey, mostly certainly dead by this point. With a rescue near impossible and no chance of moving on his own, we see Ralston survive by drinking his own urine and keeping his spirit alive by roleplaying on his videocamera. The dull blade sits on top of the rock and it's coming. The knife too dull to cut through bone forces Ralston to break his arm twice. He then stabs his arm as deep as he can, cutting through muscle, tendon, and wincing at the cut of every nerve. His arm from the elbow down remains lodged between the canyon wall but he is now free to stumble out of the cave into sunlight, eventually encountering two groups of hikers who are able to help him until a helicopter arrives.
I have now heard a lot of people say that anyone in Ralston's situation would have done the same thing. They argue that the will to live gives one the power to do anything to make that happen, that this is inherent human nature. I would like to believe that with a lack of water, sleep, and the experience of hallucinations egging me on, I too would be able to sever my arm in order to live. I just don't think I could. Maybe the type of person who has it in him to cut his arm is the type of person who goes hiking in the middle of nowhere by himself with no one knowing. I'm not that type of person either.
Anyway, Danny Boyle directed a beautiful film for more reasons than the prinstine landscape he was able to capture. The way the days roll into each other, the blur of relationships attached to the thought of experiences that would never be given a chance to exist, the cringe of pain from the cutting of each nerve as the viewer is invinted directly into Ralston's arm. James Franco nails the spirit of a lone ranger - a man too busy on a quest for adventure to be bothered with precautionary measures, a man who believes himself to be the precautionary measure for the random lost hiker. The emotional journey he travels through regret, hopelessness, fear, humility, courage, relief is conveyed believably the whole way through. His eventual Oscar nomination will be deserved for playing a man at the high of his life to the very lowest in a mere 127 hours time.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Oscar Picks
Entertainment Weekly's Dave Karger makes his early Oscar picks.
Sasha Stone writes her thoughts on the race here. In general I really like reading Sasha Stone's opinions on the Oscar race. I appreciate her stance on supporting an Oscar contender based upon it's valuable qualities rather than supporting it because it doesn't have another film's seemingly negative qualities.
If I laid my thoughts down for the most likely top ten Best Picture contenders, at this point it would look something like this:
1. The Social Network
2. The King's Speech
3. Inception
4. True Grit
5. Toy Story 3
6. 127 Hours
7. The Kids Are All Right
8. Black Swan
9. Winter's Bone
10. The Town or The Fighter
Sasha Stone writes her thoughts on the race here. In general I really like reading Sasha Stone's opinions on the Oscar race. I appreciate her stance on supporting an Oscar contender based upon it's valuable qualities rather than supporting it because it doesn't have another film's seemingly negative qualities.
If I laid my thoughts down for the most likely top ten Best Picture contenders, at this point it would look something like this:
1. The Social Network
2. The King's Speech
3. Inception
4. True Grit
5. Toy Story 3
6. 127 Hours
7. The Kids Are All Right
8. Black Swan
9. Winter's Bone
10. The Town or The Fighter
Saturday, December 4, 2010
One Girl's Quest
I have called every movie theater in Buffalo hoping that Black Swan would show up in theaters close to the limited release date of December 3rd. One manager of a theater that shall remain nameless didn't even know what Black Swan was. Umm.. how are you the manager of a movie theater? As I moved onward down my list of movie theater phone numbers, I came to the indepedent cinema where with much sadness I accepted the news that Black Swan would not be appearing in a movie theater near me until December 22nd. I was pretty upset about this because my boyfriend and I have been looking forward to this film for so long and we were hoping to see it together next time he was in town. Since that will not be happening...
I am now in Chicago and quite happy that Black Swan is out in theaters here already. I'm going tonight and I can't wait!
I am now in Chicago and quite happy that Black Swan is out in theaters here already. I'm going tonight and I can't wait!
The Social Network
The Facebook arrived on the University of Michigan campus sometime in 2004 - my sophomore year. I was not one of the first to jump on the Facebook bandwagon, but sooner or later I came around. A year later I may have known one or two people refusing to join and by the end of my senior year it expanded so widely that my high school sophomore brother was now a user. Additionally, thanks to a few of my closest friends I have some pretty hilarious Facebook memories. My favorite being the take over of the campus starter account and the susbsequent email exchange with an administrator. Every Facebook user on a campus is assigned a number that can be found in the URL. A friend decided to see who the first account belonged to and discovered it was maintained by no one and only used to set up the usership for Michigan. Obviously he decided to take it over and see what would happen. A philosophical debate soon emerged fueled with my friend's smart-alec taunts.
The point is, I'm sure everyone my age has some story like this, some story that can be recalled to celebrate the role of Facebook in our lives. I know that The Social Network is Mark Zuckerberg's story, his creation, his genius, his decisions, his experience. But on some level this story belongs to me and my friends and the millions of students who postponed writing that paper at 3am to hit the refresh buttons on our newsfeed.
I went to see The Social Network again because I wanted to indulge in every witty line of Aaron Sorkin's amazing script and its impeccable delivery by Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, and Rooney Mara. And I wanted to marvel at each of David Fincher's scenes - of which not one is wasted. It is far easier for me to attribute a movie's strengths to acting or writing. While both of those elements are worthy of great praise here, the instincts of the director shine through every well-crafted scene. There is the perfect amount of subtle emotion delivered by Eisenberg, a toast to good writing, directing, and a talented actor.
There is a scene where Zuckerberg is required to go before the Harvard AdBoard to defend his actions surrounding his crash of the Harvard network. Instead, he takes the time to state, "I believe I deserve some recognition from this board." Clearly confused, one adminstrator asks for clarification, to which he says, "I believe I pointed out some gaping holes in your network." Zuckerberg couldn't be more serious and the AdBoard is clearly baffled. He walks away with a warning and probation period. The delivery of this scene is matter of fact and sets a tone for Zuckerberg's future defense against both the Winklevoss twins and Saverin. Juxtapose this with a final scene of Zuckerberg hitting a refresh button in wait for Erica's acceptance of his friend request. We see a genius mind full of creativity and willing to call attention to what should be his own glory. We see a boy with the reminder of past mistakes and regret looming under the surface. We see why he is where he is with work and relationships and it all makes a whole lot of sense.
The point is, I'm sure everyone my age has some story like this, some story that can be recalled to celebrate the role of Facebook in our lives. I know that The Social Network is Mark Zuckerberg's story, his creation, his genius, his decisions, his experience. But on some level this story belongs to me and my friends and the millions of students who postponed writing that paper at 3am to hit the refresh buttons on our newsfeed.
I went to see The Social Network again because I wanted to indulge in every witty line of Aaron Sorkin's amazing script and its impeccable delivery by Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, and Rooney Mara. And I wanted to marvel at each of David Fincher's scenes - of which not one is wasted. It is far easier for me to attribute a movie's strengths to acting or writing. While both of those elements are worthy of great praise here, the instincts of the director shine through every well-crafted scene. There is the perfect amount of subtle emotion delivered by Eisenberg, a toast to good writing, directing, and a talented actor.
There is a scene where Zuckerberg is required to go before the Harvard AdBoard to defend his actions surrounding his crash of the Harvard network. Instead, he takes the time to state, "I believe I deserve some recognition from this board." Clearly confused, one adminstrator asks for clarification, to which he says, "I believe I pointed out some gaping holes in your network." Zuckerberg couldn't be more serious and the AdBoard is clearly baffled. He walks away with a warning and probation period. The delivery of this scene is matter of fact and sets a tone for Zuckerberg's future defense against both the Winklevoss twins and Saverin. Juxtapose this with a final scene of Zuckerberg hitting a refresh button in wait for Erica's acceptance of his friend request. We see a genius mind full of creativity and willing to call attention to what should be his own glory. We see a boy with the reminder of past mistakes and regret looming under the surface. We see why he is where he is with work and relationships and it all makes a whole lot of sense.
Friday, December 3, 2010
NBR Awards
So I guess I was pretty wrong about the NBR awards this year. I predicted a sweep just not for the right film!
From Awards Daily:
(my correct predictions in bold)
Ten Best
Another Year
The Fighter
Hereafter
Inception
The King's Speech
Shutter Island
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone
Best Film: The Social Network
Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network
Best Actor: Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Best Actress: Lesley Manville, Another Year
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Supporting Actress: Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
From Awards Daily:
(my correct predictions in bold)
Ten Best
Another Year
The Fighter
Hereafter
Inception
The King's Speech
Shutter Island
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone
Best Film: The Social Network
Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network
Best Actor: Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Best Actress: Lesley Manville, Another Year
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Supporting Actress: Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
NBR Predictions
NBR Awards out tomorrow. Here's my thoughts:
Top Ten
127 Hours
Hereafter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
Love and Other Drugs
The Social Network
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone
Best Picture: The King's Speech
Best Director: Tom Hooper
Best Actress: Annette Bening
Best Actor: Colin Firth
Best Supporting Actress: Helena Bonham Carter
Best Supporting Actor: Mark Ruffalo
Best Breakthrough Actor: Jesse Eisenberg
Best Breakthrough Actress: Jennifer Lawrence
Top Ten
127 Hours
Hereafter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
Love and Other Drugs
The Social Network
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter's Bone
Best Picture: The King's Speech
Best Director: Tom Hooper
Best Actress: Annette Bening
Best Actor: Colin Firth
Best Supporting Actress: Helena Bonham Carter
Best Supporting Actor: Mark Ruffalo
Best Breakthrough Actor: Jesse Eisenberg
Best Breakthrough Actress: Jennifer Lawrence
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