A Day on My Couch

I lost my voice yesterday so today when I woke up and was still hoarse and felt so hot, I decided to have a sub and stay home. On the way back from work and dropping off my lesson plans, I stopped at the Redbox and picked up two movies. I put The Invention of Lying in the DVD player first and was completely offended in the first five minutes so that movie won't even get it's own post. I am in the middle of another movie so tune in later for that review!

Everybody's Fine

Robert Di Niro is fantastic in any movie he acts in and in this movie his majestic stage presence continues. This is a story about Di Niro's character taking a journey both physically and emotionally. He plays a father who recently loss his wife. He is lonely and wants to reconnect with his children. As a plot to have a reunion with the kids falls through, he then plans to take a trip around the country to check in with each of his children. As you watch the movie, you realize that this man really doesn't have a clue what goes on in his children's lives and that his family has always been good at lies.

My favorite elements of the movie are the cinematography and the music. Basically, the scenes in this movie are beautiful. It has been since Avatar that my eyes have been treated so well but this movie was impressive aesthetically! Much of the music was composed by Paul McCartney and hello this Beetle is a genius! This movie is both pleasing to the eyes and ears. Pick up this movie and have your heart touched. I give it an Eye and an Ear for the wonderfulness of art that this flick is!

Love Happens

Have I ever seen a movie with Jennifer Aniston in it and hated it? No. Have I ever watched a movie with Jennifer Aniston in it and disliked it? No.

The streak continues with Love Happens. Aniston plays a cynical florist who meets a motivational speaker(Aaron Eckhart). Eckhart's character helps people deal with the loss of a loved one. As he is in Seattle leading one of his seminars, he meets Aniston's character and is intrigued with her.

Of course, this is a love story. It has a lot of twists and turns in order for you to find out the truth behind Eckhart's character's motives for running the seminars. If I say too much, the movie will be ruined for you and this movie was much too good for me to do that to you. I say...get your butt over to the Redbox and rent this movie. Thanks to Redbox for letting me rent this wonderful gem for one dollar and for the picture I "borrowed" from your website. This movie earns The Wonderful Gem award for humor, romance and overall a great time!

Valentine's Day

Dear Katherine Fugate(the writer of the screenplay for this movie)-

Overall, you story was mediocre. There were about ten stiorylines too many in this flick. Although it was nice in order to get a zillion famous people to participate in this production, the problem of underdevelopment of both characters and story was created by the overuse of storyline. I think the story between Ashton Kutcher's character and Jennifer Garner's character would have been sufficiant for a movie in and of itself.

Please consider addressing this problem in your next screenplay.

Sincerely,
Movie Alice

P.S. Taylor Swift is not an actress but a fine singer.

Slumdog Millionaire

I saw this movie on the BYU campus this past weekend. I never even knew that BYU did an international film cinema. The cool thing about this movie being at BYU campus is that it was edited so that it really wasn't an R rated movie. I am not saying that all R rated movies are bad, because the rating doesn't mean it is a horrible movie. I do, however, limit myself when it comes to R rated movies because I do feel they often contain crap that they do not need to contain. I have also been told by my church leaders to avoid R rated movies because of the content and I actually agree with them. I don't see it as a restraint but rather as a protection. I really don't know why I am getting into the rating scale in this post. Maybe because I know that watching R rated movies in the Mormon world is taboo and I wanted to make sure I was not judged for watching this movie.

Now, what about the movie? It was plain fantastic. It takes place in India, and follows the journey of a young boy into young adulthood. The cool thing is that you learn of the boy's journey via the answers he gives during the Indian version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" I thought that, in and of itself, was a brilliantly creative way to show the adventures of this young man.

Slumdog Millionaire proves to be mix of many different genres. You have the drama of family relationships and how siblings can shape you into who you are. You also have the family drama of two boys losing their parents at a very young age and having to fend for themselves. Then you have a bit of comedy as you see the boys fighting and the main character has this odd dry humor about him. You also get a little bit of romance as you see the main character fight for the love of his life, who he decided was his great love when he was about seven.

I love how the characters were developed, especially the two orphan brothers who develop into very different individuals and how you see how decisions shape people's destinies. In fact, it was very symbolic how the main character is able to find riches and his brother chases other people's riches which later leads him to his demise.

I would recommend this movie for sure to anybody! It receives a bundle of wheat for my rating because it really adds sustenance to the soul!

The Accidental Husband

I have always loved Urma Thurman and her performance in this movie does not disappoint. Thurman plays a radio host who gives dating advice. She is engaged to be married and her world is shaken as an irate listener decides to hack into the city records and make her be married to him as payback, so when she tries to get a wedding license, she can't because she is already "married." I won't give up the storyline much more, but this movie is a must see. I think it was missed by mainstream moviegoers because it wasn't in theatres long and probably didn't get great reviews. I loved the movie and thought it was cute. You should see it, rent it at any Redbox!

Good romance and the main men are cute to boot!

Leap Year

I would have to say...see this movie. I have never been to Ireland but after seeing all the the wonderful scenery in Ireland in this movie, I am aching to go. I am also wanting to fall in love with a cute scruffy Irishman.

This was a wonderful little romantic comedy. Amy Adams is typed cast in this movie, but she does so well in a cute, funny, and helpless in love character. Her comedic timing is amazing! She makes me want to be her as well. That gorgeous red hair and big blue eyes and she sure can walk in those high heels.

Matthew Goode is very good in this movie. I don't recall ever seeing him in anything else, but I am researching to see what else he is in, so I can watch it. He is yummy. I didn't think I would ever use yummy when talking about a man, but I just did.

The basic plot of the movie is that Anna(Amy Adams) has been dating a man for several years and feels that they should be getting engaged. He leaves on a business trip to Dublin and she decides she should follow a family tradition and propose to him on Feb 29th(hence the name of the movie). Anyway, most of the plot deals with her adventures to get to him because her travel plans get messed up. Declan(Goode) helps her get to Dublin.

I will not give you any other details because I always feel that ruins movies for people, but please see this if you are sucker for romantic comedies because this is the best I have seen in a while! FIVE Golden Monkies