I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good.

Contact (1997, Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Skerritt, James Woods, David Morse, William Fichtner, Geoffrey Blake)

 

Since I posted yesterday with one of my favorite movies, I thought it would be appropriate to post today with another one of my 3 all-time favorite movies.  The third, Practical Magic, was in my first post on this blog.

It's hard for me to explain why I love this movie so much until you've seen it.  But I'm warning you, it's a thinking movie.  It stretches your mind and your imagination to its farthest reaches, which is how scientists even discover things.

The story line is that Jodie Foster's character, Dr. Ellie Arroway, is a radio astronomer who gets bounced (with her crew) to different observatories around the country when the government (who is funding them) decides that they don't want them there.  When she finally discovers this signal, the whole world goes berserk.  Now, I'm going to warn you.  If you are a religious person... this is probably not the movie for you.  It's a very eye-opening movie, and from my experience this is not such a good practice for someone that deems themself "spiritual."  The whole movie deals with science vs. religion, and how being a moral person doesn't depend on a stupid religion label, how understanding humanity has nothing to do with God, and the limits that the Bible sets for humans are being broken every day, making some of the most beneficial and amazing discoveries of all time.

 

Although science and technology play such a large role in the movie, the debate over religion and science fights for importance too.  When they decode the message and find plans for the machine, designed to take one human occupant into space, the fight for the "machine seat" ensues.  There is a panel of influential people in society that will judge over the 5 or 6 people on the list.  Of course, to Ellie, it's a simple answer, after all of her strife she had finally had some success.  Everyone else gave her bullshit, so why should anyone else capitalize on her discovery.  I'm totally with ya, Ellie.  But when push comes to shove, the line "I would represent my country, my planet, and my God on this historical journey," this scientist (the one that made Ellie's life way more difficult) is of course chosen.  Why?  I'm still asking myself that.

When Dr. Drumlin (Tom Skerritt) is actually ready for the test run of the machine, it gets blown-up by a radical religious leader, one that Ellie notices several times already in the movie.

[Now these scientists, have polluted our air, have poisoned our water.  Are these the kind of people that you want talking to your God for you?]

He blows everything up, the machine is lost, many lives are lost, and Ellie's dream is gone.  When she gets home, however, she discovers that her mysterious benefactor has created TWO machines, the other in secret, built in secret, ready to use.  His final line in the movie is, "Wanna take a ride?"  It's creepy and perfect.

I'm not going to tell you at all about Ellie's journey, because it's too good to spoil the end of the movie.  Basically, she goes somewhere, has an "encounter" in a less cheesy-worded way, and returns without proof, the transport was out of communication for a hundredth of a second, and she says she was gone for about 18 hours.

There is a trial in Washington where she gets shot down by the high-rollers of our government, but in the end her pastor/boyfriend guy (Matthew McConaughey) still sticks by her side.  "But as for me, I for one believe her."

Later the officials are going over the evidence again, and the woman says to James Woods that she was especially interested in Dr. Arroway's video unit.  It recorded nothing but static.  Apparently, 18 hours of it.

~Bri 

Now and Then (1995, Christina Ricci, Gaby Hoffman, Thora Birch, Ashleigh Aston Moore, Rosie O'Donnell, Demi Moore, Melanie Griffith, Rita Wilson)

 

This movie is one of my top 3 favorite movies, and has been since the first time that I ever saw it.  I was only 8 years old!  Looking back I'm sure there were things that I didn't understand, but that didnt stop me from seeing its worth and hanging on to such a good flick.  It's one of those movies for me that I've owned on taped VHS, store-bought VHS, store-bought DVD, and as soon as Andy decides he can't take not having a Blu-ray player I'll get the blu-ray disc too.  Words cannot describe how much this one means to me.

The story follows four women all reuniting after many years apart, who then start to reflect on the summer they were all 12 yrs old, 1970.  They look back on their victories, trials, scares, and hopes from when they were younger.  Sam is pretty much the main character, since the movie is narrated by Demi Moore (older Sam).  She, in particular, isn't very happy in her grown-up life and looking back at when she was younger actually helps her to see things that she's missed out on and mistakes that she can make right.

Teeny:  Chrissy, truth or dare?

Chrissy:  [sighs] Truth.

Teeny:  Are you happy?

Chrissy:  Yes!  I feel like I could just bust... and shoot happiness out all over everywhere.

Teeny:  [laughing]  Sam, truth or dare?

Sam:  Truth.

Teeny:  Are you happy?

Sam:  Not really.  [all her friends sigh]  But I just figured it was normal for things to be shitty.  Look, I got an A+ on Career Day, I must've just missed that class on personal relationships.

Chrissy:  Maybe you should integrate colors into your wardrobe.  Men love pastels on a woman.

 

In case you were wondering, I probably could quote the whole movie for you.  Because it's totally worth it.  Even the soundtrack blows me away, still to this day, each time I play it.  This soundtrack was the first CD I ever had, my parents bought it for me on my 9th or 10th birthday.  Believe it or not, I still have the original disc (havne't worn it out yet!).

You can't go wrong when it comes to classic rock.  It's just how the world works.

 

 

~Bri

Dan in Real Life (2007, Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche, Dane Cook, Dianne Wiest, John Mahoney, Emily Blunt)

 

"You are a murderer of love!"

By far the best quote in the movie.  I did laugh, but it did make me sad too.  I heard that it was not so good... but I was pleasantly surprised.  It is Steve Carell being serious, which is strange, but he's actually quite good at it.

He is a widower with 3 daughters (8, 14, 17).  The oldest hates him because he doesn't let her drive even though she has her permit and needs to learn somehow.  The middle girl hates him because he keeps her from seeing a boy that she's in love with.  And the youngest girl doesn't hate him until 3/4 of the way through when he keeps forgetting about her and doesn't show her enough attention.

 

Dane Cook plays Steve Carell's younger brother, in love with a really smart and attractive woman (not his type) and finds out that Steve Carell met her at a bookstore and fell in love with her right away too.  Of course when Steve goes home and is telling his brothers about her, his brother goes and drags out Marie to "introduce" them.  Whoops!  Turns out it's the love of his life.

The rest of the story is kinda sad, uplifting, a shame, and also full of ridiculous chuckle-worthy humor.  I really felt like I could connect with Steve Carell's character.  Which is a first.  He always plays the outrageous ones.  But in this he really is... human.

Of course the story is kinda predictable, and things like this totally never happen in real life.

~Bri

Mystery, Alaska (1999, Russell Crowe, Hank Azaria, Mary MacCormack, Burt Reynolds, Ron Eldard, Colm Meaney, Lolita Davidovitch)

Ok, so I haven't seen any new movies within the week cuz I'm too damn busy to sit down for 2 hours and not read a whole play, novel, or research scholarship for some other school assignment.  So until I can actually watch a new movie (prolly gonna be 27 Dresses when it comes out April 29), I"ll just do this.  Besides, there is nothing wrong with my old movies.  They totally rock.  Especially this one!

Russell Crow stars as the sherriff of a town in Alaska called Mystery.  They get an invite from the New York Rangers to play them in a non-division game.  Mystery is a town born on ice skates, they say.  The sidewalks are ice, the average temp has to be like 12 degrees, if your car doesn't start because of the cold you take a snow-mobile, and each Saturday the entire town gathers at the pond to watch the boys play a game of hockey.  Not just any hockey.  These guys are untrained and good.  And they play on a pond... not in a rink.

So the whole story is about the Rangers coming to town and what this small town goes through to set up for the people, the media, the attention, and most of all the game.

And it is funny!!  Seriously you won't be let down by this movie.

In this video, a guy from PriceWorld (their version of WalMart) comes to talk to the local grocer, who also happens to be the town's leading scorer on the ice:

 

The town's local manwhore, also on the hockey team, brags to his team members about his latest score, insulting her in the process.  A teammate ends up telling her and she takes a shovel to the back of his head.  He comes over to her house lookin for a little... well, you know.  He says, "Good news makes the compass point north.  In for a quick romp?"  She says, "After you, Skank."  And hits him with the shovel.  Standing over him she says, "A baby walrus going thwap, thwap, thwap?"  Hit him again.  This is the result (PS They really do call him Skank):

 

Another funny part is when the team's biggest player (also the softie with a heart of gold) gets confused about how strong he is:

 

Enjoy it!  It's a good one!

~Bri

She's the Man (2006, Amanda Bynes, Channing Tatum, James Kirk [not the Star Trek one!], Laura Ramsey)

 

 

 

Ok, so I know this isn't an incredibly new movie... but it is a new one for me.  Which is still within the guidelines of this blog.  Because this blog is what I say it is when the original guidelines get obscured by special-priveleged entries of subject matter not under the original contract when it is convenient for me.  Or something like that.

Confused?  You ain't seen nothin' yet.

Unless you've already watched the trailer for "She's the Man."  The only reason why I actually rented it and watched the whole thing is because this week was my presentation in my Shakespeare class.  I taught all week about his play, The Twelfth Night.  This is the play with a really modern twist and some creative liberties by the writer/director team.  I'll try to make this simple.

Viola wants to play soccer.

Viola's mom wants a debutant.

Viola's brother, Sebastian, get repeatedly kicked out of schools because his only passion in life is for his music.  So at the beginning, he is fooling his parents about his whereabouts and flies to London to perform.

Meanwhile at school, the girls' soccer team gets cut.  So they want to try out for the boys' team.

They get laughed at by coach, boyfriend, and team members, and Viola takes it upon herself to prove them wrong about girls being weak soccer players.

Since her brother has fled, his new acceptance to Illyria (the actual setting of the play) falls into her lap.

She disguises herself like a boy (kinda), moves in, joins the guys' soccer team, and it goes from there.

Of course she falls in love with her hot roommate, who also happens to be captain of the soccer team.

 

Yeah, don't worry, it all works out in the end.  Even for Monique (Sebastian's girlfriend at the beginning, Viola as Sebastian dumps her).  My main problem with this movie was that the whole way through, I kept getting annoyed at Amanda Bynes's "male" voice.  She sounded more like a country farmer than a boy.  It could've been better.

I did, however, laugh a lot at it.  Even my boyfriend, who normally doesn't like these kinds of movies, enjoyed it.  If you're looking for a good teen comedy with some substantial literary background (if you're interested), this would be it.

~Bri

The Seeker: The Dark is Rising  (2007, Alexander Ludwig, Christopher Eccleston, Ian McShane, Frances Conroy, Gregory Smith, Wendy Crewson)

 

This movie was kind of a... dud?  That's probably a good word for it.  I mean, it was alright, but nothing extraordinary like I was hoping it would be.  When I was at Blockbuster, my old boss told me it was kind of "Harry Potter-ish" so of course, being the incredibly devout Harry Potter fan, I was totally let down.

The story line was kinda eh and the characters were all loosely developed.  They kept throwing surprises at you that didn't totally make sense to me.  The whole battle between light and dark thing was also kinda sketchy.  The end was kinda strange too... turns out Will has a twin brother that was kidnapped at 2 weeks old by the dark side.  But he gets him back in the end.  Strange?  Or I'm just too serious about my movies?

But I mean, it was okay, I did actually enjoy the movie overall.  It was nothing extraordinary, of course, but it kept me occupied for an hour and a half.  The one thing that the movie did incredibly well is the coming-of-age story.  I actually felt a connection with Will's character at those points.

 

 

 

 

Overall, the best part of the movie:   GREGORY SMITH.

~Bri

"Jericho" (2006-present, Skeet Ulrich, Ashley Scott, Sprague Grayden, Lennie James, Kenneth Mitchel, Brad Beyer, Alicia Coppola, Pamela Reed, Gerald McRaney)

 

Ok, so I know that Jericho isn't a movie, it is a television show.  And I know it's not even a new television show, but it is for me... I just discovered it 3 weeks ago or so.  Now I can't stop watching it.  I got caught up on the first season within 2 weeks and watched the first 4 episodes of this new season.  Unfortunately for me, there were only 3 more episodes left in the whole series, now there are only 2 since last week.

If you don't know the basic jist of "Jericho," it gets kind of complicated.  The first thing that happens is in the first episode, when the citizens of Jericho see a mushroom cloud off to the western horizon.  Jake has just come back into town for a day (after spending 5 years away from home, in San Diego and the middle east), and is leaving when he sees the mushroom cloud.  At the end of the episode, we are left thinking that Denver (the cloud that they saw) and Atlanta (where Dale's parents were) have both been wiped off the face of the planet by nuclear bombs.

Hydrogen bombs, according to Robert Hawkins, a really shady character for most of the episodes.  He's great at making you think he's a bad guy.  Turns out he's one of my favorite characters.  Between him and Jake, they have all the answers.

 

Every episode something new and fascinating happens.  In the beginning, everything that had to do with the bombs was interesting.  The EMP, the fallout, the chaos.  Turns out there were actually 22 cities that were bombed, all in the US.  So basically, our country just got fucked up by some in-house terrorists.

Hawkins was supposed to take care of city #23, Columbus, Ohio, but instead he takes his family from New York and moves to Jericho, Kansas, where they will all be safe from the blasts.

 

So basically no matter how much I tell you about this show, you won't know how awesome it is until you watch it.  Trust me, I wouldn't lie about nuclear bombs.

 

Someone also made this handy little video about "Jericho."  Andy first told me about it when he saw it on Xbox LIVE.  Of course whatever boy made this is completely obsessed with Ashley Scott, but there are a few good ones in there.  He definitely caught some of the better moments on "Jericho."

 

~Bri

Nancy Drew (aka Nancy Drew and the Mystery in Hollywood Hills, 2007, Emma Roberts, Tate Donovan, Rachael Leigh Cook, Max Thieriot; along with cameo appearances by Bruce Willis, Barry Bostwick, and Adam Goldberg)

 

Ok, so I know this movie didn't get good ratings at all, but I had to see it for myself.  After reading the original 56 Nancy Drews, and then the extra (and written like a million years later) adventures of Nancy Drew/Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, I felt like I owe it to Caroline Keene to see the movie.

It was totally worth it.  I laughed so much in this movie.  Yeah, it's a cheesy family movie, but once you grow up and get past that part of it, it's really quite enjoyable!  The storyline was incredibly well put together, and of course it was a little predictable, but at this point I feel like I've seen every possible twist or turn in a movie so nothing surprises me.  The cinematography was incredible too... I was genuinely impressed.

Maybe it's just because I went into it thinking that it was going to be a terrible movie.

 

Nancy and her dad are moving to California, and she promises him that she will stop sleuthing when they get there and act like a normal teenager.  But of course, Nancy chose the house that they would be living in because it came with a mystery.  It was the house of Dehlia Draycott, a famous actress who mysteriously went missing for 5 months, reappeared in society, and then was murdered at her house during a party.

Nancy figures out that Dehlia went missing because she got pregnant, and she finds her daughter and tells her that if there is a will, she could get a lot of money and property.  Of course there are bad guys at every turn trying to kill her, run her over, chase her down, etc.  The normal Nancy Drew shenanigans.  She says in the movie, "I really hate it when people try to kill me.  It's so rude."

 

 

Overall it was a really enjoyable family flick, and I'm gonna recommend it to anyone who likes to sit down, day or night, and just veg in front of the tv by watching a simple movie or tv show.

 

 

Nancy:  There's a secret passageway down here.  I'm going in.  If I'm not back in 10 minutes, that means something bad happened. 

Corky:  (chuckles)

Ned:  I don't think that was a joke.

 

 

 

~Bri

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007, Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Jason Bateman)

 

This movie was a blast to watch!  I found myself chuckling and smiling and sad and amused.  The story is that Mr. Magorium (Dustin Hoffman) is dying, so he hires an accountant (Jason Bateman) to check his records and such (never been looked at since like 1912 or something) and he wants to give his store to his store manager, Mahoney (Natalie Portman).  There is also a young boy who doesn't really work but spend all of his time at the store named Eric.  He has a hat collection.  He has about... 75 hats, and he wears a different one each day.  Wouldn't the world be cooler if more of us were like that?

When Mr. Magorium tells Mahoney that he is ready to give the store to him, she has him committed to the hospital so that the doctors will fix something wrong with him and he can stay alive.  Of course, to them he seems like the perfect psych patient because of his nonsensical talk.  Eric goes to visit him in the hospital also, and a doctor walks in when he's standing up on a chair touching the ceiling.  He jumps down and after he leaves, the doctor asks Magorium what he was doing up there.  Magorium replies, "Just giving me a little space."  So when the doctor walks out of the room, he hits the lightswitch and you see the entire hospital room light up with glow-in-the-dark stars!!  How cool!

 

When Magorium gets out of the hospital, Mahoney takes him on a trip around the city for a pretty random adventure.  They walk into a clock shop and go through setting the alarm on all of them to go off at the same time.  They also go into a bed and mattress store and start jumping on the bed!

One of the cutest things about this movie was when Magorium hires the accountant.  He says that they're a cross between a mutant and some counting/mathematical person.  So for the rest of the movie, all of the characters only call Jason Bateman by the name of Mutant.  Pretty awesome.

 

 

~Bri

Rendition (2007, Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Alan Arkin, Meryl Streep)

 

Extraordinary Rendition is a term used when US citizens deemed a terrorist or any kind of national security risk is removed from the United States and placed in a prison to be tortured until they provide answers.  This movie was incredibly powerful, even though it was slow moving.  It had a terrific cast and an eye-opening storyline.  It's hard to believe that things like this actually happen here in this country.  And my boyfriend wonders why I think America is full of shitheads.

Reese Witherspoon plays the pregnant wife of a man named Anwar who is removed (upon returning from the US) and taken to a foreign 3rd world country (don't remember which) where he is imprisoned and tortured for information about a link to a terrorist that they say he has.  They traced a phone number that made a call to his cell phone which belonged to someone in this terrorist league.  Anwar is a chemical engineer and about a year ago this terrorists bombs became stronger with a further reaching blast due to an engineer's intervention.

 

Jake Gyllenhaal is the US agent there who stands by while they interrogate him.  He has to answer to Meryl Streep, who is just as infuriatingly cold in this movie as she is in "Devil Wears Prada."  Jake's acting in this movie is particularly outstanding, even though we've all seen the amazing grace of this mortal god in "Donnie Darko, "Zodiac," and "October Sky."  Each character has an intense inner battle going on the whole time.

 

 

 

 

There is also a separate storyline that involves the man who runs the facility and tortures Anwar.  His daughter Fatima goes missing after getting involved with a boy her age named Khalid.  You find out partway through the movie that Khalid is part of an extremist group of suicide bombers.  They sacrifice themselves for the sake of whatever-the-hell-it-is and kill a whole crap load of people in the process.  This story was just as enjoyable as the American one.  And this one has a really sad twist at the end... that will make a ton of sense right before they show it to you.  But don't take my word for it, watch it for yourself.

~Bri