Summer Movie Round-Up

I've seen a bunch of movies recently. I think I'm in a panic that school is going to start and I won't have any time for anything "fun" so I'm squeezing it in now. In fact, right now I'm making some strawberry jam and getting ready to go to a Bob Dylan concert and tomorrow I'll whip up some Blueberry Boy Bait. Gotta fit it all in!

I'll give some quick recaps in case you're contemplating any movies out there. I saw most of these by myself, so I haven't had the chance to discuss them with anyone, and perhaps my opinions would be more nuanced if I had.

Public Enemies - John Dillinger story, staring Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. This is not a movie I would normally see, but one that I friend wanted to check out. He promised to tell me when I could look back at the screen when it got "scary." Bale is better in this than in Dark Knight but Depp does not have a great performance. There's a lot, a lot, a lot of shooting and the plot is not very tight. If you have wanted to see this, I'd recommend waiting for DVD.

(500) Days of Summer - I think I wrote a bit about this before. I quite liked it because it is not a typical love story and the music was just my style. Zooey Deschanel may have won me over with this one. This was definitely worth teh $6 matinee price that I paid.

Julie & Julia - I saw this with my Nana and both aunts while in New Hampshire. I loved the Julia Child storyline...Streep is wonderful of course, but I think that Stanely Tucci, as her husband, is the best character and performer in the movie. The Julie storyline was okay, but there's something about it that just didn't capture me. I'm having trouble putting my finger on it. Maybe it was the two characters-I dont' think I really bought into who they each were. I didn't pay for this movie-going experience, but if I had, I would have hoped it was a matinee price.

Funny People - I enjoyed this movie, but didn't think it was great. It's long...maybe two and a half hours. I liked both Adam Sandler and Seth Rogan in their roles. Sandler is trying to deal with his fate and Rogan is trying to figure out how to help him and his own path to success. Leslie Mann acts well, but she's just not my type and Eric Bana is surprisingly good, only because I've never seen him do comedy, which apparently is how he started out. Rogan really shines as Ira and has the funniest lines in the movie. He's definitely a typical twenty-something, searching for what will make him happy in all parts of his life: career, women, and friends. I've seen a few of Rogan's movies and this is the one that charmed me completely.

I mean, just look at this cute Jewish boy.

Click here for the tee.

My two favorite parts of the movie are as follows:

Ira (Rogan) meets a girl at a bar who mentions that she's on JDate. He asks what JDate is exactly and she explains. He says something along the lines of, "A whole list of Jewish people. I didn't think Jews liked being on lists."

Another comes earlier in the movie when accomplished comic George Simmons (Sandler) calls Ira to ask him to write some jokes. George plans to email him and so Ira relays his email address: "irasexira at yahoo dot com." George is baffled, Ira claims it's from high school, and George demands he change it immediately. I will have to show this clip to my students, who have bizarre email addresses that shouldn't be seen by anyone.

Paper Heart - It's funny how each movie I saw this summer gave me more joy than the last. I already wrote about this one, but I'll say it again: it was creative, fresh, innocent, and sweet. It's definitely a movie that was worth the full price of an evening admission and I'd watch it again in a heartbeat.

Adam - I saw this on Friday evening after a long day at work that seemed to end with no actual products, even though I'd worked pretty hard all day. This movie is a love story in New York City between a beautifully sweet female elementary school teacher and children's book author and an engineer with Asberger's. I won't say too much about the movie except to say that the acting is phenomenal, especially by Hugh Dancy, who plays Adam. I really have no idea how he captures the character so fully, but it really blew my mind. Disclosure: I wept throughout this whole movie. I'm definitely more weepy than average, but I had no control at all. I would have been audibly sobbing if there were no other people in the theatre. There was something about how the movie related to my own life, the students that I saw in the character of Adam, and the stunning way the story was told. I didn't love the ending, but it was well worth the price of evening movie admission and I'd see it again.

Below are pictures from the beautiful art deco styled theatre, The Guild, that is about five blocks from my house. I saw Adam there at 6pm on a Friday, the opening day for us here in The 'Lo. I've never been there before, which is bizarre given that it shows great indie movies and is so close by, but I'm sure I'll make it a point to see movies there more often in the future. Also, one of the employees came out at the beginning and welcomed us, saying, "If there's anything we can do to make your time here more comfortable, the volume, the temperature, or anything, just let us know. We're here to make sure you have a great movie experience." What?!?! Have you ever been to a theatre that greeted you and encouraged you to talk to them about your experience? That totally won me over. About once a month, there is a midnight showing of Rocky Horror Picture Show. I've never seen that film, but based on my experience at The Guild, I may have to check it out while I'm on this coast.