December  15th.  2009
Permalink
He’s Just Not That Into YouDirector:  Ken KwapisActors: Look up at the poster, too many to post Intrigue: I am going to start this section off with their headliner quote in the trailer, said by Drew Berrymore, “I had this guy leave me a voicemail at work, so I called him at home, and then he emailed me to my BlackBerry, and so I texted to his cell, and now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to get rejected by seven different technologies.”…First of all, no one uses the word Portal unless you play the game, in which you could be considered a geek, or you, are in fact, a big geek.  So the fact that this was the headliner made me a little disinterested.  Also, im not a fan of Berrymore and Ben Affleck, so the level of intrigue to start it was very low.  But to heighten my level was the presence of Kevin Connolly, E off of Entourage-my favorite show out right now.  But on with the show, this is just like crash, love actually, babel, and burn after reading-everyone and everything tends to relate to something, and in all honesty, it could be love actually’s illegitimate lovechild they are so closely related. But back to the movie, one of the first scenes was with Affleck and Jennifer Aniston, which surprised the shit out of me but they played two great parts. And to add to their great acting, i really liked everyone’s acting in this movie, even Berrymore which i have an unknown hatred for, but that doesnt make up for the bad plot and unoriginality.  The very basic part of this is the relationships between guys and girls, in all forms of love, hence love actually. Now to the movie’s defense they never say all forms of love, but that is basically what it is.  So to end this lengthy section, i will award a measly 6 points. Action: The film had its action in forms of all relationships= the good, the bad, and the ugly.  There is just the basic action of a chick flick, but it does tend to show the craziness of how women process things.   8 points, i added a little for some women jokes. Summation: Very predictable ending with all characters.  Even a monkey could have put two and two together.  10 points. Acting: Ah finally.  The resurrection of this film.  I liked everyone in this movie.  To all the big names to the little roles played by people you know the face of but not the name of, including the random mexican worker, Luis Guzman- one of the cooks in waiting.  Also the dad of Aniston played a part that reminded me of my dad and all dads in general.  So kudos for everyone here.  Some extra side points here. I have a new found crush on Jennifer Connelly. After watching a beautiful mind and this, i want to see every movie of hers.  Also, i never thought Scarlett Johansson was very attractive, but after this i could see where people are coming from, very nice scenes of her in this movie.  20 points here. Directing: Kwapis had no originality at all.  When you do a movie like crash and love actually, a lot of stuff could be added to give it that little extra flavor.  But this movie is like a drive thru, reliable but you know what you are going to get and nothing extra.  Also, with a pretty decent well known cast, he chooses the one random actor to be the narrator.  Should have pulled a Tarantino and chose Samuel L. Jackson.  6 points here for having Connelly and Johansson in sexy outfits in one scene. Special Effects: This isnt really special effects, but its props.  The headline quote talks about Blackberry’s and it gets multiple references in the movie, but in the scenes where you see phones, they are just the phones that you can get with a free upgrade, like the old flip razor phones.  But i will give them 1 point here for the ad of a Mac desktop, and Justin Long, who is in the mac commercials. Misc.: For my misc. category, i will talk about one specific quote.  Jennifer Connelly is shopping with her husband, Bradley Cooper-The hangover and Wedding Crashers, about what type of floor they should have, either real wood, or plastic wood.  She couldnt tell the difference but said to choose real wood even thought it was more expensive, and why did she say that?!?!  She said she thought that the fake wood was imitating the real wood(i would have put the actual quote up here but i couldnt find it on the interwebz).  Now why did i go into this in depth, because of this, (i got this from a blog about curb your enthusiasm, the set up of the paragraph is that larry david is accused of leaving a ring from a cup on a coffee table) “After all of that, Larry got what he wanted! Cheryl showed up at his door, having been replaced in the reunion by Virginia.  And Cheryl made it clear to Larry that she was ready to get back together and then, just as they were about to kiss and send the season off into its well-deserved send-off, Larry noticed that Cheryl had left a wet cup of iced coffee on his new table, leaving a ring.  And he interrupted his perfect romantic moment for a tirade on the sanctity of wood, ending the season.   It was a great moment, because on the TV, in the “Seinfeld” reunion, the characters were getting the happy and retrospective finale that David and Jerry Seinfeld denied fans 11 years ago. So David got to play with the idea that viewers demand satisfying closure even from a show that abhorred that sort of convention at its very core. In the narrative “Seinfeld” world, George was allowed the happy ending desired by viewers, the contentment and return to an imagined former marriage. Meanwhile, in the “real” “Curb Your Enthusiasm” world, George’s alter ego had the chance for a similar ride-off-into-the-sunset moment and he reacted exactly the way the character of George would have reacted through nine seasons of “Seinfeld.” It was satisfyingly unsatisfying on every level.And all because of a ring on a coffee table, introducing what’s sure to be a hipster catchphrase for at least a few days: Do you respect wood?”When i heard the quote it made me think of the finale for Curb Your Enthusiasm and i instantly loved that quote.  10 points here lol.  Also, sorry for the absurd length of these sections, i havent done one of these in awhile.Final: 61 points.  And to think this may be a little flawed because i am the one to adore chick flicks, but i was really disappointed in this film, but hey, when compared to Love Actually, nothing can come close.

He’s Just Not That Into You
Director:  Ken Kwapis
Actors: Look up at the poster, too many to post

Intrigue: I am going to start this section off with their headliner quote in the trailer, said by Drew Berrymore, “I had this guy leave me a voicemail at work, so I called him at home, and then he emailed me to my BlackBerry, and so I texted to his cell, and now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to get rejected by seven different technologies.”…First of all, no one uses the word Portal unless you play the game, in which you could be considered a geek, or you, are in fact, a big geek.  So the fact that this was the headliner made me a little disinterested.  Also, im not a fan of Berrymore and Ben Affleck, so the level of intrigue to start it was very low.  But to heighten my level was the presence of Kevin Connolly, E off of Entourage-my favorite show out right now.  But on with the show, this is just like crash, love actually, babel, and burn after reading-everyone and everything tends to relate to something, and in all honesty, it could be love actually’s illegitimate lovechild they are so closely related. But back to the movie, one of the first scenes was with Affleck and Jennifer Aniston, which surprised the shit out of me but they played two great parts. And to add to their great acting, i really liked everyone’s acting in this movie, even Berrymore which i have an unknown hatred for, but that doesnt make up for the bad plot and unoriginality.  The very basic part of this is the relationships between guys and girls, in all forms of love, hence love actually. Now to the movie’s defense they never say all forms of love, but that is basically what it is.  So to end this lengthy section, i will award a measly 6 points.

Action: The film had its action in forms of all relationships= the good, the bad, and the ugly.  There is just the basic action of a chick flick, but it does tend to show the craziness of how women process things.   8 points, i added a little for some women jokes.

Summation: Very predictable ending with all characters.  Even a monkey could have put two and two together.  10 points.

Acting: Ah finally.  The resurrection of this film.  I liked everyone in this movie.  To all the big names to the little roles played by people you know the face of but not the name of, including the random mexican worker, Luis Guzman- one of the cooks in waiting.  Also the dad of Aniston played a part that reminded me of my dad and all dads in general.  So kudos for everyone here.  Some extra side points here. I have a new found crush on Jennifer Connelly. After watching a beautiful mind and this, i want to see every movie of hers.  Also, i never thought Scarlett Johansson was very attractive, but after this i could see where people are coming from, very nice scenes of her in this movie.  20 points here.

Directing: Kwapis had no originality at all.  When you do a movie like crash and love actually, a lot of stuff could be added to give it that little extra flavor.  But this movie is like a drive thru, reliable but you know what you are going to get and nothing extra.  Also, with a pretty decent well known cast, he chooses the one random actor to be the narrator.  Should have pulled a Tarantino and chose Samuel L. Jackson.  6 points here for having Connelly and Johansson in sexy outfits in one scene.

Special Effects: This isnt really special effects, but its props.  The headline quote talks about Blackberry’s and it gets multiple references in the movie, but in the scenes where you see phones, they are just the phones that you can get with a free upgrade, like the old flip razor phones.  But i will give them 1 point here for the ad of a Mac desktop, and Justin Long, who is in the mac commercials.

Misc.: For my misc. category, i will talk about one specific quote.  Jennifer Connelly is shopping with her husband, Bradley Cooper-The hangover and Wedding Crashers, about what type of floor they should have, either real wood, or plastic wood.  She couldnt tell the difference but said to choose real wood even thought it was more expensive, and why did she say that?!?!  She said she thought that the fake wood was imitating the real wood(i would have put the actual quote up here but i couldnt find it on the interwebz).  Now why did i go into this in depth, because of this, (i got this from a blog about curb your enthusiasm, the set up of the paragraph is that larry david is accused of leaving a ring from a cup on a coffee table)

“After all of that, Larry got what he wanted! Cheryl showed up at his door, having been replaced in the reunion by Virginia.  And Cheryl made it clear to Larry that she was ready to get back together and then, just as they were about to kiss and send the season off into its well-deserved send-off, Larry noticed that Cheryl had left a wet cup of iced coffee on his new table, leaving a ring.  And he interrupted his perfect romantic moment for a tirade on the sanctity of wood, ending the season.   It was a great moment, because on the TV, in the “Seinfeld” reunion, the characters were getting the happy and retrospective finale that David and Jerry Seinfeld denied fans 11 years ago. So David got to play with the idea that viewers demand satisfying closure even from a show that abhorred that sort of convention at its very core. In the narrative “Seinfeld” world, George was allowed the happy ending desired by viewers, the contentment and return to an imagined former marriage. Meanwhile, in the “real” “Curb Your Enthusiasm” world, George’s alter ego had the chance for a similar ride-off-into-the-sunset moment and he reacted exactly the way the character of George would have reacted through nine seasons of “Seinfeld.” It was satisfyingly unsatisfying on every level.And all because of a ring on a coffee table, introducing what’s sure to be a hipster catchphrase for at least a few days: Do you respect wood?”
When i heard the quote it made me think of the finale for Curb Your Enthusiasm and i instantly loved that quote.  10 points here lol.  Also, sorry for the absurd length of these sections, i havent done one of these in awhile.

Final: 61 points.  And to think this may be a little flawed because i am the one to adore chick flicks, but i was really disappointed in this film, but hey, when compared to Love Actually, nothing can come close.