All that glitters is good.....

All that glitters is good.....

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Two Very Different Love Stories


Every Christmas Eve my family goes to see a movie. This year we went to the new Judd Apatow flick, “This Is 40.” The movie was being advertised as the sequel to “Knocked Up” and the previews make it look hilarious. Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann return as the exact same roles as a married couple where he’s a washed up record exec and she’s just more than a little OCD. Their two daughters look adorable but border on psychotic (would anyone like to play murder?). In reality, Mann is married to Apatow and the two daughters in the movie are actually their daughters. I read in a recent interview that half of the extra raunchy scenes (i.e. the self-colon check) were actually Mann’s idea. The daughters are not allowed to swear at home, so in this movie they must have had a field day. In the movie, Mann and Rudd’s characters turn 40 the same week, while facing marital, parental and financial problems. Mann and Rudd spend the whole movie yelling and swearing at each other, which outside of a couple witty jabs and a stoned scene, is actually pretty intense. Their daughters are destined to be deranged as well (even though one has an understandable passion for “Lost”). I spent the entire two hours wondering why this couple wasn't already divorced. Also, it seemed like their financial issues could have been easily resolved by not only selling the gigantic house, but also by stopping throwing lavish parties and downgrading from a Lexus and BMW. Cameos by Jason Segel and Charlyne Yi (the stoned Asian roommate Jodi), reprising their same roles from “Knocked Up” bring some much needed relief. Megan Fox flexes her comedic muscles and is a surprising delight. Other rays of light in this film are appearances by Chris O'Dowd (“Bridesmaids”) and Lena Durham (“Girls”). I’m not married so maybe I’m shouldn't be the one to judge this film but coming out of that, I was left with a feeling of never wanted to get married or have children.


This Christmas my little 24 year old brother was put in charge of picking the movie we went to see on Christmas Day. Being a 24 year-old male, he did not opt for Les Miserables but instead for Django Unchained, the newest film by Quentin Tarantino. I’m actually a pretty big Taratino fan. I see him more as a stylized violence than senseless. The “Kill Bill” movies were beautiful. Movies like “Pulp Fiction” and “ Reservoir Dogs” are well-deserved classic with some of the sharpest dialog and character development outside of a Coen brother’s movie. However, this movie disappointed me. The plot centers around a slave Django (Jaime Foxx) who is freed by a deranged dentist turned bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz). Django agrees to help Waltz in the bounty hunting business because outside of having the chance to shoot white people, he’ll receive a part of the bounty and Waltz will help him track down and free his wife. It turns out his wife is being held at a Southern plantation named Candyland, run by Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). Waltz and Foxx come up with a scheme getting them into Candyland without seeming like they’re there to free his wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). There’s a lot of violence, which is no surprise but it’s a lot of close range bullets resulting in brain matter splatter. I’m not a squeamish person but I had to turn away at certain points. The bloodbath just seems to go on and on to the point where it’s extremely overdone. What saves this movie is the superb acting by Waltz, returning in a role similar to his maniacally calm character in “Inglorious Bastards.” DiCaprio also is deliciously disgusting as a heartless slave owned. The soundtrack added some needed lightness (imagine a plantation shoot out set to 2Pac). Tarantino gave himself a cameo with an atrocious Australian accent. I thought this movie was okay, but not his best by far. I’d say wait for video but it would lose a lot of the oomph not on the big screen. Many critics have deemed this as one of the best movies of the year and to this I ask: what are you smoking?


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