Blue Valentine

I was really excited to see this movie - so much in fact, that I considered my 2010 Austin Film Festival experience a huge success if only I got to see this one movie. There has been some talk about it in the entertainment world recently, because it was given an NC-17 rating, which of course is BAD for the film, because regular movie theaters probably won't show it and nobody will get to see it. I was a little worried about just how NC-17 it was - but it wasn't as bad as I expected. There are a few sex scenes that push it a tad too far, which I think the whole rating was for.

So, how was the movie? It was excellent. Probably one of the best movies I've seen in the last 10 years. The performances by Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are truly phenomenal.  They were so authentic as the once happy couple who is now trying to save their marriage.  It made me think of every divorced couple I know, including my own parents, and then made me think of the married couples I know and how sad it would be for them to go through this.  At times it is heart-wrenchingly sad.  I saw alot of teary women walking out of the theater at the end.  But at the same time - it is just so REAL, which always adds to the movie experience.  Because it's so sad, it's not for the faint of heart.  It sticks with you, and I was still thinking about it days after I saw it.  So overall, any film lover should definitely CHECK IT OUT.  It's haunting and powerful - I walked out totally in awe.

Austin Film Festival 2010!

So, I am currently attending the Austin Film Festival, which has been GREAT so far this year. I've already seen 4 films - 2 of them are so new they don't even have a trailer, 1 you may have heard of (Blue Valentine) and 1 was a special screening of a movie back from the 90's (12 Monkeys, and the director was there to talk about it afterward!). This is only my 2nd year to go, and I originally had some high hopes to see many more films than I did last year (which was 3). So far, after 4 days of the Festival, I've seen 4 films! And I still have 3 more days to go, so I'm definitely getting my $40 worth. It's nice to just show my film pass and walk in the theater without having to pay anything.

1.  "Exporting Raymond" - this documentary film kicked off the Festival with a hilarious start!  It's about the creator/writer of "Everybody Loves Raymond" Phil Rosenthal, who travels to Russia in order to make a Russian version of the show.  Mr. Rosenthal is just as awkward and funny as Raymond on the show, and it was endearing and hilarious the entire time.  I really hope this gets released to some big audiences, because it was great! 

2.  "Peep World" - about the rich and highly publicized Meyerwitz family, of which the youngest son writes a tell-all book about his family and calls it fiction, despite its authenticity.  Between the depressed and tired-of-being-in-charge oldest son (played by Dexter's Michael C. Hall, who is GREAT in everything he does), the bumbling idiot 2nd son who can't get anything in his life together for very long (played by Rainn Wilson, who also stars as everyone's favorite idiot Dwight K. Schrute on The Office), and the first and only daughter who is flaky and outspoken about everything (played by the hilarious Sarah Silverman) this movie was fantastic!  It really made me laugh and was even touching at times.  Again, I hope it gets a bigger release!

3.  "Blue Valentine" - which is so good it deserves it's own post... to be posted soon.

4.  "12 Monkeys" - presented by the Director David Peoples, originally released in 1995.  I'd never seen it before and thought it was GREAT!  Kept me guessing until the very end!

Case 39

I really like Renee Zellwegger, and we all know how much I love Bradley Cooper but... this movie is pretty bad. The little girl is pretty creepy sometimes, but there's only like 1 scary part. Also, it seemed to drag on and on. Pretty boring and overall not that scary. PASS.

The Social Network

Actually really good! It was VERY interesting to see how Facebook came to be, especially since it's been and still is so relevant in general. I will give you one warning: It's ALL talk. The entire movie is dialogue, about how they made it, why the friends are mad at each other, why Mark Zuckerburg is being sued, why he wanted to create it in the first place, etc. It's seriously nothing but dialogue for a full 2 hours. This didn't ruin the movie for me, but I could see some people (especially youngsters) being bored with it. One thing I really liked was how the director didn't make the audience need a hero or an enemy. You kind of don't know who to root for, because everyone's sort of right and sort of wrong. Overall, I really liked it and would totally recommend it. So, CHECK IT OUT!

Catfish

After seeing the trailer for this movie, I was DYING to see it. So much so, that I ended up going to see it by myself on a Saturday afternoon, after it was sold out on Friday night! I was very intrigued by all the movie critics who said "the last 40 minutes will blow you away." And in my opinion, it really did! The first half is all about how the relationships came to be, and how they have affected Nev's life. Then, it gets REALLY exciting when he travels to Michigan with his film-maker friends in tow to see this "Megan." I don't want to say anything else, because if you're going to see it, I don't want to ruin it. If you're not going to see it, ask me in person and I'll tell you how it ends! But overall, it was a great story about the online generation we live in today. Although the trailer makes it look a little scary, it's not scary at all - when they get to the barn is when all the revealing begins. Overall, the movie is interesting, exciting, sad, funny, and in the end a positive experience for all involved. I would definitely CHECK IT OUT!