Movie Mondays: Natural Born Killers

This is one of those movies where when my friends heard I hadn't seen it they were like "WTF? We're watching it." This happens a lot, usually around 4pm on a weekday when we're sitting around scrolling through netflix instant trying to get someone to make a decision about what the heck to watch.

Natural Born Killers is reminiscent of a Quentin Tarantino film. This makes sense, because Quentin Tarantino wrote the story that the screenplay is adapted from. It's chock full of artistic, slightly disturbing lighting effects, tinted gels, canted angles, and lots and lots of bizarreness. The story revolves around Mickey and Mallory, a husband and wife duo who have taken to traveling across the US killing people for no reason other than the fame and glory it is earning them. Mallory was saved from her unloving and abusive family by Mickey, a butcher shop delivery man who delivered to their house one day. Together they kill Mallory's parents and then take off, continuing on their killing spree but always leaving at least one person at each crime scene alive to tell everyone that "Mickey and Mallory did this".

It's a bit of a Bonny and Clyde like story, and you find yourself trying to decide whether you're rooting for the couple to escape the police or if you're hoping they'll get caught and locked up forever. The couple is obviously completely crazy but at the same time their love seems so loyal and true that it's hard not to kind of want them to live happily ever after. In a really, really weird and unsettling way.

The film also stars Robert Downey Jr. as a slightly crazy TV reporter. This is back in his coke-snorting days so the craziness comes off quite well.

So, it's a totally crazy, at times disturbing, thrilling, confusing, and fast-paced movie. Totally one of those classic films that everyone has to see once in their lives, just because it's so unique. It's from 1994, too, so it has a fun grungey feel to it that you don't get from modern crime movies. By no means is this a "family film", but if you're in the mood for something a little crazy, check this out.

Here's a trailer. It's not a very good trailer, but it's hard sometimes with these older movies to find decent trailers.

Movie Mondays: Horrible Bosses

A couple weeks ago I went out to the movies (for the first time in forever because it costs a million dollars) with a few close friends. I figured it would probably be a good idea to review the flick we saw for a movie monday :)

We saw horrible bosses, which is a Seth Gordon directed film starring Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Anniston, Colin Farrell, Kevin Spacey, and Jamie Fox. It's geared towards the same crowd as The Hangover and Knocked Up- So, you know, my demographic. Young 20 somethings who are ok with a little raciness/vulgarity in the name of humor. All in all, it was a good film.

The plot is that there are three young men, all of whom hate their bosses. One has your typical asshole "eff with me and I'll make sure you never get hired anywhere again" alpha male narcissistic boss. Another has a crackhead, crazy, prostitute-loving, only-the-boss-because-his-dad-owned-the-business-and-then-died-without-warning boss. The last has a super sexy but super inappropriate boss who is constantly sexually harassing him and threatening to ruin his engagement if he doesn't sleep with her. Essentially, the three men agree to kill each others' bosses. Kind of like strangers on a train. which they acknowledge in the film.

The film is 100% meant to be a comedy, so obviously all kinds of things go wrong and there's plenty of silly jokes and slapstick humor. The cast is strong and all the actors do a phenomenal job with a less than stunning plotline (in my opinion). I lawled at least a couple times and definitely left the movie theatre feeling like it was worth it. But then again I didn't pay for my own ticket :) basically, I thought this was a better than decent movie that is definitely worth a watch, and if you happen to have a disposable income it's worth seeing in theatres. It's funny, interesting to watch, and well-paced. Definitely a step above a lot of films that come out these days.

Anyways, here's a trailer:

Movie Mondays (Season 2!): The Machinist

Let me tell you about the day that I saw this movie, because it was one of the best turn-around days ever. as in, it started out really crappy and then wound up being really great. It was summer, after I was back from greece, so... late july sometime. We had been planning a super duper awesome 4 person salt river trip (optimum salt river group is five, but four will do), but when we woke up balls early in the morning to go grocery shopping and start driving, one of our four (ahem, KRIS) pooned out and said he had to work. which is bs because his manager was one of the people going on the trip. and they live together. so it would have been fine. but anyways... i was very upset and made him feel very very bad about ruining our salt river trip. Since it's what we would have done on the river anyways, I told the 2 other people that now had a day off for no reason that we should just drink and watch movies and have a rainy day all day. SO, we bought a bottle of rumpleminze and a box of hot cocoa and got started. and this was the first movie we watched. and i loved it.

is that story relevant to the movie? no, not at all. but i decided to tell you anyways, because it's one of the days that sticks out in my mind from this summer.

I'm in love with psychological thrillers, guys. I just can't get enough of them. I loved shutter island- I saw it twice in theaters and wouldve seen it again if someone asked. I think I saw inception three times in theaters. I love Memento, and I show it to people who haven't seen it whenever I get the chance. And Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is always #1 or #2 on my favorite movies list. Maybe it's because my mom is a psychologist so I'm naturally interested in the human mind. Maybe I'm just crazy and love watching other people delve into their own crazy minds. I don't know, but I love it.

The Machinist is that kind of movie. The main character is totally dysfunctional. His world is austere, strange, and complicated. Did you ever hear about that movie where they made Christian Bale lose like a million pounds to look stick thin and totally unhealthy to play the part? This is that movie.

Trevor Reznik is your run of the mill blue collar worker- except for the fact that he hasn't been able to sleep in over a year. His intense insomnia has made him extremely, extremely thin, and his only company are a hooker named Stevie and an airport diner waitress named Marie. One day, he begins finding cryptic post-it notes around his apartment, most of which show an unfinished hang-man game. Not long after, he meets a fellow coworker he's never seen before- Ivan- that, according to his bosses and other coworkers, doesn't exist. Trevor spirals further and further into the depths of confusion and illusion as he tries to figure out who Ivan is, what the post-it notes mean, and why he hasn't been able to sleep in so long.

It's freaking awesome.

But I like crazy, melancholy, confusing, dark movies like that. If you do to, then great! You should so, so, so check it out. and even if you don't, it's worth a watch just for the way it tickles your brain and makes you think and question.

Here's a trailer:


so good. and by the way, it feels soooo good to get back to movie mondays! So refreshing :) Another one next week, and another post tomorrow!

Movie Mondays: Sydney White

Today I am posting a very chick-flicky movie monday. However, it lacks nothing in awesomeness.

I first saw this film with my girlfriends at a little movie-dinner-gossip sleepover in highschool. I'm pretty sure we ALL fell in love with it. I guess that doesn't say much since high school girls are probably the target audience for this film, but still. It stood out among a sea of mediocre cliched girly flicks.

This is one of those movies that's a modernized version of a classic fairy-tale. In this case, as you might have guessed, the film is based on the story of Snow White. I must say, the writers came up with some really clever allusions- some of which are pretty hilarious.

So, the story is about a girl (Sydney White) who is going off to college in hopes of joining her deceased mother's old sorority. When she gets there she finds the the president or whatever of the sorority is a super mega bitch who hates Sidney. Ultimately, the mega-bitch (who is not-so-suavely named Rachel Witchburn) kicks Sidney out of the sorority and embarrasses her in front of everyone.

So, Sydney finds herself without a place to live- cause, you know, colleges don't take care of that kind of thing- until she stumbles upon "the vortex", an unkempt old cottage-made-student-housing which is named for the way it "sucks in losers". Here Sydney meets 7 of these "losers"... also known as the 7 dorks. Yes, it's very silly.

The story goes off in all kinds of places from here but basically Rachel continues to try to make Sydney's life miserable, Sydney helps the dorks to realize their full potential, and of course there's a love interest (once again not at all sly-ly named Tyler Prince). There's also a poisoned apple, a prolonged sleep, and a fairest-of-them-all competition.

So, this movie is obviously pretty girly and silly and I'm pretty sure it's rated like pg but hey, it's like movie comfort food. Simple, familiar, funny, and sweet. Also it stars amanda bynes... and I just love her in all her movies. she's so hilarious and yet a perfect heroine at the same time.

here's a trailer:


also, stewart liked this movie so... take from that what you will haha.

a more serious movie monday next week :)

<3
Em

my finals week means you get a movie monday fail(ish)

Hey, it's midnight thirty on a tuesday again and I forgot to do a movie monday! It's cool, i was busy memorizing notecards for my two finals tomorrow. My first is for my "art history of the cinema" class, and my second is for my "film history-2nd half of the 20th century" class. Interesting connection there, eh? Anyways, instead of giving you a movie to look into like I usually do every monday, I decided to do something slightly less cool and give you a list of some of the movies I've had to watch/study/memorize facts about this semester. some of them are really good, so check them out if you so desire!

North by Northwest
This Film is Not Yet Rated
Inferno
Any Vera-Ellen Film
Do The Right Thing
Taxi Driver
Saboteur
The Player
The Hurt Locker
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

I also watched about a kajillion tv shows for class, but I'll spare you guys those :)
If you're in school, hope everything is winding down nicely. If you're not, hope you're getting pumped for summertime! I know I am.

till tomorrow,
Em

Movie Mondays: What Dreams May Come

On Sunday afternoon I decided to do something that I knew would be very, very bad for me. I decided to watch the pilot of Grey's Anatomy since the whole series is now on Netflix Instant. Of course, after the pilot I had to watch the second episode, and then the third, and the fourth... and then before I knew it it was monday evening and I had finished the first season, much to stewie's dismay. See, all this Grey's Anatomy time cut into our Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel time. It also cut into homework and  blogging time. I have a feeling this first month of summer that's about to start is going to be full of lots of cooking and hot doctor shows.

anyways, that means yet another late movie monday, but oh well! it was worth it :)

This is really an amazing movie, and it really deserves that academy award for visual effects. I mean, the story is great as well but it was the sheer beauty of this film that really captured me. absolutely stunning.

It is about a man named Chris and his wife and soulmate Annie. Their lives seem perfect until one day when they lose both of their children in a car accident. This sets of a chain of events that almost threatens to ruin their relationship, but they manage to pull through. However, several years later, Chris dies in a terrible accident. For a while his spirit lingers on earth and he attempts to contact his grieving and deeply depressed wife, but he soon realizes that this is only harming her more and he moves on.

Chris awakens in another reality, which is often described as heaven. It's not an up-in-the-clouds angels-flying-around-with-harps kind of heaven, though... it is a world completely made up by chris- and, seemingly, of paint. It is amazingly  beautiful and Chris finds that he is joined by his old dog and a friend and mentor he had known during his medical residency named Albert. Albert helps Chris become accustomed to his new world and shows him how to make everything real (rather than made up of paint).

It becomes clear that Annie and Chris truly are soulmates, as her paintings begin to be reflected in Chris' reality. Sadly, Annie eventually gives up and commits suicide. According to Albert, those who commit suicides tend to create "anti-fantasies" based on their pain, and thus their post-death realities are hell-like. Chris vows that he will voyage to this hell dimension and save his wife, despite the warnings from Albert that no one has ever succeeded at such a task.

There's all kinds of crazy stuff that happens, and people masquerading as other people and then revealing themselves... it's a really interesting movie about love and death and grief and soulmates. And it's so gosh darn pretty! beautiful bluish purples (my favorite color) are everywhere in this film.

This is by no means a light film, but one you should watch at some point for sure, if only because it stars Robin Williams in a rare but beautifully pulled off dramatic role.


this is the "studio trailer" which isn't so much a trailer but more of just clips of some of the prettiest/most interesting images in the movie. Surprisingly I couldn't find an actual trailer! oh well :)

Movie Mondays: Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog

eek! It was 11:59 and all of a sudden I realized that I had totally forgotten to post a movie monday! I'm going to just squeeze this in during the early Tuesday morning hours, ok? I won't tell if you won't ;)

I decided to pick this movie literally at the last minute. Like, I had my browser open and was typing "movie mondays" into the blog title box with the intent to post about an entirely different movie, and all of a sudden this just came to me. I figure it must be a sign.

I watched this for the first time last year, but interestingly enough both of my professors in my 2 media arts classes this semester selected it for one of the weekly screenings. I just love when I get to watch films I actually enjoy that have an academic purpose! Like I've said a million times before, best major ever.

The film is "Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog", and it's in quotes because it's not actually a feature film, it's a series of three 15 minute webisodes that comprise one 45 minute piece of epicness. be warned, it's (like most of the movies I talk about) not for everyone.

There are a number of reasons why I like this film, and I think it would be most productive to just go ahead and list them.

1. Created, written, and directed by Joss Whedon. Joss also created Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Serenity, and Dollhouse (among many other things). I am an avid fan of every single one of those.
2. Stars Neil Patrick Harris. I love this sensitive-tough singer-actor-director man.
3. Also stars Nathan Fillion, star of Firefly and Serenity as well as Castle, another show I've professed my love for on this blog.
4. It's a musical. I don't talk about it much on here because it's mostly a part of my personality that's faded with time, but I have a soft spot for musicals. I just love 'em, and I know way too much about them.
5. It's freaking hilarious. The writing is superb, the comedic timing is excellent.. it just really makes you laugh.

the only gripe I have with Dr Horrible is that the actual musical numbers are a bit subpar. I think that it is an intended mockery of itself, so that works... but being a musical fan, the simple melodies and cliche arrangements made me cringe a bit. If you can get past that though, this is truly gold.

Since it was originally in webisode form, the film has aspects similar to your everyday video blog. Dr. Horrible (NPH) is an aspiring villain attempting to be initiated into the evil league of evil, no help to his nemesis Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion). Dr Horrible speaks of all this- as well as his love for the sweet charity-working Penny- on his video blog. Of course, Penny doesn't know that Dr. Horrible is, well, Dr Horrible... she only knows him as Billy- the shy, normal guy who does laundry on the same days as her.

In order to join the evil league of evil, Dr Horrible must commit an undoubtedly evil act for all the public to see. His several attempts are thwarted by the annoying and extremely chauvinistic Captain Hammer, who, in an attempt to injure Dr Horrible where it hurts the most, ends up seducing Penny for himself. The film concludes with Dr. Horrible's final attempt to commit an evil act by killing Captain Hammer and finally winning Penny over. And I won't tell you the ending, because I've already said too much. Just watch it, ok? Tell me you'll watch it. You don't have to like it, but you probably will at least laugh a few times.

As you might have guessed with the whole 'came-out-in-webisodes' thing, this is aimed towards youth culture. Probably college/young adult age. So if you're in that age group, you're way more likely to enjoy it, but that's not to say anyone else couldn't too :)

Here's a (short) trailer:

Movie Mondays: Stranger than Fiction

I just watched this movie with my parents this weekend and thought it was a really creative idea- I know a lot of people have probably already seen it but I think it's worth a shoutout. Also I'm going over to hang out with some friends in a few so I don't have time to think of something else to post about ;)

There are so many good actors in this film... and they all perform stunningly. The only thing that got me was seeing Will Ferrel play this semi-dramatic everyday-man role. Also, seeing him and Maggie Gyllenhaal kiss... i do not put them in the same league (or generation, really...) at all. Other than that though, I thought everyone was very impressive.

The film is about a man named Harold, who one day begins to hear a woman's voice narrating his life as it happens. It seems no one else can hear the voice, and so of course when he sees a psychologist she tells him he's schizophrenic. Harold decides to seek the help of a professor, instead, who begins helping him try to figure out who is narrating his life and why. Essentially, Harold begins to look at his life as a book, trying to determine if he is living a tragedy or a comedy, testing his free will, etc.

Meanwhile, Emma Thompson plays a successful writer who has gotten writers block while working on her most recent novel. She is trying to figure out how to kill her main character but just can't seem to think of something that will work. She spends her days at hospitals, watching bridges, and standing on the edge of her desk for inspiration.

Of course, eventually the stories intersect and the writer faces the moral dilemma of killing a character who in fact is a real person. I won't give away the ending, but I will say that it's very interesting. definitely a worthwhile movie to watch.

Here's a trailer:

Movie Mondays: Julie and Julia

I wasn't planning on posting about Julie and Julia because, well, it's so mainstream! You've probably already seen it! But I love this movie... I really, really love it... and so I decided it deserves a spot on my blog along with all my other favorites :)

I saw this movie the summer it came out, sandwiched between Moon and The Time Traveler's Wife (yes, I sat in a movie theater for six hours straight, besides a small break for dinner at a restaurant next door- the summer stewie worked at the movie theater was awesome^^) I had no idea what it was about going in, all I knew was that supposedly the old people who frequented stew's theater enjoyed it.

Oh boy, was I in for a treat.

I hadn't started blogging way back then, but I did already love to cook. I love cooking so much that in high school I would have rather watched the food network for hours on end than MTV, VH1, or pretty much any other channel. To my delight, Julie and Julia was full of fantastic, beautiful cuisine that got me so inspired to go out and cook my way through a cookbook :)

I'm sure many of you have seen this movie, and those who haven't are probably still fairly familiar with it... but just in case, here's a brief plot synopsis:

Julia and Julia follows two stories; the life of Julia Child as she learns to cook in France and begins to write her first cookbook, and the life of Julie Powell, a new yorker with a passion for cooking and a desire to do something brilliant with her life. Her answer to her dull-life woes? Cook through Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in one year, and blog about it. Oh food blogs... how I love you so.

Julia Child is played by Meryl Streep, who is marvelous. I never actually watched the real Julia Child's show, so I'm sure if I had I would have one or two things to say about Meryl's performance...but as far as I can tell she gave a pretty accurate depiction. Julie Powell is played by Amy Adams, and I love her in this role. She's usually cast in such wimpy, girly-girl, look-at-me-i'm-so-quaint-and-pretty-and-small-and-i-speak-in-a-high-voice roles, so it was soo nice to see her perform this more hard-edged character. She portrays Julie Powell as tough and determined while also sweet and likable. I love it!

I could watch this movie over and over again because I'm obsessed with food and blogging, but even if you aren't, I still think it's worth at least one watch. There's some wonderful humor and the story-line is really quite appealing. Plus, it's a true story and based around a woman sooo many people have watched and come to love... so what's not to like? I think this is the perfect movie for a family or girls night, or maybe a casual night with you sig. other. enjoy it!

here's a trailer:

Movie Mondays: The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

It's been crazy busy and I've been a blogger failure! more on that next post, but for now here's your movie monday before it gets any later!

Todays movie is so much fun! I love it- probably because I love the idea of a traveling circus. How much fun would it be to be in one of those? Especially if your circus is super magically awesome like it is in this movie.

The film is The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. It's about a traveling circus comprised of the amazing Dr Parnassus, his 15 year old daughter Valentina (who he tries to pass off as 12 in the show- for various reasons), his assistant Antoine (who has a crush on Valentina), and a midget named Percy.

This traveling circus is unlike any other traveling circus though- inside the Imaginarium, dreams become reality. For the most part, they're very fun and enjoyable dreams. However, every once in a while the devil- known as Mr. Nick in this film- gets involved.

So skip back 1000 years ago. Dr. Parnassus is over 1000 years old, but he falls in love with a mortal woman. He agrees to make a deal with the devil (Mr. Nick), trading his immortality for youth. The catch is that once the child Dr. Parnassus and this woman have reaches his or her 16th birthday, the child goes to Mr. Nick. And that's why Dr. Parnassus is trying to make Valentina appear to be 12. However, Mr. Nick can't be fooled by this- he is, however, willing to make another bet. Whoever can seduce 5 souls within the Imaginarium will win Valentina.

Sounds pretty cool by itself, right? But then there's this whole situation with Tony, who is played by Heath Ledger. I mean Johnny Depp. I mean Jude Law. I mean Colin Farrell. Oh wait, it's all of them. You see, every time Tony (who is rescued while nearly hanging to death on a bridge by the traveling circus) enters the Imaginarium, he shifts appearance. Tony becomes an important part of the story, as Dr. Parnassus offers his daughter's hand in marriage to whoever helps him win his bet against the devil. Obviously Tony like Valentina as well, so it becomes quite a little love triangle between her, Antoine, and Tony.

What fun. Semi-confusing, yes. It kind of reminded me of Across the Universe- so many fun colors and awesome use of scenery, animation, etc. It's magical and thrilling and wonderful. And Tom Waits plays Mr. Nick. Need I say more?

Here's a trailer:


sheesh, way to make it look super fricken dramatic- it's quite more lighthearted than they make it appear :) It's on netflix instant, so if you can, check it out!

St Paddy's Countdown Day 4

 Welcome to day two of my St Patrick's Day Countdown! Today is a Movie Monday- Irish style! Now, usually when I do themed Movie Mondays I write up a quick list of several movies you could watch for the occasion. This time, however, I'm just going to do one movie that's pretty special to me because I grew up watching it!

The movie is Called Darby O'Gill and the Little People. Heard of it? I wouldn't be surprised if you hadn't- it was made in 1959. It's also one of those few disney movies that features real people, not cartoons. It's so very silly and dripping with irish stereotypes- but that's what makes it so fun to watch!

Darby O'Gill is your typical "old codger" who enjoys telling stories about leprechauns in pubs- in his case, though, they're actually true. Darby is friendly rivals with King Brian, the small and cunning king of the leprechauns. I honestly haven't seen this movie in FOREVER, I just remember loving it, so I only remember small bits of the plot- like that Darby's daughter and the new caretaker- handsome, young Michael- fall in love and sing the only song I can remember from the movie in which they refer to each other as "my dear, my darling one". I'm also pretty sure Darby gets trapped down in the leprechaun world for a while.

here is the plot summary from netflix:
Irishman Darby O'Gill (Albert Sharpe) finds himself face to face with magical little people -- leprechauns -- in this unheralded Disney gem. One of O'Gill's tall tales comes true when he captures the King of the Leprechauns, who must grant him three wishes. But all the wishes ultimately backfire, with comical results. Partly filmed on location, the movie co-stars Sean Connery (in an early role), Janet Munro and Estelle Winwood.

such a cute, fun movie- especially to watch on st patrick's day! Definitely not to be taken seriously at all- it's pretty corny and all- but still a lot of fun to watch. I don't know how easy it would be to find (i've got it on vhs somewhere I think), but if you can get your hands on it, give it a watch!

Since it's so old, there is no trailer available on youtube- but if you look it up you can find some silly and ridiculous clips.

Movie Mondays: Camille

I promised you guys a non-psychological thriller/drama for this week, so here you go! I saw Camille floating around on netflix for a while, but I never watched it because the girl in the red wig weirded me out. I don't know why. It just looked lie one of those indie films that makes you go "huh" and "meh" at the end. Yeah, yeah, don't judge a film by it's cover...

Well anyways I finally got around to reading what it was actually about, and that perked up my interest. And the wig is there for a reason! It wasn't just some strange indie costume designer's brilliant idea. I also figured out that it has James France in it, and he's pretty cute... so I decided to go ahead and watch it.

Camille is an odd story. It's about a young petty-thief, Silas, who marries his parole-officer's daughter Camille in the hopes that he'll be able to use the marriage (and the honeymoon up to Niagara Falls) to escape to Canada. Silas is the moody, brooding, sulky type and he obviously has no real affection for Camille. She, on the other hand, has had a crush on Silas since the two were kids. She's perky, talkative, and absolutely convinced that she and Silas are going to have the most perfect wedding, the most perfect honeymoon, and the most perfect life together.

Unfortunately, on the way up to Niagara Falls the two get into an accident. Camille is flung from Silas' motorcycle and when Silas finds her, she seems to be dead.

However... this doesn't seem to stop Camille. She somehow gets up and starts acting as though everything is perfectly normal. She doesn't have the slightest idea that she has died, although it becomes quite apparent to Silas as she starts to decay with each passing day. Feeling guilty about the way he treated Camille, Silas decides to take Camille to Niagara Falls anyways, and starts treating her much more nicely. For instance, when all her pretty blonde hair falls out, he buys her a wig.

As you might imagine, Silas starts to straighten up and not suck so much. The two encounter lots of interesting and quirky characters on their trip, which helps round out the film. I won't give away the ending, but I will tell you it's sweet.

The movie is a tad off-beat, humorous at parts, and very cute/sweet. Definitely a romantic comedy, but that's not to say it's exclusively a chick flick. I think guys could enjoy it as well.

Here's a trailer:


kind of a corny trailer, but you get the idea. check it out!

<3
Em

Movie Mondays: The Jacket

 Today's movie monday is all thanks to my dear friend Marby, who loves this movie. It's another one of those psychological thriller type movies- am I getting too predictable for you guys? I promise a non-mind-f*ck movie for next week.

The Jacket stars Adrien Brody as Jack Starks, an amnesiac gulf war veteran who is wrongly accused of shooting a police officer and ends up getting sent to a mental institution. The institution practices some controversial and experimental therapy, though, such as strapping its patients into straight jackets in the middle of the night and leaving them in body drawers in the basement morgue. Pretty creepy, right? Especially if you're not actually crazy but everyone around you keeps insisting that you are.

While left in the jacket, Starks begins experiencing some flashbacks to the incident that led to his arrest as well as flashforwards in which he literally seems to be traveling to the future. He comes across Jackie Price (played by Keira Knightley), a lonely, alcoholic young woman who offers him a ride when he finds himself stranded outside the diner she works at on christmas eve.

As Jack wanders around Jackie's house, it soon becomes apparent that he is in the future- and he realizes that Jackie Price has information that could prove his innocence. Unfortunately when Jack tells Jackie who he is and that he has come from the past, she freaks out (understandably so), because she claims that Jack Starks has been dead for years. In fact, he died 4 days after being put into the jacket.

What ensues is a race against time and an avid search (while Jack is in the jacket and is transported to the future) to find out what was being practiced at the mental institution and what led or is going to lead to his death. It's a pretty crazy movie. Not exactly light hearted, but most definitely captivating.

Knightley and Brody are awesome in this movie. Except Keira always seems to have her mouth open in an apathetic pout. That's kind of annoying. But other than that she's great haha. It's a very intense film but definitely worth watching. I believe it's on netflix instant, or you can get it on amazon for like 50 cents used or 8 bucks new. check it out!

Here's a trailer:

Movie Mondays: Castle

 I'm cheating just an eensy bit and using one of the 30 day challenge prompts (one of your favorite shows) for a movie monday. I think it's good though because it gives me a reason to feature television, something that I don't often do for movie mondays! Now, I thought about picking a really obscure underground tv show for you guys, but the problems with those is they tend not to last very long. Networks seem to cancel a lot of good shows for no apparent reason other than the majority of americans are too dumb to understand them... sad.

I watch a decent amount of mainstream television anyways though, so today I'm going to feature one particular favorite of mine. When I say favorite, I mean it's the only one I regularly watch on hulu the day it becomes available :)

The show is Castle, starring Nathan Fillion as bestselling author Richard Castle and Stana Katic as detective Kate Beckett. Richard (who goes by "Rick" or "Castle" in the show) is friends with the mayor, so when he gets struck with writer's block after finishing his last murder mystery series he manages to fandangle his way into shadowing Kate Beckett for inspiration. At first he's a nuisance, but as you can probably figure out he ends up being an entertaining asset to the cases that Kate works on.

The show is mainly exciting for people who love Nathan Fillion from Firefly (there are several references made each season; for example, during a halloween episode Fillion dons his old Malcolm Reynolds costume and claims to be a "space cowboy"), as well as for those who just love a good murder mystery show. I've always liked watching shows like law and order, csi, and without a trace, so this show is a natural fit for me.

What sets this show apart from others (like the ones I just mentioned) is that it's got a lot of humor mixed in with the grittiness and mystery. Fillion is a funny guy, and his cocky and yet innocent humor is a thrill to watch. Furthermore, the show follows not only the cases and characters of the NYPD, but also Castle's family life- he has a dramatic and carefree live-in actress mother and a smart, vivacious teenage daughter. The contrast of work-castle and family-castle is another element that sets this show apart from other serial crime shows.

There are several episodes on hulu, but alas the seasons are not available on netflix instant. Someday I hope :) Castle shows on monday nights, check on the time where you are- and of course that means episodes are available on hulu on tuesday. If you like nathan fillion or like entertaining murder mystery shows, this could be the show for you!

since it's a tv show, there's not really a trailer... but here's the promo for the third season:



aaaand here's the title sequence:

Movie Monday: Valentine Edition

umm... please forgive me for not posting this on monday. i know it's totally not fair for me to post my movie post on a wednesday and try to pass it off as a movie monday... but hey, that's what I'm gonna do. :)

Seriously though, I was GOING to post this on monday. I really was! But sometimes it seems like between going to class, doing homework, cooking, cleaning, and watching multiple episodes at a time of Psych with stewie I just don't have any free time. It's quite frustrating. hopefully the load will start to get a little lighter as time goes on and i get used to it all!

Anyways, here is your belated valentines movie monday. I know love day has come and gone, but you can watch sweet romantic chick-flicky movies any day of the year in my opinion. Also note, this is probably the only movie monday I will post that features a straight up "chick-flick", so get 'em while you can ;)

For this very special Valentine's Edition of Movie Mondays, I'm going to post my top 7 (because 10 was too many and 5 wasn't enough) favorite romantic movies (in no particular order). You've probably heard of a few or all of them, but they're still great!

1. P.S. I Love You
Beautiful story about a husband trying to help his wife move on after he has died via letters and other such things. Very touching and amazing acting :)


2. The Time Traveler's Wife
You knew I was going to sneak this one in, didn't you? I may be a teensy bit obsessed with this movie and the novel that inspired it. I have valid reasons though: I love time-travel stories, I love love stories, and I love Rachel McAdams. To keep it brief, this is a love story about a man who involuntarily travels through time and the love of his life, who has known him all her life but is stuck in the present.


3. Moulin Rouge
There was a time in highschool- somewhere in freshman or sophomore year- when I watched this movie every single night. And man, did I weep. I really love musicals, and back then I was OBSESSED with them. Also I thought Ewan McGreggor was pretty darn cute and French Bohemia? break me off a piece of that time period! haha. Anyways, this movie is definitely comical at times, but it's also really sweet and sad and exciting, what with all the modern music compilations and can-can dancers and giant elephant bedrooms.


4. Center Stage
I first saw this movie when I was 11, and it was the cool thing to like. Yknow, when we all thought we might actually be professional ballerinas someday. Anyways, this movie has an AWESOME soundtrack, some spectacular dance scenes, and a really fun romance-triangle story. It's definitely light fare, but I like it all the same. Very cute and sweet.


5. The Holiday
I think I talked about this one during my christmas movie monday edition, but it's still a great love story any time of the year. In fact, it's got two love stories at once :) Iris and Amanda trade houses for the holidays (a cottage in Surrey, England, and a mansion in Beverly Hills) in an effort to get over their lost loves, but end up finding a lot more than the peace and solitude they were hoping for. Great script and really great stars in this film :)


6. Chocolat
A perfect vday movie :) It takes place in a teensy little French town, where a woman and her child settle down to open up a chocolate shop. The conservative religious people of the town don't initially take kindly to this free-spirited woman and her shop full of temptations, but as they begin to warm up to her the whole town seems to transform. Johnny Depp also shows up as a "river rat" (as imdb puts it) and of course a little love story begins to develop. Great romance story, but seriously the various scenes of chocolate making and delicious treats are enough to make me watch this movie!


7. Music and Lyrics
I saw this movie with my best friend in sophomore year, and we loved it! We came home and downloaded all the songs haha. It's such a cute movie. I think Hugh Grant is awesome in all his films, and this one doesn't disappoint. Same goes for Drew Barrymore. Basically Hugh Grant is a fallen pop star who is trying to reinvigorate his career by recording a duet with the current charts-topping pop star. He's got writer's block though, and can't figure out how to write something that will be a hit. His plant-waterer (bad english...) overhears his struggles and gives him some input.... and everything kind of falls into place from there as the two work together to write the perfect song :) Cute, funny, and sweet.



Happy belated valentines day guys! Hope you had a great one!!

Movie Mondays: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

 Hey everyone,
today's movie monday is going to be short and sweet because I'm really exhausted right now and I still have homework to do. I went back and forth about whether to use Eternal Sunshine for a movie monday, because I feel like a lot of people have already heard about it/seen it. It's one of my favorite movies though and I'm too tired to try to think of a different movie to do, so ESOTSM it is :)

 I love this movie so much. I can watch it over and over again and I literally never get bored with it. Kate Winslet is hands down one of my favorite actresses, and Jim Carey totally nails this dramatic role. It's so, so good.

The story centers around Joel (Jim Carey), who gets involved with Clementine (Kate Winslet). The two have a somewhat turbulant relationship which ends with a nasty breakup. The next time Joel sees Clem, she appears to have no recollection of who he is.

So, Joel finds out that Clem has gone to this doctor's office that specializes in altering people's memories. Basically, you go to their office, they map out your brain, you go home and throw out everything that reminds you of the person you want to forget, and then you take some sleeping pills and the technicians come to your house in the middle of the night and perform a procedure with lots of wires and computers to erase all your memories of a person from your mind. Crazy, eh?

Joel decides that he's going to get the procedure done too, but halfway through having his memory erased he changes his mind. The majority of the movie is a race through Joel's memories of Clem as he tries to wake up or hold onto a piece of her.

It's a fantastic movie, it really, really is. One of my very favorites. I know I say that every week but seriously, this is probably like top 3 :)

Here's the trailer:



I will say that that trailer doesn't really do the film justice though... For some reason I couldn't find a really good one :( anyways, watch this.

Monday Mondays: Memento

This week's movie monday is pretty awesome. It's [another] one of those wonderful little mind-bending classical-hollywood-cinema-twisting indie gems that really makes you think. It's got a great director/screenwriter (christopher nolan) and an equally great cast (Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Joe Pantoliano) that really make this movie one of a kind.

Memento is unique in that it goes backwards in time, kind of. Basically you watch ten minutes of the movie and then the scene changes to ten minutes before the previous ten minutes, and once it reaches the beginning of the 10 minutes you already saw it switches to ten minutes before that... I realize that probably makes no sense at all but trust me that it's awesome.

The reason for this strange time structure is that the main character, Leonard (Pearce) has suffered head trauma which has caused him to lose his short term memory. He basically can only remember ten minutes at a time, so by editing the film in this way nolan simulates the confusing and fractured sense of time that Leonard experiences.

This short term memory loss provides for some really interesting and awesome character traits in Leonard. For instance, he takes polaroids of everyone he meets and writes notes about them so that he can refer back to the pictures when he encounters someone he can't remember. He has also gotten tattoos all over his body with interesting reminders or facts that he would otherwise forget.

So what's the plot, then? Well, leonard is on a search for the man who broke into his house, raped and killed his wife, and knocked him out (causing his short term memory loss). Supposedly this is the last event Leonard can remember, and he has made it his life's purpose to find the intruder and kill him. As the mystery unravels, so do the intricacies of Leonard's character and his relationship with the other people in the film.

I'm one of those people that really enjoys (for lack of a better expression) mind-fuck movies that make you sit there and think and then want to watch the film over again- so if you are too, this is the film for you. Here's the trailer:

Movie Mondays: Ink

 Ok, winter vacation is officially over, seeing as today was the first monday of school. That means it's time to get back to regularly scheduled programming... meaning movie mondays! I'm such a dork haha.

Today I'm going to be telling you about a very interesting and moving movie called Ink. Stewie and I watched it a few months ago and I kept forgetting to feature it, but it's really a wonderful film!

This is one of those cool mind-bending films that delves into dreamland and the inner psyche... and it's also incredibly touching. I was definitely crying at the end.

The plot revolves around Emma, a young, playful girl, and her father John, who is consumed by work and sadness after his wife (and Emma's mother) dies.

Usually when everyone goes to sleep they are watched over by kind, somewhat hipster-looking beings which supply good dreams. Sometimes, though, other creepy-glowing-glasses-wearing beings emerge who force nightmares into the minds of sleeping individuals.

One night, a creature that is neither of these (but wants to become one of the creepy guys) breaks into Emma's bedroom and steals her within the dream world. I know that sounds kind of confusing but basically her subconscious is taken away from her body, leaving her in a comatose state. In her dream, though, she is forced to travel with this strange, misshapen creature through dreamland as he tries to take her to the headquarters of the nightmare things.

I probably sound like I'm high trying to explain this lol. It's kind of complicated because it's so abstract but it is really interesting to watch.

The movie has a lot to do with deteriorating families, the strength of love, and the weight of desperation. It really is a wonderful and intriguing film.

Here's a trailer:


It's on netflix instant stream. If you like movies like donnie darko, pans labyrinth, and eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, you will probably like this movie :)

<3

7th Day of Christmas

Since today is monday (at least it was when I started writing this), I thought I'd make a movie-monday themed day of christmas post. Originally I was going to just do one really interesting lesser-known xmas movie, but it kind of seems like all christmas movie are so popular that there is really nothing I can put on here that will be very new to anyone. I mean some of the best holiday movies- Home Alone, Elf, A Christmas Story- have been seen by EVERYONE. So, instead of racking my brain trying to think of hidden gem holiday themed movies, I'm just going to give you a list of my personal holiday favorites- regardless of the fact that a fair few of them are big budget hollywood films ^^

Elf
hehe. it's such a silly story. and it's nice to see will ferrell in such an innocent role. Also, I love zooey deschanel and all her movies, even if she does look totally different when shes blond and wearing an elf suit. I think I mostly like this movie because of the scene where zooey and will sing Baby, It's Cold Outside, cause honestly I can't remember much else about the movie haha.



It's a Wonderful Life
Ah, a classic. This is such a sweet, life-affirming movie. I just love it. I'm sure pretty much everyone knows the story of this one so I won't go into it, but if you don't you should watch it!



The Holiday
This is undoubtedly one of my favorite movies of all time, no matter what part of the year it is. When I first saw the pay-per-view trailer, it annoyed me to no end because it just shows these women shrieking. Blegh. But, eventually I ended up watching it somehow and LOVED it. It's both a love story and a story about healing and self-appreciation. It's so sweet, and Jude Law is incredibly cute in it. And Jack Black is sweet and funny without being annoying, as he can sometimes be. Plus, it has Kate Winslet- undoubtedly one of my favorite actresses. She's so beautiful and amazing in this movie. Geez, i don't even know. I mean, it's definitely a romantic comedy, but it's such a GOOD one, you know? If you haven't seen it, by all means, do so very soon.


Rent
Now, technically this rock opera [turned into a major motion picture] takes places over the course of an entire year. However, a good 1/4-1/3 of it takes place during christmas and new years. it also begins and ends on December 24th (9 pm, eastern standard time). I won't pretend that the film holds a candle to the original broadway play, but it's still very good. It has most of the original broadway cast and contains most of the original songs/script. If you aren't familiar with rent, i encourage you to become familiar because it seriously changed my life! It is the most beautiful, affirming, wonderful story of friendship, love, freedom, beauty, expression, and bohemia. Geez it's good.


Love Actually
This is another sweet little romantic comedy. It's one of those movies that follows several stories at the same time, and at the end they all turn out to kind of have to do with each other. It's a very sweet, very fun holiday film. It's both hearbreaking and heartwarming at parts- truly a wonderful snapshot of love in many different situations. watch it! Sidenote: british children are THE cutest.


SO, there you have my five fave holiday-ish movies. At least the ones I can think of right now haha. Please, rent a couple and enjoy! they are all quite wonderful, I promise.

<3
em

Movie Mondays: Life as a House

Today's movie monday is a movie I know very well. I first saw it around age nine or ten, and it was one of the first R-rated movies I ever saw. You know how sometimes kids will watch a movie and then like it so much they just want to watch it over and over again because they don't know of many other good movies to watch? That's kind of how I was like with this film, meaning it pretty instantly became one of my favorite movies and was rented for any and every sleepover until the only movie store copy was too scratched to watch and we bought our own copy. Because of this, when I think of this movie now it reminds me of a kid's film, even though it's rated R and I technically shouldn't have been able to see it until I was 17. So I'm going to recommend it to you anyways, in hopes that its an enjoyable movie to those who didn't first watch it in elementary school lol.

The film is Life As a House, starring Hayden Christensen, Kevin Kline, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Jena Malone. All four of them are marvelous.

 Kevin Kline plays George, a divorced, middle-aged architect who is diagnosed with terminal cancer. With only a few months left to live, he decides he wants his last act to be tearing down the shack his father left him and building a beautiful new house to leave for his teenage son. His son Sam (Hayden Christensen), however, is caught up in a world of drugs, depression, and general teenage angst- the kind that involves hating his parents and his life but still caring about what everyone else thinks. Sam plans on spending the summer getting high in his friend's cabin in Tahoe, and is less than pleased when his father insists that Sam will be spending the summer with him. As the days roll on, however, Sam begins to clean up with the help of his father and the charming girl next door, Alyssa (Jena Malone). Meanwhile, George begins to reconnect with Sam's mother and his ex-wife, Robin (Kristin Scott Thomas). Most importantly, though, Sam and George begin to understand each other and reform the father-son relationship they once had. 

Now, keep in mind that I fell in love with this movie at a pretty young and cinematically inexperienced age, so my opinions might be slightly biased and skewed as to how good this film is. Personally, though, I thought the setting was absolutely beautiful, the characters were pretty well-developed, and a great deal of the script writing was very well done.

Overall, it's a really touching story about love, loss, family, and the possibility to change. I think it just recently went up on Netflix instant, so watch it if you have a chance. Here's the trailer: