Secrets of Venus

Holy COW I loved this film.  I mean the story was a bit slow, but for some reason it didn’t matter because it was interesting for me.   Denzel Washington is always so great to watch and not because he’s one handsome dude, but because I feel he acts in a way that relates to his audience.  I’m always intrigued.  And it’s weird because he doesn’t stray too far off of what he’s done in the past.  Sort of the Julia Roberts syndrome.  But I like him just like I like her.

So, first off the flight itself - cra cra.  I liked the directing, I liked the location, and I liked all the other actors.  Don Cheadle has been on my favorite list since Boogie Nights.  

A lot of films give you the character.  You either love them from the start, hate them from the start, begin to love them during a transformation, etc.  But this film left me questioning how I felt about him all together, the entire film.  Did I approve, disapprove, would I trust him?  I enjoyed that.  It was different.

4.0 stars for character development and direction

The title says it all.  The Impossible was so hard to believe.  I mean it’s based on a true story and I still questioned everything that happened.  Who knows what was taken from the truth and what was added but I found myself saying  ”COME ON!” through-out the entire film.  Luckily I was alone, Greg would have been bugged.  

Though I doubted a lot of it, the cinematography was fantastic.  Being a sucker for catastrophic things, I liked this film and I would actually recommend it to others.  Earthquakes, Meteors, Psunami’s, Hurricane’s.  I know it’s morbid but I enjoy seeing things things on the big screen.  

3.5 stars for the fact that I bit all my nails off

Steven Soderbergh if I could ask you one thing it would be “Why?”

Steven is one of my idols as a director so I always expect to love his work.  I just can’t figure out why he didn’t do something more with this.  Throw some Ocean Eleven into Magic Mike and maybe we’d have something worth watching.  I don’t know though, maybe he was thinking “I wanna do simple”.  And if that’s the case - he accomplished it.   

I don’t think I’d be so critical if a new director had done this, because it wasn’t terrible directing.  But the story was just…  just… kinda stupid.  ha ha.  I’m mean.  

2.0 stars for fabulous dancing and hard abs 

When I first saw Jessica Chastain in ”The Help”, I immediately developed a crush.  So sweet, innocent and lovable.  I was excited to see Zero Dark Thirty because I wanted to see how she portrayed this sort of character; it’s so different.  I love when actors have such a variety of tricks up their sleeve.   It’s the difference between Julia Roberts and Jessica Chastain.  Though I think Julia is a doll, and a talented actress, I haven’t seen her really dive into something different then she already is.   I enjoy her beautiful smile, and her infectious laugh.  But with Jessica I get taken to a different place every time i see her on the silver screen and, for me, that is what I strive to be as an actor.

I think Jessica made this film.  I mean, yeah sure who doesn’t want to see Bin Laden caught, but we don’t really know if that is exactly what happened as it’s still classified info, but regardless it’s what I like to believe happened.

I loved the direction.  I loved the locations.

I’m not sure that it’s award worthy when it’s up against what it’s up against this year, but I could be wrong.

3.5 stars for story and character development 

Though this isn’t about rum-running, speakeasy’s, or gangsters it was just as fun to watch.   Come to think of it, though it actually takes place after bootleggin’ had already ended, I did notice how much they loved their hooch in this film.   Okay I’m way off topic.  Soooo back to Hyde Park.  The scenery made me crave a vacation in the country, and the musical underscore created a very loving and romantic story without any actual boob shots.   Who woulda thunk?    

Bill Murray did a wonderful job portraying FDR.   There were times I didn’t even recognize his voice and had to press rewind.  Then again, he does no wrong in my eyes.  He’s so beautiful - he is GOD.   And that little shy (not) Laura Linney as Margaret Suckley ”Daisy” was spot on in her obedient ways.  There were times through-out this film that I understood her feelings for him, and other times when I just wanted to shake some sense into her sorry ass.  Either way,  I’d recommend this to my mother but not to my sister.  Hmmmm, maybe I should start implementing my own family rating system.  

4.0 stars for story, costume, character development, and music

As I’m a sucker for films like Superbad, and Knocked up, they have to be pretty damn good to impress me.  Something about those films made me feel like I was just a human who wanted to laugh.   So here’s the downside to those massively hilarious films - other films have a hard time comparing.   I adore both Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann but this was a bit pushed.  I liked the improv that was going on, but I feel they let it go a bit too long.  I found myself waiting for it to be over and asking myself  ”how long is this?”   Maybe I’m just an old fart now and maybe it’s because I lived there but either way I’m tired of the Hollywood scene.  Snore Snore.  

The lines that the little girls had were funny, but I could see they didn’t believe them or they were forced.  I think I saw one even look at the camera during the scene.  I get it, It’s hard for a little kid to say fuck, but if it’s in the script….  c’mon.

2.8 stars.  (I feel guilty giving it 2.5, but I don’t think it deserves 3.0)  Leslie Mann is as cute as ever and I’m still a fan.  

Disclosure:  I’m not a huge fan of comedies in this fashion so if you love stuff like this don’t hate me.  :)

Jennifer Lawrence, is one of the most adorable little creatures ever. One word: Envious.  Her and  Bradley Cooper  warm up the screen with their chemistry and it was nice to see Bradley, typically Mr. Cool, show us a different role that he’s perfectly fit for.   But he pulled it off.  Robert De Niro, did a great job as well as his father; and the issues underlying his character play right into this story perfectly.  I will always have a De Niro crush.

Though I called the plot twist well before the film was half over; that’s pretty typical of me, I still enjoyed watching it all unfold.  There was only one part that I had a hard time buying.  But, all in all it’s a cute story.  

My belief is that there are “special sparks” that fly around a project when the talent of the actors and the director pull off a silly story and make it somewhat realistic.   I found myself going “Wait a second… would that ever happen?”  and then believing it actually would; especially when I figured out the twist.  I liked that the humor wasn’t spoon-fed to the audience and there was a little mystery left to discover.  

3.5 stars Character development, direction. 

This film was a beautiful piece.  Very artistically done. It’s a film adaptation of the Jack Kerouac cult classic  - On The Road - (same name).  A quote from my husband song titled -Gina Marie- “swerving around like a drunken Neil Cassidy” sort of spells it out.  It was beautifully directed by Walter Salles and stars Garrett Hedlund, Sam Riley, Kristen Stewart. Amy Adams has a small role as well as Viggo Mortensen.  I questioned 1949 in a way I had never done.  I didn’t know they did things like this back then!  Sex, drugs, insanity!  It all looks like a fun ride to me however, in real life, I’m a voyeur not a participant.  

Kristen Stewart is on my “like” list this year.  All honesty, never a fan.  Actually quite annoyed with her in the past, but I eat crow now.  

So though it started out a bit slower then I had hoped, I fell right into the groove after about 10 minutes.  If you’re not into indie films or Jack Kerouac you may not like it.  

4.0 stars for scenery, character development, directing, and ALL THOSE FABULOUS CARS.

La la la…   Hugh Jackman is precious and handsome in every way possible.  I love him.  His vulnurablility in this piece astonishes me.  Russell Crowe, though his character isn’t my favorite he was beautiful and I actually liked him.  Anne Hathaway WOW.  Her voice, her beauty her bravery - SHE BETTER WIN BEST ACTRESS THIS YEAR!!!!  BEST BEST BEST ACTRESS!!!      Amanda Seyfried, a trained soprano with that angelic face did such a marvelous job. She’s damn cute and I can’t wait to see what becomes of her career, she’s going places.   But I gotta say, Samantha Barks, sort of surprised me.  I don’t know why, but she did. I think it’s because she’s a theater gal and she took the silver screen by storm. I felt very taken by her beauty, her voice and her character.  Now Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter are hilarious.  Some light to a sad story.  OH MY GOSH, without them….  I just don’t know.   PS Helena’s a role stealer - this should have been mine damn it!   Tom Hooper is another hero of mine after this piece.   He owned it and I would watch this over and over again.

Oh and the vocals were all LIVE.  They brought in a pianist to help the actors, but LIVE.  I mean, what the…  that’s a first.  The actors mentioned that the pianists really did bring to the table a world of emotions to help them achieve their best performance and I believe it!

So let’s remember folks in the forgotten people.  In post production the piano was replaced, so a round of applause for the hard working people who put hours and hours into this film and were unfortunately not heard.  Oh, it would be awesome if they sold an album of those takes.  I’d buy it.

5.0 for cast, story, hard work, scenery, wardrobe, directing EVERYTHING!!!  This film better win something!

Wow, where to start.  This film “fucken” blows me away.  I can’t explain it without using that word, sorry.  My hat is off to Ben Affleck.   Ben also plays Tony Mendez, a CIA operative who led the rescue of six of the U.S. diplomats from Iran during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis.   Now I did wonder, “What about the other 60 diplomats held hostage?” But the story wasn’t about that.  ha ha.     I still recommend everyone should see this. Then again I’m a sucker for this sort of stuff.   It’s not a car chase film and no one is jumping out of planes, but I chewed off all my finger nails (i know gross).   I’ll be watching this again and again for directing purposes.  

5.0 Stars for story, directing and scenery.