Inception

If I could only choose one movie to take away from 2011 Inception would be the clear winner. It’s not often that I watch a movie that fulfills me 100% creatively, artistically and as an audience member but with Inception Christopher Nolan did all of that for me.

I am a Christopher Nolan junkie. Now and forevermore, I will see any movie he makes. I can’t think of a bad one in the lot, and in fact with each film I think he improves - and since square one he’s been amazing. I’ve said it before, but if I could apprentice to any director working today I would want to apprentice to Christopher Nolan. I can’t think of any contemporary director that can pull of the perfect mesh of creativity and box office appeal - a mix that would make any studio salivate at the thought of making your movie.

Inception is a movie that makes me want to make movies. That is a powerful thing, and something I am incredibly grateful for.

Brick

I praise this movie a lot. Seriously, I love it. I would have loved to be at Sundance and have seen this movie with the first audience. I am sure it rocked some worlds. This is the kind of movie that is so powerful the first time you watch it that you just don’t have the words for a little while after the credits roll, and I do know that, because the first time I watched those credits roll by I remember being glued to my seat in awe of what had just passed.

Part of why this film has such power for me is because it’s the kind of film that I want to make. Not just because it’s a noir, but because it takes something familiar and flips it on it’s head a bit. It changes things. It has the mark of people who love the craft and a director with a very clear style and vision.

I’m still hoping that someday someone will be saying that about a film of mine.




Brendan: No, bulls would gum it. They'd flash their dusty standards at the wide-eyes and probably find some yegg to pin, probably even the right one. But they'd trample the real tracks and scare the real players back into their holes, and if we're doing this I want the whole story. No cops, not for a bit.

Manic

I will admit that I went into Manic only because I’m trying to fill in the gaps I have in the filmography of Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays Lyle, a misfit teen who is sent to a junivile mental health institution after he beats another teen with a baseball bat. It is there that he meets a group of other angry, abused teens who have the same issues he does and is faced with a choice – learn to deal with your past or let it control your future. Despite the obvious Cuckoo’s Nest overtones, and general bleakness of the subject matter I quite enjoyed Manic, this is due in large part to the caliber of the acting talent in this film.

Manic was made before Zooey Deschanel or Joseph Gordon-Levitt were stars, so the big name in this movie at the time was Don Cheedle and rightly so – this is a performance that Cheedle hits out of the park. Cheedle plays shrink to the teenagers at the facility and his constant battle with himself at the teens mental state and attitude is captivating; at points I forgot I was watching Cheedle and began to think of him as Dr. Moore. This role could not have been an easy one, as the character is placed in the difficult position of having a natural state of pity for the events that caused these teens to become who they are, and facing the reality that they are still dangerous, damaged individuals.

Gordon-Levitt plays the main character in this piece, and watching him do his thing is pretty fascinating as well as Lyle expresses himself and his anger at life in largely non-verbal ways. While Lyle may scream, hit things, and do other attention getting stunts, more often than not Lyle speaks few words and says volumes with his actions. Gordon-Levitt seems to be acting right down to his very bones.

I have to give props to director Jordan Melamed. To get performances like these out of actors, even the great actors he has here, takes a talented hand. Without the guidance of a good director these performaces could stand alone as the only memorable points of this tale, but instead they blend beautifully into a larger picture and create a cohesive character piece. I’d love to see Melamed direct again.




Director: Jordan Melamed

Brick

As always, I give this movie two thumbs up, and I'd probably give it more if I had more than two hands.





Kara: You better be sure you wanna know what you wanna know.

500 Days of Summer

500 Days of Summer. I am slightly obsessed with this movie. Not because I’m some girlie girl who wants to marry a Tom or Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Not because I think it’s funny.

I am obsessed with this movie because it’s so artistically original that I want to pick the brains of the filmmakers and see how this entire project sprang to being frame by frame.

It’s beautiful. It’s original. It’s the best “romantic comedy” since When Harry Met Sally.




Rachel Hansen: Just because she likes the same bizzaro crap you do doesn't mean she's your soul mate.

Brick

Brick (2005)
Originally uploaded by ∆P

So apparently, while I’m working on my own film noir I’m going to be watching Brick on a regular basis. It just doesn’t seem like I can avoid it. I keep wanting to revisit it, and have it feed the pool of inspiration.

Thank God for the films of Rian Johnson.

I realized part of what I love about Brick, part of what makes it so real and visceral is the sound design. This is a film that is visually sparse and distinct, and the sound design matches that in every way possible. There is little to no background noise that can’t be called “generic”, the only things you hear are what you see, and yet everything is distinct and clear. That may not sound like a lot to those of you that have ever thought about sound, but if you’ve ever been subjected to a film that has had the sound over designed or under designed I am sure your brain picked up that something was very off – even if you couldn’t figure out what that was. Never assume that what you’re hearing along with the picture, was simply what the sound peeps recorded while filming.

My favorite random bit about the sound design of Brick? [Yes, I am a geek that has a favorite part of the sound design in this film.] I adore the fact that everyone’s run/footsteps sound distinct. I remember reading an article that Rian Johnson had taken his characters shoes into account when plotting what they would be like, and I think this extends right down to how they sound. Normally, this is the kind of thing that isn’t readily apparent, but where I noticed it the most was the sequence where the thug is chasing down Brendan at school. Ws they run through the corridors Brendan’s step is lithe and quick and the thug is heavy and significantly slower – the sound comes more into play when Brendan realizes he can be heard running and discards his shoes to double back on the thug as he hears him approach.

My point is, from script, to production to post every element of something as “simple” as how the shoes would work in this film was fully planned, thought out and executed to maximum effect.

I am both astonished and inspired by this. This is the kind of craftsman ship I aspire to, and while I know I subconsciously do add touches like this to my works, I’m still working to make it a conscious effort. I would love to one day be compared to Rian Johnson, the Orange County director with an eye for artful details.

The Brain: See the Pin pipes it from the lowest scraper for Brad Bramish to sell, maybe. Ask any dope rat where their junk sprang and they'll say they scraped it from that, who scored it from this, who bought it off so, and after four or five connections the list always ends with The Pin. But I bet you, if you got every rat in town together and said "Show your hands" if any of them've actually seen The Pin, you'd get a crowd of full pockets.
Brendan: You think The Pin's just a tale to take whatever heat?
The Brain: Hmm... So what's first?
Brendan: Show of hands.

The Lookout

There’s a little movie I saw awhile back that impressed the heck out of me called The Lookout. I’d been in the mood to watch it again for a few months now and I’d wanted to buy it instead of Netflix it, and yet for some reason I couldn’t find a single store that carried it. This is a travesty. I ended up having to track it down at a specialty DVD store, the kind where if they don’t sell it then it doesn’t exist. Thank God they had it, but I think it’s a travesty that stores like Target & Best Buy don’t seem to carry it.

I digress. What impressed me the most about The Lookout is the fact that even though it’s a heist movie that’s centered around a man with a brain injury, the film is never cheap, clichéd and comes off 100% authentic. That is a beautiful thing.

The main character is Chris Pratt, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I found an interview while I was looking for the film where Gordon-Levitt stated that part of what he loved so much about The Lookout and playing Chris is that in the end Chris doesn’t suddenly get better because you know, somewhere along the line some exec had the brilliant idea that as part of a nice happy ending Chris sound be healthy again, and that Gordon-Levitt loved that the film doesn’t do that because that would have been disrespectful to anyone suffering from a brain injury. I have to say that I agree.

Part of what makes the film feel so authentic is that Chris struggles. One day it may be hard for him to pick up a beer bottle without shaking, or he may forget where the can opener is kept, or he has sudden mood swings – and that doesn’t go away, even when he has to become the hero of the piece. The entire film Chris has to struggle with his injury, his past and how it all affects his present and future. There is never a moment where everything just gels and Chris carries on a quasi-normal existence.

As fantastic as Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in the role of Chris, it would be a crime not to mention that he is perfectly matched by Jeff Daniels in the role of Lewis – his blind roommate who helps him cope with life. To say Lewis is the comic-relief in this film would be to cheapen his performance or character, but Lewis is the one that provides many grins and laughs for the audience through the film. Lewis is in the place with his disability that Chris can’t be in yet, and Lewis’s ability to carry on with the lightness of life next to the darkness is a perfect complement to the still fresh way Chris is dealing with his disability. Daniels plays the character as if being a blind hippy is a natural act for him and it makes me wish he got more roles like this.

The single reason I think I’ve fought so hard to find this film is not my obsession with the acting work of Joseph Gordon-Levitt, but Scott Frank. Frank has written some of my most loved films of the past decade and his directorial debut is a perfect match to his body of work. It’s tense, funny, original, and complex yet for the first time I’ve gotten to see the world as Frank sees it instead of through the filter of another director.

Chris Pratt: I started skating again. I'm not as good as I used to be, but I'm okay. What happened that night along Route 24 is a part of me now. I just hope that one day Kelly will be ready to see me again and I can finally tell her what I've only been able to say in my dreams. Until then, all I can do is wake up, take a shower, with soap, and try to forgive myself. If I can do that, then maybe others will forgive me too. I don't know if that will happen, but I guess I'll just have to work backwards from there.

Inception

INCEPTION in UAE theatres on 15 July
Originally uploaded by WarnerBrosMovies

While I may never be a fan of 3D, let me just say that Christopher Nolan is making me a fan of IMAX. Inception was made for IMAX. By saying that I don’t just mean that Nolan shot it in IMAX, which he did, I mean that it is a film that is so rich visually and aurally that it screams to be witnessed on as large a screen as possible.

This film is simply stunning.

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, I would LOVE to sit at the feet of Christopher Nolan. The sheer volume of things I could learn from that man would probably astound me. He makes movies on a filmmaking scope that is beyond definition – whether his films are big or small he makes them with an intelligence and commitment that emanates from the screen and Inception is no exception.

Brick

Brick scares me in a way I cannot describe to you unless you too are a young director looking to make their mark on cinema. Rian Johnson managed to make a low budget feature so awe inspiring that I cannot stop watching it as I think of what my next project might be. I can only hope that my next feature directorial effort will land somewhere in the ball park that Brick occupies, and yet the film intimidates me enough that I’m not sure how to pull something like that off on a lack of a budget.

If you haven’t seen Brick here’s why I think it’s so awe inspiring.

I’m going to start with the visuals, the cinematography. This film is fully planned visually, somehow balancing an Orange County setting with dirt and grit. As I live in Orange County, not too far from where Brick was filmed, I know what this local looks like and somehow Johnson and DP Steve Yedlin managed to make San Clemente look like a place I’d never seen before. On as meager a budget as they had, the duo put a consistent color scheme, texture and feel into their film that set it apart from so many low budget films. The cinematography tells the story as the characters go through it.

You can’t talk about Brick without talking about the cast. This is the film that helped launch Joseph Gordon-Levitt into the realm of a hard core indy actor and shake loose from the mantle of television he’d had on him. In a career that’s since spanned some of the richest roles in recent cinema, Brick still stands as one of his best performances. Getting that kind of performance out of your lead actor, and achieving riveting and genuine performances out of everyone else onscreen is a thing to be envious of. As a director it’s hard enough to get one outstanding performance out of your cast, but to get every actor to appear onscreen as if they were born into the roles they are playing is a thing of downright beauty.

One cannot watch even the trailer for this film without noticing the writing, again by Rian Johnson. The dialogue that drips off the characters tongues seems ripped from Dashiell Hammett and the plot could easily fit within any noir made in the era of Raymond Chandler and Billy Wilder. This is a film so intricate that the audience gets lost with the characters and if any one element were out of place the entire film would come crashing down around us all.

Every single element that awes me about Brick comes back to one central element – Rian Johnson and his directorial style. Johnson manages to hit it out of the park from the opening shots of Brick; for a first feature he artfully merges tone, acting, dialogule, the visuals and the plot in such a way that his directorial stamp is clearly seen. Along with the story of Brendan Frye you can see the hand of Rian Johnson, and that is an incredibly difficult thing to achieve on a first feature.

Rian Johnson is someone I am both humbled by and inspired by because we’re young directors from the same county, and yet I have yet to be able to achieve what he has already artfully succeeded at doing.

Brendan: No, bulls would gum it. They'd flash their dusty standards at the wide-eyes and probably find some yegg to pin, probably even the right one. But they'd trample the real tracks and scare the real players back into their holes, and if we're doing this I want the whole story. No cops, not for a bit.

Inception

INCEPTION
Originally uploaded by WarnerBrosMovies

Going into Inception a second time I was afraid the complexities of the film would not hold up now that I’d experienced the film once and would have time to think as I watched. I was genuinely surprised to find the exact opposite happen to me. Watching the film for a second time you begin to notice even more intricacies of what Christopher Nolan has done, and how finely polished it all is because it fits together so tightly. This film isn’t a rubik’s cube that’s been twisted out of shape, it’s a labyrinth that has been artfully carved with great detail.

With every film Leonardo DiCaprio seems to be getting better, and Inception is one of his finest performances to date. I heard someone compare Leo’s character in Inception with his character in Shutter Island stating that the two were far too similar; despite the fact that both characters are fathers separated from their families I really see no further similarities. While it’s coincidence that both films came out in the same year, Cobb is a very sane man wanting desperately to be a father again and Teddy Daniels sole goal is to break the case and exact revenge.

One of the most stunning things in this film is still the sequences with Arthur and the rotating corridor. The sheer skill and coordination that went into the scene is mind boggling and the visuals are flawless. Nolan created an action sequence that I think will be imitated in the years to come, the same way that other filmmakers stole bullet time from The Matrix.

With Inception Christopher Nolan manages to make a film that is both thought provoking and action oriented. It’s a story that sparks of craftsmanship and I will be quite interested to see if it remains on everyone’s radar when awards season approaches.

Cobb: Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.

Inception

Originally uploaded by there'snotime

For me, there are few things like the experience of a good movie in the theatre, it’s one of the reasons it’s my desire to make films for audiences. A great film is hard enough to do, but if you as a filmmaker can make a great film and suck the audience into its world to the point that the theatre comes under the films control – well there’s nothing like experiencing that. To this day I still remember what it was like when I first watched Jurassic Park and felt that dinosaurs were real, sat in Seabiscuit and realized audience members around me were cheering for a horse onscreen, and I know that the collective gasp and gleeful astoundment that came with the credits of Inception will stay with me as well.

I can’t tell you much about the actual plot of Inception, both because it’s so beautifully complicated I wouldn’t know how to begin, and because the film deserves to be watched for the first time with the freshest eyes you can, so that you too can be completely caught in the wonder. By saying the film is beautifully complicated does not mean it does not make sense, this is a film that is the complex, exquisite brainchild of master craftsman Christopher Nolan.

I do not throw the word auteur around much as I believe film is a collaborative process and auteur limits the results to one man’s contribution, but upon seeing this film I believe Christopher Nolan deserves the title of auteur. Inception could not be made without him completely involved in every aspect of the film – it reeks of an auteur’s hand.

With every film Christopher Nolan seems to be getting better. Even though the man makes giant films that make money hand over fist, I would in no way call him a commercial director, and I mean that as a compliment. Nolan makes films that achieve worldwide attention, steal the top stop at the box office, and gain critical recognition, yet they are by no means simple. Christopher Nolan has mastered the art of being able to tell a worthy, intricate tale in a compelling and entertaining way, getting the best performances possible out of his actors, and trusting the audience to come into his world instead of making his films fit into theirs. This is a balsy approach in a filmmaking era where tentpole films are generally more flash than substance and the audience leaves happy, but rarely thinking about what they actually watched for anything more than the adrenaline that it pumped through them. This is the reason it’s my desperate dream to have Christopher Nolan as a directing mentor – there could be no better hands to sit under and study.

Inception is worthy of all the critical praise it has received and I hope that it continues to surmass more critical and audience praise as it continues down it’s theatrical journey. I for one and excited to see what the visuals will look like on the IMAX screen, as they are already astoundingly visual on the standard screen. I can’t wait to go down the rabbit hole again and begin dreaming with Christopher Nolan one more time.

Director & Writer: Christopher Nolan
Cobb: Leonardo DiCaprio
Arthur: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Ariadne: Ellen Page
Eames: Tom Hardy
Saito: Ken Wantanabe
Yusuf: DiLeep Rao
Robert Fischer Jr.: Cillian Murphy
Browning: Tom Berenger
Mal: Marion Cotillad
Maurice Fischer: Pete Postlethwaite
Miles: Michael Caine
Mash: Lukas Haas

Cobb: You're asking me for Inception. I hope you do understand the gravity of that request.

(500) Days of Summer

(500) Days of Summer
Originally uploaded by swingcopate

Let me start by saying I totally didn’t mean to watch all of (500) Days of Summer again. Really. I didn’t. It’s just that the movie kind of draws you in. You see, I wanted to reference something from the opening of the film, so I popped it in, watched what I needed and started to work on something else while it will still playing and the next thing I knew I was multi-tasking: watching (500) Days of Summer and working. I fully intended to stop the film and put in another movie on my list and suddenly I was more than half-way through the film and you can’t just stop the movie after you’ve invested all that time. You just can’t.

Marc Webb. What have you done to me?

Tom: Did you ever do this, you think back on all the times you've had with someone and you just replay it in your head over and over again and you look for those first signs of trouble?

Uncertainty

IFC FILMS: UNCERTAINTY
Originally uploaded by funkybrownchick

Uncertainty is a film that I shouldn’t have liked, it’s a film that shouldn’t have worked – but it does. It’s the kind of film a film professor of mine would have yelled at us for trying to make, he would have told us it’s too conceptual, too vague and lacked creativity. I hope he saw this film and ate his words.

The reason this film shouldn’t work & I shouldn’t like it is that it’s one of the most conceptual films I’ve ever seen. The premise of the film is in the name - Uncertainty. This is a film about a young couple, Kate & Bobby, who at the beginning of the film stand on the Brooklyn Bridge debating what to do on their fourth of July holiday. They can’t decide and so they flip a coin. What follows is two distinctly different films merged into one – in one scenario Bobby & Kate stay in the city, find a stray cell phone and end up running for their lives; in the other scenario they go to see Kate’s family and encounter the family dynamic that involves.

After seeing the second season of Project: Greenlight I was not a fan of directing teams, but for Uncertainty the pair of Scott McGehee & David Siegel works beautifully. As there are two completely different stories, the pair each tackles one series of events. The result is two plots that visually exist in the same story but each have a defined color palette, style and signature. It’s visually arresting and fun to watch how the two stories are cut together into one cohesive film, a film that is at once an interesting story on the surface and a metaphor for choices and the internal battle we go through in making them.

I can’t imagine how this was to conquer as actors for Joseph Gordon-Levitt & Lynn Collins. While Kate & Bobby are still the same characters – a young couple struggling with life decisions that will affect their relationships – the stresses each plot puts them under is entirely different. It’s a testament to the actors and directors that what ends up on screen is distinct and blended into a film that ultimately leaves you thinking about the characters future as the credits roll.

I don’t know a lot about the production of this film, so I don’t know if McGehee & Siegel intend to continue working together in the future, but Uncertainty intrigued me enough that it will likely be added to my collection before long and I will definitely see any projects they put out in the future.

Directors & Writers: Scott McGehee & David Siegel
Bobby: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Kate: Lynn Collins

Women In Trouble

Women In Trouble is an interesting little film by Sebastian Gutierrez. It’s the interwoven tale of several groups of women having a bad day in the Los Angeles area; porn star Elektra Luxx finds out she’s pregnant and ends up stuck in an elevator during a heat wave with Doris who is struggling with her sister Addy & niece Charlotte; Charlotte is seeing her mother’s shrink and Addy is seeing the shrink’s husband; two prostitutes run into the distraught shrink and help her get drunk to drown her sorrows; meanwhile in the air two flight attendants deal with Nick Chapel – Elektra’s boyfriend & a high profile rock star.

The obvious comparison here is to Perdo Almodovar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, but I don’t think this was Gutierrez’s full intention –his film may be more homage than American remake. While the cast of distraught female characters is there, and a bit of a quirky artistic flare, I do think that Gutierrez was trying to make a artistic statement about a day in the lives of these women in a difficult environment.

I’ve read a few reviews that based Women In Trouble for being a horrible depiction of women – hookers, porn stars, victims & dumb blondes. While I do agree that these women are all an extreme I didn’t find this offensive and I am a woman. To serve this film justice the characters in this film needed to be pretty extreme – otherwise it would have to be a serious drama like Far From Heaven or Revolutionary Road instead of being quirkily upbeat. Besides, if you’ve spent any time at all in LA – you’ve seen plenty of women like all of these women – even the naive shrink and too world-wise child.

All in all I enjoyed the quirky pace of this film. I’ll probably check out the sequel Elektra Luxx when it makes it’s way to me. Gutierrez painted a unique enough world that I would not mind visiting it again and finding out what happened to Elektra after the credits rolled.

Director & Writer: Sebastian Gutierrez
Elektra Luxx: Carla Gugino
Holly Rocket: Adrianne Palicki
Doris: Connie Britton
Addy: Caitlin Keats
Charlotte: Isabella Gutierrez
Travis McPherson: Simon Baker
Maxine McPherson: Sarah Clarke
Bambi: Emmanuelle Chriqui
Cora: Marley Shelton
Nick Chapel: Josh Brolin
Bert Rodriguez: Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Brick

Brick (2005)
Originally uploaded by ∆P

I clearly remember the day in 2006 when my brother and I decided to see Brick. We didn’t know a lot about the film, except it was a detective film, was a hit at Sundance, and starred the kid from 3rd Rock from the Sun. This was why I was taken a bit back when I purchased my ticket and was handed a small Brick thesaurus. Needless to say, I was intrigued and frightened. What unfolded for me over the next two hours is still one of the single most inspiring films I’ve ever seen.

Set in a non-descript California high school, Brick is the tale of a young man, Brendan who answers the plea for help from his ex-girlfriend Emily. When he finds Emily’s body, Brendan is wracked with guilt because he did not act fast enough and decides to start shaking things up. As Brendan investigates the last few months of Emily’s life he unearths the shady underbelly of his city that he’s avoided and gets wrapped up with the Pin a local drug dealer, his main muscle Tug, and Laura who may or may not be on his side. As Brendan works through the mysteries surrounding Emily he gets pulled deeper into a void that he tries to keep from spiraling out of control and consuming him the way it consumed Emily.

If you haven’t experienced Brick yet, I cannot urge you enough to find it. This film is Rian Johnson’s feature directorial debut, and let me tell you it has rocketed him to the top of my list of director’s to watch. Brick was made for next to nothing in terms of budgets, but Johnson used every resource available to him, filled the cast with young but impeccable talent, and filled the screen with compelling visuals and uses writing and dialogue the way a painter uses oils. It’s a beautiful thing.

Brick works so well because it’s a hard boiled film noir that chooses not to worry about paying homage to its roots. When the story already has drugs, crime, a femme fatale and an anti-hero there’s enough going on that Johnson knew directly referencing any noir would be like hitting the nail on the head – too hard. Instead you are ushered into an odd setting for a noir, a contemporary high school and given all of the pieces of the puzzle as Brendan is given them and the journey is what drives the homage and the viewing experience.

I can’t get out of talking about Brick without showering some praise on the man that brings Brendan to life – Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Brendan is the role that landed Gordon-Levitt on the map of young actors to watch and provided a solid foundation for the years that have passed since; though he is young Gordon-Levitt doesn’t have to worry about a pay check and instead has chosen to appear in films that he selects based on content – this has kept him out of the trap of making work just to eat. In this, as with most of his films, Gordon-Levitt disappears into the role and what makes the skill involved here most believable is that the complex dialogue rolls off his tongue as if it were second nature. This is quite a feat on a film as unique as Brick.

I’ll finish up by saying it again, find this movie. Sooner rather than later. Maybe like me you’ll want to drive down to San Clemente and explore the sights you recognize from the movie too.

Director & Writer: Rian Johnson
Brendan: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Laura: Nora Zehtner
The Pin: Lukas Has
Tug: Noah Fleiss
The Brain: Matt O’Leary
Emily: Emilie de Ravin
Dode: Noah Segan
Kara: Megan Goode

Brendan: Throw one at me if you want, hash head. I've got all five senses and I slept
last night, that puts me six up on the lot of you.

500 Days of Summer

500 Days of Summer
Originally uploaded by Profound Whatever

500 Days of Summer might be one of the most unique romantic films since When Harry Met Sally. Instead of being a story about boy meets girl and they live happily ever after, you find out moments into the film that this is the story of boy meets girl, but boy lost girl. As main character Tom wallows in his break-up from Summer the film jumps around the days in their relationship, exploring the good and the bad working its way until Tom makes peace with the relationship he had and lost.

As someone that’s used a time device to tell a story let me say first that making a non-linear film is hard. Trying to find a device that the audience will understand and stil be able to create a flow and development for the characters is tough – Marc Webb does an excellent job of jumping through time with 500 Days of Summer and never losing Tom and the core of who he is. Of course, as much as this is a compliment to the screenplay and direction, kudos must also be given to Joseph Gordon-Levitt who plays Tom.

Gordon-Levitt is a new entry onto the list of actors I adore and want to work with. He’s always been hovering around that list, but I’ve rewatched a few of his films lately and they have firmly planted him on my list. Gordon-Levitt has a way about his craft that throws him in with the greats; he melts into his characters so that you can’t distinguish the acting from the actor – he becomes the character in a way that makes you as a viewer expect that’s who he is in real life, no matter if he’s playing a former whiz kid with a memory issues (The Lookout) or lovelorn Tom (500 Days of Sumemr). The bottom line is that this guy can act and luckily for those of us that have been watching him since Third Rock from the Sun we’ve gotten to be a part of his journey into being a new Hollywood player.

What sells 500 Days of Summer as a quirky romance-drama-comedy is the fact that together the cast and Marc Webb are able to take on every tonal shift throughout the film without missing a beat, making each of them feel as real and genuine as the what comes before and after them. While I feel this film firmly has it’s tonal feet planted in reality, I would have to say that my favorite scene is the one that follows the first time Tom spends the night with Summer. If you haven’t seen the film the scene involves a blissful Tom walking through the city, getting cheered on by the reflection of Han Solo, cartoon birds landing on his shoulder and a full on musical/dance sequence in the park. This doesn’t seem possible when I’ve described the film as being planted in reality does it? You’re going to have to trust me on this one, as Gordon-Levitt & Webb have found the core of Tom’s character the scene works because it’s a world that Tom has created around him, and it’s the reason he falls so hard.

My Netflix queue is filling up as we speak with more of Gordon-Levitt’s films, so be prepared for what’s to come. I am fascinated with Gordon-Levitt and if the last few films of his are any indication of his body of work, there are going to be more positive reviews in the future of this blog – and he’s going to climb higher on my casting dream list.

Director: Marc Webb
Writers: Scott Neustadter & Michael Weber
Tom Hansen: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Summer Finn: Zooey Deschanel
McKenzie: Geoffrey Arend
Rachel Hansen: Chloe Moretz
Paul: Matthew Gray Gubler
Vance: Clark Gregg

Tom: What happens when you fall in love?
Summer: You believe in that?
Tom: It's love, it's not Santa Claus.

The Lookout

Chris Pratt was the golden child in high school; one night when showing off for his girlfriend and two friends he causes a horific car crash that changes his life. Several years later Chris is dealing with the brain damage he suffered, unable to form short term memories and instead of living the high powered life his upper class family lives he works as a night janitor at a local bank and lives with his blind friend Lewis. Chris is bitter about the life he lost, a fact that former classmate Gary Spargo uncovers and exploits as he convinces Chris to assist in the plot to rob the bank where Chris works.

The Lookout is Scott Frank’s directorial debut, and I have to say that I want him to make another film. From the initial tragedy that occurs on screen you are hooked on the world and the care-free narcissistic character that is Chris Pratt. The world he is around changes into a dark, angry and dangerous one coolly and quickly and Frank handles it with the finesse of a director that knows exactly what he’s saying and completely understands his world. Frank makes the audience as deeply tied to this world as Pratt, Spargo and Lewis.

I must also share my love of Joseph Gordon-Levitt. While I had the obligatory teen crush on him when he was on Third Rock from the Sun I have to say he disappeared from my radar until he blew in with a rush of greatness with Brick. Since Brendan, Gordon-Levitt has continued to embody amazing characters in equally unique and amazing films and Chris Pratt is one of the best. Gordon-Levitt is a very talented actor, and I can’t wait to see what stories his career takes him to.

Director & Writer: Scott Frank
Chris Pratt: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Lewis: Jeff Daniels
Gary Spargo: Matthew Goode
Luvlee: Isla Fisher

Gary Spargo: My old man used to say to me, probably the only thing we ever really agreed on, was that whoever has the money has the power. You might wanna jot that down in your book. It's something you're gonna need to remember.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

I grew up with G.I. Joe. I played with my brothers action figures, I watched the cartoon and when we played as the Joes I wanted to be Scarlett. I even remember the last issue of the comic, when Joe got shut down because of the military down sizing during the Clinton administration. So trust me when I tell you that I do have sufficient credentials to speak as a geek and fan of G.I. Joe.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is silly, over the top and very exaggerated. Duke & Ripcord are inducted into an elite team known as G.I. Joe led by General Hawk because they happen to be guarding a high priority shipment that Baroness attempts to steal and as luck would have it Duke knows Baroness’s identity. What ensues is the first cat-and-mouse game between Joe & Cobra.

Along with my childhood love for G.I. Joe I think a lot of my love for this film comes from my love of Stephen Sommers. Sommers directed The Mummy & Van Helsing - two of the most fun films I’ve seen in the past decade. He turned Brendan Fraser into an action star. The movies he makes are stylish in a good way, and the kind of popcorn film that makes me remember why I first fell in love with the escapism the movies provides – and the best part is unlike some of those kinds of films I don’t feel like I have to check my brain at the door.

G.I. Joe does have some obvious flaws. Though there is a plot to the film it is a bit fuzzy to say the least, and you really can’t think too hard about it or it might start to crack. But dang is it fun.

Growing up Scarlett was my favorite Joe as she was the kick-ass girl I wanted to be. The only problem with the portray of Scarlett in the film is that Rachel Nichols played her as far too soft and feminine. Scarlett may be the major female resident of Joe, but she is though as nails, a deadly accurate shot, incredibly faithful to Snake Eyes, and basically not overtly flirty or feminie. In the film she seemed to be all about the hair flips, giggles and being a southern bell. Whether this came from Sommers or Nichols it doesn’t matter, I felt like reminding them both the whole movie that Scarlett can be sexy without being girly. Sienna Miller as Baroness blew Scarlett away in this film.

On a personal note I was also freaked out by Snake Eyes costume. While I LOVE the character and think Ray Park did a great job as my speechless hero it was the mask that got to me. The visor was cool, the body was great, but the fact that the mouth was built into the mask was just a little too much for me. It literally covered his lips. Give me back the mouth covering mask he had in the comic books, the one he’d lift to do anything that required a mouth. It’s not like he needs it to give long expository monologues. In the comic he only says a few words and they are usually in private, to Scarlett – he doesn’t need to have a mask tailored to his lips.

To truly get the most out of G.I. Joe you have to go in expecting nothing more than to have fun. Sommers didn’t make the film to redefine action or the war movie, or even to compete with Michael Bay. He made the movie to pay homage to great, fun characters we grew up loving and to just let us have a good time at the movies.

Director: Stephen Sommers
Writers: Stuart Beattie, David Elliot & Paul Lovett
Heavy Duty: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje
McCullen: Christopher Eccleston
Cobra Commander: Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Storm Shadow: Byung-hun Lee
Scarlett: Rachel Nichols
Snake Eyes: Ray Park
President: Jonathan Pryce
General Hawk: Dennis Quaid
Breaker: Said Taghmaoui
Duke: Channing Tatum
Zartan: Arnold Vosloo
Ripcord: Marlon Wayans
Sergeant Stone: Brendan Fraser

General Hawk: Technically, we don't exist. We answer to no one. And when all else fails, we don't.