Breakfast from Paris!

when i first started a blog in high school, i felt all the posts were about movie and album reviews, and i hadn’t really done either in years.

in the past month though, i’ve seen two really fantastic films.  i felt they were everything a film should be and once again i became excited that one day i’ll be able to work on these.

so, here are two film reviews that are quick and to the point without spoiling anything in case you haven’t seen them yet.

directed and written by : christopher nolan (batman, the prestige)

starring : leonardo dicaprio, joseph gordan-levitt, ellen page, marion cotillard

inception is, hands down, the best film i’ve seen in years.  it is certainally my top film of the year and i am highly set in my ways that nothing is going to change that with 4 1/2 months to go.  the plot is about a man named cobb (dicaprio) who can enter people’s dreams and plant or steal their ideas.  with one final mission, cobb and his team find themselves within a dream of a dream of a dream and so on to do one last job.

everything was perfect about this movie, from start to the highly controversial (and brilliant) finish.  you were on the edge of your seat the entire time, the pacing was great, and the entire movie is about one intricate, complicated plot.  the first hour is simply explaining the rules of entering ones dream, and you don’t get bored for a single second.  the writing is fasinating and fresh and mind puzzling.  though dicaprio’s character is the lead, his team is just as, if not more, fantastic.  i gave ellen page a lot of crap for juno because i have a lot of issues with that film, but she actually did quite nice here.  the audience can relate to page’s architect more than any other character because at first you are just as clueless as she is, and when she learns the rules of the game, you learn.

inception is like a grown up version of mouse trap.  the entire time you’re expecting that it’s all too hard for you to understand, but you find that it’s not.  that you’re the ball rolling down the path and you understand your surroundings.  gordan-levitt was simply adorable.  i think it was more him that his character.  the visual effects were always fun to look at and nolan’s direction is always original (but honestly, the man is brilliant, and i think we all knew this prior to the film)  he really makes the actors think outside the box in a completely unethical way, and makes it relatable. (and i’m also mad at the bastard for being so damn good.  why can’t i be that creative!!!)

all though inception and all of its powers are unreal, you believe that this can actually happen.  you leave the theater wondering if people can actually enter other peoples dreams because none of it is represented in an unrealistic way.  that is what movies are all about.  if you honestly believe in aliens after an alien film, then it’s done its job.  its convinced you.  this film actually enters your mind and plants the idea that all of this could be real.  THAT is filmmaking.

films are all about escaping and living another life and this is one that none of us have lived before and we want to do it over and over again.  THIS is why we make movies.  THIS is why people go to them as their number one enjoyment hobby.  THIS is a movie for everyone.  it is brilliant.

go.

directed and written by : edgar wright (shawn of the dead)

starring : michael cera, mary elizabeth winstead, jason schwartzman, kieran culkin

i first saw the trailer to this film probably back in march.  i remember my mouth dropping afterwards and instantly replaying it three times.  and that’s it, i said.  i wasn’t gonig to watch another single thing about this film because i didn’t want my expectations to become too high and i didn’t want 4 different trailers to ruin anything for me when i was certain i would see it.  and i didn’t.  i didn’t watch a single thing about scott pilgrim from the day the trailer came out to last night.  and how incredibly glad i am.

this film is centered about two things i am not into at all.  video games and comics.  i’ve never read a single comic in my life and the only video game i’ve played is the occasional rock band parties in college.  even with a lack of passion for these two things, this movie blew me away.

the story is about a guy named scott (cera) who lives in the wonderful world of canada where everyone is in their own band and its normal for money to magically appear from someone when you hit them (much like super mario style) scott gets a glimps of ramona flowers (winstead) and she becomes the girl of his dreams.  in order for scott and ramona to be together however, scott must defeat ramona’s seven evil ex-boyfriends.  (duel style- like a challenge in mortal combat.)

i have a lot of beef about cera (again with the whole juno thing) and i thought if anything ruins this film it would be him.  but once again, i didn’t really mind him all too much as pilgrim.  he was awkwardly akward but still cute and charming (just like every other single character he’s ever played.)  the best thing about the entire film was the editing.  it’s face paced, heart racing, adrenaline of death pulse never stopped and always had a killer soundtrack to accompany it.  the editing for this film deserves an oscar nom, as well as the writing.

as stated eariler, i’ve never read a comic, but i would love to see what this is all about.  kieran culkin’s gay roommate’s of scott’s was the best.  everyone was witty.  everyone was dry.  everyone was everything they should have been.

like inception, this is a completely different film than anything we’ve seen before.  you actually see the words “wham” when someone gets punched as their point meter ascends.  sure, it’s corny.  if you watched this at home, by yourself, and had no idea what it was about, it would do nothing for you.  you need to be in a packed theater, surrounded by nerds who play zelda, and by god, you need to cheer along with them.  the tagline “an epic of epicness” stands on its own, and this is just as good, if not better, than any coaster at a theme park.

films, you’ve done me proud.  you’ve done.me.proud

xoxo.lindsay

Read Full Post »