Love Drugs and Alcohol, What a Birthday

Today was my birthday, and for my birthday, I decided to go see "Love and Other Drugs" (2010). This puts this film into the category of movies I have gone to see for my birthday, which includes "Jumper" (2008) and "August Rush" (2007). For 2009, I watched The Departed...it was my 21st and there is a great drinking game for that film.

So, "Love and Other Drugs", the only film I have seen for my birthday that I liked, which is ironic because it was a bad choice for a birthday film, was brilliant. Jake Gyllenhal and Anne Hathaway have perfect chemistry and pull off the role of young lovers with no strings attached perfectly. As the two slowly fall in love, you truly see the subtle changes that turn a physical relationship into a real relationship. You laugh with them, you cry with them, and you mutter things to yourself with no regards as to weather or not you sound like an idiot. Gyllenhal gives an exceptional performance of a young man who seems to find his calling in making money, only to find out that the meaning of life is not to have a lot of money, fast cars, or the perfect wife. Hathaway in yet another stunning performance is a mess of emotion as the parkinson's stricken Maggie. She slowly reveals her symptoms and the audience understands her reservations about love, while cheering for the couple to work out.

The film was brutally honest. It used long periods of silence to make the audience feel what was going on, be it an awkward moment or one of revelation. Not to mention the spot on art direction and soundtrack that gave subtle reminders that the film was set in the 1990s. They were enough to create the world of the film, but not overly intrusive to take away from the story.

All in all, this film was perfect. I forgot I was watching a movie most of the time, which doesn't happen enough. Perhaps there are things I missed because I was too caught up in the story, but that is what makes a film good, right? And to let you all know just how much of a nerd I am, through my tears at the end of the film, the first thing I asked was "who directed that?"...the answer is Edward Zwick. Brilliant.

Double Feature

So I have two films to talk about tonight, one comes from my DVD queue...the other comes from my personal collection, but since I just watched it again, I feel compelled to share its awesomeness.

I'm Reed Fish (2006) popped up in my search for a "turn your brain off romantic comedy" on netflix (unfortunately that was not a genre, but I navigated my way to something similar, I just can't remember how). The film originally appealed to me, I'm not going to lie, because I find the lead Jay Baruchel both funny and attractive, he needs to get a lot more leading roles. Again, I digress, my mind is about 140 different places tonight.

I was honestly ready to turn this movie off about 20 minutes in and chuck it into the "unworthy" pile (I have to have standards if I want to get through this queue), but then, right as I had my cursor over the "x" in the tab, it cut to a theater with all the people from the film watching the film. Suddenly I was intrigued.

The film had quiet a few twists and turns that I didn't see coming, and a lot that I did. If you haven't seen the film, I won't ruin it for you, but I will say that the end definitely got me. What really kept me watching, aside from these hooks, was the charm that the small town had cultivated. Perhaps I'm a sucker for small town movies at this point because I'm from a small town that seems to develop more charm the longer I'm away, or perhaps I like to think of my small town the way it is portrayed in these movies, either way I enjoy films about small towns that embrace film, and this one painted a perfect picture. While "I'm Reed Fish" may have been a little too eager in its assumption that everyone in a small town knows everyone, it's more true than you might think. And that interconnectedness makes us root for these people, because in a way, they are all one big disfunctional family, and in the end, you want the family to stay together. Families have tension, happy endings, and growth...so do small towns.

The second film I would like to write about is "Yes Man" (2008), not to be confused with The Yes Men, who are awesome by the way. I bought a four pack of Jim Carey DVDs so I could get this film and "The Majestic" (2001), another film about film in a small town...if you don't recognize the pattern here, I'm going to be a little worried.

The first time I saw "Yes Man" was in theaters with my Dad and my brother, and I remember laughing so hard I couldn't feel my face anymore...very few movies make me crack a smile, even fewer make me laugh, and barely any make me laugh like that.

After I saw this movie, I really felt like my life was changed. No, I did not go out and say yes to everything that came my way, but I did suddenly have the courage to say yes to things that required me to step outside my comfort zone, and it really paid off. My point here is that the film is funny, but the film will also impact you. When you walk away, you will chuckle to yourself at small little things that suddenly pop into your head from the movie, but you will also find the part of yourself that is more adventurous and it will peak its head out for most of you, and for some it will become the new personality type you see when psychologically evaluated.

Before I end this post, I would just like to acknowledge the acting of the Jim Carey and Zooey Deschanel. The two have undeniable chemistry, and both stepped slightly out of their comfort zones. This was not Jim Carey in "The Number 23" (2007), but it was a different type of comedy, a more laid back type. And Deschanel, as much as I love her, tends to play very similar characters over and over again, but in this one she become less of a stereotypical character and more of an actual person, which makes us care for her when she hurts, and hope that the couple can overcome their problems.

Well, I think that is all for now, I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving and Black Friday sales.

Inspiration

I've always wanted to have a blog, and I always figured that if I ever went through with it, I would write about movies. I know that a lot of people like to write about movies on the internet, and that's okay, I'm not writing to gain a lot of popularity or prove that I'm unique, instead I'm writing for stability. As my senior year of college quickly comes to an end, I'm not sure what is ahead for me. I have spent the past 21 years of my life, 22 on Tuesday the 30, studying and working towards the goal of graduating from college. In something like 166 days, I will be a full fledged adult, with no money and no schedule, searching for a new goal. Hopefully, this blog gives me some sense of purpose in those first few years as a struggling artist.

If you're looking for some sort of hook that makes this blog interesting, the best I can offer is my own perspective. I'm a student in Digital Filmmaking who hates technology and loves 70s movies. My industry is very uneven in terms of the ratio of men to women, which means I'm kind of an outsider. I go to an all girls school, which means that I live in a very unrealistic bubble, one that I stepped outside of this summer and saw the real world briefly. My taste in films is very random, but usually if I tell you that you will like a movie, I'm right. To summarize, I'm kind of askew in my thinking and taste, hence the name of the blog "The Dutch Angle"...get used to it, that's the kind of humor that I pride myself on.

Recently I just watched the film Julie and Julia. I had been putting it off for a while because I'm not a huge fan of "girly" movies, and on top of it being just over two hours long, one of my film teachers complained that there was a boom mic or pole in every shot with Julia Child. Tonight, however, in a fit of depression, I watched the film and found it quiet inspiring. I did not see any boom mics or poles, which could have been because I was actually captivated enough by the story that I was not looking for them. I actually found myself lost in the film, which is becoming more and more of a rarity these days, and I didn't realize that two hours of my life flew by just like that. The film made me laugh a few times, and tear up a few more, but most importantly it inspired this blog...and made me realize I need to find a very supportive boyfriend/husband before I become a starving artist.

Julie and Julia is not the film I would have planned to do my first post about, but it seemed fitting. In the future, I promise to be more thorough and analytical. I do not, however, promise to choose only "classic" or "prestigious" films to write about. Instead, I will write about whatever I watch, good or bad.

My goal? To get through my Netflix queue (which I assure you is never ending). My deadline? Non-existent. My Schedule? Whenever I watch a film, but guaranteed two posts a week.

Here we go.