Elephant

Released in 2003 from Writer/Director Gus Van Sant comes Elephant. The tag line for this movie is "An ordinary high school day. Except that it's not." This movie is a behind the scenes Bowling for Columbine but the commentary from Michael Moore is replaced with Beethoven's fur elise.

This movie is like the secret life of the American teenage but not sucky.

This is also a movie I must urge you to take a chance on. It is 81 minutes of slow moving, slow sounding, not much dialogue, and an unclear direction...at first. If you are willing to pay attention - pay 100% attention - to this movie you will understand why it was nominated 6 times and won 5 awards.

This movie is like Crash in the way that all characters lives movie fluidly over the next ones. You see a scene usually twice. Once from one set of charters point of view, and the other from that of whoever was in the background before. You have all your social stigmas and elements. The alcoholic dad, the "couple", the popular girls, the cutter, and most importantly, the outcasts.

The movie was called "Elegantly disturbing" from even a negative review.

The bottom line is, if you are affected by this movie, you will notice it for the rest of that day, If you are not, then you are not. It is definitely not for everyone, but I believe you should at least give it a chance. Keep quiet and just watch it.

Why is it so bothersome? The way Gus Van Sant directs makes it uncomfortable to watch as viewers. We are used to characters being shot in a certain way and scenes flowing from left to right, top to bottom. That is why horror movies bother us psychologically. The killers usually appear from the bottom right, making us uncomfortable on a subconscious level.

The ending? Well there isn't one really. You get to choose. That is also a bit unsettling.

Give it a chance.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Forgetting Sarah Marshall, released April 18th 2008. Now on DVD and on Cinemax on DEMAND with Charter. What's better then a free movie? Its a feel good flick like all other romantic comedies, with some originality thrown in. Jason Segel as Peter showing full-frontal 3 or 4 times to be specific. While this definitly doesn't make the movie, its something funny that gave it publicity.

Here's the rundown - Peter and Sarah are together for 5 and a half years. She is the lead actress on a famous show, and Peter does the music for it. They break up. Peter is so distraught he sleeps with many women and takes the advice from his step brother to go on a vacation. Peter decides to go to Hawaii. Guess who he sees there? Sarah! and her new boyfriend, a famous singer.

Well well what will happen next!?

The rest of the movie is filled with Peter finding his inner-peace amidst drinking in the A.M, attempting to surf, going to dinners alone, and getting noise complaints about a "crying woman" in his room. The epitome of a broken heart. Somewhere along the way Peter finds interest in the hotel customer service person, Rachel (Mila Kunis.)

My favorite line of the movie is when Peter and Rachel are jumping off a cliff. Rachel goes in first and says, while Peter is scared. "Come on I can see you Vagina from here! I can see your whooo-haaa."

Overall Peter follows his newly assigned goals, realizes what he wants, and does not want, and moves on. Its a funny movie that doesn't disappoint.

Anyone else have any opinions?

What Happens in Vegas

What Happens in Vegas. Released May 8th, 2008. Now on DVD. Staring Ashton Kutcher, and Cameron Diaz. Worth the $3.50? Yes. If you're looking for a good movie night with the girls, or a romantic-comedy with your boyfriend, this movie is a winner. While not the most original or surprising movie out there, it does have all the basic elements for a feel-good flick.

Let me give you the run-down. Girl is engaged. Girl gets dumped. Boy works for his dad. Boy gets fired. They both go to Vegas, get drunk, get married, win a jackpot, and are forced to make their marriage "work" for 6 months as the judge will not grant them an annulment. Now it gets interesting!

If anyone has seen How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days, its along that same basis of trying to get under the others skin, however in this case, it's trying to get the other one to cheat as well.

As anyone can guess over the course of the movie the two start to get to know each other and actually fall in love. Surprise surprise! Moral of the story? You can get drunk and married and Vegas and still have a happy ending. :0)

Overall I give it a 7.5. A movie I would watch again on TV, will always laugh at, but isn't something I would tell someone they absolutely have to go see. It's the perfect movie to watch if you can't dedicate 100% of your time to it.

He's Just Not That Into You

I got the opportunity to watch this movie on opening day, February 6th. The theater was packed with mostly groups of girls, and a few, like me, who were accompanies by their boyfriend. It was much like the Sex and the City crowd.

I was mostly psyched about getting to see Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck, Drew Barrymore, and Justin Long all in a movie together. And lets just say yes Justin Long is sexy.

On to the show! I was disappointed to see that rottentomatoes.com gave it only a 42%. I, as a Sex & the City and Friends loving female found it funny and charming.

The pros: A lot of dating humor and technological trends. Mentioning MySpace as the new "booty call" got a lot of laughs, as well as the maze of technology Mary (Drew Barrymore) had to go through only to get rejected.

Cons: Besides that the females in the movies are constantly obsessing over their relationships, or lack there of, and no real plot twists happen, nothing too much to complain about. I did become quite pissed off at Ben (Bradley Cooper) when he finally does actually take the plunge and cheats on his wife.

My favorite moment was at the end however, and since I haven't yet decided if I am going to do the whole spoiler thing, I am just going to say there was a lot of "Awww!"s and I was offered a sleeve to wipe my overly-girly teary eyes.

Go see it. It's still worth the $8. Perhaps skip the $4 popcorn though.