It’s been a long time since I last posted and I assure you I haven’t forgotten the promises I made to you, my fabulous readers. Last time I checked in with you, I was about a week away from getting married. Guess what? I got married! Now I have time to do everything I’ve ever wanted to do right? Wrong. I’ve been just as busy as I’ve ever been and I haven’t found time for relaxation other than playing video games before I go to bed at night. My wife left for job-related training about a week and a half after we got married and she won’t be back for another week. Talk about unusual. You’re a bachelor your whole life, you get married, and then you go back to the bachelor-type life while your wife’s away for a bettter part of two weeks right after you get hitched. Strange. It still hasn’t sunk in yet that I’m married. Oh well. The older married guys that I know just laugh and tell me that it will sink in soon. We’ll see. Anyway, back to what you came for. I told you all that I would write some reviews about two films in particular: Lions for Lambs and Lars and the Real Girl. A couple of weeks ago, Joe did a reveiw of Lars and I must say he did a fantastic job. I’ll add on to that review now. The film stars Ryan Gosling as an introverted adult (Lars Lindstrom) in his late-twenties whose lifestyle is underwhelming at best. His brother, Gus, and pregnant sister-in-law, Karin, are always trying their best to add more spice to his life, mostly by inviting him to dinner. Lars almost always refuses until Karin tackles him and tells him she won’t let him up until he agrees to come to dinner. After dinner, it is very evident to the audience that Lars really doesn’t want anything other than to be alone. One day at work, a co-worker of Lars is on the internet looking at a site for ordering anatomically-correct sex dolls. At the time, Lars doesn’t seem to show much interest but a later scene shows a big box has arrived for Lars. Karin sees the box delivered and asks Lars what the contents hold. Lars says that the box holds luggage for a girl he met on the internet. She is apparently coming to see him and needed to send some things ahead of time. Of course, this news delights Gus and Karin as they believe their brother is finally branching out. What follows though is the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey might say, and how Lars new emotional complex allows him to see the doll as a real woman. I highly recommend you watch this film. Seeing Lars and his family interact with an inanimant object is both fun and compelling. The family obviously has problems with this situation but both the family and the town help Lars through this time in this life where he is obviously reaching out for help. You may need tissues for the ending as it drew tears for both Joe and me. This film gets 4 out of 5 stars, driven mainly by it’s orginiality and outstanding acting.
Next on the list is Lions for Lambs. This very intriguing film was directed as well as acted by Robert Redford. It is a story about two soldiers, Arian Finch and Ernest Rodriguez, whose life’s work is told by Redford’s character (Prof. Stephen Malley) to an underachieving student to inspire him to do better. The soldiers were actually former students of Malley’s and the dangerous mission they attempt is recounted by Republican Senator Jasper Irving (Tom Cruise) to a reporter (played by Meryl Streep.) If you have ever seen and enjoyed a film like Crash or Babel where people’s stories and lives intersect in interesting ways, then this is a movie for you. The film is set in the present and the stories surround the war in Afghanistan. The Republican senator is trying to rhetorize the situation and make it seem like the tide of the war is about to change in favor of the United States. The word games he plays with the reporter get you thinking about how we perceive war and the cost of it. Redford’s character likewise tries to explain to his student what the soldiers tried to do in school, and what they wanted to accomplish when they got back from war. Whether they actually do get back is revealed in the film, but I won’t spoil that for you here. It’s a political and intellectual film that may leave you angry and/or sad depending on what part of the political spectrum you may lie. Rent this on DVD if you can find it. I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars for it’s wonderful storytelling script and directing, and I must say that depsite how little I have come to respect Tom Cruise, he does a good job in this film as the up-and-coming senator-type.
Well that’s it for today. I’m not sure what I’ll have for you next time, but I have been watching a lot of movies lately so I’ll be sure to have something for you. Maybe it will be something you don’t want to watch. Like anything with Paul Reiser. He sucks!