Some people have their romantic staples for this time of year, whether they are single, married, or just beginning to 'ship.
Not me, though. The closest thing I have to something like that is Garden State, and it's not like, a Valentine's tradition.
For the record, I think it's kind of cute if people do have a Valentine's Day movie they come back to over and again. There are countless movies that are watched on or around Christmas, if you think about it: The aforementioned Love Actually; Home Alone; Miracle on 42nd Street; It's a Wonderful Life. The TNT network essentially puts all of its efforts over a 24 hour period onto glasses-faced Ralphie and his bb gun. And macho networks such as FX tend to, whether financially or philosophically-driven, agree with the (correct) assumption that Die Hard is a, in fact, a Christmas movie.
Halloween? Fuggetaboutit. (Personally, I alternate years between Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II and Donnie Darko, but that's just because my eleven-year old brother has a better tolerance for horror movies than I do.)
So can there be a Valentine's Day tradition of sitting down with your loved one while dipping recklessly into a giant bowl of Pop Secret, hoping to perhaps graze your significant's buttery hand? Interested to hear if any of you have any go-tos.
MatM Power Rankings-Week 2
#51 Aloha (-1)
#50 Entourage (-1)
#49 Terminator Genisys (-1)
#48 Pitch Perfect 2 (-1)
#47 Dope (-2)
#46 Kingsman: Secret Service (even)
#45 Ricki & The Flash (-1)
#44 Woman in Gold (-1)
#43 Paper Towns (-10)
#42 Truth (new entry)
#41 Minions (even)
#40 Jurassic World (+1)
#39 Vevé (+1)
#38 The Connection (even)
#37 Trumbo (even)
#36 The Avengers: Age of Ultron (-2)
#35 Far From the Madding Crowd (+4)
#34 Focus (+2)
#33 Sleeping with Other People (+2)
#32 He Named Me Malala (even)
#31 Everest (even but trending upward)
And onto...
For the record, I think it's kind of cute if people do have a Valentine's Day movie they come back to over and again. There are countless movies that are watched on or around Christmas, if you think about it: The aforementioned Love Actually; Home Alone; Miracle on 42nd Street; It's a Wonderful Life. The TNT network essentially puts all of its efforts over a 24 hour period onto glasses-faced Ralphie and his bb gun. And macho networks such as FX tend to, whether financially or philosophically-driven, agree with the (correct) assumption that Die Hard is a, in fact, a Christmas movie.
Halloween? Fuggetaboutit. (Personally, I alternate years between Ghostbusters, Ghostbusters II and Donnie Darko, but that's just because my eleven-year old brother has a better tolerance for horror movies than I do.)
So can there be a Valentine's Day tradition of sitting down with your loved one while dipping recklessly into a giant bowl of Pop Secret, hoping to perhaps graze your significant's buttery hand? Interested to hear if any of you have any go-tos.
MatM Power Rankings-Week 2
#51 Aloha (-1)
#50 Entourage (-1)
#49 Terminator Genisys (-1)
#48 Pitch Perfect 2 (-1)
#47 Dope (-2)
#46 Kingsman: Secret Service (even)
#45 Ricki & The Flash (-1)
#44 Woman in Gold (-1)
#43 Paper Towns (-10)
#42 Truth (new entry)
#41 Minions (even)
#40 Jurassic World (+1)
#39 Vevé (+1)
#38 The Connection (even)
#37 Trumbo (even)
#36 The Avengers: Age of Ultron (-2)
#35 Far From the Madding Crowd (+4)
#34 Focus (+2)
#33 Sleeping with Other People (+2)
#32 He Named Me Malala (even)
#31 Everest (even but trending upward)
And onto...
#30 Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
We had Lea Remini's tell-all scientology memoir lying around the house, so I read it. Over the course of the x amount of pages, I learned a lot about her life as a scientologist, from spending time as a troubled youth in Clearwater, Florida to eventually moving to Los Angeles and working her way up the ladder of the organization (i.e., completing various courses and donating a shit-ton of money) to become one of its most esteemed members, so much so that she got an invite to the Cruise-Holmes nuptials in Italy. I won't give anything away--maybe you know already--but certain events at this celebration got Remini in a lot of hot water with "The Org" and her already faltering relationship with scientology began to crumble.
What was remarkable to me about how her various anecdotes and ghost stories regarding Mr. Cruise was not that they happened, but how unsurprised I was, by really any of them. Remini posits that he holds more power within the religious group than David Miscavige himself; that, in so many words, he holds Miscavige by the balls. She's probably right. What a wild scene, scientology.
Scientology's figurehead does basically all of his own stunts in MI:5. Far and away the most impressive was
Scientology's figurehead does basically all of his own stunts in MI:5. Far and away the most impressive was
this one, in which this tiny individual jumped onto a wing and attached himself for the takeoff. It was totally real--no digital Tom or fake plane, just cable attached via the door and digitally remastered--and it looked outstanding. The leaping over Oprah Winfrey's couch of stunts, if you will.
From there, it's mostly a mess. Brandt (Jeremy Renner) has to testify before a group about IMF's involvement in the Kremlin being blown to smithereens (from MI: Ghost Protocol, which I will only ever refer to as either a) Protocolo Fantasma, since I saw it in Barcelona where it was heavily advertised in every subway station, or b)"Ghost Protes") and since the "secretary" is not present at the meeting to back his story, he has to face the onslaught of CIA Director Hunley (Alec Baldwin) who decides right then and there to disband the IMF. Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is considered largely responsible, so he goes rogue (read: the movie's title) and ropes Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames) in with him to track the Syndicate, a group of evils who Hunt believes is more or less running the world (too easy, I won't go there). In the film's other cool sequence, Hunt and co. stop three would-be assassins (including the mysterious Ilsa, played by Rebecca Ferguson) from capping the Austrian chancellor. She of course comes into the fold with somewhat ambiguous intentions; you know the drill.
Liked Protocolo Fantasma better. This one gets slowed down by lots of over-explaining and governmental hoop-jumping, which, let's be honest...
#29 Southpaw
Two big-budget boxing movies hit the multiplex in 2015. One was Southpaw, and the other was far, far superior. More on that later.
Southpaw's writing and directing duo is literally a who's-who of unapologetic machismo. Written by Kurt Sutter, the showrunner and creator of Sons of Anarchy and directed by Antoine Fuqua (Let's see here-Training Day, Shooter, Brooklyn's Finest, The Equalizer, etc.), Southpaw falls the all-too-predictable rise and fall of boxer Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal). Keep in mind that what I'm about to tell you ruins absolutely nothing. As pointed out by a certain someone to me "the entire movie is in the preview, so I don't really need to watch it."
Hope, once an orphan, is living stupid-large in a mansion with his wife/orphanage-school sweetheart Maureen (Rachel McAdams) and daughter Leila (Oona Laurence) He's coming off a giant win and getting ready to get giant money through his promoter Jordan (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson). Not too long after his victory, he is speaking at a benefit when he is confronted by Miguel 'Magic' Escobar (Miguel Gomez) and his goons. He says he's too afraid to fight him, calls his wife something unspeakable, infers that he plans to do unspeakable things to his wife, etc. In the ensuing kerfuffle, a gun goes off and hits Maureen, who doesn't exactly fare well. Neither does Billy, in the aftermath, who suffers countless on-screen fits of rage, disbands himself from his friends, loses his house and fly cars, loses custody of his daughter. Can cinematic magic, brought to you in the form of grizzled trainer Tick Willis (Forrest Whitaker) get Billy Hope back on top again and in shape to fight--yes, you guessed it--Miguel "Magic" Escobar?
You can indeed get all of that from the preview. However, being a big Gyllenhaal fan (Nightcrawler was my #2 last year), I wanted to give it a shot. And yes, he does indeed singlehandedly carry the otherwise seen-it-a-million times plotline. His last two starring roles went from deathly skinny to putting on x amount in pounds of muscle, so I guess you could say he's method. He also happens to nail the emotional side of things, pulling off several stops on the everything-to-lose down to nothing-to-lose spectrum in a pretty convincing fashion.
You can do this, Billy Hope! Never give up, Hope! etc. etc.
#28 The Diary of a Teenage Girl
And now, for something completely different...
No, this critically-acclaimed movie is not about say, oh, who's a relevant teen these days...Elle Fanning? One of the gals from Pretty Little Liars, maybe? It's not about a silver-spoon high school senior driving around in convertibles, eschewing duties and meeting hunks.
No, dear readers, this is San Francisco in the seventies. We first meet 15-year old Minnie (British newcomer Bel Powley, actually 22 years old, but nonetheless pretty outstanding) walking through Golden Gate Park and, via voiceover, saying "I had sex today." This isn't alarming considering the time period and the age, by any means. What is alarming is the candid and lurid nature of her tape-recorded admissions in her bedroom for someone of her age set.
Considering her boho and loose, experimental home life, it's no wonder that she is driven to explore. Her mother Charlotte (Kristin Wiig) smokes cigarettes, drinks and rips lines of cocaine right in front of her and her sister. Her mother's boyfriend Monroe (Alexander Skarsgård) starts to feel neglected and Charlotte encourages him to take Minnie out in her absence. Feeling suddenly confident, Minnie propositions Monroe, and though he doesn't go for it at first, he eventually relents and they begin a clandestine affair.
There are parts of Diary that are uncomfortable to watch, even for an adult. If ever there is a movie NOT to rent and watch with your parents, this is it. Don't go accidentally thinking that it's some sort of teen formula movie, because you will be sorely disappointed.
Despite the large dose of awkward, the movie works as a realistic-feeling coming of age story which feels largely empowering, considering the kind of teen girl protagonists that are usually getting thrust (no pun intended) onto the silver screen. Also, the partially animated sequences add a sense of fervent imagination to the story (Minnie is an aspiring cartoonist). Powley is great, and I have a feeling, considering the heaps of critical praise being lumped onto both her and writer/director Marielle Heller, that this isn't the last we'll see of her. I saw this one really recently and am still processing it, somewhat. I could see it rising in the power rankings when all is said and done.
Back with more tomorrow!
From there, it's mostly a mess. Brandt (Jeremy Renner) has to testify before a group about IMF's involvement in the Kremlin being blown to smithereens (from MI: Ghost Protocol, which I will only ever refer to as either a) Protocolo Fantasma, since I saw it in Barcelona where it was heavily advertised in every subway station, or b)"Ghost Protes") and since the "secretary" is not present at the meeting to back his story, he has to face the onslaught of CIA Director Hunley (Alec Baldwin) who decides right then and there to disband the IMF. Ethan Hunt (Cruise) is considered largely responsible, so he goes rogue (read: the movie's title) and ropes Benji (Simon Pegg) and Luther (Ving Rhames) in with him to track the Syndicate, a group of evils who Hunt believes is more or less running the world (too easy, I won't go there). In the film's other cool sequence, Hunt and co. stop three would-be assassins (including the mysterious Ilsa, played by Rebecca Ferguson) from capping the Austrian chancellor. She of course comes into the fold with somewhat ambiguous intentions; you know the drill.
Liked Protocolo Fantasma better. This one gets slowed down by lots of over-explaining and governmental hoop-jumping, which, let's be honest...
#29 Southpaw
Two big-budget boxing movies hit the multiplex in 2015. One was Southpaw, and the other was far, far superior. More on that later.
Southpaw's writing and directing duo is literally a who's-who of unapologetic machismo. Written by Kurt Sutter, the showrunner and creator of Sons of Anarchy and directed by Antoine Fuqua (Let's see here-Training Day, Shooter, Brooklyn's Finest, The Equalizer, etc.), Southpaw falls the all-too-predictable rise and fall of boxer Billy Hope (Jake Gyllenhaal). Keep in mind that what I'm about to tell you ruins absolutely nothing. As pointed out by a certain someone to me "the entire movie is in the preview, so I don't really need to watch it."
Hope, once an orphan, is living stupid-large in a mansion with his wife/orphanage-school sweetheart Maureen (Rachel McAdams) and daughter Leila (Oona Laurence) He's coming off a giant win and getting ready to get giant money through his promoter Jordan (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson). Not too long after his victory, he is speaking at a benefit when he is confronted by Miguel 'Magic' Escobar (Miguel Gomez) and his goons. He says he's too afraid to fight him, calls his wife something unspeakable, infers that he plans to do unspeakable things to his wife, etc. In the ensuing kerfuffle, a gun goes off and hits Maureen, who doesn't exactly fare well. Neither does Billy, in the aftermath, who suffers countless on-screen fits of rage, disbands himself from his friends, loses his house and fly cars, loses custody of his daughter. Can cinematic magic, brought to you in the form of grizzled trainer Tick Willis (Forrest Whitaker) get Billy Hope back on top again and in shape to fight--yes, you guessed it--Miguel "Magic" Escobar?
You can indeed get all of that from the preview. However, being a big Gyllenhaal fan (Nightcrawler was my #2 last year), I wanted to give it a shot. And yes, he does indeed singlehandedly carry the otherwise seen-it-a-million times plotline. His last two starring roles went from deathly skinny to putting on x amount in pounds of muscle, so I guess you could say he's method. He also happens to nail the emotional side of things, pulling off several stops on the everything-to-lose down to nothing-to-lose spectrum in a pretty convincing fashion.
You can do this, Billy Hope! Never give up, Hope! etc. etc.
#28 The Diary of a Teenage Girl
And now, for something completely different...
No, this critically-acclaimed movie is not about say, oh, who's a relevant teen these days...Elle Fanning? One of the gals from Pretty Little Liars, maybe? It's not about a silver-spoon high school senior driving around in convertibles, eschewing duties and meeting hunks.
No, dear readers, this is San Francisco in the seventies. We first meet 15-year old Minnie (British newcomer Bel Powley, actually 22 years old, but nonetheless pretty outstanding) walking through Golden Gate Park and, via voiceover, saying "I had sex today." This isn't alarming considering the time period and the age, by any means. What is alarming is the candid and lurid nature of her tape-recorded admissions in her bedroom for someone of her age set.
Considering her boho and loose, experimental home life, it's no wonder that she is driven to explore. Her mother Charlotte (Kristin Wiig) smokes cigarettes, drinks and rips lines of cocaine right in front of her and her sister. Her mother's boyfriend Monroe (Alexander Skarsgård) starts to feel neglected and Charlotte encourages him to take Minnie out in her absence. Feeling suddenly confident, Minnie propositions Monroe, and though he doesn't go for it at first, he eventually relents and they begin a clandestine affair.
There are parts of Diary that are uncomfortable to watch, even for an adult. If ever there is a movie NOT to rent and watch with your parents, this is it. Don't go accidentally thinking that it's some sort of teen formula movie, because you will be sorely disappointed.
Despite the large dose of awkward, the movie works as a realistic-feeling coming of age story which feels largely empowering, considering the kind of teen girl protagonists that are usually getting thrust (no pun intended) onto the silver screen. Also, the partially animated sequences add a sense of fervent imagination to the story (Minnie is an aspiring cartoonist). Powley is great, and I have a feeling, considering the heaps of critical praise being lumped onto both her and writer/director Marielle Heller, that this isn't the last we'll see of her. I saw this one really recently and am still processing it, somewhat. I could see it rising in the power rankings when all is said and done.
Back with more tomorrow!
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