Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3 was a sentimental movie for me. The first movie came out when I was eight followed by the second when I was ten. For all intents and purposes I grew up with these movies. The songs push me into old memories and the characters remind me of what it was like to experience a movie with the eyes of a child. Because of my attachment to these characters, I was unsure of what to expect when I walked into the theater to see the newest installment. I was wary, as I always am when Hollywood begins to mess with beloved figures from my childhood. I was excited because….well it’s a new Disney movie. But most of all I was enthused because two of my younger sisters we in the theater with me. This movie was different and different is not always a bad thing. The first two movies were movies about the relationship between a boy and his toys. This movie is something different. This movie is a relationship about a boy’s toys…and other toys. The first movies were sentimental and heartfelt about days we all remember when out best friends were objects to which we gave life. This movie is about what happens when we’ve grown too old for these toys. What do we do? Do we hang on, give them away, or worse throw them out? We still love them but toys are meant to be played with not sit on a shelf as sentimental reminders of days gone by. Kids I think will enjoy the action—man these toys have been through a lot. Adults on the other hand will be touched by the story of a kid who begins the last phase of his journey to adulthood. I cried, I’m not going to lie. I cried because it reminded me of a time in between worlds, a time when we are not quite children and not quite adults, a time when we pause and wonder if growing up is really what we want to do. The film is heartfelt and heartbreaking due almost entirely to the ending, which is at once satisfying, heartbreaking, and hopeful. The ultimate message of the movie is that everyone grows up and life goes on even for our toys.

New Deathly Hallows Trailer

This. Looks. Awesome.

Leap Year

Leap Year is a classic romantic comedy of hate. The two leads will naturally begin the film hating each other, find out there is more to the other than meets the eye, end up forced to share a hotel room, and then by the time the heroine gets what she wants she isn't sure its want she wants after all. Neither the destination nor the journey is all that unpredictable, but Amy Adams and Matthew Goode make you feel what they're feeling as the hate ebbs in love. As far as modern romcoms go, you could do a lot worse than Leap Year. Leap Year is far and away above most romantic comedies on the market. Not because the plot is new, or the performances extraordinary but because the film is really art in many ways. The shot composition is thoughtful and creative, and the cinematography is astounding. The film--helped a lot simply by being set in the gorgeous Irish countryside--is beautiful. The problem is that this film will always, for me, suffer from comparisons to It Happened One Night. It Happened One Night is one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time and the plot of Leap Year is essentially the same. It's unfair to expect bickering of Amy Adams and Matthew Goode, as good as their performances are, to be as great as that of Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. It Happened One Night was the first film to win the Oscar grand slam--Best Actor, Actress, Screenplay, Director, and Picture. It's unfair to compare the two but for me the two will always be set beside one another. However, if you haven't seen It Happened One Night do go out and see it, but see Leap Year first.

An Education

An Education has been on my "to see" list for quite a long time. However, it's a small British film so it only came to a theater (not so very) near me around Christmas. An Education is a film about growing up...while growing up. It's about a time when what we want for ourselves is not what everyone else has planned, about a time when in so many ways all we want is what feels nice. In An Education, Jenny, played to perfection by Carey Mulligan, experiences adolescence in a time when there were strict rules about conduct. Jenny is expected to go to Oxford by her father, her teachers, and even, at times, herself. In the midst of her pursuit of Oxford, where she dreams of a life when she can read English, study the books she wants, listen to French music, and fall in love with French movies, Jenny swept off course by a charming older man. Through the course of the film Jenny is forced to reconcile what is expected of her and what she, as a seventeen-year-old, wants for herself. An Education is the story of learning about mistakes and failure but most importantly how to get life back on track when the institutions designed to help are less than helpful. An Education is a rather traditional coming of age film, but its a very respectable one. The film is quiet and can be at times underwhelming, but Carey Mulligan is no small wonder and she makes the film marvelous. Mulligan has the ability to portray a wide range of emotions that makes Jenny, who could so easily have seemed annoyingly self-indulgent, seem fully fleshed out. Jenny seems so much like a real person who the audience is experiencing life with. Mulligan allows the audience to experience life as a girl who can pass as a women but is not quiet ready to do so, as a girl who wants so much to experience life and not just live it, as girl who is unusually intelligent but still swept away but the charming older man. All in all, the film is about a life the manages to learn lessons without being overly sentimental. This film is a quiet study of human nature that surpasses so many other common coming of age movies.

The Princess and the Frog

The Princess and the Frog was Disney's first 2D film in quite a while was not exactly the hit at the box office that many expected it would be, despite it's frustratingly tiered release. However, despite this, the movie is the magic of Disney from my childhood. The princess plot, the music, and the strikingly creepy voodoo villain are reminders of the days when all of us were captivated by the magic of that one special Disney movie--for me it was Beauty and the Beast. In short, the movie is simple Disney magic without expensive Disney special effects. The Princess and the Frog has a soundtrack that isn't mere score--the first one in a long time from what I remember. And the songs, which are all in a New Orleans Jazz style, are catchy and over time may make their ways into the conscious of Disney lovers just as much as much as tunes from The Lion King or The Little Mermaid. The characters a well rounded and likable and, what's best for Disney's bottom-line, a new Princess has been added to the line up. All in all the film will probably be one of only a few ventures into 2D animation now that it's box office was less than expected, but the film is like re-experiencing my Disney addicted childhood for an hour and a half. The best part for me, however, was that I experienced the film along side my nine year old sister. I got to take her, a sister date of sorts, and show her was Disney could really be when the flashy graphics were left behind and the soundtrack was more than score.

Sherlock Holmes

For Sherlock Holmes lovers, this is not the Holmes you probably remember. Guy Richie's Sherlock Holmes is not a quiet mystery surrounding the world's most famous detective. It's loud, it's explosive, and it's large. This is Sherlock Holmes as he was meant to be seen on the big screen--jumping, punching, and, in slow speed, using that marvelous brain to figure out how to defeat his opponent. However, this Sherlock Holmes will always suffer from comparisons to the Sherlock Holmes in everybody's mind. If people can set their previous conceptions of Holmes at the door on the way into the theater than the movie is far and away above the pop film its packaged as. Robert Downey Jr show that he is truly one of this generations great character actors and Jude Law gives a nice turn as a Doctor Watson who want so much to leave his life with Holmes behind but can't quiet seem to manage it. The end is a bit of a cliff hanger so expect a sequel--which, if the rumors are true, has already been green lit.

Up in the Air

Up in the Air is a great movie centered around a topical subject--firing people. Of course the film isn't about firing people so much as it is about the discovery that life is not meant to lived alone set in the context of a man whose job it is to fire people. On the whole, that second theme is rather banal as far as films go, but Up in the Air magically does something that other movies so often fail to do--it makes the journey interesting. After all, the cinematic experience is rarely about the destination. So often in films the destination is known right from the beginning, especially in romantic comedies, which is what this film tries to be. The destination of Up in the Air becomes increasingly clear mid-way through, but a good performance by George Clooney and a spectacular performance by Anna Kendrick make it a journey worth going on. Kennedrick's fragile, but still self-assertive Natalie is a brilliant performance that in other years might take home awards. It's really too bad for Kendrick that, though she is getting the nominations due this brilliant and quiet performance, Monique's performance in Precious is sure to take home the supporting actress awards. Nevertheless, Kendrick as a young, sometimes broken, foil to Clooney's belief that life is best lived alone bring the film together nicely and make both the journey worth experiencing.