guest review: eat pray love

review by emily

i really, really liked this movie. i had heard different things from different people but all in all i was thoroughly impressed. the beginning was a bit confusing and i found myself asking, "why are you freaking out?" there wasn't too much of an explanation there-- but when she goes to italy it gets good and i found myself completely intrigued. i think i might have to read the book now!

[editors note: my mother-in-law said the same thing about her freaking out at the beginning of the movie. it's explained more in the book but apparently they didn't preface it enough in the movie. she even said that people were laughing in the theater about it!]

yes, i do like almost every movie i see. and yes, i do lovejulia roberts and javier bardem...but let's just pretend that wouldn't affect my review of this movie. go see it! :)

the grade:

B+

babel

where to even start....?! this movie came out in 2006, but we had never seen it. i didn't even remember it coming out but josh said he remembered it vaguely. anyways, we saw this movie the other night at a friends house. this movie got pretty good reviews and won awards, etc- so we were expecting a pretty good movie.

two and a half hours later we were wondering why we didn't turn this off after the first ten minutes. we all agreed we were waiting for it to get good. which it didn't... this movie was weird and all over the place. there were four different stories that were "interconnected" but really their connections were vague and not always very meaningful. a lot of scenes we were just baffled by, and wondered how they were even important to the movie. it was kind of just a big mess.

when i think of interconnected stories in a movie that are trying to make a point, i think of crash. that is a quality movie. babel, in comparison, is an absolute train wreck. honestly by the end i wasn't even really sure what point the movie was trying to make. i wish we would have turned it off.

i don't really know what else to say about this movie. the stories seemed unrelated, there were weird and awkward scenes that were unrealistic, the point of the movie wasn't clear, and it was too long, boring, and lame. if you have seen this movie please let us know what you think. i'm curious as to why it got such good reviews...

our grade:

D / D-

Going the Distance

You've probably already been laughing out loud at the previews for this movie. I'm not gonna lie, this was a funny movie. Romantic comedies are definitely not my thing, but I would call this movie more of just a regular comedy.

Drew Barrymore and Justin Long meet at a bar and start dating. The only thing is, Drew is only in New York for 6 weeks....after that, let the long distance relationship begin.

Let me just say this, Drew Barrymore is looking old. That's really not relevant, but i'm just saying....yikes. She kind of looked like Justin Longs mother.

Moving on.

I'm telling you, this movie is funny. Christina Applegate plays Drew's sister, and I think she's the funniest part. She's really neurotic and she doesn't like Justin Long's character. It causes several funny moments. Okay, so I've noticed that this review isn't going anywhere. The point is....this movie is funny. The end.

B

Children of Invention

hey! jess here with another indie movie. this movie was an official selection at 2009's sundance film festival. i think it was recommended to me on netflix, but i can't remember. i was intrigued though, and watched it one day while i was sewing or something of that nature. anyways, about the movie:

this movie is about a single mom with two young children who immigrated to america from asia (i forget where exactly, sorry). the father is still living out of the country, and doesn't do much to support his kids except answer the phone most sunday's when they call. the family gets evicted from their apartment because they can't pay the rent, and they end up squatting in a model apartment (they are friends with a guy in real estate). the mom is trying to find a good job so she can afford to go back to live in a real place, and to improve their life in america. the majority of the movie is about the family's struggles being immigrants, finding work, being a single parent, and the children's forced independence. it is very interesting, and the kids are absolutely charming. i love the little girl, tina.

the movie title comes about from the entrepreneurial mind of the older child, raymond. he is always inventing new products and enlisting his sister to help him. when the mom doesn't come home one night from work, the kids have to figure out what to do. it's interesting to see how the kids work through this dilemma, and what the outcome is. it's definitely an interesting movie. at times it can be a little slow, but it all works together. the ending is sort of abrupt and you almost feel like the story is unsolved, but i like it because i think it reflects their reality.

overall i was fairly impressed with this movie. like i've mentioned before, sometimes you never know with indie movies. this movie is humorous, complex, touching, and out of the ordinary.

the grade?

B-/B