random_guy85 Reviews

The Nanny Diaries (2007)

Nanny and the City

[8/10 · 22 September 2007]

I knew absolutely nothing about this movie going in. Didn't know who was in it or what it was going to be about. To my surprise I enjoyed the well made movie very much. It had great acting, a solid story, and whiles not being original had its own unique charms that makes it a very enjoyable movie.

-The movie tells the story of Annie, who is a recent graduate plucked into a world she wasn't expecting. She plans to be a financial consultant or something like that but ends being a nanny by chance. The rest of the movie follows her on her adventure as she learns what it takes to be a nanny in NY, and also learns what it takes to survive life.

-The film-making technique is not necessarily an original one in which the main character narrates the whole story but what helps in this one is that its quite an entertaining narration and she doesn't narrate the whole movie so it does help. The odd visual style is also nicely done with some unique effects and one really weird scene in which we see Annie flying through New York all Mary Poppins style.

-Scarlett Johansson is building quite an impressive resume with this brilliant movie. Last year she was great in "The Prestige" and now this year she knocks it out of the park in this. I unlike 99.7% of men don't find her hot nor do I fantasize about her, but she is a very good actress and I hope she gets more roles that showcases her acting assets like this one did.

Singer turned actress Alicia Keys plays the best friend Lynette. She's not featured an awful lot in the movie, but the small doses of her are well acted.

Laura Linney plays the cold and kinda misunderstood Mrs. X. Yeah she seems like z shrewd cold hearted woman when we first meet her, but after getting to know her husband Mr. X played the great Paul Giamatti, we begin to understand why she does certain things that she does. Linney has one great scene towards the end of the movie in which she realizes what horrible mother she has been and the way Linney plays that scene is truly the stuff of great acting. Instead of going all over emotional, she simply just lets a tear fall down her face and that simple tear just nails everything she's feeling at that moment.

At the end of the day I really enjoyed this fun movie. It had comedy, romance, child abuse and life lessons. It may not have great replay value but the first viewing should please everyone that watches it.

Recommended

In the Bedroom (2001)

Revenge is a dish best served cold

[9/10 · 23 December 2006]

A slow burn is the best way to describe this excellent movie about revenge and the loss of a child due to senseless violence. It's a well told story that takes it time and completely catches you off guard with what happens in the last moments of the movie. It's not a twist or anything like that which will cause you to drop your jaw, but the unexpected revenge that makes the movie a classic for me.

For a very long time when watching the movie one would think we were watching some boy meets girl story and the drama that ensues after the ex becomes involved, but the movie really takes a left turn halfway through and just keeps getting better after that point.

Todd Field isn't a filmmaker that I'm all too familiar with but if he's capable of making a great movie like this then I need to add him to my favorite filmmakers list. He has an amazing eye for what works within the world of his story and never misses his mark.

-The criticism that I usually hear bombarded against this movie is that it's boring which is odd to me because the people claiming it's boring are the same wonderful bunch that accuse anyone that thinks "Pirates of the Caribbean" is boring has a short attention span. To each their own I guess. I for one love the slow pace of the movie. Sure, the first time you watch it you begin to wonder why things are moving along so slowly, but after what happens at the halfway point, you begin to understand why. Watching repeat viewings of the movie after you know what's about to happen does it make more enjoyable since you get why certain shots are there, and why certain lines are uttered.

Nick Sthal is one of the great actors in Hollywood that has incredible range and he shows it in this movie. Unlike some of the big stars, he doesn't play the same role over and over again, but actually tries something new every time. One movie he's a sympathetic chump, then the next a hateful bully, and this movie he's a man involved in a summer fling.

Sissy Spacek and Marissa Tomei are really great in this movie, so is Tom Wilkinson. The acting in this movie feels natural and grounded. Almost like it's a documentary in which the characters are not aware of the cameras around them.

I Recommend it to anyone that is in the mood for movie that takes its time and gets it right. It's a really great one.

Cheaters (2000– )

Joey Greco scares me

[6/10 · 18 December 2006]

This is one of those fascinating shows that when you begin watching you think is the greatest thing in the world, but after about 4 episodes you get tired of it fast. It has a very noble concept but it execution is one that is sorely lacking. Something as private and as painful as a spouse being cheated shouldn't treated in the way that this show handles it which is to bust into people and have confrontations in public. Not to mention Joey Greco is scary as hell. I'm sure he's a nice guy in person, but on the show he comes off as a scary guy that you usually try to avoid when you see walking down the street.

The one thing about the show I don't get is why they feel the need to shove 1000 cameras and lights into people's faces when they bust the cheating ones. Won't it be easy if they filmed from a distance and let the person that has been cheated on confront the cheater face to face? It just seems like the subtle approach would be the appropriate thing for something so private instead of going all public with it and having everyone on the street or wherever the confrontation takes place hear your personal business. I guess it's all for ratings in the end and they feel that's what people would like to see so they give it to them.

The show's strange humor is a little inappropriate if you ask me considering the subject manner of the show. Every time they profile the person that is being cheated on they always feel the need to make some silly double entendre. Why is getting cheated on funny?

The most interesting aspect of the show is the confrontation which depending on the victim is either violent and laced with the F word, or tearful and remorseful. I remember in one episode the person that got busted was so mad that they ended up stabbing Joey Greco. Some people say that was staged, I don't know about that but it was compelling television

If you ever feel like watching a train wreck or need to feel better about your relationship with a loved one then this show is just for you.

The Skeleton Key (2005)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers

[8/10 · 18 December 2006]

I have to admit the first time I saw this movie I wasn't too impressed with it. I felt it was jaded and all over the place, but now thanks to multiple viewings on HBO and a recent DVD purchase I now like or dare I say love this movie. It has it's problems that's for sure but what we get here is a very well told story of body snatching and a movie that should creep you out when watched in the dark all by yourself.

One thing that this movie does well that other "scary movies" fail to do is actually scare you. Sure when you watch the movie with a crowd and lights on it's no big deal, but when it's like 3am in the morning and you're watching the movie on TV with the lights off, it does tend to creep you out a bit which can be attributed to the movie's tone. Great horror movies don't scare you by having something jump at you, but rather they scare you because they make you wonder what's around the corner.

Whiles not being the biggest fan of Kate Hudson I really loved her in the movie. She plays a regular person that like a lot of us thinks all the voodoo stuff is nonsense till she comes face to face with some spiritual force. She's not giving a lot to do acting wise but she is okay in her role. Peter Sarsgaard and Gena Rowlands are great in the movie as well.

The hocus pocus aspect of the movie is extremely well done and not overplayed or made to seem over the top. It's done on a subliminal level and a lot of the stuff is left to the imagination which works a lot better than having everything right in front of the screen.

I also greatly appreciated how the movie didn't treat the audience like we were a bunch of idiots by holding our hands throughout every step. They just give us clues and we have to figure out what's really going on. It's not a hard movie to figure out by a long shot but it does have it great moments of mystery that the more you watch the movie the more sense it makes.

I hope people give this multiple viewings before making their minds on it because it does get better the more you watch it.

Recommended

Everything Put Together (2000)

That's not my baby

[8/10 · 2 October 2006]

-Most movies usually show how friends bond together after a tragedy and how everything magically solves itself again. This movie on the other hand completely detaches from that and shows you how we should be careful about the people we call friends. The main character Angie not only looses her baby in the movie but also looses her friends. The nice about the movie though is that they don't make the friends seem like horrible people but rather just people that don't know how to properly communicate their emotions to a grieving mother. The baptism scene is a great example of that, because they didn't invite due to the fact that they thought it would be too painful for her, but instead had the opposite effect.

-The whole movie is an emotional roller coasters that we witness Angie go through. When we first meet her, she's a happy woman that's on the verge of giving birth. She is in love with her husband that loves her back very much and she's very lively and pretty sexual. All that goes to hell once she looses her baby and for me it was fascinating to watch her go through this horrible ordeal in her own way, and see how it almost drove her to the end. She goes from happy to depressed reclusive and see how it affects the people around her. I really loved that scene when she goes to see her baby at the morgue and after seeing him denies that it's him. It was really heartbreaking to watch because she wished with all her heart that her words would turn to reality and her baby would magically come to life.

-The performances here are pretty strong with Radha Mitchell owning the movie and commanding greatness in her own beautiful subtle way whenever she's on screen. Her character Angie is one that could have easily being played in a "woe is me" manner, but Mitchell plays her as sympathetic yet scary. The scene in which she denies that the baby at the morgue is hers is probably my favorite moment with her in the movie. So heartbreaking and so well acted. She has one scene in the movie in which she lets out a scream after she finds out that her baby is gone, and that scream should make anyone that watches the movie with the volume cranked up pee themselves a little bit. I doubt that's how real people act when they find out something horrible but hey it works in the movie. Her performance isn't her strongest since I strongly believe that title belongs to "High Art", but Mitchell is wonderful nonetheless and I was really happy to hear Meagan Mullally say she was the best actress she had ever worked with.

-Fans of "Will and Grace" should be pleasantly surprised by Meagan Mullally in this movie. She plays one of the pregnant friends and much like all the friends in the movie she shuns Angie after her loss. It would be easy to hate her, but Mullally plays as a lost friend that doesn't know how to deal with the current situation. Justin Louis who has great chemistry with Mitchell plays the loving husband. He is just a regular guy that tries his best to cope with the loss as well but knows that he can't show too much emotion because he needs to be strong for the woman he loves so much. The rest of the supporting players are great especially the actor that plays the doctor.

-This is an ultra low budget movie with people behind the scenes pulling multiple duties so I guess it's not much of a shock that the movie is shot with a DV camera. The roughness and unattractiveness that the DV employs does fit the tone for a lot of the movie since it fully conveys what Angie sees of the world which, is a very disheveled and bitter place. Overall, it would have been pretty nice to see the movie shot with film. The music unlike the cinematography doesn't reflect the budget since it feels like it's scored with a 60 piece orchestra instead being scored at the home of director Marc Foster's friend Thomas Koppel. The best way to describe the music is "Blade Runner" meets "Crash" which is very high praise in my book. Low budget stuff like this usually gets stuck with source music or worse some flavor of the month musician writing some incoherent mess, but in the case of this movie the music is very nicely done and even has a very nice song at the end for us to enjoy.

-Of all the disturbing elements of the movie, the one I thought was really messed up was how the end of the movie suggested that Angie might go back to being friends with the same back stabbing friends that left her out to dry. The one thing that's not certain though is whether she was indeed pregnant like she told them that she was, or whether she was faking it to see their reaction. I really hope that it was the latter because I would hate to think that she would go back to laughing and chatting with the same people that gave her the cold shoulder when she needed them the most. On the other hand if that is the case then I guess it would make the movie a lot better, because it will show how people can be so desperate to accepted that they will be pals with the ones that screwed them over.

-It's a very difficult movie to watch and not something I'd recommend for young viewers, but if you don't mind the low budget productions and the awkwardness of most of the scenes then you should check this out.