The Adjustment Bureau

    What a different concept. The Adjustment Bureau (2011) leads to some very interesting thoughts.  Thoughts about free will and decision making and a greater power being involved in those things.  George Nolfi directed and wrote The Adjustment Bureau.  He has written the screenplay for The Sentinel, Ocean’s Twelve, Timeline and The Bourne Ultimatium however this is his first time in the director’s chair.  I thought he did pretty well.  Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting, The Departed, Hereafter, Green Zone) stars as David Norris, a very promising politician. Emily Blunt (the Devil wears Prada, the Young Victoria, the Wolfman) plays Elise, the love of his life.  I really enjoyed the cast in this movie. They were all amazing. However, Anthony Mackie (the Hurt Locker, Million Dollar Baby, Eagle Eye) plays Harry and in my opinion he stole the show.  His performance was so moving. I loved watching the relationships evolve.
       The Adjustment Bureau has a little bit of everything.  There is the love story, action and a bit of a mystery to solve. Very entertaining movie all in all.

Unknown

      Unknown (2011) is a good action movie.  It reminded me of Taken in a lot of ways.  Liam Neeson (Schindler’s List, Batman Begins, Taken) stars as Dr. Martin Harris. The movie jumps right into action and grabs you in the first few minutes.  There is a lot of Liam being chased and Liam doing the chasing.  It also reminded me of another popular action movie but I can’t say what.  That would spoil the twist at the end.  You will just have to watch it to find out about that little twist.      
     If you are looking for some good chase scenes and action from beginning to end, you may like Unknown. The story line was all right and the acting and directing was enjoyable.  Not one of my favorites but entertaining. Definitly worth checking out though.

Beastly

      You know that saying “the third times a charm”? Well I find that to be true of movies sometimes.  There are some that can actually catch me a little off guard the first time.  Just a little different than I expected and, not sure what to expect other times. I have watched Beastly (2011) three times in the last forty-eight hours.  I liked it more each time.  I had to watch it three times because that is what it took for my brain to process it all.
       Beastly isn’t a new and different story.  It is Beauty and the Beast set in modern day New York.  My girls and I had a lot of fun comparing it to Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.  At one point Kyle/Hunter needs a “thinking thing”, something he can do for her.  We said he should give her a library.  He doesn’t, but he does give her the equivalent. It is kind of interesting how they were able to tell the story in modern day New York but keep to the traditional Beauty and the Beast storyline.  Kind of fun actually.
      Alex Pettyfer (I am number four, Tormented) plays Kyle, the would be prince.  Watching his character change through out the movie is one of the neat things about the Beauty and the Beast story.  Alex does a great job and by the end I really liked him as the Beastly character, scars, tattoos and all.  (I am assuming if you are reading this you have seen the trailer or at least posters or DVD covers and you know how Kyle looks) Vanessa Hudgens (High School musical, Bandslam, Sucker Punch) plays Lindy, Kyle’s love interest.  There was a bit of a surprise for us, we didn’t know that Neil Patrick Harris (How I met your mother, Doogie Howser M.D.) was in it.  He was wonderful as usual.  We all really like him. Mary-Kate Olsen (Full house, New York Minute) plays the goth witch who casts the spell on Kyle.  She was very believable and I am not taking a jab and I don’t mean anything bad by that.  It was a good role for her, she owned it.
     The music for Beastly was really good as well. The soundtrack goes along with the movie so well. I really like it when the music complements the story and this one does just that. Right from the very first song, Vanity by Lady Gaga. Every song just fits so well.  The score is also amazing.  The second time watching Beastly I paid a lot more attention to the music. There was a very familiar sound to the score. Turns out Marcelo Zarvos  (Remember Me, The Door in the Floor) wrote the score. He also wrote the score for Remember Me which I absolutely love.  He is  a Brazilian Pianist and composer and his music is beautiful.  

(By the way, I have read I Am Number Four.  Pretty good read.  It successfully filled in those gaps that the movie left.  It is very different than the movie but I think they did all right transfering it to the big screen. They kind of can go together which is about all you can hope for when a book is made into a movie.  It will never be the same, but it should add to the book and not take away from the reading experience)

The Hurt Locker

 
      My family and I visited Washington D.C. this past week.  We saw a lot of monuments and even went to Arlington National Cemetery.  I got a little teary talking about going to Arlington but then when we went to the Vietnam Memorial I got very teary.  I had a bit of a hard time getting my emotions under control.  My girls where concerned and began asking questions.  A lot of memories came flooding back to me as I tried to cipher through the emotions. The girls wanted to know why I was so emotional about the Vietnam memorial.  I have always dreamed of seeing it one day and have seen so many beautiful photos of it that always make me teary.  To be there was an amazing feeling that is hard to describe.  I couldn’t hardly take it all in.  I just walked along the wall trying to  ……. 
     I watched The Hurt Locker (2008) all alone. It is a very intense movie and I was engrossed the entire time.  Kathryn Bigelow (K-19: The Widowmaker, Point Break) directed The Hurt Locker. She shot it in a very real way.  You felt like you were right there in the action with these men. Walking the streets of Iraq and into the buildings. IMDB (The Internet Movie Database) gives the best synopsis “Iraq. Forced to play a dangerous game of cat-and-mouse in the chaos of war, an elite Army bomb squad unit must come together in a city where everyone is a potential enemy and every object could be a deadly bomb.” I really can’t say it better than that.  One scene I will never forget is a soldier trying to disarm a car that has been turned into an IED (Improvised explosive device) while Iraqis are all around watching him from a distance.  I can’t even explain what it was like to watch.  Because the movie was about an Army squad who did this there were a lot of these kinds of scenes.  Very intense and unimaginable. 
     After the movie I had a conversation with my father who served in the Air Force.  He didn’t go to Vietnam but was in the Air Force at the time of it. The Hurt Locker really stirred up a lot of thoughts about the differences and similarities of the Vietnam war and Iraq war.  I can’t explain why, but I want to understand what these men go through. They sacrifice so much for us.  I was asking my dad all of these questions.  The Hurt Locker is rated R, which should really be no surprise.  I really don’t enjoy hearing cursing in movies but I feel like in a military or war movie it is real and how they talk.  I asked my dad about this and he said it is pretty mild compared to the real thing.  There is another scene where the men get into a violent altercation in their room.  I don’t know how these soldiers ever sleep. There is no down time.  They are on high alert all of the time.  So, when they explode and take it out on each other ……. well it is a very interesting scene.  So, I asked my dad about that.  He said that is pretty accurate as well. I want to know what is real and what is just Hollywood when it comes to those kind of things.  I then began to ask about similarities between Vietnam and Iraq.  I know they had a hard time knowing who exactly the enemy was in Vietnam, I believe so anyway.  There was also a lot of Guerrilla warfare.  I would think Iraq would be similar to that.  My dad’s response was, “no, it is nothing like Vietnam.” He then became too emotional and our conversation ended there.  He doesn’t really cry or get emotional and I try to be sensitive about those kinds of topics so I apologized and felt really bad. 
     While at the Vietnam memorial with my husband and daughters I told my girls this story, about watching the movie and about my dad getting emotional.  They asked if he had friends who died in Vietnam.  I told them I didn’t know and probably never would. I was reminded of an essay I wrote for English in 1989.  It was about the memorial and the soldiers who served in Vietnam.  Even at that young age I wanted to understand. There was a poem I had read about the hurt in the soldiers eyes; it really had an impact on me.  I am not a writer and have never felt like that was one of my strong suits.  I have come to realize that that is one of the reasons I was so hesitant to start this blog.  I can talk, and I can talk all day about movies but doing this ….. it has become more about writing than I expected and therefore I am learning and growing from the experience.
      War stories and our American Soldiers have always had a very special place in my heart. I have seen a lot of war movies covering many different wars.  I cry at any thing involving our military and the sacrifices they make for us.  I will probably never understand where those emotions come from and why it is so meaningful to me.  Just like I may never know why my dad cried when talking about this movie and any time we talk about his service. 
      The Hurt Locker was a wonderful movie, not in a feel good make you happy kind of way, but still amazing.  It is not surprising that it won the Oscar for best picture, in the end winning 6 Oscars total.