I totally paused!

Starring Amanda Seyfried & Vanessa Redgrave

I knew nothing beyond who starred in this movie before going to see it.  Sure, I’d seen small previews of Amanda and Vanessa in scenes together, but I honestly hadn’t paid much attention.  You see, Amanda Seyfried is one of my new loves, so I’m really willing to watch almost anything with her.  I say almost because I have not yet felt like seeing Jennifer’s Body.

I thought this movie was going to be Vanessa playing a character called Juliet, perhaps she was an advice columnist, and you know how I love advice columns!  What a surprise to find, then, that this is actually a love story starting back up again after fifty years, and Amanda is not only the one who started it back up but goes along for the ride.

Meanwhile, she is engaged to the ever adorable Gael Garcia Bernal, aka my love from The Motorcycle Diaries.  He is as lovable as ever, yet extremely frustrating.  His character was appealing in the same way that a musician is – passionate about something serious, all consumed by that thing, in this case, food and wine.  He’s about to open his own restaurant, and that is quite appealing.  But again, like a musician, that singular focus doesn’t seem to end.  And I could feel poor Amanda’s frustration with this, as they are on a lovely vacation to Italy where adorable Gael is obsessed with food and wine.

Since I recently read Tales for Delicious Girls, I immediately thought that as much as I love both Amanda and Gael, she should really not be marrying him.  See, ladies, a man obsessed with something other than you will likely remain that way.  And while separate interests are healthy and important in a relationship, you should really be interested in spending time together when you go on vacation.

Anyway, the adventure is both heartwarming and lovely, and I was brought to tears numerous times.  Is this a girly movie?  Absolutely.  This is the kind of movie I would not be likely to expect a man in my life to watch with me, as the only thing for a man in this movie is a pretty girl.  At least we could share that interest!

Many of the things in this movie go unexplained, but I was okay with that.  As I said to the ladies I attended with – not every movie has to be this life changing, lesson learning, huge event.  Sometimes a movie is just fun, a lovely way to distract yourself from the rest of your life for a couple of hours.  And I, for one, can really use those distractions right now.

My Rating: 3.5/5

See this movie if: You like a cute love story, adorable girls and gals in a movie, as well as Vanessa Redgrave.  I thought it was a lovely couple of hours in a theater with popcorn.

Six Degrees of Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
Amanda Seyfried is in Big Love with Ginnifer Goodwin
Ginnifer Goodwin was in He’s Just Not That Into You with Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore was in Scream with a ton of people who were in Scream 2 with Sarah Michelle Gellar!

Starring Patrick Fugit & Shannyn Sossamon

Despite the title, this is a pretty funny movie about love in the hereafter…if you’ve killed yourself.

Everyone in this movie has killed themselves in one way or another.  It starts out with Patrick Fugit’s character cleaning his whole house, and then cutting his wrists.  Which I observed is actually an unusual suicide method for a guy to use – that’s usually more of a woman kind of thing.  Patrick soon finds out that his ex-girlfriend, and the reason for his suicide, has in fact killed herself and is in the same after life.  This prompts a road trip with a friend to find Desiree, and as you can imagine, wackiness ensues.

Along the way, they meet Shannyn Sossamon, who hates this world and insists she is there by accident.  She joins them in their journey, and a lovely relationship blossoms between the three of them.

The concept of this movie is pretty interesting to me, the idea that people who committed suicide go to a different after life, which is pretty much the same as the current life, but worse.  You can’t smile, there are no stars, nothing good ever happens.  Yet you still have to work some horrible job that you hate, live with terrible roommates, and pretty much go through everything you went through in your regular life and hated.

I don’t often see a movie via Netflix that I feel like I should eventually buy, but I do think I want this one.  It was funny, cute, and not at all what you would perhaps expect based on the title.  And I’m becoming a big fan of Patrick Fugit, he is winning me over after this and Saved!

My Rating: 4/5

See this movie if: You like cute love stories, or decent indie films.  Y’all know how I feel about indie movies, that it’s often a risk, so I definitely recommend this one.

Six Degrees of Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
Shannyn Sossamon was in The Rules of Attraction with Clare Kramer
Clare Kramer played the villain, Glory, in season 5 of BTVS

Starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, & Jason Bateman

Spoiler Alert!!!! I try hard to not ruin things about movies when I review them, but I just can’t make that promise here.  So if you hate spoilers and have every intention of seeing this movie, stop reading right now.

The basic plot of this movie is that George Clooney plays a guy who flies around the country and fires people.  Given the economic times, it’s pretty apropos to the current job culture everywhere.  With the way that Hollywood works, I’m sure the writer/director Jason Reitman didn’t necessarily know how pertinent it would be at the time he was writing it, but I think a lot of this movie might be hard for people to see right now.  Or maybe it’ll draw people in because that particular aspect of it is so applicable to life at the moment.

This is sort of being billed as a chick flick, some people would probably say that anything with George Clooney and a woman automatically equals chick flick, but I disagree with that assessment.  First of all, while there is romance, it doesn’t turn out at all how you thought or hoped it would.  To me, that defies the very essence of a chick flick.  I think it was marketed as such to get the ladies out, but let’s be honest – you just need George Clooney to get a female audience.  My guess is plenty of women went to The Men Who Stare At Goats too.  Basically what I’m saying is that the romance aspect of this movie shouldn’t scare the men away.  Seriously, there are way worse movies your girl could drag you to.

Let’s talk about the basic elements of a chick flick: your main character, typically a woman, is lost in life and maybe missing something they don’t even know is missing.  In this case, our main character is a man, but that’s the main difference.  Your lost in life character meets someone that completes them in some way, again, they may not know it at the time.  Some wacky things happen, they fall in love, and we have a happy ending.

In this movie, we’ve got the first element down.  George Clooney spends the bulk of his time traveling, has no ties to the place he technically lives in, and doesn’t really think his life is missing anything.  Then he meets Vera Farmiga, decides he likes her more than just a one night stand kind of situation, and he starts down that path of love.  But Vera has some tricks up her sleeve – she is not, in fact, in love with George Clooney.  She has a real life outside of her travels, complete with husband and children.  Vera and George do not live happily ever after.

The reason I say this defies a chick flick is because that’s not how a chick flick ends.  They would have gotten together, or George would have realized he was really in love with someone else all along.  This movie is more of a reflection of how the story would have really played out.  Think about it – you meet someone on the road who you barely know and all you really do for the majority of your time is sleep together.  How well do you really know that person?  There will definitely be things you don’t know about them, and quite possibly secrets they are intentionally keeping.  Life does not always have a happy ending.  A chick flick does.

People are also saying this is the best performance of George Clooney’s career, which I likewise disagree with.  See, I’ve seen Michael Clayton, and to me, *that’s* the best acting of his career.  But in my mind, George Clooney has really evolved over the years, or at least my opinion of him has.  I used to really not like him so much.  He was just that goofy guy who was only okay looking (don’t hate on me, he wasn’t my type in the older days).  I would say that my opinion of him really started to change when I saw Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind and Good Night & Good Luck.  So I like George Clooney of today much better than of yesteryear.  And I find him better looking now.

What I did like is the general evolution of George’s character as the movie went on.  I enjoyed seeing him realize maybe he *does* want more, and as he’s talking to his future brother-in-law about how it can be so important to have a partner, you see him convincing himself too.  One of the previews shows him saying “Life is better with a co-pilot”, or something along those lines, and in the moment he is saying it, I felt like I could see him realizing he meant it.

I also liked that the women cast in the film were somewhat lesser known.  You might recognize Vera Farmiga (Alex) as the girlfriend from The Departed, Anna Kendrick (Natalie) as Jessica from Twilight, and Melanie Lynskey (Julie) from a variety of TV and movies (for me it was Shattered Glass and Heavenly Creatures).  I like lesser knowns getting work, and if this was a standard chick flick, you know Alex would have been played by Kate Hudson.

I left the movie wondering what was next up in the life of Ryan Bingham, since everything that had changed in the movie went back to the original point.  Does he realize he maybe does want to find a co-pilot of his own and settle down?  Or is he happy to stay on the road indefinitely, firing people and living out of hotel rooms?  We will likely never know.

See this movie if: You want some decent entertainment, laughs, and a good George Clooney movie.  One thing I will admit is that I wanted to love this movie, and I just couldn’t get there.  Jason Reitman has a hit and miss track record with me: I loved Juno, but was lukewarm to Thank You For Smoking.  So I can’t really pin down why I didn’t immediately vault this one to my top movies, but it’s just not there.

My Rating: 3.5/5

Six Degrees of Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
Jason Bateman was in Arrested Development with Portia Di Rossi
Portia Di Rossi was in Scream 2 with Sarah Michelle Gellar
SMG was Buffy Summers

Starring Kristy Swanson, Donald Sutherland, & Luke Perry

The movie that started it all…well, kind of.  Not for me.  Although I did see this movie in the theaters when it came out way back in 1992, I was not compelled by it enough to watch the show when it started airing.  So why am I choosing to rewatch a movie I only vaguely liked to begin with?

To an extent, I did want to see where Joss’s vision started.  Granted, Joss only wrote and created this, he did not direct it, so in my opinion, it’s difficult to say where the fault lies for the movie being way less than the show.  The movie is just so campy, takes a great concept and turns it into something kind of silly.

Realistically speaking, I never worried for Buffy in the movie, the vampires weren’t that scary.  Whereas in the TV series, Buffy herself dies twice, and all of your favorites are put in genuine danger.  You could go from laughing hysterically to crying in 42 minutes of television.  Plus in the movie, Pike is kind of like a human version of Spike.  Spike is way cooler, fyi.

Some of the things I did like, which you don’t notice until you’ve seen both the movie and the show, is that even back then Joss was writing the witty dialog.  Things like “Mind much?” and “My keen fashion sense” are total lines you can see in the series, mostly from Cordelia Chase.  And I do believe someone in the movie says “What’s your damage?“, which I swear Cordy says a time or two.

I don’t hate this movie, I just don’t love it like I love the TV show.  I did like that Joss changed the slayer sense a bit for the show, cuz it’s silly that Buffy gets cramps every time she’s around vampires in the movie.  It’s great that the vampires can’t fly in the show, and obviously they are a lot scarier in the show.  The show has more heart, more hotties, better plot.

Basically, while the movie is a good spring board, the genius is in the show.  I have such love for the TV show that it’s almost as though they aren’t connected for me.  And I hate to admit this, but I think Sarah Michelle Gellar is much better as Buffy than Kristy Swanson is.

See this movie if: You like a campy movie, or are curious to see the beginnings of BTVS.  This is considered a cult classic, after all!

My Rating: 3/5

Six Degrees of Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
Duh

Starring Jennifer Aniston, Owen Wilson, & Eric Dane

Sometimes I don’t see movies in the theater out of laziness, or even lack of interest.  And then there are other movies that I don’t see anywhere but the comfort of my own home because I don’t want to embarrass myself in public by how I react.  Welcome to Marley & Me.

I knew going into this movie that it was essentially the life story of the dog Marley, his entire life with this family, including his eventual death.  Even knowing this, I was not prepared for how emotional this movie made me.  I got teary at the overwhelming happiness of the dog when he got to finally run into the ocean, and progressively more sad as we saw Marley age and decline in health.

Obviously you get to see the family and lives change around Marley, going from a newlywed couple to an eventual three kids, as well as job changes and a big move.  I think this is a story that will touch you no matter what, but it is especially gripping if you have a dog or are a dog lover.  Perhaps selfishly, this story was never fully about the people to me, but more about that dog.  And I think the movie does a good job of showing you just how mucha a part of your life a dog can be if you let it.

There were definitely similarities between my own dogs and Marley, particularly with the thunderstorms.  Neither of mine howl like he did, but they certainly shake and hide from the awful noise.  It’s scary!

And for the record, I have been known to call one of my dogs the worst dog in the world too.

My own dogs slept in the room with me while I was watching the movie, for once not interested in the barks and howls they heard on the TV.  Maybe they didn’t want to draw attention to themselves, or more parallels between their behavior and Marley’s.

One of the things I love about animals is that they’re able to sense how you’re feeling, and I think they could tell that the movie was affecting me.  Perhaps it was affecting them too, because my aging dog climbed up and leaned on me for the last fifteen minutes or so of the movie.  Fortunately, both of mine seem healthy now, because I don’t look forward to the time when I’ll have to go through the last days of my dogs life either.  And neither of them are as destructo puppy as Marley.

See this movie if: You like dogs, or read the book…although I haven’t read the book at this point.  It really is a cute movie, so I recommend it for all.

My Rating: 3.5/5

Six Degrees of Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
Jennifer Aniston was in Love Happens with Judy Greer
Judy Greer was in Jawbreaker with Julie Benz
Julie Benz played Darla on BTVS

Starring Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and Felicia Day

You may ask yourself why I, an avid fan of Joss Whedon’s work, have taken so long to see this.  The answer is simpler than you think, though perhaps not very satisfying…

Despite my love for many things in the online world, I really hate watching stuff online.  I hate the buffering problem, pauses even when you are totally buffered, the smaller screen, and generally less good audio quality.  Up until just now, I didn’t realize they had released this on DVD.  Otherwise, I would have netflixed it instead.

Last night, I was forced to watch something on the computer, so I decided I would watch this undoubtedly epic musical adventure.  I knew basically nothing about it going into it, other than who it starred and that it was a musical.  Another thing that prompted me was the inclusion of it at the Emmy’s, because that was pretty funny!

Although I slightly disagree with the terminology used for the title (it’s more of a vlog than a blog), I thought it was pretty damn funny.  I laughed a whole bunch and of course I loved Nathan Fillion!  I already knew that Joss Whedon had musical talent, I’ve seen Once More with Feeling and thought it was fantastic, so I love that he made another show based on musical numbers.

Another thing I totally loved – Whedon’s continuing devotion to people who have worked with him previously.  Although most people wouldn’t know these names, he used Marti Noxon, David Fury, Drew Goddard, and Douglas Petrie…all former writers and contributors on Buffy and Angel.  I’m just letting you know right now, Vampire Diaries, these people are worth your time!

See this movie if: You’re a fan of Joss Whedon’s work, or you like funny things.  Or if you like Nathan Fillion as much as I do.

My Rating: 4/5

Six Degrees of Buffy The Vampire Slayer:
Is so obvious that I am not even going to do the math for you this time.

Starring America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel, & Blake Lively

I really liked this movie a lot.  My only regret is that I watched these movies in opposite order, because I loved getting the back story on things I saw in the second one.  I was worried that I wouldn’t like the girls as well when they were younger, but in reality it made me love their older versions even more.  It’s great to see them in their younger stages, learning to become the women they were in the second movie.  Although I am sad that we missed the addition of all the things to the pants, they were just blank at the end of this one!

Although these girls had opportunities we don’t all have, I really feel like they’re a good representation of what it’s like to be a teenage girl growing up.  Seeing their losses, friendships, and varied experiences makes your own life at that time feel a little more normal, like everyone has similar issues and you just don’t see it at the time.

Not for the first time, I wish these characters were real, that they had been my friends when I was younger.  I want to know what they’re like as they progress and age, how their friendship evolves as their lives continue to change and they become the women they’re going to be.

I wish the movie people hadn’t made several books into one movie for the second one, I really would have liked to see what happened in between this movie and the second one.  It really heightens my desire to read the series…even though they are more for younger people, I love the story so much that I want to get as much of it in me as I can.

See this movie if: You read the books, or like a cute youthful tale of friendship and growing up.

My Rating: 3.5/5

Six Degrees of Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
Since we went the easy route with the last one, I’m going to choose a different path…
Alexis Bledel was in Sin City with Powers Boothe
Powers Boothe was in Deadwood with Timothy Olyphant
Timothy Olyphant was in Scream 2 with Sarah Michelle Gellar
SMG played Buffy Summers

Starring America Ferrera, Amber Tamblyn, Alexis Bledel, & Blake Lively

I didn’t really set out to watch this movie originally, but when you’re unemployed and packing for a big move, you kind of just turn on whatever.  And since the movie channels replay the same movie over and over again, I found myself turning the movie on a whole bunch, but generally missing the first part.  So I decided to record it and watch the whole thing.

I’m really glad I accidentally caught this movie.  I wouldn’t have ever watched this on my own, but it really was a cute movie and I don’t regret watching it at all.  Mind you, I haven’t seen the first movie or read the books, so I had to get into it a little, but it was pretty good.

At first, I was thinking “what is with these names…Tibby, Effie?!”  But then they kind of grew on me, as did the whole story and the girls in it.  I feel like these girls were very real to me, as though they could be my real friends and I could share their lives.

There are things in each of them that I can identify with, but Tibby especially reminds me of myself.  The actress in Carmen, adventurous spirit in Bridget, private nature of Lena, and really nearly everything about Tibby.  I actually hope I can learn from the mistakes and experiences they all had, and would also love the opportunity to go to Turkey on an archaeological dig…or at all, really.

I laughed with these girls, cried with them, and wanted the best for all of them.  A friend informed me that this movie combined like four books into one movie, which makes me a little sad because I’d like to see more.  I’ll have to settle for watching the first movie, and I intend to read the books after this as well.

See this movie if: You want something cute, sweet, and simple to watch.  Also, I love America Ferrera so that in itself is enough to win me over.

My Rating: 3.5/5

Six Degrees of Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
Amber Tamblyn was in a season 6 episode of Buffy, the Halloween one

Starring Katherine Heigl & James Marsden

I know, I know…typical chick flick fare.  And yes, I felt myself a little wrapped up in it.  But don’t get ahead of yourselves, it’s not what you think.

Rather than the whole romance “omg I’m in love” thing getting to me, I found myself really identifying with the overall personality or attitude of Jane.  I know I am that “yes I’ll do anything if it helps you” girl.  So I found myself watching and thinking how crazy Jane was for doing some of the things she did for people, yet knowing I am the same way and probably would have done the same things.

I will admit right now that I absolutely would have gone for James Marsden from the start.  Have I mentioned this before, in talking about X-Men?  I can’t remember, and I’m not going to look it up.  Anyway, I have adored James Marsden since Second Noah.  Yes, y’all, I watched that show.  Aaaaaaaaaand I’m tempted to get it from Netflix, if you were wondering.

So yeah, had I been Jane, I think that if James Marsden walked into my life I’d be all “Ed Burns, huh?”  I’m just saying, Marsden is hawt!

Anyway, aside from my identifying with Jane and interest in James Marsden, the movie was okay.  Nothing surprising, girl gets the guy, betrays someone close to her in the meantime, you know the drill.  But, it was an interesting way to spend a couple of hours and I consider it an alright way to have lazed around.

See this movie if: You like this type of movie…like I said, typical for the genre, but also cute so not a waste of the renting or watching on cable.  It’s showing on HBO this month kids!

My Rating: 3/5

Six Degrees of Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
Katherine Heigl was in Roswell with Jason Behr
Jason Behr was on BTVS

Starring Adam Sandler & Kevin James

I only half watched this movie, I was reading Glamour and some other things at the same time.  But I’m kind of glad I didn’t watch the whole thing, because it wasn’t good or funny.

It makes me wonder, is this really a hetero male view of gays?  I’m sure some things were exaggerated, but it really has me confused and curious.  Are hetero men really scared of going into a bathroom with gay men?  Is the idea of being at a “gay” party that bad?

Admittedly I did like the title in the paper “Basher bashed at gay bash” or whatever it was.  Pretty funny

Aside from that, however, I simply found the movie a little offensive, almost.  Definitely something I’m glad I never made the effort to watch.  I feel like this is a serious topic that deserves a serious movie, something that can be marketed to a wide audience but really show that gay marriage and lifestyle is something to be encouraged, not shunned.

See this movie if: I really cannot give a good recommendation for this movie.  It’s late to the game anyway, so I’m sure plenty of Adam Sandler or Kevin James fans have seen it.  But it honestly wasn’t even worth the attention it took away from my magazine.

My Rating: 2/5

Six Degrees of Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
Jessica Biel was in The Rules of Attraction with Clare Kramer
Clare Kramer played the season 5 villain, Glory, on BTVS