The Time Traveler's Wife

2009

Director: Robert Schwentke

Distributor: New Line Cinema

Key Elements: Story – Concept

Review:

It has got to be hard to make a Sci-fi Romanca movie. But this one pulls it off. And I'm surprised by how much I like it.

I think the real beauty of the sci-fi genre, is that the science creates situations that draw out bigger philosophical questions. In this case, how would this anomaly affect a marriage? I can't think of many other sci-fi movies that have gone there before.

[Spoiler Warning:]

My favorite thing about this movie is the ending. Henry's past self travels to after his death, giving his wife a daughter a last chance to see him. I'll admit, I got really choked up here. It made me think of how, as Christians, death really ISN'T the last word for us. In the end, we'll all be reunited with God. I love how this movie gives us a tiny taste of how it will feel - but unlike in this movie, it will last.

Trailer:

Quotes:

• I was just hoping you're married to me.
• That's your daughter. She's time-travelling.
• I wouldn't change one second of our life together.

Stills:

Coraline

2009

Director: Henry Selick

Distributor: Focus Features

Key Elements: Story – Message – Concept - Symbolism – Music – Visual

Review:

Based on the novel by Neil Gaiman, Coraline tells the story of a girl bored and lonely and disappointed with the turn her life was taken. But then, she finds a mysterious door and, following it, finds herself in an exciting, fawning excessive parallel life. But the wonderful new place may not be as wonderful as it seems.

The movie is great at being at once creepy and mesmerizing. The visuals are definitely its strongest element.

But the story also has an important message – the things we think we want aren’t always what they seem – and if we’re not careful, we can become trapped by them.

Trailer:

Quotes:

• You are NOT my mother.
• You know, you could stay forever, if you want to. There's one tiny thing we have to do first...
• Be clever, Miss. Even if you win, she'll never let you go!

Stills:

The Ugly Truth

2009

Director: Robert Luketic

Distributor: Columbia Pictures

Key Elements: Lines – Characters – Concept

Review:

I like this movie. I don’t have good reasons for liking this movie. But I like this movie, and I have fun watching it.

And katherine Heigl is gorgeous.

Trailer:

Quotes:

• OK, that's good. Now, just let him suffer.
• I'm used to women I can figure out in, like, five seconds. I can't do that with you.
• Tell me then, what’s her name? …the woman who screwed you up. She must have been a doosey.

Stills:

Avatar

2009

Director: James Cameron

Distributor: 20^th Century Fox

Key Elements: Concept - Visual

Review:

*Sigh*  …Avatar.

James Cameron did something VISUALLY AMAZING here.  Creating his OWN 3-D technology, he presented us with an on-screen world unlike anything we’ve ever seen.  The effect this new technology created for its viewers was staggering and beautiful.

…What a pity he didn’t put as much effort into finding a worthy story to carry his new technology.

Some have compared the plot to Dances With Wolves; others to Pocahontas.   To me it’s nearly an identical retelling of Fern Gully.  No matter which movie it makes you think of most, it WILL make you think of another movie.  Because you’ve seen this one before – probably more than once.  While the visual effects are new, the story has already been told over and over again.

So… It was worth seeing once, if only for the visual effects.  But the lame story nearly nullified any enjoyment I might have taken from the experience overall.

Trailer:

Quotes:

• Everything is backwards now, like out there is the true world, and in here is the dream.
• I see you.
• One idiot with a gun is enough.
• If you are one of us, help us!
• All I ever wanted was a single thing worth fighting for.
• We're going up against gunships with bows and arrows.

Stills:

Where the Wild Things Are

2009

Director: Spike Jonze

Distributor: Warner Brothers

Key Elements: Lines – Characters – Message – Concept - Symbolism – Visual

Review:

Jonze brings this Maurice Sendak's masterpiece children's book to life in visual splendor and injected with raw human emotion.

Max is lonely.  He misses his absent father.  He feels ignored and unprotected by his older sister.  And now he's having to share his mother with her work and new boyfriend.  Lacking the emotional maturity to handle his pain, Max runs away.

He ends up Where the Wild Things Are.  The creatures Max meets make him their king, and he begins to lead them in building a new home.  But his own wounds are personified in the group of friendly monsters. Like Max, these monsters are longing for relationship, but their own insecurities leave them regretfully unable to secure connection.

[Spoiler]

Max eventually has to leave the monsters.  But despite the hurt feelings, they are sad to see him go.  And despite the fight Max had with his mother, she welcomes him home again.

The ultimate message here is that friendship can't be contingent on one's own feelings.  It's about making space in our lives for each other - and being willing to forgive.

It wasn't what I expected, but I loved this movie.

Trailer:

Quotes:

• Will you keep out all the sadness?
• And on our way... I can show you your kingdom. This is all yours. You're the owner of this world. Everything you see is yours. Oh, except that hole over there, that's Ira's. The tree's yours, but the hole is Ira's. But everything else is yours. Except for that rock over there, that's not yours. That little rock next to the big rock. But everything else in the kingdom... except for that stick. That little stick right there, that's not yours. I want you to be king forever, Max.
• Happiness isn't always the best way to be happy.
• What? I never heard that... Oh, come on. That can't happen. I mean you're the king, and look at me, I'm big! how can guys like us worry about a tiny little thing like the sun, hmm?
• Well, look: this used to be all rock, and now it's sand, and then, one day, it's going to be dust, and then the whole island will be dust, and then... well I don't even know what comes after dust.
• You're not really a king, are you?
• We were gonna make a whole world like this. Now, everyone used to come here, but you know... you know what it feels like when all your teeth are falling out really slowly and you don't realize and then you notice that, well, they're really far apart. And then one day... you don't have any teeth anymore…Well it was like that.
• You're the first king we haven't eaten.
• Don't go. I'll eat you up; I love you so.

Stills:

(500) Days of Summer

2009

Director: Marc Webb

Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures

Key Elements: Message – Music - Visual

Review:

Tom is a naive romantic.  Summer is a wounded skeptic.  Tom wants to be in a meaningful, committed relationship.  Summer wants a friend with benefits.

Tom falls for Summer.  You have probably already guessed that Tom gets hurt. After all, "This is not a love story."

This un-rom-com is about learning from antithesis. Sometimes we know love better by knowing what it isn't. And love is not how Tom feels about Summer.

Tom says, "I love how she makes me feel."  That's key. Tom doesn't see it, but Summer is just a means to fulfilling his romantic hopes. He doesn't really love HER.

Were it love, he wouldn't be so self-focused in his pursuit of Summer.  And he wouldn't become impatient with Summer and short with his friends when things don't go as he expects.

But, the movie ends with a new season and the hope that Tom has learned from the experience.

The cool thing is that the movie delivers this sobering message with whim. The story is told in non-chronological order with visual metaphor and hyperbole, expectation/reality splices and one of the best song selections ever played in a movie.

But why did it take so long for Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt to do a movie together?  They're such an obvious pair-up!

BTW - I think it's hilarious how this movie made The Smiths suddenly reappear on everyone's playlists after years of obscurity. Awesome.

Trailer:

Promotional Video (Song by Zooey Deschanel's She and Him):

Quotes:

• The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Especially you Jenny Beckman. Bitch.
• This is a story of boy meets girl. But you should know upfront, this is not a love story.
• It's love; it's not Santa Claus.
• What always happens: Life.
• Just because she likes the same bizzaro crap you do doesn't mean she's your soul mate.
• Tom, don't go! You're still my best friend!
• It's these cards and the movies and the pop songs, they're to blame for all lies and the heartache, everything.
• Look, I know you think she was the one, but I don't. Now, I think you're just remembering the good stuff. Next time you look back, I, uh, I really think you should look again.
•  You weren't wrong, Tom. You were just wrong about me.
• Nice to meet you. I'm Autumn.

Stills:

Taken

2009

Director: Pierre Morel

Distributor: Fox Movies

Key Elements: Lines – Message – Concept – Symbolism

My Review:

This is a very simple premise: A daughter on vacation gets kidnapped by the sex trade. Her former CIA agent father comes to rescue her.

I think the mere fact that Liam Neeson’s in the lead makes this movie work. It’s cool seeing an older guy taking names. It’s also cool seeing dirt bags get what coming to them.

But what I appreciate most about this movie is how it draws attention to the sex trade – a very real, very hidden problem worldwide – even in the states.

If there's a gospel element in this movies - It is in the love of a father for his child. He's willing to make every sacrifice to ensure she is saved.

Trailer:



Quotes:

• I'm not comfortable with this.
• I would sacrifice anything for her.
• I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that'll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.
  - Good luck.
• Graham, you can't just run around tearing down Paris..
  - Jean Claude, I'll tear down the Eiffel Tower if I have to!
• You don't remember me? We spoke on the phone two days ago. I told you I would find you.
• Please understand...it was all business. It wasn't personal.
  - It was all personal to me.

Stills: