Life Changing: Ryan Murphy’s movie adaptation of Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat Pray Love promises to transport you, if not transform you
Film: Who should star in a movie about your life? Inspirational writer Elizabeth Gilbert now joins Erin Brockovich in getting to say Julia Roberts. Eat Pray Love (Photo by F. Duhamel) Often found in the Religion & Spirituality section of the bookstore, Gilbert's 2006 memoir, Eat Pray Love, has urged millions, mostly women, to dream of changing their lives in profound ways. Those who have imagined following her lead but who haven't booked that trip yet can now get one step closer to recreating her life-changing experience by seeing the film, which promises to transport you if not transform you. Recently divorced and desperate to break her pattern of serial relationships, Gilbert packs her belongings into storage and begins a year-long, three-country quest to learn about herself through different cultures. Director Ryan Murphy, creator of Glee and Nip/Tuck, leaves behind all the sarcasm and angst that these shows are renowned for to create a movie that's simply told and completely earnest. … (more)
Source: www.metroweekly.com
Salt Deficiency: Very little makes Salt stand out from other spy-espionage-conspiracy films, except its star Angelina Jolie
Film: There is a type of book that only seems appropriate to buy in airports. Typically it's filled with action scenes, very little character development, writing simple enough that you can skim it, and it has to be something you can leave in the seatback at the end of the flight. Also, often about 50 pages in, you find yourself wondering if you haven't read it already. Salt (Photo by Andrew Schwartz) The new Angelina Jolie vehicle, Salt, is the cinematic equivalent of that book. Very little makes it stand out from other spy-espionage-conspiracy films, except its lead star. Evelyn Salt (Jolie) is strong-willed, beautiful, inexplicably blond, and can remain tight-lipped under torture. Two years after a brief and bloody opening scene set in North Korea, Salt seems to have recovered from her time in captivity and created a life in the District with her arachnologist husband (August Diehl). After expressing an interest to leave CIA fieldwork behind, Salt takes on the equivalent of ''one last assignment'' by agreeing to interview a possible Russian defector (Daniel Olbrychski). She's thrown for a loop when he implies that she's a double agent, and she runs when the Agency turns against her. … (more)
Source: www.metroweekly.com
The Lonely Guy: The American is less about action and thrills and more about one lonely man questioning his life’s choices
Film: The American. It's rather a bland title. But if you bring a star's name into it — for example, ''George Clooney is…The American'' — you get a bit of a rush. But it still seems understated. And if you look at the marketing for the film – the trailer is filled with drawn guns, scantily clad women, and ominous men lurking in shadows – you wonder why it's not The Assassin. Why pick the milquetoast title instead? Because it fits the film. The American (Photo by Giles Keyte) Jack (Clooney) is a hatchet man. But instead of flying around on airplanes firing people, he fires at them. When, in the film's opening moments, a pair of Swedes attacks trained assassin Jack, his methodical and sure-handed elimination of the would-be killers will make you think that Jason Bourne's brother has been hiding in the snowy mountains of Italy. However, after this brisk slaughter of rival professionals, Jack becomes a little more meek. Aided by a handler Pavel (Johan Leysen), Jack seeks sanctuary in a tiny Italian town where he can pass the nights in a diner, question whether his soul can be saved, and dispatch the occasional man. Call it Eat Pray Kill. … (more)
Source: www.metroweekly.com
Making the Grade: While it doesn’t quite merit top marks, Easy A easily surpasses satisfactory
Film: There can be an inherent danger in movie titles. It's the risk of being saddled with a title that critics can easily twist around with a little wordplay to suit their needs. Take The Greatest, a limited-release film this year starring Pierce Brosnan, Susan Sarandon and Carey Mulligan. The film was fair at best, so resisting the urge to play off the title as a misnomer was impossible for most critics. And don't get me started on Dumb and Dumberer. Alas, such is the fate with Easy A. The film is quite funny, and the title is filled with double entendres, but it just doesn't make the grade. Easy A Olive (Emma Stone) is your typical teenage scholastic overachiever. She's not popular, she stays at home on the weekends to watch movies with Mom and Dad, and she's awkward around boys. Need I mention that she's a virgin? But what starts as a fib to her best friend (Alyson Michalka) becomes a school-wide rumor and scandal in minutes, thanks to text-happy teens and a Facebook-centric gossip mill. When Olive's gay friend (Dan Byrd) asks her to pretend to have sex with him to bolster his ''straight'' cred, she reluctantly agrees. … (more)
Source: www.metroweekly.com
Pilgrimage: Based on the graphic novels by Bryan Lee O’Malley, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is every dork’s wet dream
Film: In Shaun of the Dead, director Edgar Wright reanimated the zombie movie, and in Hot Fuzz he blew up action film stereotypes, both with hilarious results. Now, with Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, he's trying to put the joy back in joystick and restyle video games as hip and cool. Flashy, yet familiar: Cera Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) is a slacker – listless, moping through life, and far from the model of masculinity. Thankfully he's in a band — it's about the only cool thing he's got going. (At least his high school-aged girlfriend – he's 23, she's 17 – thinks it's cool.) To make matters worse, Scott is sharing his bed with his gay roommate Wallace (Kieran Culkin), and there's nothing like seeing how often your gay roommate is getting laid to remind you how often you're not. Yet somehow Scott's endless stammering and boyish charm catches the eye of new hottie Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). However, there's always a demon to slay. For Mario to get Princess Toadstool, he had to contend with Bowser. For Scott to get Ramona, it's seven evil exes. Based on the graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is every dork's wet dream. The hot girl is obtainable, superpowers do exist, and you get to play bass guitar in a band. So it should come as no surprise that there's no sense of reality in the film. In Scott's world, the surreal is blended with the real – like a video game. Scott can survive being thrown across a field into the side of a castle and still be able to kiss the girl. And, when he defeats someone, they turn into quarters – great for video games or laundry day. … (more)
Source: www.metroweekly.com
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