Movie Make-out

Kick-Ass

Directed by Matthew Vaughn

Starring Aaron Johnson, Chloe Moretz, Nicolas Cage, Mark Strong, Christopher Mintz-Plasse

Have you ever been sitting in a theater, and you’re having such a good time that you feel like it would be completely acceptable to high-five or hug the complete stranger sitting next to you? And when you look around, everyone else is having just as good a time as you are? Iron Man, Lord of the Rings… these are movies that made me feel this way. Now I can add Kick-Ass to that list.

The movie, directed by Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake, Stardust) follows Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson, Nowhere Boy), an ordinary high-schooler. He’s into comic books, hanging out with his friends, and the attractive Katie Deauxma (Lyndsy Fonseca, How I met your Mother), who has a locker next to him. But as he states himself, he’s very ordinary. That all changes when, after a discussion with his two best friends leads to the question “How come no one’s ever tried to be a superhero?” Dave goes home, orders a wet-suit, and starts his training to become Kick-Ass.

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Who Do You Love

Directed by Jerry Zaks
Starring Alessandro Nivola, Jon Abrahams, Chi McBride

Growing up in suburban southern California, I can’t say that I had the most grounded musical education. My dad loved the Beatles, but my untutored ear preferred the red greatest hits album to the blue one, and I didn’t start listening to non-top 40 stuff until it was considered cool and “edgy” to listen to Dr. Drew and the Poorman late at night on KROQ.

Much later, I was fortunate enough to meet three different guys who while romancing me, showed me that here was more to music than what gets played on the radio; now, I’m quite proud to say that I carry a pretty eclectic mix of songs on my iPod.

This is my way of saying that while I know that rock and roll was born from the blues, I don’t really know it the same way a true music aficionado does—which is why I’m glad to have seen a little part of how the rock and roll craze all started. Read more

Män som hatar kvinnor (“Men That Hate Women”)
aka The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Directed by Niels Arden Oplev
Starring Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Sven-Bertil Taube

Two months ago, we learned that there would be an English-language film adaptation of Stieg Larsson’s novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which is the first in a planned trilogy of novels knows as the Millenium trilogy. At the time I said that I hadn’t read the book yet and that there was no work on when the original Swedish-language film adaptation would be released by Music Box Films.

Luckily, we now know that it will be going into wide release on March 19 and I got to see a preview of it last night. And I have to tell you perfectly honestly:

The executives at Sony Pictures are nuts for wanting to remake this film. Read more

Valentine’s Day

Directed by Garry Marshall
Starring Ashton Kutcher, Jennifer Garner, Jessica Biel, Jamie Foxx and more

Despite only having been a New Yorker for six years, I think I embody some of the more stereotypical traits of one. It all started at the Valentine’s Day pre-release screening at the AMC Lincoln Square where I’d found the perfect single seat. It was located right in front of the wheelchair seating area, which is perfect for me because when you’re as short as I am, you really don’t wany anyone tall sitting in front of you. One guy was holding a seat next to him and there were open seats on either side of us. However, no matter how often we were asked, we refused to move over to put two empty spaces next to us because, hey—! If you’d wanted good seats, you should have gotten to the theater early.

When the guy’s friend returned, we started griping about the people who’d expected us to move, rude people in movie theaters who can’t stop yakking through the feature, people who leave their cell phones on ring mode—or worse, who send text messages during important scenes.

When the lights went down and the opening credits rolled, I mentally prepared myself for the kind of schmaltzy romp that often marks this kind of romantic comedy. What I saw instead was a credits sequence that immediately reminded me of L.A. Story, one of my most favorite movies of all time.

And that’s when I fell in love. Read more

Up in the Air

Directed by Jason Reitman
Starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga, Anna Kendrick, Jason Bateman and more

With the economy just recovering from its second most epic meltdown of the modern age, I’m sure you’ll be wondering if going to see a movie where the protagonist fires people for a living is the smartest choice for your evening’s entertainment. And that’s where you’d be right.

Directed and co-written by Jason Reitman, Up in the Air is not an easy movie to watch. It follows the story of one Ryan Bingham, a “career transition consultant” whose job is to travel all over the country and do what every frightened Human Resources department is afraid to do: fire a whole lot of people all at one time. The job requires one to be impersonal, but engaging; compassionate, but uncaring. It’s requires the finesse of a salesman and the consummate skills of an actor.

Of all the leading men in all the world, Reitman did not choose wrong when he picked George Clooney to play this role. Watching him walk over a dozen people through the stages of grief that follow when they hear they’ve lost their job is almost mesmerizing because Clooney is just so damn charming when he does it. (It’s also interesting to note that according to the San Francisco Chronicle, most of the people depicted being fired were real-life people who had been unemployed and were asked to share their stories of what they wish they could have said to the person who’d fired them.)

He’s also very charming when he picks up a woman named Alex (played by Vera Farmiga) in a hotel bar who travels just as much as he does, and just like that classic scene in Jaws (which Kevin Smith borrowed in Chasing Amy) the two bond over which frequent flier programs are the best, tossing out cards and comparing bonuses the way Quint and Banky compared their scars.

It’s because of what Bingham does for a living that Clooney has to engage the viewer right away and make him and his motivational speaker theories of how a life lived without encumberances is the best life to lead palatable—even enviable. It doesn’t hurt that Clooney’s reputation as a lifelong bachelor helps reinforce the notion that Bingham will never settle down, will never be happy with a stable life, and that’s the way he prefers it.

And that’s another problem with this movie. Read more