When the mind is the crime scene anything is possible. When its somebody else’s mind however, it gets a bit more complicated.

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Inception is a Sci-Fi thriller that tries to get you to remember how you got to where you are. From the start of the film you’re cast into a beautiful world of paradoxes, a castle by the sea, children playing, men with assault rifles. Then the world is explained to you, multiple people are able to coexist in a specific dream. This dream is in the head of a specific person and that person’s subconscious might (read: will) try and get rid of the intruders.

How do you stay focused in such a world? How do you know which world is real? What evil lurks in the deepest of dreams of those around you and is the risk worth the reward?

Even here I feel like if I’ve said too much and should just tell you the following:

Inception was written and directed by Christopher Nolan, it is brilliant, the acting is top-notch, and it is the only movie I am able to recommend so far this summer.

A few days ago I started a Five Star review of Los Abrazos Rotos. This is not that review. Again a John Cusack movie that surprises me, this time in a good way.

The movie is called “Hot Tub Time Machine”. There are no surprises here, just fun. A coworker said it best when she asked “is it just like making fun of old John Cusack movies?” In a sense, yes.

The fact is this movie borrows a lot from many 80s movies. There’s definitely references to Better Off Dead but it’s not just that. It’s the spirit of the eighties seen through today’s eyes. More than once, the characters are mortified that the worst thing that could happen to them is having to live the 80s again.

I have not seen a movie as consistently funny as this one since last year’s The Hangover, which is no easy feat.

“Yea but, five stars?” I rate movies based on what I would like to see again and what I want my friends to experience or talk to them about. When I got out of the theatre I immediately called people to tell them that they had to spend money in this movie. It’s that funny.

I would honestly not mind a movie like this every year.

it’s like the white buffalo.

You may find it appropriate that I am writing this while alone in my apartment during christmas eve. It is not lost on me.

This movie was never in my radar, in the last few weeks it came to my attention and I was actually amazed that I did not know about it earlier. The movie follows Ryan Bingham as he flies from city to city performing a task that makes most people he meets hate him or at least dislike him. He preaches about how to let go, and how every connection you have weighs you down. He lives disconnected, he feels at home in the sky.

Being a metaphor for all of our complex lives, the jet setter fits the bill. He might be a caricature of people but we are all too busy to stop and look around. A theme that has been around ever since Ferris Bueler asked us to do it all those years ago. Life is passing us by, and we keep setting dates for when we are going to do something and then just hearing the swoosh as the deadlines go by.

I completely understand all the award buzz that it has. The movie is funny and real. Clooney is brilliant, as always, but its the women who shine and carry this film. While many older people can see themselves in Clooney’s or Vera Farminga’s (Alex) characters, younger moviegoers will find their voice on Anna Kendrick’s character Natalie.

If you’re looking for a film this holiday season and you’re already tired of silly comedies and want something new. In my opinion Up in the Air is a great film to start the year off with.

If I had to describe this movie in one word, that word would be satisfying.
Luckily for me, nobody in their right mind would allow me to just review this movie in one word and I don’t intend to.

In true Tarantino fashion, the dialogue in this movie is as powerful as the imagery that follows in the later scenes. From the very first scene you are introduced to Colonel Hans Landa (played in a oscar-worthy performance by Christoph Waltz) you are stricken by fear. Fear of his quiet demeanor and unspeakable resolve. This sets the mood for what will come. You can’t predict what Landa is going to do next, but you also don’t know what to expect from the Americans.

The Americans, here being a band of Jews led by 1st Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), that have been going through Europe with only one goal: Kill as many Nazi soldiers as possible. They have come to be known by the Nazis as “The Basterds”. This movie has no intention of sparing you from the blood splatter, demolition and suffering of the war that it creates, only that the way that it does it somehow doesn’t feel stale.

I am personally tired of World War II, I understand how important that war was but the way that it is still being used has really tired me. Tarantino did what should have been done years ago, he re-wrote history as he saw fit. He made some decisions about what he wanted the story to say and never even bothered to look at a history book. This is not to say that he was one sided at all. The Nazis are not stupid or careless, they are calculated and human. Lando shows how they are fully behind their main objective and how they have been able to get this far with the war. It is really unsettling but at the end it leaves you satisfied. It gave me the closure that countless other WWII movies have been unable to give me all these years.

Finally, I must say, knowing that ‘The Bear Jew’ is on my side is the only thing that lets me sleep at night.

Inglourious Basterds is available today on DVD and Blu-Ray.

Please, please, please, let me get what I want.That is the song that Tom plays as Summer walks by his desk trying to call her attention to him. I remember being young and playing a song to try and peak the interest of somebody as well. I fell in love with this movie since the second it started and Tom shows how completely head-over heels he is. If you wanted to know, the song I played was Semisonic’s Secret Smile.

Starting from the first minute of this movie the narrator tells us that this is not a love story. He is quite serious. This movie is about how no matter how great you think you are, or how much you try if the things are not right they are just not going to work out. Its such a cute, wonderful, quirky film that I can identify fully with just like “Away We Go”, which I talked about a few posts ago.

In fact this film has so much to say about friendships that it is quite unfair to call it a romantic comedy. The idea of unrequited love has been tackled by many this year. The biggest of these films was Hes Just Not That Into You which I felt was a complete cop-out. The two movies that dealt with friendships this year were “I Love You, Man” and “The Hangover” and neither of those really explored how friendships work (or dont, actually) between men and women. The exploration of how men relate to women, specially women who they are completely smitten by is worked so wonderfully in this film that you kind of have to laugh when you tell yourself ‘I would totally do that, I am such an idiot’.

Lets not say any differently though, Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt make such a great couple. I was jealous the whole way through.

The way I enjoyed this movie I have not enjoyed many, and how I mentioned that its genuinely funny? They don’t have any cheap laughs they’re all well placed and real.

Ive tried to say as much as I could without giving away much, maybe this makes this post seem quite silly, just know that I pre-reserved my copy of the Blu-Ray before I left the theater.

This movie will go next to my copy of “When Harry Met Sally” and “Say Anything” just in case I need to be reminded that all you need, is love.

I went to see this movie with my friend Angela. It was painfully apparent a few minutes into the film that this had been a bad idea.

The story follows a couple that while not entirely sure of what they should do with their own lives are now going to have a child of their own and are desperate to try and find the best place to raise the child. These are two perfectly reasonable people, they both have jobs, pay their bills, have savings and are ridiculously in love with one another. This is such a refreshing take on these situations because, honestly, I’m tired of the quirky people movies weve had to sit through in the past few years. Real people, that make real decisions can sometimes become completely overwhelmed by the situations that life throws at them and this is 100% alright.

It is not a typical rom-com and that’s why it seemed like a pretty odd pick to go with somebody with whom Im not romantically involved with. The questions the movie poses are just not great conversation pieces unless there’s a relationship there. Sitting in a cafe afterwards asking a friend about her plans on having children is a bit odd. However once the awkwardness was over we were able to talk about our own odd friends and the situations that the characters were launched into throughout the film and how we could totally identify with them.

I would also like to point out that Maya Rudolph was a revelation.

As I pass the mid-twenties mark in my life and more and more of my friends are getting married and having children, I have often asked myself if I have any of that stuff in me. If any of that is even for me. This film kind of made me feel like this was something I could do, that its all just part of growing up, part of the journey.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must tell interested parties that “I think this is something I could” do does not mean I have any plans to have children or get married, now or in the foreseeable future. Furthermore, Angela has not talked to me since the day of the movie, this is probably not a coincidence.

Miyazaki is a god. The scenes that he crafts in his mind are amazing, whimsical and magical. There’s few movies that have made me want to really try and see them through more innocent eyes. This is one of them. There is really something that I love about hand-drawn animation and how it reminds me of simpler times in a way. The only argument that I had about the film going in was the simplification of the title from ‘Ponyo on the Reef by the Sea’ to ‘Ponyo’, but honestly, who cares? This movie fits perfectly amongst Miyazaki’s earlier works and follows the same themes that those do as well. The main difference in this one however is that the overall story is rather simple so even young children should be able to understand it. This is not my favorite of his movies, but it took me to such a wonderful place I couldnt help but smile the whole way through. I would love to see more children’s movies just like this one.

My girlfriend said it best as we were leaving the theater:
If I were five or six years old this would be my favorite movie ever.