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Into the Woods

I was pleasantly surprised after watching this film. It follows a baker and his wife as they are given magical items from different fairy-tales to find by a witch to reverse a curse placed on their family. The classic tales are weaved and and looped together with enchanting music to create a beautiful and witty motion picture that viewers young and old will enjoy. My favorite part of the fairy-tales were how they kept in line with the Brothers Grimm versions of the tales (toe-severing and all) making the story delightfully darker. There are many familiar faces in this movie including Anna Kendrick playing Cinderella, Johnny Depp as the bad Wolf and the always fantastic Meryl Streep playing the witch in a mesmerizing performance that made me feel as if I was in the woods with her. I am not the biggest fan when it comes to a musical, especially when it comes to a sung through style one, but Into the Woods had a fluid and easy to follow sequence that had no sort of "dragging on...
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Still Alice

Still Alice has been called Julianne Moore's Oscar worthy performance and with great reason. It follows the story of Alice Howland, a successful professor of Linguistics at Columbia University. Her life takes a sharp and devastating turn when she is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease. With the help of her family which includes her daughters played by Kristen Stewart and Kate Bosworth and Alec Baldwin as her husband, she struggles and fights for what she is losing and continue a relatively normal life.  I am going to be honest, I was in tears after the first 10 minutes and stayed that way until the rolling credits. I do not have anybody in my family with this disease, but I felt immense empathy for Moore's character. That is when you know you have done your job as an incredible actress. That being said, with a great supporting cast and story line, it is incredibly depressing to watch and individual's life fall apart in this way. It was a beautiful and eye o...
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Star Wars: Episode VII

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My dad told me that when the first Star Wars movie came out, he watched it about 10 times at the movie theater. Well, that was in 1977 and movie tickets were about $2.50.  The trailer for the upcoming Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens got mixed reviews as does any film these days. I am a big Star Wars nerd so I am definitely looking forward seeing this. Since it's only teaser, there isn't much to discuss except the eerie red cross-like light saber and flashes of new (and old?) characters. I am also a fan of J.J Abrams so I am very excited to see what he does with this franchise. It has been made into Legos and spin off cartoon shows, but I am hopeful that this first chapter in this new bundle of Star Wars movies will be one that my dad and I can watch over 10 times and not get tired of. When it comes out on DVD of course. What do you think about the new trailer?
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Everything Is Illuminated

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This movie is a favorite of mine. I watched it my senior year of high school and for some reason, it left a strong impression on me. I cried like a baby and decided that the Ukraine is a must on my bucket list. It stars Elijah Wood as Jonathan, a Jewish American with a hobby/obsession of collecting.. well various random objects or mementos from his family. He comes across a picture of his grandfather and a woman that he has never met before. He then makes the the decision to journey to the Ukraine to find this woman who had saved his grandfather in the midst of World War II. During this journey, Jonathan meets some offbeat, but wonderful characters along the way, including Alex, played by Eugene Hutz. This movie is based off a book that I have not read yet, but is definitely on my list!  The dialogue between the character moves from  light and humorous to genuine and reflective with such effortless ease, it seems as though this is director Liev Schreiber's 10th film rather tha...
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Interstellar

Okay so this isn't a movie review per say, but I just needed to do a prereview just based on the preview. I am a sucker for anything dealing with space and the stars. I just love going outside and  looking up at the stars and ponder what really is out there. It really just fascinates me. If I had any interest in math whatsoever, I would consider becoming an astrophysicist. I don't say astronaut because I respect outer space like I do the ocean: it's beautiful to look at, but so much is unknown in these areas, I just couldn't get myself to actually go. Unless of course we found another planet to inhabit. Back to Christopher Nolan's new film, Interstellar stars Matthew Mcconaughey and Anne Hathaway. Earth is dying and Mcconaughey and Hathaway are astronauts who are on a mission to surpass the human limitation of space travel. I was blown away by the effects and the clarity of trailer. The people behind the scenes who make these amazing effects (not just this movie, mo...
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Gone Girl

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Yes you may roll your eyes at the title of this post, but believe me when I say I would not take the time to write about this book if it was not worthy. I may also get a complimentary eye roll when I state that I bought this book about a week and a half before the movie was released. I will admit that after watching the trailer I had a plethora of goosebumps and knew that I had to read it. If you are one of the 3.5 million who have viewed the trailer on YouTube, you get the gist of the plot. For those who haven't seen it, here's a synopsis: When B personality Nick Dunne's wife Amy goes missing in the town of North Carthage, all fingers are pointed at the husband. With this comes the trials and tribulations that happen through the timeline of a failing marriage. Point of views start at opposite spectra until finally past and present collide in a story that only an author could create and Hollywood could make into a blockbuster hit.  (PS: READ THE BOOK FIRST)
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Jiro Dreams of Sushi

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For my first movie of the week, I am going to talk about a documentary that has been recently buzzed about. Jiro Dreams of Sushi is an American documentary directed by David Gelb. It follows the 85-year old sushi extraordinaire and perfectionist, Jiro Ono. He owns the prestigious sushi bar, Sukiyabashi Jiro, which people around the world visit and reserve for months in advance. This movie is a tribute to the rare art of resilience and hard work and the different perspectives of parental guidance and love. If you have Netflix, you are in luck because this 1 hour and 23 minute slice of authentic and beautifully captured film is available there. After watching this film, I hope you, just as I did, really look at the way you view your own goals and how far are you willing to go to finally say those three magic words: "I did it."
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