Review: Her

So Saturday night I went to go see the movie "Her" with a few friends and I loved it. "Her" is one of those movies that doesn't seem like it's trying too hard and makes you think after you watch it. It's funny, though provoking, and kinda sad all at the same time.

Spike Jonze  wrote and directed this movie. The only other Spike Jonze movie I have seen is "Where the Wild Things Are" which I enjoyed so I had very high hopes going in to the movie. Joaqine Phoenix isn't really an actor I am familiar with, I just know that he did that thing..."I Still Here", he seems pretty strange. However, her was really likable in this movie! The movie takes place in future LA and Theo (Phoenix) works for this company beautifulhandwrittennotes.com, which I thought was really funny. So Theo is kinda going though an anitsocial, mopey, divorce phase and he decides to get this personalized OS to help him get organized and they end up falling in love.

I don't think anyone actually reads this but I suppose spoilers would start here.

This movie really makes the viewer feel a variety of emotions: joy, sorrow, pity, anger, and discomfort just to name a few. For me in the beginning of the movie during the first sex scene between Theo and Samantha I felt extremely uncomfortable and like "wtf". I'm not sure it Jonze did this on purpose because it is such a strange relationship, even in that future universe but then later I like the relationship that Theo and Samantha have more. Wait, I need to back track...Olivia freaking Wilde is in this movie and she look awesome and fucking Theo has a date with her and he can't even close the date properly. COME ON THEO, COME ON! Ok done with that. Anyways I found that my feelings about the relationship was always changing and I like movies that make you think. I would kind of compare this to a long distance relationship, which I have always said don't work. I believe that it's human nature to need both physical and emotional love and while long distance is ok for a few months or so it really will begin to take it's toll on a relationship. The only circumstance that a long distance relationship would work is if there is a foreseeable end to the distance at some point. This is where Theo and Samantha's relationship falls short. There was no foreseeable end to this "distance" and this is why ultimately Samantha left with the other OS's.

As far as aesthetics go, this movie is just so interesting to look at. It was largely shot in LA and Shanghai which is perfect (two favorite cities) and the futuristic touches the movie has are amazing. Apparently everyone in the future dresses like a hipster but everything isn't too farfetched. What's interesting about the movie as the all of the people in the  background are not interacting with each other they're all on there OS phone-future-pocketbook-thingys. It's interesting because it made me realize just how much time I spend on my phone daily. I honestly can imagine the future world that Spike Jonze created to be one that we may all someday live in.

Overall I give this movie 9/10 pretty much perfect. It was the best movie I have seen in a while and I definitely will see it again.

Review: Midnight in Paris

So I have recently been introduced to Woody Allen by a friend who is obsessed with Woody Allen. I'm currently working on reading his book "Side Effects" but more on that later.

So today I watched Midnight in Paris which stars Owen Wilson but also features Rachel McAdams and my favorite Tom Hiddleston.

So the actual plot of the movie was a little bit confusing to me because I am the kind of person that just likes to overanalyze everything. So Owen Wilson's character Gil is in Paris with his fiance Ines who is Rachel McAdams. Gil is a bit of a dreamer and he wants to move to Paris and write his novel how [very hipster of him] but Ines says she could never move out of the United States [this really bothered me about her character]. So Gil and Ines are with Ines's parents and they run into Ines's friend Paul and Paul's girlfriend i can't remember her name. Gil obviously does not like Paul [paul is pretentious and i don't really care for him either].  So eventually Gil gets fed up with hanging out with Paul and he starts walking around Paris on his own. A old-fashion car pulls up and Gil get's into the car [stranger danger, come on gil didn't you parents teach you not to get into cars with strange drunk people]. So Gil is sort of transported into this other era which is the 20s. He meets people like F. Scott Fitzgerald [tom motherfucking hiddleston, who says old sport, HE SAYS OLD SPORT],  Ernest Hemingway, and Gertrude Stien [i'm not a history buff but did these people actually all know each other in paris in the 20s? just wondering] He also meets a woman named Adriana [totally the crazy wife lady from inception am i right?] and pretty much falls in love with her at first sight. So night after night he keeps going back to the 20s all while Ines and company are traveling around in present day Paris. Gil meets people like Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso and gets great tips on his book all while becoming more and more involved with Adriana. So what confused the analytical side of me about all this is the concept of time travel. Woody Allen makes it so Gil affects the past because at one point in the movie I guess Gil somehow purchases Adriana's diary in the present day and she has written about him.  The way time travel works him being in the past should have affected everything there, yet it does not. I'm probably just thinking about this too hard, it's just a movie. So skipping to the end of the movie we find out that Gil is able to go even further back in time and this time he takes Adriana. We learn that everyone wants to go back to their perceived "Golden Age" and no one is stratified with the present [there's that woody allen charm and wit] as Adriana is determined on staying in the past. Gil then goes back to the present day and decided he wants to live in Paris and do what he loves which is real writing. The movie ends on a pretty happy note. Oh yeah and Ines is totally sleeping with Paul on the side and NO ONE SEEMS TO CARE ABOUT THIS AT ALL. 

So I would give this movie at 7/10. Not the best thing I've ever seen in my life but I really enjoyed watching it. The costumes are great, the acting is great and the story is charming. Based on the Woody Allen I have seen so far I would definitely watch more of his movies. 

Note-to-self: Visit Paris