Day 17

This is the third day in a row that I'm updating my blog! Are you guys proud of me or what? (Oh, you said 'what'... nice.) Anyway, I'm just trying to get these movie reviews over and done with so that I can blog about some of the things that have been going on in my life, and some of the projects I'm working on. So right now we have...

Day 17: Show Me Love


The original Swedish title of this movie is: Fucking Åmål, which I believe is a reference to the town that the movie takes place in. This isn't quite your typical coming-of-age teen lesbian movie, but it's pretty close. The story centers on two teenage girls, Elin and Agnes, who really have nothing more in common than the fact that they both live in the same town. Agnes doesn't have any friends, but is passionately in love with Elin, who spends her time hanging out with the 'popular' crowd, and generally makes fun of girls like Agnes. The story is cute, and even though you can tell that the film-makers tried really hard not to have things be too predictable, at some points it's unavoidable. I think I would have related to this movie a little bit more if I were closer in age to the main characters. Not that I'm old or anything. But I'm not certainly not 13 anymore.

Over all this movie was very enjoyable and I'm glad that I stumbled across it (on NetFlix, of course). I'm not sure that I'd watch it again, but I liked it enough to give it ★★★.


If you want to see it for yourself, I dug up the trailer for you, and you can check it out right here:


If you've already seen 'Show Me Love' or 'Fucking Åmål' or whatever you'd like to call it, please let me know what you thought of it! You can share your thoughts and feelings and opinions and what-not here in the comments!

Day 16

Hey! I thought I'd try posting another blog entry, seeing as I still have quite a few movies to review and what-not.

Day 16: Buried


First of all, I have to say that this movie is not for everyone. I consider myself to be only mildly claustrophobic, and I was uncomfortable at times. I vaguely recall seeing an ad for this movie one of the very few times I actually went to the theater to see something, but it never really stood out at me as something that I had to see. But then I started this project, and stumbled into the habit of watching Ryan Reynolds movies on Saturday, and I was running out of things to see. I can tell you right now, I am so glad I picked this movie. Ryan Reynolds is literally the only person in this movie who has screen time. He plays Paul Conroy, a contractor working in Iraq who has been kidnapped and buried alive for ransom money. The entire movie takes place in the coffin that he's been buried in, and we get to watch Paul try to figure out how he's going to escape. He's got a lighter, a pen and a cell phone with him in his underground prison. Obviously, I'm not going to tell you what happens, because I don't want to spoil the movie, but let me just tell you that the whole thing blew me away. I'm obviously a big Ryan Reynolds fan (seriously, marry me Ryan?) and it was such a treat to watch him in such an amazing role. Paul is miles away from the type of characters Ryan Reynolds usually plays, and in this case different is good.

I cannot properly express how much I loved this movie. I didn't hesitate to give it ★★★★★, and it deserves every single one of them.


There are a few 'teasers' out there, but I manged to find one of the trailers for you guys to watch, you can say 'thank you' now... Or, I guess you could just check out the trailer:


If you've seen Buried, please please please, tell me what you thought of it here in the comments. Just try not to spoil anything for people who haven't seen it.


P.S. In case you didn't notice, I've added the 'Pages' feature to this blog. That means that you can see all of my April movie reviews on their own separate page, just clink on the link right under the header!

Day 15

Guess who's still alive? if you guessed CarynSKA, you'd be right! I am alive! And I'm blogging again. Sort of. Well, I'm going to do this post at least, and then maybe another, and maybe another. One thing at a time, okay?

Okay, I know it's been a really long time since I last blogged (3 months, 2 weeks and 3 days, but who's counting right?), but I really do want to finish this little movie review series I started. So I'm going to go ahead and jump back into that, and then later on I'll post about what's been going on in my life over the last several months.


Day 15: Ponyo


I remember seeing posters and ads for Ponyo right at the beginning of 2008, and I swore that I was going to see it the minute it came out. Yeah, right. It's nothing against the movie, I always do that. Anyway, I really did want to see this movie, because I am just a very little bit in love with Hayao Miyazaki and all of the wonderful, amazing things that he does. I finally got around to watching Ponyo way back in April, as the halfway mark for my Movie-A-Day project, and I really can't imagine why I waited so long! This movie is super, super cute. (I said super twice, so you know I mean it) The plot centers around a little boy named Sôsuke, and the goldfish he rescues and then names Ponyo. Ponyo doesn't really want to be a goldfish though, she would much rather be a human girl, and as she starts to turn human, she and Sôsuke end up having to save the world. Oh, and did I mention that Ponyo's father is the king of the sea, who doesn't want to see his beloved daughter turn into a human? Yeah, that kind of complicates things a bit.

If you are a fan of Miyazaki's work, then you'll understand what I mean when I say that Ponyo is every bit as cute as My Neighbor Totoro, and every bit as captivating as Spirited Away. I've decided to award this movie ★★★★.


This movie comes highly recommended by yours truly, and if you want to check it out for yourself, here's the trailer:


If you've already seen Ponyo, (or any of Miyazaki's movies, really) I'd love to know what you thought of it! Share your thoughts and opinions here in the comments!

Day 14

I know I didn't post yesterday, but as usual, I was really busy. It's almost passover here, which means that when we're not frantically cleaning every inch or our house, we're cooking everything in sight. Busy busy busy. But never fear, I'm still watching my movies, and I'm still going to blog about them. Like I'm doing right now:


Day 14: Together


Two weeks into the project, and I've seen my first foreign language film. Together is a Swedish movie set in Sweden in the 1970's. The plot centers around the unconventional lives of a group of friends and relatives living together in a commune. I'm not sure how Netflix knew to recommend this movie to me, but I'm glad that the monkey-bots that run the site suggested it. The movie has lots of different elements in it, many of which are favorite for me. It's got GLBT characters, unconventional families, counter-culture and of course comedic misunderstandings. There's a lot going on in the movie, but the main plot centers around the character of Elisabeth, who leaves her abusive husband and brings her kids to live with her brother in his commune, called Together (Tillsammans in Swedish). Once there she meets some very unusual and possibly crazy people, like Anna, her ex-husband Lasse, and his best friend Klas, among others. I normally don't feel the need to provide any warnings for people regarding movies, since I believe that's what ratings are for. But this is a special case. Since this isn't an American movie, it doesn't come with a nice tidy letter rating, so I'm going to go ahead and tell you that it's at least an R rated picture. I say that only because this movie contains male and female nudity of the full frontal variety.

Despite the unexpected nudity, the movie was great. It was funny and interesting to watch. I gave it a solid ★★★.


If you're not too put off by the fact that this movie has subtitles, check out the trailer:




And if you've actually already seen it, I'd really love to know what you thought of it! Share your thoughts and opinions here with me in the comments!

Day 13

It's almost midnight, and I just got back from skating, so I'm freakin' tired. But I need to get myself caught up on these posts, so here I am. Aren't you glad? No? Well you should be. So there! (I know you can't see, but I'm sticking my tongue out at you, because I am apparently very immature) And now I'm rambling. So uh, here we go:


Day 13: Zombieland


What can I say about Zombieland? Can I say that it was really freakin' funny? Can I say that it had lots of undead zombie gore? Can I say that I loved every minute of it? Yes, yes and yes. When I first saw the trailers all I can remember thinking is: A zombie comedy staring Woody Harrelson? Count me in!" And you know what? It was great! In a post apocalyptic world overrun by zombies, you don't need brute strength or mean cunning to survive, all you need are rules. And Columbus has an entire list of them. You follow the rules, you survive. The movie had me laughing almost the entire time, the main characters were brutal but lovable. And the plot was solidly funny. I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes to laugh at their scary movies.

While it's not quite up the standard set by the epic zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland managed to earn itself a solid ★★★. I'd see it again.


And if you want to see some of the undead guts and blood for yourself, check out the trailer:




As always, if you've seen this movie (or any of the others I've been blogging about) please share your thoughts with me here in the comments!

Day 12

Yeah I know, I haven't exactly been sticking to my two updates a day schedule. But I've been really busy, I swear! I've been dealing with school and bills and cleaning and the frickin' holiday (which is quickly approaching) and on top of everything else I've been writing a script. So uh, yeah, busy. But don't worry, I haven't forgotten my project, so:


Day 12: Exit Through the Gift Shop


I thought it was high time I watched a documentary for this little project of mine, and Exit Through the Gift Shop had been sitting in my queue for a looong time. So what is it, you ask? It's about street art, rather it's a documentary about making a documentary about street art. Confused yet? Well, once upon a time there was a gentleman named Thierry Guetta, he liked to film things. A lot of things. He eventually got involved with some prominent street artists and decided to make a documentary about them. In the process he became a street artist himself (under the pseudonym of Mr. Brainwash), and his documentary kind of took on a life of it's own. Still confused? Yeah well, I think it's supposed to be at least a little bit confusing. The movie follows Thierry's explorations into the world of street art and introduces you to some of the biggest names in the businesses, like Invader, Shepard Fairey and the most famous of these underground artists, Banksy.

As strange as it was, I really loved this film. It has a comedic element to it, and obviously there's art, lots and lots of art. I gave it ★★★★, and they were all well deserved.


If you'd like to see some of the madness for yourself, check out this nifty trailer I found for you:




If by some chance you've actually seen this movie, please please please share your thoughts with me! I'd love to know what you guys thought of it!