My Adventures in College-Land

movie 35/365
I had to see this movie because it is often considered the greatest movie ever made. Being the first time I watched this, I wasn’t expecting too much. I read a lot of reviews that said it takes a second watch to catch everything and really appreciate it all. That being said, I still enjoyed the movie. The cinematography is wonderful. I have studied film techniques some, so I kind of know what to look at when it comes to camera angles, shadowing, and the such. Citizen Kane uses the techniques wonderfully. They are so expertly utilized that it seems almost modern from that stand point (if you ignore the black and white aspect). I read many reviews that said the acting was stilted and unnatural, and I can see how that could be seen. The script is very to the point. By that, I mean that every single word, action, scene is important and used to make a point. Natural speech has a lot of meaninglessness to it. So, the speech does sound a little unnatural, but not necessarily in a bad way. The themes relating to the American Dream and whether wealth and power equate to happiness are always applicable (include, no especially, today). As of right now, I’m not ready to call it the greatest film ever made, but it was a good movie, and definitely worth the watch just for the experience. I’d like to revisit it sometime and see what else I can catch.

P.S. Young Orson Wells is quite yummy! He was a good looking man, and that always makes a movie good for me!

movie 34/365
Another excellent comedy! Two high school jocks join their cheerleading squad in order to attend cheer camp (with 300 beautiful girls, you do the math). Eric Christian Olsen and Nicholas D’Agosto are hilarious as the two sex-crazed football players turned cheerleaders. They remind me a lot of Barney from How I Met Your Mother, willing to do anything to sleep with as many women as possible.Perhaps the funniest characters though were Rick (a girl’s college boyfriend who calls himself “doctor” and thinks crocs are cool) and Coach Keith (a straight but feminine cheer coach who has some of the most quotable lines in the entire film). Anyway, this movie is one that I would definitely watch again and still be able to laugh. Go watch it!!

movie 33/365
I adore this movie. Yes, I’ve seen it before, but it is hilarious, so don’t judge me for cheating. Sandra Bullock is absolutely hysterical. If they had chosen any other actress, this movie would have been mediocre, I’m sure of it. Sandra Bullock pulls this film off like no one else could. She is lovable from the very beginning. Michael Caine also does a fantastic job as a washed up pageant coach. The writing is sarcastic and witty. The acting is right on point. This movie is a wonderful comedy.

movie 32/365
This was a cute little romantic comedy. Josh Duhamel was charming and suave. Kristen Bell was adorable and likeable. For me though, the real scene stealers were the supporting cast members, namely Will Arnett, Jon Heder, and Dax Shepard. They were simply hilarious! Those three were what made the movie worth watching. The rest of it was rather predictable and obvious. Still, it was a cute little movie that I enjoyed. I probably won’t watch it again though.

movie 31/365
Election: I wanted to like this movie so badly. It got very good reviews every where I looked, and I absolutely adore Reese Witherspoon. I wanted to like this movie, but I couldn’t. None of the characters were all that sympathetic to me. Reese Witherspoon’s Tracy is a high achieving high schooler who is completely emotionally empty (and willing to step on whomever it takes to reach what she wants). Matthew Broderick’s Mr.McAllister seems like a sympathetic candidate, then he turns out to be a jealous, deceitful, slimy guy. All the other characters are rather small and mostly unsympathetic as well (with exception, perhaps, to the dumb football star running for class president). Regardless, this movie didn’t hold my attention, and it wasn’t nearly as funny as I was expecting it to be. It held potential for me, but ultimately came up short.

movie 30/365
I’m still not entirely sure how I feel about this movie. The acting was phenomenal. The characters were great. I was surprised by some of the actors in the film (I didn’t realize Nina Dobrev and Paul Rudd were in it, but they were perfection). My hesitency towards this film lies in its understated nature. It’s a very…quiet movie. I mean that not in the sense of volume, but in the sense that there wasn’t really a ton of suspense. Don’t get me wrong, there were questions you had through out the movie that you wanted to find out, but there wasn’t a particularly suspenseful scene like a car chase or shoot out (which obviously wouldn’t fit in this movie, but you know what I mean). He didn’t have a big blow up with his family. The arguements or fights that did happen in the movie were just very understated and perhaps more realistic. Anyway, the story line was fantastic and touching. It was like an emotional roller coaster! However, the friend I was watching it with thought the film was boring (most likely because of the lack of suspense). I wouldn’t go that far, but just don’t expect to be on the edge of your seat. Still, the acting was perfect and the script was beautiful. I can’t believe the author of the book wrote the screenplay AND directed this movie! That’s talent.

movie 29/365
I hated this movie. The concept was clever and I love the actors, but this film was not good. Piper Perabo’s character…what was the point? I honestly don’t think her character added anything to the story (I still love her in Covert Affairs!) Joseph Gordon Levitt just looked weird. They did a bunch of prosthetics to make him look like a young Bruce Willis, but it backfired. He looked fake and strange. He’s such a cutie too! I love JGL! His acting was good in the film, but the script just was…ugh. I also love Emily Blunt, but her character was hard to connect with and her character’s son was creepy as hell. That kid looked like a nightmare from the first moment. Over all, I just think the writers tried to do too much with the movie. The concept of having to kill your future self is enough of a problem for a two hour film to try to deal with. Then they added in this telekinesis stuff (which I was willing to play along with for a little while), and they started killing children (at which point, I was like umm okay little too far). Lastly, the ending seemed over the top and unnecessary. Why was that the only solution…? I don’t want to ruin it, but it seemed a little overdramatic. 

This movie did get good reviews though, so what do I know?

Movie 28/365
I don’t really care for Steve Carrell’s humor, but I love Tina Fey. Let me reiterate that: I love Tina Fey. She is such a smart, funny woman. Anyway, I watched this movie with this guy I’m seeing. We both enjoyed the film. It’s a great date type movie. It has action for the guy. Some romance for the girl. And humor for both! There is a scene where Tina Fey is forced to dress up and act like a stripper, and we about died. That being said, I doubt I’ll ever see it again, but it was fun and entertaining.