Ed's Review Dot Com

Artina Films,

Julianne Moore, Michael Angarano, Greg Kinnear, Lily Collins, Nathan Lane, Fiona Shaw, Norbert Leo Butz, Jessica Hecht, Charlie Saxton, Nikki Blonsky, Sophie Curtis

Linda Sinclair is a 40ish English Teacher in a small town High School. Her life is obviously rather empty, and she’s just getting by, though things are going pretty well. A chance meeting with one of her former students reveals that he is a graduate in creative writing and gave his shot as a playwright, but has failed. He lets her read his latest play, and she is really touched, even more when she finds out it’s his story of a missing Mom, a domineering Father who forced him to go to Law School. So she decides to take him in, perform his play in the High School, mostly at her own expense. But this is where things get complicated. Linda is attracted to the guy, but mostly just lonely. She’s very jealous of his other girlfriends, and strikes up a hate relationship with the boy’s father (Greg Kinnear) who she blames for ruining his son’s life. Things turn for the worst in this romantic comedy, with a lot on the comedy side.

This is a chick flick, for sure. But the background of putting on the school play is kinda funny, and having Nathan Lane show up as the producer of the play is a great add. He plays his usual bubbly self and adds a lot of comedy to the film. Julianne Moore does a bang up job as the lonely spinster teacher, and she keeps getting herself in deeper and deeper by making bad decisions. The relationships between the characters are very well developed. We get to look at each one’s personal issues and why they do what they do. This is a decent little comedy, and worth a spot in your queue.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

Artina Films

Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Nicholas Hoult, Mathew Goode

This is a dark disturbing movie, but I figured to watch because of the Oscar nominations for Colin Firth and Julianne Moore.   This is a typical “indie” film, dark and slow to develop.  A professor, nearly destroyed by the sudden loss of the “love of his life” can’t decide whether to live or die.  The girl who always loved him and was his best friend, would be lover, but he’s just so damn gay!   So she’s not much help.

I can see where this is a classic 1 star – 5 star movie.   Those who love slow character development stories which require lots of thought and emotion to “get it” will love it, and those who like a bit more action will hate it.   I suspect very few will be in between.

Well, I’m in between.  I gave it 3 stars because it was painfully slow and hard to get into, and it was very difficult to watch at times, but when you do invest the time to watch it, in the end you have a lot to think about.

The performances were good.  The characters ended up well developed, and the irony is a bit over the top, but unexpected.  Meanwhile, there was well enough meat in the story to sink your teeth in to if you take the time and energy to follow it.  It’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but for the Oscar worthy performances, if you have the time and patience to invest in a well told story of misfits, this will be well worth your while.  But if you hate these kinds of movies, you’ve been warned!

What is it with all the dark movies coming out this month.  If I don’t find something light, I may end up depressed myself!  🙂