Late To The Party

Over my extended holiday, I was able to watched a few recent-ish films I meant to rent/download/watch, but somehow never got around to seeing.

A few of them are worth noting.

Lars And The Real Girl:

An oddly sweet film that revolves around Ryan Gosling's emotionally repressed Lars & his "relationship" with a blow up doll. I originally didn't see it for the same reason you didn't. The words "blow up doll" don't typically draw me in, but I have to admit, there's something about his innocence and wounded soul, that make you forget he's playing chess with a piece of plastic.

Ondine

This is a strange one. Colin plays a fisherman who accidentally catches a woman (or is she a mermaid) in his fishing nets. Throw in a precocious daughter in need of a kidney and a few shots of the Irish countryside, and you've got yourself a weird little fairytale.

The Good Life:

I liked this movie until the last 3 minutes. You'll know why when you see it (which I recommend that you do). The lead, plaed by Mark Weber, is endearing. You feel for him, though almost no one else in the film does. I don't want to hint at why I didn't like the end as it will give it away, but let's just say that sometimes filmmakers try too hard to tell us what's important. We get it, we just don't need you to spell it out.

Midnight In Paris:

I'm not a Woody Allen fan. This makes me uncool in the film world, but lucky for me, I'm not a part of that world. Anyhoo, this film is a charmer. Owen Wilson is his typicaly affable self. Rachel McAdams plays her character from Mean Girls, all grown up. The plot revolves around his hallucinations? dreams? fantasies? where he drinks, dines & dates historically significant people from our past (T.S. Elliot, Picasso, Gertrude Stein). They inspire him to finish both the story of his life & his novel differently. Well done, Woody. I'm still pissed about "Match Point".