Heights

How did I not know about this movie? Why is it so freaking good? I stumbled upon this film while checking out facts about Rufus Wainwright online (so I don't fall behind on my obsessive knowledge of the man). Rufus has a small role in this brilliantly cast film about the city I love. 'Heights' takes place over the course of 24 hours telling the story of several interconnected individuals surviving in NYC. Glenn Close rocks it as Diana Lee with the help of the following individuals:

Elizabeth Banks - Isabel Lee
James Marsden - Jonathan Kestler
Jesse Bradford - Alec Lochka
John Light - Peter Cole
Rufus Wainwright - Jeremy
Eric Bogosian - Henry
George Segal - Rabbi Mendel
Andrew Howard - Ian
Isabella Rossellini - Liz
Matthew Davis - Mark
Michael Murphy - Jesse
Chandler Williams - Juliard Macbeth
Bess Wohl - Juilliard Lady Macbeth

Each of these individuals simply blew me away. There is nothing too dramatic, inspirational, life-altering, or profound about this movie, except in its simple and perfect way of telling a not too interesting story. The film just holds up in every possible way. The writing is strong and the plot keeps things moving. You know enough and are left guessing in all the right ways for all the right reasons. I could not call the ending happy, but it is very right. This movie just fits well. Its pieces fit well together. The actors fit into their roles. The drama fits well with the comedy. The theme fits well in the world. The whole thing fits me, as well. Set in NYC, starring Rufus Wainwright, about photographers, actors, and artists, featuring The Scottish Play; it just fits. I am so happy that I found this film. I may have talked it up too much, but I do hope you check it out. It is very simple, but very beautiful and just a nice movie.

Changeling

I have begun watching LOST online at Netflix.com, which has freed up my DVDs by mail. So, now I can start watching movies again. The first I have received was Changeling with Angelina Jolie. This was a particularly painful movie for me to watch. I am always torn between researching movies and wanting to be surprised by the plot. This is certainly an instance where I should have done a little more research. Painful plot and story aside, this movie was pretty weak for me. The acting was strong as I though Jeffrey Donovan was brilliant as was John Malkovich. It fell apart in the storytelling. The film tried to tell way too much of the story and was conflicted because of that. It just wasn't set up to be a story about the murderer, or the priest, or the cop, or the LAPD, or the kids, or the parents, or the trials, but it ended up being about all these things at once. I just felt like if they would have set up the film to be about the town and the tragedies then it would have been more successful. Instead, it spend sooo much time with Angelina's character in the beginning that set the tone to be her story. When it turned out to be much more than just her story, it just lengthened the film and chopped it up to distract me. I ended up appreciating a lot more about this film than I had anticipated. Final thought: I truly hope that someday stories like this will never need to be told.

Up

I finally caught 'Up.' Get it? Ha! It was a very tender and enjoyable film. I don't really have too much to say about it. I think it holds up pretty well with other Pixar flicks. I still think that 'Wall-E' is the tops, but 'Up' certainly ranks in the top half. There were some pretty hilarious moments and some pretty tender times as well. Based on a post I read before seeing the film on Monkey See, I would say that the film would have stood up almost as well had Carl passed and Ellie taken the adventure without him. In concurrence with the author of the post, I would love to see Pixar give us a film with a female lead driving the plot. Regardless, I loved the characters. Carl was a sweet man who takes an emotional roller-coaster of a journey throughout the film. Russell provides some great comedy, conscience, and cunning. Doug and Kevin make a great team. I can't help but wonder if Pixar got enough crap about the lack of dialogue in 'Wall-E' and decided to give voices to the dogs to make up for it in 'Up.' I nearly lost it at the end when Carl shows up for Russell. The film certainly made me think, laugh and feel. Thanks, Pixar. Now, maybe someday we will see a female lead (who is not a princess) in an awesome Pixar movie!