The Best Movies of 2011

No, that's not a typo. It's just a year late, relax.

When the end of 2011 came around, I was so disappointed in the movies the year had offered, I didn't make a best of list. I mean, The Artist, really? Yes, The Help had a number of excellent performances, but it wasn't something I would consider great filmmaking. Cars 2 was the first Pixar movie ever I had no interest in seeing, which turned out to be telling foreshadowing in the rest of my movie-going year. However, I held out hope that there were better movies from 2011, I just hadn't seen any of them. I'm not going to say that 2011 was a great year in film, but it was a sneaky-good year for the indie genre, and all of these movies are excellent.

1.) Another Earth

I'm a little surprised Brit Marling didn't pop up in everything after this movie. She's drop dead gorgeous with the ability to pull off grunge vulnerability. Another Earth does indie sci-fi right. Cool story, interesting characters, a movie that makes you think about your life a little more than you would on an average day.

2.) Weekend

It turns out that the most romantic film I've seen in years is a gay Before Sunrise.

3.) Drive

I think the slow build to crazy violence worked perfectly in this movie, a fun, scary ride for sure.

4.) Bridesmaids

It was damn funny. It's rare for me to find a movie I can watch again and again, but this one fits the bill.

5.) Hot Coffee

What? You don't want to see a documentary about that silly old lady who won millions of dollars for foolishly spilling her McDonald's coffee on her while driving? Yeah, I didn't either. But you don't know the half of it. This is a fascinating, unbiased look at lawsuits in the USA. I didn't have a clue.

6.) Take Shelter

A creepy movie with a great performance by Michael Shannon. Yes, I would change a few things about the movie, but it was effective and beautiful in its darkness.

Honorable Mention (aka biggest pleasant surprise)

Sherlock Holmes 2: Book of Shadows

This movie was just gorgeous. The story was solid, I thought it was well-paced with an interesting villain. Man, it was so pretty. I'm sure it helped that I watched it on a plane on my way home from an amazing Asian vacation.

"Let the Great World Spin" by Colum McCann

A book review.

"Let the Great World Spin" is a beautifully written book which follows a number of characters connected by Philippe Petit's tightrope walk between the World Trade Center towers in 1974. It's a book about everything that makes us human: love, loss, grief, and hope. And every sentence carries a greater resonance in our post 9/11 world.

My only complaints stem from the book being divided into four smaller books. I found the first book to be the most poignant, therefore, the following three feel somewhat anticlimactic. Also, a large portion of one of the books seemed unnecessary, wandering from our central characters and not having a satisfying payoff. But those criticisms are fairly trivial. McCann is a magnificent writer, capturing small moments in ways that often made me gulp (a good thing).

I'm glad I had seen the excellent documentary "Man on Wire" before reading the book. It was the perfect introduction to Philippe Petit and his walk between the towers, and definitely added to my enjoyment of the book. I also find the cover art on the book to be stunning. ***

Rating System:

**** = Amazing, Fantastic, Life-Changing
*** = Excellent & Worth a Read
** = Not a Complete Waste of Time but I Probably Wouldn't Recommend It
* = Blech!

And I don't do that half-star nonsense.

Seoul, Day 3 - Movie & Meow

When we woke up this morning it was pouring, the wind was blowing, and it was in the 40's. Not the ideal weather for sightseeing. What were we to do? We went and saw a movie. John Carter, specifically. I enjoyed the film very much. In fact, it was my favorite summer movie this year. Yeah, it didn't technically come out in the summer, but it was a summer movie if ever there was one. Great action and VFX, and a fun ride all the way.

(I won't bore anyone with a picture of the John Carter poster. Y'all saw it. It was everywhere. Taylor Kitsch's lack of pants didn't make you go see the film.)

The only bad thing about seeing an English movie subtitled is if a character speaks in not-English, you can't read the subtitles. So, all of the alien speak in the beginning was lost on us, but I managed to figure out what was going on without too much difficulty. However, this is something I will consider next time I see a movie in a country where English isn't the national language.

The movie theatre we went to was great, a couple blocks from our hosts apartment. Stadium seating, comfy seats, good sound. And, just as it would have been in the U.S., we were the only ones in the theatre. Which is a darn shame because I would rather see a movie like John Carter any day over Avengers 5: The One Where They Battle Transformers. You know it's coming.

For lunch we had juk (gruel in English), a dish with more variation, flavor, and color than the pit-of-despair picture painted by Charles Dickens novels. This porridge was more like a loose risotto than my oatmeal nightmares.

We had one bowl with oysters and mushrooms, the other with spicy chicken. They don't joke around when they say spicy. I mixed the two together for my favorite flavor combination (17,000 W for both).

This restaurant was right across from our host's apartment. Seriously, you can just wander in anywhere in/around Seoul and the food is excellent.

After lunch, we took a bus to Meong-dong, a bustling shopping area filled with shop after shop of bright lights, cosmetics, and clothing.

But we weren't there for shops. We were there for the animals.

In the cat cafe on the fourth floor, we paid 8000 W for a green tea latte and spent an hour playing with the sweet cats who roamed the shop.

Notice the cat mascot in the background? He was outside advertising.

There are rules in the cat cafe.

This cat was my favorite. I named him Old Man Sweater because I am creative like that.

That is not me sleeping next to Old Man Sweater.

The cats were all healthy, happy, well-groomed, and social.

In Seoul, there are also dog cafes. People who don't want to commit to a pet, or aren't allowed to have one in their apartment can relax and socialize with the animals. If we had these in the States, I would go at least once a week as a treat to myself, as I have terrible allergies but still love cats and dogs.

We said goodbye to the kitties and took a subway to Nowon for all-you-can-eat tuna sashimi. This was one of our host's favorite meals in Seoul, a giant platter of all different kinds of tuna. I'm spoiled with our melt-in-your-mouth tuna sushi in L.A., so I admit, these tougher, chewier cuts of fish were an adjustment. My favorite part of the meal were the amazing side dishes they brought. I think these dishes were an attempt to fill us up so we would eat less tuna, but the roasted cream corn was amazing (not pictured, regrettably).

We were also served another variation of fish that was one of the most interesting combinations of flavors I've had in my life. I suppose the fish was tuna because everything was tuna, but it looked like salmon. This combo was tuna, raw onion, pickle, and peanut butter. This should've been something that only tasted good to pregnant women, but somehow those flavors all combined to make one delicious and unique bite of food (It's in the above photo, the triangular piece of fish on the white plate just under the white bowl).

Tuna was 25,000 W per person.

We also tried soju for the first time, Korea's vodka made from rice. Ah, soju, I like you. You taste like cold sake. We will meet again. Soon.

Seoul, Day 2 - We Ate More Because It Was Raining...Sure

We slept in today, but got a good night's sleep and warded off jet lag for the rest of the trip. Lesson learned: when flying from L.A. to Seoul, leave in the morning, do not sleep on the plane, arrive in Seoul in the afternoon, do not nap, and go to bed after 9pm. You will be exhausted, but you will sleep well, and you won't have the slightest bit of jet lag the next day.

After taking the bus into Seoul, we went to the Gyeongbokgung Palace which has been destroyed and rebuilt a shocking number of times throughout history. So, in reality, it's only fifty years old, but they still carry out the ancient changing of the guard every hour.

It's an elaborate ceremony with colorful garb, neat weaponry, and loud instruments. Definitely worth checking out, so try to be near the front of the Palace at the top of the hour.

The Palace grounds are beautiful. Being there in a cold April, it wasn't the most picturesque time, as we were a couple weeks ahead of the cherry blossoms. But the grounds were still peaceful and lovely.

After the Palace, we walked to nearby Samcheong-dong, a quiet neighborhood filled with upscale boutiques, a good place to get some shopping on. But we weren't in the mood to shop, we wanted food. This is what we ended up with.

beef bimbap

rice rolls with spicy octopus and radishes

kimchi fried rice with cheese

The kimchi fried rice with cheese was my favorite. It's cold and rainy in L.A. as I'm writing this, and I would love a bowl of it right now to warm me up.

After lunch we walked up to Bukchon, a sleepy neighborhood of traditional houses with ornate wooden doors and tiled roofs.

Bukchon is absolutely gorgeous, and so quiet. The rain started to fall when we were up there, maybe that's why it was so quiet.

Every house should have a door like this.

Rain or not, it's the perfect place to roam around after your belly is full (though it was only in the 50's, so we got cold quickly).

When one is wet and cold, the best thing to do is stop inside somewhere warm and eat something delicious. In this case it was Eric Kayser and a chocolate orange loaf/pasty thingy (3900 W). Yum.

Warm and dry, we were ready to get wet again. We walked to Insa-dong, a cutesy area filled with shops and street food vendors.

Still raining in Insa-dong.

Since we were wet by the time we got there, it was time to dry and eat again. I had the most amazing jujube tea at a traditional tea house. It tasted like chocolate. Not hot chocolate from a packet, just rich, beany chocolate in liquid form. Yeah, I could use some of that on this dreary day, too. The tea came with a fried doughnut-type treat with sugar, cinnamon, and sesame. So good.

After that, we took the bus back to our apartment during rush hour. I stupidly forgot my Dramamine (this will, unfortunately, be a recurring error because I never learn my lessons the first time) and I don't do well with starting and stopping in rapid succession over a stretch of time. By the time we got home, I'd lost my appetite, so I skipped dinner and had some fruit tea my friend had picked up in China.

We watched a romantic comedy that had been recommended to my friend, "200 Pounds of Love" (I like this translation better than IMDB's, "200 Pounds Beauty").

200 Pounds of Love movie poster

I won't be using this one as inspiration any time soon. The theme was to change yourself with plastic surgery to make your life better. This was a broad, popular movie in Korea, so it was interesting to watch. It felt much like the girl who takes off her glasses and the guy suddenly loves her sort of thing. But decidedly darker since it involved completely rearranging your face and body with invasive surgery. Aw, comedy, you travel so poorly.

Favorite Christmas Movies

A friend listed his top seven favorite Christmas movies on Facebook, and it inspired me to do the same. I was hoping to narrow it down to five, but I couldn't make that final sacrifice. Thus, here are my top six favorite Christmas movies. These are the ones I have seen at least ten times, and would watch over anything else if they are played on network TV this holiday season. Yes, these are the ones I would suffer through commercials for.

1.) It's a Wonderful Life

If I only had one, this would be it. Has anyone ever had a better smile than Jimmy Stewart has in this film? Has anyone been more beautiful than Donna Reed? Has anyone been more evil than Mr. Potter? I love, LOVE that Potter has zero redemption, that this film is dark enough that the villain would let an innocent man go to prison for daring to step on his business. That's some balls for a Christmas movie. The lows in this movie are true lows, the worst it could get for every character in the film. It makes the payoffs ever so sweet.

2.) Love Actually

Yes, it's saccharine sweet, but I love this sugar. All the characters that tie up all-too-neatly at the end in a perfectly wrapped present. It should be too much, but it's Christmas! I feel it in my fingers, I feel it in my toes...

3.) National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

In junior high, my friend Kristen and I would rent this movie at least three times a week. Seriously. In the middle of summer. And we'd watch it while sipping on raspberry Clearly Canadians. No, that is not alcohol, and it is not a euphemism. Bubbly flavored water and Chevy Chase. It didn't get any better than that.

Every scene in this movie is funny. There's not a single moment that misses a chance at being humorous. Crazy stuff happens all the time, yet it somehow feels not-too-out-of-the-ordinary because the conflict is rooted in the dysfunctional family dynamics that we all share.

4.) Bridget Jones's Diary

Who doesn't want Christmas Pride and Prejudice with a messy female protagonist?

5.) Home Alone

Still one of the most fun and imaginative movies I've seen. Watching this, I get to feel like a kid again, and that's always a good thing. Plus, this movie has one of the great scores of all time.

6.) Elf

Every time Will Ferrell trampolines off of the couch into the Christmas tree, I cry. Without fail. It will never not be tear-inducing funny. Just thinking about it makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.

Summer Box Office In Review

The summer movies have played out, making way for Oscar season, which I'm excited about. Just a few thoughts on this summer's offerings.

Best Movies 

JOHN CARTER

This movie was so much fun. The CG was absolutely spectacular. The story was solid. The characters didn't take themselves too seriously. It was just a great popcorn movie, and I'm sad that no one went and saw it. Personally, I thought it was ten times more enjoyable than AVATAR.

BRAVE

Gorgeous. Just gorgeous. No, perhaps not the best story structure or characters for a Pixar movie, but Pixar sets that bar high. Did I mention that this movie was pretty?

Biggest Letdown

PROMETHEUS & SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNSTMAN
(I still love you Charlize, it's not your fault.)

Ugh. I've said all I need to say about PROMETHEUS here.

With SWATH, the movie looked great, but didn't have any substance to back up those visuals. It was boring and not a drop of fun was injected into it by anyone involved. Well, I think Charlize was trying, but she didn't have anything to work with. And why, oh why wasn't the mirror involved in the climax at all? So many missed opportunities in this movie.

THE HUNGER GAMES

I had high hopes. I usually love Gary Ross's films and I loooove Jennifer Lawrence, so I thought this one would be excellent. Plus, I lovelovelove (triple love trumps elongated "o" love) BATTLE ROYALE. Seriously, that movie is the shit. There's egregious violence being doled out by children accompanied with a heartfelt love story, all done compellingly. So I have no problem with this subject matter, and I thought THE HUNGER GAMES would be much of the same, done in a PG-13 style.

THG wasn't a bad film by any means, but I felt like it had been adapted into a movie that only the fans of the book would truly love. For me, someone who did not read the book, there were too many characters. I found the "love" story confusing because I didn't understand the characters' motivations. So much time was spent showing the rich people world before we got to the games. And all that training crap...for what? We spend forever building up to the short dude throwing something big and impressing everybody, and then he never throws anything heavy again. What the...? Too much time spent in the wrong places for me.

MOONRISE KINGDOM

All the critics went batty for this one. I love Wes Anderson's aesthetic, but I rarely enjoy his movies and this one was no different (I want to like them, really I do). Not much of a story with this one. And all those great actors with nothing to do. Sad face.

Most Pleasant Surprise

21 JUMP STREET

I think this one technically came out in the spring, but I just saw it recently. This was very funny and the writing was great. I loved how the characters' roles reversed, but in an organic sort of way, very clever. This movie was so much better than it should have been, and how many times do you say that?

A Good Movie That was Totally Off the Radar

SEEKING A FRIEND FOR THE END OF THE WORLD

This one had some odd bits. The tone was a little all over the place, and the casting was slightly head-scratching. But once you get past that, this one was an enjoyable little indie rom com. It had the best last scene to come around in a long time.

R.I.P., Tony Scott

Tony Scott has long been one of my favorite action movie directors. His films were always fun and popcorn with a little smarts mixed in, never feeling like they were dragged through development hell, which is how most action movies feel to me.

Tony Scott made a lot of memorable films, but CRIMSON TIDE is the first movie I think of when I hear Tony Scott's name. No, it's certainly not his showiest film, but it's the best example of a contained thriller I've ever seen. If someone wrote that script today, it would be the hottest spec on the market.

My love for CRIMSON TIDE exists not solely because it is a fine film, but the sentimental attachment I have with it; it was the first R-rated film I saw at the theatre. My two underage cousins and I snuck in. We didn't get past the previews before a theatre staffer shined the flashlight on us. Busted. But the staffer didn't kick us out. She merely confiscated the bags of M&M's and Skittles we smuggled in to avoid the pricey concession stand. And then she left us to enjoy the movie. Which we did.

Oh man, and that score. I think the score for CRIMSON TIDE is Hans Zimmer's finest work.

Beginning, Middle, End

As a writer, my strengths lie in dialogue, characters, and theme. I've never been particularly good at, or fond of, structure. But I know that structure is a necessary, necessary evil. There must be a beginning, a middle, and an end. The middle should be longer than the beginning and end. That's about all the thought I put into structure during my screenplay's first draft, and I always end up where I want to in terms of page count.

I recently watched Meek's Cutoff, a film about pioneers travelling the Oregon Trail. The film looks beautiful, makeup and wardrobe are fantastic. The sound design is spectacular, an eternal wagon wheel squeak effectively conveys the misery that this journey held for everyone seeking a better life out West. For that alone, this film might be worth watching.

What was most surprising was that Meek's Cutoff didn't have a beginning, middle, and end. It only had a middle, which makes for an odd, unfulfilling movie experience.

MILD SPOILERS

At the beginning of Meek's Cutoff, we learn from an etching that our travelling party of eight used to be larger, but we don't know when the other members died or how. Those who have fallen are never mentioned. The remaining group has already realized that their leader, Mr. Meek, has no clue where he's going, so the slow, burning realization moment is non-existent. We're just travelling with the settlers, dum-de-dum.

A couple interesting plot points occur, but it's all just middle-of-the-road stuff. The settlers are miserable and scared. The level of misery and terror doesn't significantly change during the movie, though it does build, slightly. And then it comes time for everyone to make a final choice. We don't know what choice is made because the movie ends.

I'm all for ambiguous endings. The Handmaid's Tale is one of my favorite books. But I think ambiguous endings need to be executed exceedingly well. Remember all the theatre groans at the end of Inception? Didn't quite work, and I felt the same way about Meek's Cutoff. We ended the same place that we started. Yes, the journey was effective, but we didn't go anywhere.

Savages - Fill in the Blank

Slight SPOILERS if you haven't seen the film.

Savages could have used more __________.

1. Blake Lively doing something. Anything.
2. Emile Hirsch. Why are you even in this movie?
3. Dia de Los Muertos masks. Seriously, I just love the way they look, so cool.

Savages could have used less __________.

1. Voiceover. It's not terrible, but at times it's overwrought.
2. Obvious violence. I like my violence to be more of a surprise. On the plus side, you always have a good five second warning that something bad is going to happen so you can close your eyes if you want.
3. Endings. One is enough. Commit and go with it, no need for half-assed consolation endings.

Almost...almost...and...nope: a few thoughts on Prometheus

FASSBENDER.
RAPACE.
THERON.

You had me at Fass--

This was the movie I was most looking forward to this summer. And, well, I left the theater disappointed.

If you haven't seen the movie, this post contains SPOILERS.

Let's start with the positive, the movie is beautiful. The photography, production design, VFX, everything visual is gorgeous. And, story-wise, the movie starts out well. Two married scientists, Shaw and Holloway, discover cave paintings that solidify their theory about human creation. Fast forward to a space mission searching on for the Creators on the depicted planet from cave paintings. The exploration starts out slow which I didn't mind. Especially in thriller/horror movies, I think it's effective to start slow and ramp up the pace as you go along. The longer it takes for something to happen, the more tension has built up. Prometheus does a good job with that.

It's when stuff starts to go wrong for the crew that the movie derails on me. Now I've only seen the movie once and perhaps I missed a few things. Some of my issues with the movie might seem nit-picky, and I promise I didn't go into the movie expecting to dissect it, there were just a lot of things that rubbed me the wrong way as I was getting theater ass. Ultimately, I found this to be one of the most frustrating movies I've seen in a long time. You know how sometimes you see a movie that wasn't terrible but you didn't like it and you can't quite put your finger on why? Well, I knew exactly why I didn't like Prometheus as I was watching it.

First, the crew (and this crew was large, way too large) find a Creator head and bring it back to Prometheus, their ship. Shaw and Other Female Doctor analyze it. And Holloway, who's spent a good chunk of his life searching for human origin and finally found it, calmly sits across the room boozing it up. WHAT? Is he not a scientist? Why isn't he all up in that? He seems like he'd rather be at a honky-tonk on Earth.

Onto the Geologists (Broken Arm and Acid Face). Are they even Geologists? What are they looking for? I have no idea. They seem terrified by the life form reading, like they know about the existence of potentially-deadly alien life, but it's never clear why they broke off from the others or what they were doing.

And enigmatic David. I'm tired of evil robots. Robots aren't evil. They're neutral. Why wasn't David neutral? Why did he poison Holloway? David was just working for some old dude who didn't want to die. Why was he programmed to kill a scientist? It didn't make sense.

And then there's the Creators. Somewhere along the line some crew member drops a line about this not being the Creators' home planet. This is some dangerous shiz, and they were way too clever to use their own planet as a scientific playground. So why did the cave paintings point to this place? Maybe it's just supposed to be another of the movie's many unanswered questions, but it strikes me as a continuity error. And, as a Creator, if you made a race in the likeness of yourself how many tens of thousands of years ago, and then they just woke you up and spoke to you in your own language, would your reaction really be to kill them? Maybe answer a couple questions, ask a couple yourself, and then kill them. I don't know, just a thought.

There is supposed to be a noble moment near the end when Idris Elba and two other people decide to sacrifice themselves with the ship to stop the Creators from destroying the Earth. Okay. So, here on Earth in 2012, we have the technology to launch things at other things and blow them up, no manpower needed. More than a few decades from now, we won't have the technology to launch an object at another object, no manpower needed? And, more depressingly, why were those other two characters even in this movie? Except for that awesome moment when Idris asks the Asian guy for coordinates or something and his face is freaking out and he's clearly screaming his lines, but they ADR'd him to be calmly say, "I'm pulling them up," or something similar. Did anyone else notice that? I kind of want to see the movie again just for that line, 'cause that's funny stuff. But those two characters did nothing except steal screen time from Idris. How dare they.

And poor Charlize. What the hell was going on there? She crawls out of the hyper sleep, dripping wet and clearly ill, and immediately drops into push-ups while asking for status updates. Girlfriend doesn't need anyone to hold her hair when she pukes. This woman is badass. And then the movie utterly fails at doing the daddy-doesn't-love-me-jealous-sibling thing. And then we're supposed to cheer when she is literally crushed? Why? Because she killed Holloway after warning him 50 times not to come any closer? Because she followed THE EXACT SAME PROTOCOL THAT RIPLEY TRIED TO IN ALIEN? A villain who acts like a hero. Yikes.

And, finally, the confusion of Shaw. She never puts anything together. She never realizes that David killed Holloway, which seems strange. She doesn't seem terribly upset or surprised at the ulterior motives on the ship. Our hero doesn't need to put all the pieces together, but she should at least complete the parts of the puzzle that directly affect her. Also, she seems so sweet and accessible, yet has no relationship with anyone else on the ship, which makes it feel like everyone else is against her. I don't think that was the case but it was confusing.

The Surgery Scene. I know, what could be wrong with The Surgery Scene? Nothing! The surgery scene is a great scene for Shaw. It's gross but highly watchable (and I'm a little queasy). Unfortunately, it comes right after scenes where David drugs her, and Other Female Doctor and Another Male Doctor try to examine her, but she knocks them out. Then we have The Surgery Scene. And then Shaw discovers Weyland and decides to go meet the Creators and boom! EVERYONE was standing in front of the Creator, even though they all just assaulted each other. Awkward.

And also, if you're going to drop a line about humans not being able to survive on the planet's atmosphere without oxygen for X amount of time, please have a payoff somewhere. Anywhere. And also, if you drop a line like this, please don't have the Creator, with the same DNA as humans, able to hop about from one ship to the next in the open atmosphere, when it's been established that they breathe oxygen, too.

And, finally, ohmygodwhyhaveGuyPearceplayanoldman??? I mean, I know old actors play all the major roles in every single movie nowadays, so I'm sure it was near impossible to find someone over 60 in Hollywood looking for work. But TRY. Old people masks look like old people masks. He looked more computer generated than the Creators. Ugh.

I tried not to watch the trailer during the oodles of sports programming leading up to the movie's release. I could shift my eyes away, but I would still hear the music. That creepy, siren pulsing, techno-y music sounded perfectly terrifying. That music is not in this movie. This movie has a lot of...wait for it...french horn. Wow. I really thought they were going to go more cutting edge with the music. The french horn seemed wrong and distracted me more than once. I know it was an artistic choice to have a very '90's sounding, old-school score, but I think the movie would've benefited from more of a Chemical Brothers feel, since the look of the movie was so cool.

I hadn't seen Alien in many years and I watched it before seeing Prometheus. Perhaps the ship that the Alien crew comes across was not supposed to be the same ship as in Prometheus. But it looks just like it. Couldn't they have ended the movie with the last surviving Creator crawling back onto its ship and climbing into the Captain Chair (yes, that's its scientific name) before dying? I would've forgiven a lot if that would've matched up. I may have even smiled. But, alas, Prometheus ended and the chair was empty. Along with my expectations.

Prometheus feels like an episode of LOST; an episode near the end where the characters were as confused as the audience and for every question answered, three more questions pop up in its place. I think it's merely coincidence that Damon Lindeloff had a hand in the movie. Remember the whole Nottingham debacle? If not, please check out Sex in a Submarine's article, it's well worth the read. Ridley Scott makes the movie he wants to make. And that's that.

This is what I've taken away from Prometheus as a writer: you can make your story as confusing as you want, as long as it's clear how your characters FEEL about the situation they're in. I didn't know how Shaw was feeling about anything after the first act. I knew I wanted to root for her. I wanted her to find closure. But her character never seemed...anywhere, emotionally. If your character doesn't know where they're at, your audience won't care where they're going. And that is movie death.

An A-Lister Who Loves Organic Tacos

Living in L.A. for more than a few years, I've run into a few celebrities. It happens, we all live in the same town. And I'm not talking about movie screenings with Q&A panels, those don't count. I'm talking about random run-ins in the produce section, hearing famous voices while buying fluffy towels, and spying one of my favorite musical artists at the best strip club in Los Angeles.

I don't get all star-struck about celebrities. They're just normal people who happen to have a lot more money than me. Kind of like all of my bosses. So, I try to make a point about not being an a-hole, and if I see anyone, I give myself one long look, take a satisfied breath of enjoyment at the surreal moment of someone larger than life all of a sudden being so much smaller than myself (literally, most celebrities are tiny), and then be on my way, letting them try to live their lives as normally as possible.

My first celebrity was a little lame. I'd been in L.A. for about a week and was scoping out towels at Bed Bath and Beyond when I heard a familiar voice around the corner. Who is that? I took a peep. Oh, it's just John Tesh. I was more embarrassed that I knew John Tesh's voice than excited about seeing him. I think it was from all of the gymnastics competitions I watched as a child.

My local Whole Foods has been a good spot. I've seen Wayne Knight (Seinfeld's Newman), Mario Lopez (he is very short, no taller than me) and Sarah Chalke (who is very thin and pretty without a drop of makeup).

At Trader Joe's there was a very tall man in front of me in line. He looked average with a hint of creepiness, and, oddly, familiar. He smiled with unbleached teeth, and just when I started to doubt my celebrity radar, he started chatting with the cashier about how Rainn Wilson gave him his hat. Ah, it was Creed from The Office. Also at Trader Joe's, I've seen Kevin McKidd loading groceries into his car with his parents. Adorable.

While serving jury duty, I was on my way to the courtroom when a very tall (at least 6'4") Jon Voight stepped into the crowded elevator. Even celebrities have to serve jury duty! This was right after he and daughter Angelina Jolie went through a very public falling out. There was that nervous hush that comes when everyone wants to ask the same thing all at the same time, but no one has the courage to.

When Conan O'Brien was being courted to take over Jay Leno's job, I saw him on the Universal Lot and I couldn't help but smile at him. And he smiled back and got into his completely unassuming car. I love you Conan!

One Sunday Hubs and I had a Glee day. We went hiking and passed Jane Lynch. She has great skin, beautiful. Then we went to brunch at Hugo's and saw Chris Colfer, who looks exactly like Kurt.

Also at Hugo's, I once sat at a table next to James Cromwell who was reading a script. Part of me still regrets not gushing to him how he played such a great bad guy in my favorite movie, L.A. Confidential. But I'm sure he appreciated that I let him eat his lunch and read in peace.

Perhaps my most unexpected sighting was at Jumbo's Clown Room, an awesomely divey faux strip club in Hollwood, where girls just wanna have fun while dancing in their underwear. It's a fun time for all (except if you're a dude expecting full on nudity, as was the case with one person at my table, and he did not stop whining about it all night). We were sitting up in the back (the place is small) and I recognized the swallow tattoo on P!nk's shoulder before I saw her face. She was sitting in the front row with her husband and it turned out to be her birthday. I love her music, her voice, and now I like her even more.

A couple years later, Hubs and I were walking into our favorite sushi restaurant when I saw a cute, short-haired blonde sitting outside waiting. It looked like P!nk, but there was no way this place would make P!nk wait for a table. I went and checked in. Sure enough, P!nk's name was on the waiting list. And now I love my sushi place even more because if you don't have a reservation, it doesn't matter who you are, you're going to have to wait.

As previously mentioned, Hugo's Restaurant is a celebrity goldmine, but, really, their taco stand across the street? Yes, yes, and yes. One day I walked over for lunch and a really scruffy Sam Trammell from True Blood was there. And as I moved over to pick up my food, Melissa Gilbert was seated at the nearest table. But last night, I had my favorite celebrity siting yet, courtesy of Hugo's Tacos.

As we crossed the street, we passed the pick-up window. I was yammering on about something pointless and as we stepped up to order, Hubs said vaguely, "Is that someone sitting there?" After a brief scan and seeing no one, he said, "Nevermind. I don't think so." As we started ordering, a number was called and Hubs nodded at the pick-up window. I looked over. A chiseled nose poked out as a tall figure in an enormous, black, down-filled coat pulled a hood over his head. Much like Jared Leto and his ridiculous trapper hat, it is never, ever cold enough in L.A. for a huge black snow coat. Unlike Jared Leto, this guy was clearly trying to hide. I stared at the hooded man. Is it him? I mean, why else would he be hiding in the giant hood? And then he turned, coming directly towards me, locking eyes as I stared at his face. Yes, it was him. And Ryan Gosling was looking back at me with his steely Ryan Gosling eyes, probably wishing I would die, because, really if you're going to wear a hood that big and people like me who usually make an effort not to gawk at celebrities was hard-core gawking, what hope does he have?

He drives a big SUV (disappointing) and his eyes weren't nearly as blue as I expected, but I think that can be blamed on the terrible Hugo's lighting. However, the good outweighs the bad. He actually looks better in person. Yeah, I know, how is that even possible? He looks younger than he does on screen. I don't know how old he is, but I would've guessed max 25. So...props for looking so young and healthy, as if he needs it.

I'm sure these aren't all the celebrities I've seen, but they're the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Oh, and speaking of Ryan Gosling, I just saw Drive and I kind of loved it. Go see it.

R.I.P. Nancy Wake

Move over Rosie the Riveter. Nancy Wake would've kicked your ass.

This inspires me. Everything about this woman is fascinating. There is an amazing film in here somewhere. Though there have been miniseries, I don't think anyone has seen them, and the subject could be covered again.

I don't know why, because this obituary was awesome, but reading about Nancy made me think of Sucker Punch. Yes, I just put the White Mouse and Sucker Punch in the same sentence, and I apologize. But I couldn't help thinking while reading that the story of those elite British women trained to go behind enemy lines during WWII should have replaced the burlesque babes wielding samurai swords. If I was Zack Snyder, I know which movie I would've made.

Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Be careful what you wish for.

A few days ago I posted about how excited I was about seeing Crazy, Stupid, Love. I was elated at its PG-13 rating and wanted all the teens to go see it. Apparently, the filmmakers wanted the same thing because in a movie that starred Steve Carell, Julianne Moore, Ryan Gosling, and Emma Stone, there was way, way too much time given to the storylines involving the unknown teenagers in this film (although I admittedly watched America's Next Top Model when Analeigh Tipton was a contestant, and  was rooting for her to win because she was the cool, open-minded girl who gave that transitioning girl her hormone shots). I felt like every time I was invested in the Carell/Moore/Gosling storylines, slam! We'd be back on those damn kids.

I thought the movie seemed a little choppy in places. The tone of some scenes didn't seem to flow with the previous scene. Perhaps the scenes were rearranged during editing, I don't know. I didn't read the script, though have heard it was quite good.

Steve Carell was pretty fantastic. I could see him getting a Golden Globe nod for comedy on this one. It wasn't an easy part to play, and I think he nailed it. Ryan Gosling is suprisingly funny, still seems a bit weird, and gorgeous as ever. I thought he and Emma Stone had great chemisty, and I wanted to see more of them together.

There were definitely some moments and situations that I didn't see coming. That's always refreshing, and worth the admission price. Overall, the film was actually funnier than I thought it would be. There were even a few laugh out loud moments, which are becoming more and more rare.

I think I'm being harder on this film because I had hope that it could be one of my favorites of all time, a rom com that I would watch on Sunday when it plays all over cable and I don't even care that there are commercials. This was not that movie. The film was good, but it didn't leave me with the warm, fuzzy feeling I wanted, and I'm not itching to see it again anytime soon.

Captain America: The Mediocre Beginning of Another Hopefully Uncrappy Franchise

I haven't seen any comic book movies this summer. Not even X-Men, which was well-reviewed, and I loved the first X-Men movie, so I've been upset at myself for missing it. Since all the critics seemed to enjoy CA, I thought it would be a last ditch effort to see a good summer popcorn movie.

Okay, it's been a long summer season, and I think the critics' brains have been fried. My expectations were raised due to all the good buzz, and boy was this disappointing. I don't think I've ever seen Chris Evans in a movie, and I know all the young hot guys in Hollywood competed for this part, so I expected his charisma to just leap off the screen at me. Nope. Not that he was bad, but I didn't feel like this guy was a star. (Oh, I just remembered, he was in Scott Pilgrim, not that it matters.) And Hugo Weaving doing his best Werner Herzog! All I could think of was Werner Herzog reading Go the Fuck to Sleep (the best celebrity reading so far). It was so hard not to get the giggles every time he was onscreen.

The movie starts out slowly, ahem, boring. Just as it gets interesting, it becomes a montage. Captain America is never, not even for half a second, ever in danger. There is no tension at all. No big obstacles for him to work around and outsmart. No suspense. Isn't that what action movies are all about? Halfway through the movie I turned to Hubs and said, "I set my expectations way too high." He thought the movie was even worse than I did.

I will keep Captain America in mind when writing action in the future. Your protagonist needs to be in peril. Preferably more than once. The audience shouldn't be able to figure out how he/she is going to escape. There must be tension. The opening scene should be awesome in some way that's unexpected. The last scene should be solid and feel like a real ending. The best part of the movie shouldn't be a trailer for another movie.

A Few Thoughts on R-Rated Comedies

The cineplexes have been filled with R-Rated comedies this summer. I saw Bridesmaids, Horrible Bosses, Bad Teacher, and No Strings Attached and Going the Distance (which came out earlier this year). I have not seen Hangover 2 (I saw the first one, so I think I already saw the second one) or Friends with Benefits.

Okay, I loved Bridesmaids. Yes, it had its moments of raunch, which usually aren't my thing, but they made the movie funnier. Therefore, it's R-rating was earned. And, this movie, whether it was rated G or R, had a soul. The characters came first. I cared about them and wanted everything to work out for them. Even the moments of raunch were character driven, not just stuck in there to be gross for the sake of being gross. Future R-rated comedies take note.

Another R-rated comedy that worked for me was Going the Distance. The dialogue was witty and frank. The cursing was funny and natural sounding. The nudity was comedic. Good chemistry between Justin Long and Drew Barrymore. R-rating earned. However, I think the R-rating hurt this film. It was promoted as a simple rom com, not the raunchy R-rated comedy that it was. The rom com crowd didn't want it, the raunch crowd didn't know about it. Ironically, it's one of the best rom coms I've seen in a long time, it just happens to be rated R. It was much, much funnier than the more successful No Strings Attached, which lacked in chemistry and character development.

I enjoyed Horrible Bosses, but I didn't think it needed to be rated R. I mean, Aniston didn't even get naked. No R-rating there. Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, and Charlie Day have all proven to be hilarious on network television with no swears. Plus, there should have been more Golden-Globe-Winner Colin Farrell. He was hilarious. And sorely underused.

Bad Teacher definitely didn't need to be rated R. Take out an unfunny dry humping scene and a couple out-of-place f-bombs and it could've easily been PG-13. Why is it so uncool to be PG-13? Maybe I'm biased because I tend to write PG-13 comedy. In real life, I love to swear. It's a vice I relish in. Oddly, I always find it hard to make my characters swear. In my writing, profanities are like exclamation points; I use them sparingly for emphasis.

This pattern in my writing stems back to my teenage years. When I was in high school, all I wanted to do was go see movies. I lived in a small town and there wasn't much to do if you weren't causing trouble, so I spent a lot of my free time at the movie theatre. And the box office lady, nicknamed Skeletor, was the Guardian of the Realm of the R-Rated. She knew exactly who was seventeen and who wasn't, and it was her sacred duty to protect our innocent eyes. And, shockingly, my entire adolescence I was under seventeen. So movie options were limited.

I think I'm always writing for my sixteen-year-old self. Yes, I write scripts about adults, for adults. But I remember when I was a teen I wanted to see movies about adults. I wouldn't have wanted to see Selena Gomez and Leighton Meester trouncing around Europe (not that there's anything wrong with that). I would've wanted to see Bridesmaids. I would've wanted to see Horrible Bosses. I would've wanted to see Bad Teacher. And I would've wanted to see Crazy, Stupid, Love.

As an adult, I'm still excited to see Crazy, Stupid, Love. It looks like it has soul. I hope all the high-schoolers, and everyone else, show up and prove that it's profitable to make a funny PG-13 movie so Funny = R is no longer the law of the land.

A Quick Note on the Last Harry Potter

I've quite enjoyed the Harry Potter franchise. The Prisoner of Azkaban was by far the best film, and a few of the other ones have been good as well. But I'm ready for it to all be over. Let these poor kids move on with their careers, if that's even possible at this point. I do believe it will be possible for Matt Lewis.

Seriously, who would have thought that out of all the HP kids, Neville would grow up to be the most dashing? He looks like a young Clive Owen. Note to studios: the ladies are definitely down with young Clive Owen.

R.I.P. Tim Heatherington

I've been out of the country and without internet access, so I was shocked and saddened when I learned yesterday that photographer and documentarian Tim Heatherington was killed on April 20 while covering the Libyan civil war.

His movie Restrepo almost made my Top Ten list for last year. It's a raw, moving, disturbing, and honest look through the eyes of American soldiers stationed in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley that everyone should see. This is what modern day war looks like. And Tim was brave enough to go behind the lines with the these soldiers and tell their stories. Before Restrepo, Tim went behind rebel lines in Liberia to cover the civil war there.

Tim left the world all the fascinating images he captured on his camera. This photo of an American soldier in the Korengal Valley was his most famous. It won the prestigous World Press Photo Award in 2007, out of over 75,000 other entries.

Says it all, doesn't it?

Island of Flowers

I was watching the Nicaragua episode of No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain. He observed that it would be hard to do his gluttonous food show after witnessing young children digging through a landfill for food and recyclables. The scene reminded me of a documentary short that I saw years ago. It will definitely stick with you.

Elizabeth Taylor

Elizabeth Taylor passed away on March 23 at the age of 79. The media was quick to label the occasion as the death of the last true Hollywood star. Somewhere, Debbie Reynolds muttered, "Really? Are you effing kidding me?" And Lauren Bacall rolled her eyes and continued reading the phonebook just to listen to her own voice.

All the summations of Ms. Taylor's life have blurbed about her personal life overshadowing her acting career. Maybe it's because I wasn't alive when all the drama was taking place, or maybe because I watched a recent interview with Debbie Reynolds where she spoke of making peace with Elizabeth decades ago, but I've always just seen her as a gifted actress, stunning beauty, and gracious humanitarian. I recently watched Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Great performance. And, of course, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? would be the performance of any actress's career.

Okay, her personal life was pretty soap operatic with her first husband, Mike Todd (founder of the famous Todd-AO) dying in a tragic plane crash when she was 26 and the whole Eddie Fisher drama to on again, off again with Richard Burton for over a decade. But I will always remember Elizabeth as National Velvet.

This movie was one of my favorites growing up, and it still holds up. The Pi? Any little girl's fantasy. And Donald Crisp and Anne Revere are the parents you dream of having as a child; smart, loving, and flawed, but able to recognize their flaws. Anne Revere won a well-deserved Best Supporting Actress Oscar for the film. Unfortunately, her film career was ruined after she was blacklisted for refusing to testify to HUAAC. Ugh, what an ugly time in American history. Such a shame for all the talent so senselessly punished, and such a shame for us all, missing out on so many great Anne Revere (and countless others) performances.

But I have digressed. Rest in peace, Elizabeth. I'm sure Hollywod will make a movie about your life soon.

A Few Notes About Romantic Comedies

Romantic comedy chat has come up on Done Deal recently. One thread asked what's wrong with romantic comedies. I commented that they aren't living up to their namesake. There's no romance. There's no falling in love. Where has all the chemistry gone? The "New York Times" had this article awhile back: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/opinion/04dowd.html?_r=1

Most people blame the recent plummet of rom coms on their formula. We all know how it ends; the couple gets together. Well, movies are all formulaic. In general, they're going to end two ways, happily or sadly. When you go to see an action movie or a thriller, you know the bad guy gets it at the end, or he doesn't. It's either one or the other.

We don't pay to see movies because of the endings, we pay for the journey. And just because rom coms have predictable endings, doesn't mean the journey has to feel tired. The journey feeling boring and been-there-done-that is a problem within the genre, but just pointing to rom coms and saying, "Ick, formula, run!" is a cop out.

People either like the genre or they don't. Which is fine. Viewers who like rom coms will continue to pay to see them because they want a happy ending. People want to see feel good movies. Why do you think The King's Speech has been so successful? Word of mouth has spread about it's excellent performances and how uplifted people felt when they left the theatre. Can't say the same about The Social Network, Black Swan, or Inception. All, in my opinion, are better films than TKS, but they don't leave you with that fuzzy warmth in the pit of your stomach.

I'm a proud writer of romantic comedies. I focus on trying to create journeys that don't feel like a road I've been down a thousand times before. It's effin' hard to create a world that has to satisfy genre expectations and feel fresh. I like the challenge. And I find it depressing every time a rom com comes out and sucks. It feels like a little piece of my favorite genre is dying.

The thread on rom com problems led to someone creating a thread asking to name your favorite rom com. This was particularly comical because you find out real fast who likes rom coms and who doesn't.

I like Shaun of the Dead (liked Hot Fuzz better) but it is not a rom com. It was listed again and again. Yes, there's a tiny romantic storyline, but if the last scene of the movie is about a dude hanging out with another dude (and they're not making out) it's a freaking bromance! And bromance is not romantic comedy.

Someone listed True Lies. If I would've been drinking when I read that I would've spit all over my computer screen. That is a person who haaaates romantic comedies. That's like me saying that My Best Friend's Wedding is an action movie because there's a chase scene in it. Hah!

For the most part, I don't watch movies multiple times. But these are the rom coms that I can (and do) watch over and over again:

It Happened One Night
The Philadelphia Story
Bridget Jones's Diary
You've Got Mail
Kissing Jessica Stein
Love, Actually
The Cutting Edge
Green Card
While You Were Sleeping
Cousins
Clueless
I.Q.

Runners Up (They're very good, but I wouldn't watch them more than once a year):

When Harry Met Sally
Peggy Sue Got Married
Moonstruck
Fever Pitch
Return to Me
Date with an Angel (childhood favorite)

I'll keep adding to the list as they come to me.