Friday Flick Picks

Foreign, comedy, classic. I feel like there's a funny joke with those 3 words but I just can't put my finger on it...(please reply with your best attempts). Audrey Hepburn aside, because nothing compares to her Oscar winning masterpiece, I wasn't wowed by either movie this week. Rust and Bone left too many plot questions unanswered, and main characters didn't feel fully developed. This is 40 was just depressing to me. Moments of comedy seemed too far between all the Debbie downer moments between Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann's characters. New movies are over rated, stick with the classics apples! 

Have a wonderful weekend, Hoppy Easter, and enjoy some sunshine! 

Friday Flick Picks

Anyone else feeling a little drained after the Oscars? Ok good, I'm not either! Slightly hard on myself for only getting 16 out 24 right on my ballot, but lucky for me I'll get another chance next February. Unfortunately, after the Oscars the movie world goes into a horrible dry spell. Bad movies are released weekly to fill our hearts until Summer blockbusters come out. So now is the perfect time to catch movies I never saw in the theatres, documentaries, and old classics. Don't worry apples we'll weather the bad movie storm together!

This week I was happy to get in four movies. I saw Amour on Saturday night, and really wished Emmanuelle Riva had won best actress. The movie is rip your heart out touching. It truly is a beautiful telling of love between two people. It's my pick of the week. The other movies I saw this week were just all right. I wouldn't highly recommend any of them to watch, unless you love you some B. That woman can dance, sing, and flip her hair, like crazy!

Friday Flick Picks

I had to get in one last Oscar nominated movie before Sunday, plus one more for good measure. I wasn't wow-ed by either one to tell you the truth. I should have trusted my instinct and saw Die Hard 5 instead. Silver Linings was ok, but a little all over the place for me. I wasn't blown away by JLaw's performance, to me, Chris Tucker gave the surprise great performance  Side Effects was no better. A total disappointment.  Steven Soderbergh and, my new favorite actress, Rooney Mara, and I still couldn't get behind it. A slow plot, with a bad pace, and plot twists that seemed obvious and confusing all at the same time (if that's possible). Save your pennies, and see something next week, or catch some of the Oscar winners after Sunday.

And speaking of which...Oscars are Sunday! If you can't tell, I am pumped! It's the Super Bowl to a movie nerd like myself. Research will be done, blogs and articles will be consulted, to ensure I have the most right answers on my ballot. I've seen 8 out of the 9 Best Picture nominated, and had good SAG and Golden Globe ballot answers, so I'm feeling pretty confident. Argo is winning best picture of 2012 you can bet on that, and in my favorite category, best animated short, Paperman will definitely get the win. Watch it here, and tell me your heart didn't melt.

Happy movie watching my little apples! 

Friday Flick Picks

Powerful tear jerker. The title sums it up, it seems impossible that a family of 5 separated by a tsunami can all survive and find one another. It's a beautiful story, but a little difficult to watch. When I think of natural disasters in movies they come off apparently fake. It usually fits into an "end of the world disaster" movie and you don't get to see in detail the effects of something like this. The Impossible really breaks it down, and even though nothing bloody or gory was happening I found that I couldn't watch it in places because it was so horrifyingly real. If you're at the bottom of your "must watch" list before the Oscars go and see this movie, but if you're on the fence I say wait to rent it. Naomi is great as usual, but nothing that's going to win her an award. But what a beautiful story about family. Happy weekend little apples! 

Flick Picks

With Globes behind us, and SAG and Oscar's looming I am making progress on the nomination list. Zero Dark Thirty got my heart racing this past weekend! This is a pretty recent story to go from headlines to silver screen. Usually when I watch a "based on a true story" movie I have little or no memory of the real event it's based on, but for this, I can remember what was happening in my life when I heard the news of Osama Bin Laden death. Jessica Chastain does a great job in this movie, but she doesn't play your typical heroine. Typically, a main character has a complication, a climax, and a resolution. Her character internalizes everything, that you don't get to experience this normal character arc. In a way it's brilliant, and in another way it's disappointing. Overall, it's an interesting movie and I don't think you'd be disappointed if you saw it.

I hope you guys didn't mind Flick Picks today, because I want to share some sneak peek photos from the new Anthropologie opening. So check back in tomorrow for some eye candy!

Friday Flick Picks

Right now we are in the midst of my favorite time of year: award season. Golden Globes, SAG awards, and the Oscars all have their ceremonies centered around my favorite thing: movies. With all the buzz around many best picture and actor nominations, it heightens my excitement about a lot of great movies in theatres. I'm doing my best to catch as many as I can, so I can make the most informed decision when it comes to filling out my ballot. But more on those types of things when we get closer to the big night. For now I'd like to share what I've been watching lately. I haven't done Flick Picks for a few weeks now, so I have a handful to share.

 

 

Three Oscar nominated movies, one documentary, and an indie movie I had been waiting to show up in Redbox. My favorite of these five, hands down, was Django Unchained. Charismatic, funny, suspenseful, well acted, directed, scored; an all around masterpiece. Loved it from start to finish. It's bit on the bloody side (but what Tarantino film isn't?) but so powerful and entertaining. Second to that I would have to say Lincoln. A bit of a surprise for me, because going into it I thought it would be dull and slow. Despite some mediocre performances by other actors in the film Daniel Day Lewis made the film remarkable. I was truly captivated every time he opened his mouth. He is going to win every award for this performance. And just because it needs to be said, Les Miserables was a total bust. Boring, filled with too many closeups, and not as emotional and powerful as musicals tend to be when telling a story. Just know that Anne Hathaway is great; you don't need to sit through a 3 hour movie, you're welcome.

 

All I can say is get out to the movies this month. It's cold and grey out so a movie is the perfect solution to a boring Saturday afternoon. There are too many great movies out to not see at least one.

 

On my movie radar: Zero Dark Thirty, The Impossible, Silver Lining's Playbook, and Beasts of the Southern Wild (it's in Redbox)

Early, Flick Picks

With a post turkey hangover I totally spaced on sharing my Friday flick picks with you guys last week. And, I was so excited to have seen multiple new movies that I had to break the rules a little and share them today. So before Friday (I saw a few over the weekend that I'll share at the end of this week too) I saw HBO's Game Change, rented Friends with Kids, and went to the theatres to see Wreck it Ralph. I have to say my favorite of these three was Game Change. Julianne Moore totally deserved her Emmy for this role. She was spot on Sarah Palin. It was so painful to see the "behind the scenes" breakdown of her train wreck of a campaign. Entertaining from start to finish, I seriously think about re-watching it even though I'm no fan of their politics, it was that good. Wreck it Ralph was of course cute and silly, maybe not the best Disney movie I ever saw, but for die hard fans you should give it a watch. Friends with Kids was all right for a Saturday night, but nothing to right home about. I love Jennifer Westfeldt, the director and writer, but I'd say give it a pass unless you're a fan of hers too.

Thanks for accepting my movie post so early in the week. I'll try to balance it out with some fashion and Christmas the rest of this week. Let the countdown to the big day officially begin!

Friday Flick Picks

Bond. James Bond. It was a 007 week for me; preparing myself for the newest installment of Bond movies: Skyfall. Up until last Friday night I had never seen any of James Bond movies staring Daniel Craig. I started with Casino Royale and was so caught up in Bond fever I went to the video rental store (yes, you read that right, not a Redbox, but a rental store. There is still one that exists around here) to search out Quantum Solace to watch the next night. Growing up I knew two Bonds: Sean Connery and Pierce Brosnan. To me, both of them had the suave, debonair way about them. Drinking their martinis and pulling a gun out of their tuxedos. But Daniel Craig is so much more...what's the word...bad-ass about it all. He is rugged, egocentric, provoked, and can run like hell. I love the new twist he brings to this time honored character. He's interesting to watch, can act the hell out of the part, and looks pretty darn good in his wardrobe too. 

I'm off to Philadelphia for work starting today, so I'm not sure how soon I'll get to see Skyfall. But I was able to squeeze a movie in on my last work trip,  maybe I'll get lucky again. I'm sorry to be away for so much of this week, and now this coming week, but I'll get back in  my normal blogging ways soon. The holidays are coming, so there will be much to talk about. 

On my movie radar: Skyfall, and Wreck it Ralph

Friday Flick Picks

Go see this movie! I'm sorry, I had to get that out there first. Wonderfully suspenseful, intense, funny, great screen writing, and impeccably directed! Golden Globes and Oscars buzz will be around this movie. I've tried to not like Ben Affleck but I'll be darned, I am totally in his corner. He has some serious talent when it comes to writing (which he didn't do for this particular movie) and directing. Go see this movie, you'll learn something, you'll laugh, you'll love it, and then you'll wanna go home and watch The Town like I wanted to because you need more Ben in your life.

Next on my movie radar: Wreck it Ralph, and Seven Psychopaths

Friday Flick Picks

So I finally saw The Master, while working in Indianapolis no less. I saw it at my favorite movie theatre in the city: The Keystone Art Cinema. I wish I can say this movie was my favorite...but I can not. It's definitely interesting, makes you think, and beautifully shot and acted. I can see some Oscar buzz around Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix for their roles in the movie. They had such an amazing dynamic together. But the plot just didn't come together for me. I should have know being a Paul Thomas Anderson movie that it wouldn't be some straight forward idea or something under 2 hours! But I wanted to give it a try. I'm glad I saw it, and it did get me thinking and talking about it to many people, so in a way it was successful, but not a home run. Oh well, this is why I love movies. You never know til you see it.

Next (and still) on the movie radar: Argo

Friday Flick Picks

Making sure I see Bruce Willis movies always falls at the top of my "to-do" list. I love an action movie with a a substantial plot, but this one left me wanting a bit more. It was as interesting idea, but whenever you're dealing with time travel I feel like it creates more questions than answers. JGL is becoming a hot name in Hollywood, and I think he's doing a great job living up to his leading male role, but there wasn't enough to like about his character. Bruce, of course, (and I'm a little biased) brought his tough guy-dry humor action "A" game to this film but I wish he was given more dialogue and more to do. Not a great movie, but good. If you're a die hard (haha) Bruce fan get out and see this movie, or even just a good action flick, it won't disappoint.

Next on my movie radar: The Master (still!) and Argo

Friday Flick Picks

Sometimes you end up watching movies you don't really want to watch. I'm blaming HBO to Go for this one. When this movie came out last year I thought, "oh Tom Hanks, I love him, lets check out his movie." But then the little boy in the trailers started to annoy the crap out of me. So I never went to see it. But when you've got nothing to do some week nights; I caved. Sorta sweet but mostly annoying. If you like nervous, annoying kids, then this movie is for you. If you don't, stay strong and watch something else on HBO.

This weekend Looper is in my future (pun intended). I can't wait! Have a great October weekend little apples. xo

Friday Flick Picks

In my hiatus there was some movie watching taking place. Two great sleeper hits (pun intended) that were funny, entertaining, and that I would seriously recommend you check out. Bernie was like a combination of Waiting for Guffman and I Love You Phillip Morris. Unusually funny, interesting characters, and surprisingly great performances from Jack Black and Matthew McConaughey. If you like an off beat movie you will really enjoy this movie. Find it at Redbox. 

With a strong love towards This American Life I couldn't help but to support their first produced film Sleepwalk With Me! Mike Birbiglia, a regular contributor to TAL, elaborated on a story he once shared about his sleepwalking disorder. A deadpan comedy that any public radio fan could appreciate. Expanded to over 100 theatres now, so if Lex has it, more than likely your city will too. 

I'm super pumped about a ton of movies that are set to hit the theatres within the next couple weeks. Right now Looper and The Master are at the top of the list and I can't deny that I would love to see Nemo 3-D as well. Happy weekend everyone! 

Friday Flick Picks

When you a pick a movie to see at the drive in it has to be a movie that is a little ridiculous. Something you don't mind if the quality or sound isn't as awesome as the theatre, or the occasional set of headlights or screaming child running through the parking lot to interrupt your movie. So seeing Expendables 2 seemed like the obvious choice for a night at the Sky-Vue drive in. 

It's your typical uber-cliche action movie, but seeing all the classic action heroes together somehow made it better. Totally laughable and ridiculous in parts, but with great action sequences throughout, i.e., explosions, car chases, guns, bullets flying in all directions, and just your general "kicking assess and taking names" attitude. And I'm a total sucker for any movie with Bruce Willis. 

I'm not trying to recommend everyone run out and see this movie. Only if you're a sucker for an action film, which I usually am, especially the 90's/early 2000 era, would I suggest you should see this movie.  

Have a great weekend guys! 

Pre-Flick Picks

Even though I haven't seen any new movies this week (don't worry, it depresses me too), I still want us to keep the Friday movie conversation alive here on LYA! So in movie world we're in this weird transition period. Summer is winding down so there aren't a ton of big movies being released, and we're not into holiday/Oscar season release dates either. So we're left with some Indie movies, smaller budget films, and the occasional sleeper hits that are coming out right now. Here are some trailers that have caught my eye, and I'm crossing my fingers really hard they make it Lexington!


Mike Birbiglia's film Sleepwalk with Me
Josh Radnor's film Liberal Arts (you all know how I love to support the cast of HIMYM) Todd Louiso's film Hello I Must Be Going. So great to see Melanie Lynskey in a starring role. Craig Zobel's film Compliance. This movie looks to have the same creepy feel as the movie Catfish.  

I hope this gets you guys excited about some up coming movies!

Friday Flick Picks

Yes, I finally made it to the movies! Of course it was to the most talked about, most popular movie of the summer, The Dark Knight Rises, but nevertheless, it's one in the win column.

The Nolan directed Batman series are the only superhero movies I have ever gotten into. I love Christian Bale as Batman and I love watching a Christopher Nolan directed movie; but I had my issues with this movie. Here's what I liked: Tom Hardy. He gives Heath Ledger a run for his money as the best villain in a Batman movie. The mask, his strength, and the voice are all super scary, and he conveys everything through his eyes which is pretty powerful. (He also wears this sick shearling coat in one screen that even I am coveting). I also loved the ending. A great climax with some good twists and teasers that I think left all movie goers satisfied. I'm interested to see if a 4th movie rumor could be true. Bale said that if Nolan directed again than he would be on board. Other highlights from the movie were a great performance by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a couple good cameos (no spoilers here!) and watching the Dark Knight regain his power.

The bummers: Marion Cotillard. Don't get me wrong I love her, but her character seemed unnecessary. I think they could have written the story a little different and found a way to get the point across without her. I wasn't much for the whole Anne Hathaway/Cat Woman angle either, but it didn't bother me as much. The run time was another thing. Two and half hours was a little long for me. Nolan's movies typically have a slower build and some down time, but this movie really seemed to drag in places.

Overall I liked the movie and I would definitely recommend you all to see it. I just loved the first two that I was a little let down by number three. Oh well, it's another movie in the books, and Oscar nominated films are right around the corner!

Have a great weekend guys! xo

Friday Flick Picks

Quirky, dorky, adorableness are the three words I'll use to describe Wes Anderson's latest movie Moonrise Kingdom. This movie has a cute, childlike way and humor about it that reminds me of Fantastic Mr. Fox. Which is perhaps why I liked it so much over many other Wes Anderson movies. It's the perfect summer movie because it encapsulates all the things you hope your summer would be as a child: (or an adult for that matter) romance, adventure, rebellion, camping, and dance parties on the beach.

This movie is all about the details too. From the patches on the khaki scout uniforms to the letterheads on the stationary, it's all so brilliantly thought out. For people in the field of styling or design this movie will make your heart happy. Make it a point to see this movie, you won't be disappointed.


I'm a sucker for cute movie posters, so I couldn't resist showing off a few others I found around the web.

Friday Flick Picks

Being the Disney aficionado that I am you guys know I couldn't pass up seeing Brave last week! It won't become my favorite Pixar movie, but very cute nonetheless. I was pleasantly surprised at the plot too. From the trailers I assumed it was your typical girl to Princess identity struggle, but it turned out to be this sweet look at a mother and daughter's relationship. So if you ever thought your mom didn't "understand" you then you probably tear up during the movie. The animation is incredibly realistic; you'll wish you lived in an Irish castle and had fiery red curly hair.

Friday Flick Picks

First off I need to say I am sorry for not being a better blogger right now. I was super proud of myself for posting so diligently a few weeks ago, and now I'm lucky if I get 3 posts up in a week. Which I realize that is the beauty of having my own blog, I can post and not post when I want to, but I feel like I'm being a bad hostess to you guys. And my Southern personality just can not allow that! So starting Monday I hope to be back to my regular posting ways.

On another note, I finally saw The Five Year Engagement. In theatres no less! The discount theatre, but it still counts. This movie was another home run for Jason Segal in the writing department. He has this great ability to tap into the life of a couple and how they really operate. What keeps them together and what drives them apart. It never feels like your watching a typical Rom-Com because there's nothing corny or overly cheesy about it. And of course Jason is hilarious and entertaining to watch as always, but Chris Pratt and Alison Brie have some comical moments that steal the spotlight. If it's still hanging around a movie theatre where you are I say check it out, if not give it a few more weeks and make it a Redbox night. You'll laugh and then you'll want a donut after (just watch the movie and you'll understand).

Have a great weekend everyone! xo

Friday Flick Picks

I am a huge Zach Braff fan. Like many, I fell head over heals in love with Garden State, but I was also a huge supporter of Scrubs. A totally underrated show; and if I wasn't laughing hysterically at J.D. and Turk then I was crying my eyes out about the sick patients in the hospital. It doesn't hurt that I think he's kind of cute either. This movie came out in 2010 and I'm sad to say that I'm just now getting around to watching it. I was completely surprised to see it on Netflix instant too. The movie is so bittersweet, sad, honest, and simple. It is a very good movie, and if you don't mind French subtitles and a smoking, scruffy face Braff than you will happy you gave it a watch.

On another note, new movies are coming out that I REALLY want to see! Rock of Ages, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, Magic Mike, and Brave (just to name a few) and hopefully Moonrise Kingdom and To Rome with Love will have wide releases to my small city too!