Moon: 'Cause not every film can be what you expected

I know a lot of people who loved this movie. I know a lot of people who described the film in this way: it’s about a man who is sent on a three year mission to the moon with no company other than a talking computer (voiced by Kevin Spacey) and two weeks before he’s scheduled to go home, he finds another version of himself. Which one is the real Sam and be sent back to Earth? If you’ve heard of this film and heard it described in this way, start questioning the people who told you that. Because it’s just not the truth.

Here’s what true: we have Sam, the sweet, harmless hero who is nearing the end of his three year mission on the moon, and is uber excited to get back to his wife and young daughter on Earth. We have GERTY (which must stand for something really smart-sounding), the computer who cares for him. We have a crash while out on a mission. Sam wakes up and is told he is too weak to go outside, that a rescue mission is on its way, and Sam tricks GERTY into letting him go outside, where he discovers another version of himself. What we don’t have is them discussing which is the “real” Sam and who gets to go back to Earth. Because the secrets they discuss are MUCH bigger and more interesting than going home.

To say that this film didn’t fulfill my expectations of it would be an understatement, but that’s hardly the fault of the film. It’s the fault of the advertising. Because when you advertise a film in a certain way, people are going to expect the film to play out in that way. In this case, I expected to see a bloodbath, killing-to-survive fight to break out between the two Sams, and the one left standing was the one who got to go home. You know how many fights the Sams get into? Exactly one. And it’s over one Sam not wanting to stop working on his model town long enough to move it out of the way.

To say that I didn’t like the film would be a lie, though. It was well-made and the acting was phenomenal, especially coming from Sam Rockwell, who I mostly think of as the villain in The Green Mile. I think of him as an actor who doesn’t have too much variety in his talent. This was a different role for him, one that I was able to really sink my teeth into and take seriously. It was a pleasant change of pace to see him take the spotlight for once, and I enjoyed his performance quite thoroughly. And because this wasn’t at all what I was expecting to be, I was surprised by the twists and turns that the film made.

As with most movies, I didn’t feel quite satisfied by the ending. With a lot of films, I feel like there is always so much build-up that the ending is always a letdown, and Moon was no exception to this feeling. The way that the film was playing out led to so many different possibilities of where it could go in the end, and then to have everything work out so well (sorry, spoiler alert!) for Sam in the end, was kind of a disappointment. I know that Hollywood loves a big, fat, happy ending, but the struggle to find that end could have been more challenging.

In general, I think this is the type of film that space and futuristic nuts would enjoy, and it’s worth checking out.

The only reason I am even remotely excited to move back in with my parents: my apartment: a review

Sitting dead center in a swarm of fruit flies, I can't even make out the walls of my apartment enough to find the front door. Luckily, the hallway is so narrow that I can easily reach out and touch the wall regardless of where I am standing in the hall. I stumble my way into the bathroom only to discover that the light, which is cleverly hidden behind the mirror, has been haunted by the phantom in our apartment again, which doesn't  allow a light bulb to last more than a week before blowing. If hideous were a physical being, it would look like our bathroom. Our small, need-to-stand-on-the-toilet-to-shut-the-door bathroom that's trying to look cute with the pink vomited on the floors and walls, but just looks like it's trying too hard. A lot of people think that my roommate and I have destroyed the bathroom with our lack of cleanliness, but the mold in the shower is the product of years of neglect. No one could do that much damage in a year.

Exiting the bathroom, you'll notice that you're conveniently located in the kitchen, only it isn't convenient at all because who wants to be cooking a meal when their roommate is literally right beside you using the bathroom? That thought aside, the kitchen is well equipped with an Easy-Bake Oven sized oven that will surely make preparing a meal difficult despite the overwhelming growling in your stomach. You could always use the microwave you bought on sale at Kmart, but that generally causes a power shortage for the whole apartment, so it's probably easier to wait the hour longer than the box suggests to cook your food in the oven. Just don't expect to host Thanksgiving dinner at your place this year.

Leaving the kitchen, you're back in the way-too-narrow hallway, making your way to the bedrooms. You have two options here: the teeny tiny room with the built-in shelving complete with cow pattern and no lights, or the much larger bedroom where the heat doesn't work and the window has a terrible draft. Don't worry too much because both rooms are equally unappealing aesthetically and you won't want to walk around without shoes in either room. The choice really can be decided by the flip of a coin.

Last, and certainly least, you'll find yourself in the living room. The living room with the closets in it because the bedrooms are too small to house them, and the living room which could be a nice sized room if only the ceiling wasn't slanted in such a way that you can barely stand up. Tall people: proceed with caution. In the living room you will find our "dirty" coloring book wall and a poster of Barbie and Ken, which came with the apartment. The furniture is all Recycle North and stolen from Spinner, which adds a very homey Poor College kid vibe that both comforts and repulses.

The moral: when looking for apartments in Burlington, choose your apartment for the apartment, not for the price tag.

Mindless entertainment gets Adjust-ed

Sometimes I have to go see movies with my parents. Movies that my parents want to see. And sometimes I dread the choices that they make, but I’m a good daughter (most of the time) so I swallow my pride from time to time and take a trip down to the local St. Albans theatre to appease them. Being forced to go home and sleep on the couch for two days over spring break, my mother decided she couldn’t have my brother and I hanging around the house anymore, and sent us off with our father to the movies to give her two hours of peace. Which meant that since my father was paying, he was always choosing the movie. Which meant I was going to see The Adjustment Bureau despite my desire against it.

The amazing thing is that I liked it. My brother liked it. My dad hated it from the moment it began until the moment that the credits started rolling. He sighed and he groaned and he got up several times to use the bathroom and refresh his popcorn. He whispered snarky remarks and insisted on switching seats so he could sit in the middle and whisper comments to both his children. He was, to put it lightly, not happy.

But I was engaged. I wanted to know what happened. The movie was primarily set-up. Introducing us to David Norris’ (Matt Damon) life, introducing us to Elise (Emily Blunt), introducing us to the Adjustment Bureau, introducing them all to each other, and so forth. The whole movie was setting us up for one single scene (that I won’t state for those of you planning to see the movie, which you should) that never came. It just…didn’t happen.

The last five minutes left me with a feeling of dissatisfaction. Extreme dissatisfaction. And shock that the scene I was waiting for the entire time never came. The last five minutes of this film were quite possibly the most unsatisfying five minutes of any movie I’ve ever seen. Certainly it wins some sort of award for cop-out, just-kind-of-stops ending. I was so mad after those last five minutes, I could hardly talk on the car ride home. I definitely didn’t want to talk about the movie.

But then I let it sit for a couple of days, and I went back to it. I enjoyed the first 85 minutes and that should not be negated by loathing the last five. It’s an interesting story. It’s engaging. It held my attention. Often times I judge movies that I see in the theatre by the number of times I checked the time on my watch. During The Adjustment Bureau, I checked my watch exactly zero times. That’s no small feat for a movie to do.

Overall, I was impressed with the movie and I highly recommend it. It’s not the type of movie that’s going to change the world or the watchers view of the world, but as I’ve said before (and even if I haven’t, I’m saying it now), there’s something to be said for a little bit of mindless entertainment. This is the quality kind.

Little Red Riding Hood, you sure are(n't) looking good

Growing up, Little Red Riding hood was one of my favorite tales. I used to make my mother read from a worn, dog-ear paged hardcover edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales (although she was Little Red-Cap then) almost every night before, and the story of Red's encounter with the wolf was always my favorite one to hear. So needless to say, I was quite excited when I began to see trailers for Catherine Hardwicke's Red Riding Hood. Little did I know was that she was complete destroy a classic.

In theory, the movie was okay. What drew to me to it was that it seems interesting to me to take an old classic and turn it on its head and adapt it into something the audience hasn't thought of before. The problem with this particular retelling is that the audience did think of it. Five minutes into the film, the Wolf's human identity becomes obvious and the point of the movie, the village's effort to figure out who among them is really the Wolf, begins to drag on for an hour more before Red finally figures out what the audience has known all along. At least there was a little throwback to Grimm's tale when she fills the Wolf's stomach with stones.

And then there's the trouble with the biggest subplot, the love triangle. Mainly, Red (Amanda Seyfried) loves one boy (Peter played by Shiloh Fernandez), who presumably loves her too, but her mother has already betrothed her to someone else (Henry played by Max Irons). Problem. The problem is that the movie begins too late in the romance of her and Peter because when the movie begins, he's already trying to break up with her to appease her parents. We're never shown why she loves him and we spend more time getting to know Henry than we do Peter, so we're left wondering: why are you desperate to be with this guy who just dumped you?

Both guys are equally good-looking and prove to be equally important in helping her out with the Wolf, so why chose one over the other? The storyline just isn't flushed out enough to matter and I've never been the type of girl to just accept that she loves him because she loves him and there isn't anything more to it. Maybe that's a flaw in me. Maybe it's also a flaw that I think the movie should have spent less time with the two boys and more time worrying about the Wolf and keeping his identity a little less transparent.

It’s a film worth seeing if you enjoy the classic tale and are interested in seeing a movie you don't have to think about. If you're looking to be entertained without being intellectually challenged, this is the movie for you. Because this is one film that isn't going to test your mind at all. And it's one that's good for a laugh. Just wait until the end when Red is walking up a snowy mountain and the train of her red cape is about twenty feet too long. Just wait.

My Oliver Twist obsession turns to addiction.

Every since I saw Oliver Twist performed at the Flynn last weekend, I've been on an Oliver Twist kick. That's what I do--when I find something that I like, I become obsessed. This week it's Oliver Twist, and next week it will probably be the Academy Award results or I am Number Four after I see it with my father on Wednesday. Anyway, my recent obsession with Oliver Twist led me onto Netflix (which I also just started subscribing to and am also pretty smitten about), where I stumbled upon a little film called Twist, which was a modern day retelling of the classic tale set in Toronto. If you think this sounds interesting, stop thinking that immediately, because the novelty wears off well before the film ends.

The characters all remain generally the same--you've got the Artful Dodger, now just Dodge, who finds Oliver on the side of the street and offers to take him in (for a price, of course). There's Fagin, who in this story plays the pimp to the younger men's hustlers and junkies, Nancy, who works in the local diner, and her husband, Fagin's boss, Bill Sykes, who is never shown in the film, but whose presence is always looming. The difference lies in the subject matter. In case you didn't quite catch it, this story depicts the boys (young men, rather) as hustlers and Dodge as a heroin addict, who Oliver is completely taken with immediately despite his cruelty and emotional absence.

The issue with the film is that you don't care. Dodge, the character that the story follows, is despicable. He's mean, violent, and manipulative without the benefit of having charisma or a single positive trait to gain your sympathy. The only positive trait he has is that he's played by Nick Stahl, who would give a great performance just standing there. Even that isn't enough. Nancy is a pathetic excuse for a woman and the audience can't understand why she won't leave Bill because we don't see him to tell if he has a positive trait or not. Fagin is just Bill's puppet and Oliver is just Dodge's. All of the characters only behave and exist because of their fear of what Bill will do to them if they rebel, but the audience is never brought into that sense of fear.

And then there's ending, which I won't ruin for anyone who may want to catch out this film just for the laughs. But I will say that it's like the filmmaker (Jacob Tierney wrote and directed it) didn't know how else to end it so he threw in every dramatic stereotypical element that makes up a film and called it a day. This is definitely a case of when subtlety may have been the better choice.