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The Art of Getting By starring Freddie Highmore Highmore & Emma Roberts

Posted on January 15, 2012 Written by ripitup

The Art of Getting By Premise

The Art of Getting By movie poster via entertainmentwallpaper.com

George (Freddie Highmore) is a smart but fatalistic high school kid who doesn’t really want to put too much effort into anything because everyone will die anyway. This attitude results in him doing absolutely no homework for years, and while this has really started to piss off his teachers,it has intrigued his classmate Sally (Emma Roberts). And when he saves her from getting trouble, they start a friendship.

While Emma doesn’t have a problem handling her homework, she has her emotional involvement issues- resulting from her dsyfunctional relationship with her mother (Elizabeth Reaser, Esme Cullen of the Twilight Series). George’s family life isn’t ideal either. His mother (Rita Wilson) is married to Jack (Sam Robards) , a stepfather who means well but can’t quite deal with George’s quirkiness along with his own financial problems.

Enter Dustin (Michael Angarano, Elliot from Will and Grace), a young artist who gets George and encourages him about his own art. But life gets more complicated the more people you let him. Dustin is into Sally, and Sally just loves the type. She is not emotionally mature enough to truly interpret her friendship with George, and George might be too much of a fatalist to get it himself.

Maybe you can get by without taking any responsibility until you are a high school senior. But how can you graduate, save the best friendship you ever had and deal with your family if you are not doing anything?

Worth Seeing?

The Art of Getting By is a sweet little drama about life, the thin line between teenage oblivion and adult responsibility, love, friendship and family.

It is not the most original drama, but it is original and engaging enough. I’ve loved Freddie Highmore’s acting since A Good Year, though my favorite Highmore to date is August Rush.

Written and directed by Gavin Wiesen, The Art Getting By presents a relatable character with George. At least I could relate to him on many levels. No, I wasn’t just as fatalistic or lazy when it came to school work, but I had mastered the art of passing my classes (with flying colors, if possible) with as little effort as possible.

Sure, I had my favorite subject where I didn’t consider anything work (English)- but that was about it in High School. I escaped to my own mind when things got rough, and I found it really hard to find people I really lilked and relate to. I hadn’t made any good friends until my last years at high school.

So yeah, even if I am very out-going and friendly, I can’t connect with anyone and everyone. And this is one boy’s adventure of finding those people who can connect with, and as a result connecting with life itself.

I liked it. At 6.4 on IMDB, I would say the rating is OK. Would I have rated it more had I been in high school? Or even in university? Probably…

Fun notes:

– Alicia Silverstone guest-stars as one of Highmore’s frustrated teachers.

– Rita Wilson is married to Tom Hanks.

The Ides of March feat. George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, Evan Rachel Wood, Paul Giamatti & Philip Seymour Hoffman

Posted on January 6, 2012 Written by ripitup

The Ides of March Plot Summary- with some spoilers

Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) is a smart and ambitious political campaign specialist, and he is co-managing the presidential campaign of Governor Mike Norris (George Clooney), an idealistic politician who might be just what the USA needs: anti-war, pro-choice and refusing to let go of his principles in order to secure a win. In the meantime, Paul (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is having a difficult time getting senate votes because of Meyers’ ideals.

Stephen has little time apart from managing the campaign and the press –especially journalist Ida (Marisa Tomei). He starts hanging out with the 20-year-old intern Molly (Evan Rachel Wood), and is quite happy with his situation until two things happen:

1) The campaign manager of the opponent, Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti), wants to meet with him and when Stephen goes for curiosity’s sake – and someone leaks this to Ida.

2) Intern Molly confesses that she slept with the happily married Morris, is pregnant and needs $900 to have an abortion.

From then on, everything seems to work against Stephen. While he works to manage the crisis, Paul fires him- because he met with Duffy. And when Molly can’t manage the idea of a very angry Stephen looking to take revenge, things get even more complicated for Stephen….

Review

The Ides of March is a solid political drama with an impressive cast, and while it is not a thriller, sometimes it manages to be as engaging as one. It is hard to do a political drama this interesting, and director/co-writer/co-star George Clooney has pulled it off, no doubt with the help from Gosling, Giamatti, Hoffman, Tomei and Wood.

The only problem with the movie is the stereotype George Clooney’s character turns out to be. One minute he is this idealistic and principled guy who refuses to “bribe” his way into getting votes, and the next he is screwing a 20-year-old intern. So he is too decent to be a corrupt politician, but not a decent enough husband to keep it in his pants…Yes, politician with some nice views who has a problem staying loyal to his wife. Gee, where did we see this guy before?

The sad thing is, when Morris turns out to be a little moral than Meyers thought, he still wants to run the campaign. Who cares about his bedroom habits if he can manage the campaign right? But of course Morris only plays the game by his own rules, and Meyers just might to lose his self-respect to get back what he lost…

In the end, the movie engages you, depresses you and makes you question morality, loyalty, ethics and ambitions. It is well-done, even though you may not get any characters that you like or respect at the end.

Currently rated at 7.4 on IMDB.com

Fun notes on the cast:

Max Minghella, who plays Ben (one of the campaign staff) is the son of the deceased director Anthony Minghella, who is best known for the movies The English Patient and Cold Mountain.
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Straw Dogs starring James Marsden, Kate Bosworth, Alexander Skarsgard & James Woods

Posted on December 30, 2011 Written by ripitup

Straw-Dogs-2011-Movie-Poster — Straw Dogs starring James Marsden, Kate Bosworth, Alexander Skarsgård & James Woods. Image viaa whysoblu.com

Straw Dogs- Plot Summary

The review part has spoilers. For the unspoiled version, please read the preview.

Actress Amy (Kate Bosworth) and her screenwriter husband David Summer (James Marsden) go to her hometown so that he can have a writer’s retreat. It’s a beautiful lake house, and things are supposed to be just productive and romantic.

Unfortunately their peace is short-lived as their roof needs repair and David unknowingly hires Amy’s ex, the former football-star Charlie (Alexander Skarsgård) and his crew. To call them bullying, ignorant and intolerant and hypocritical rednecks would be an understatement. They are quick to hate David for being rich(er), being married to the town hottie, for being a city boy…

To make matters worse, Charlie he is also still obsessed with Amy, and the rest of of the town folk aren’t any smarter or more open-minded and Amy is acting like she is still in Los Angeles…

Review

That’s right. This is your plot. Now, I didn’t see the original Dustin Hoffman version, and I only had the trailer and the plot summary to make my guesses about the film. It seemed like it’d be a decent thriller, and I really like James Marsden. And while it ended up disturbing and thrilling enough, it was disappointing to have two of the stupidest female characters in the history of movies.

Let’s see:

Ideally, Amy wouldn’t have come back without telling her husband what the men can really be like. Ideally, she would have never come back.

So she absolutely had to go? She would have to hire a few men like John Reese (see Person of Interest). Do you think I’m being paranoid? I don’t care how trusting people are in that town- it is a remote house where the cell phones don’t get reception. Non-paranoid people shouldn’t be allowed to live there.

Amy walks around half-naked around perverted and horny men. And when her husband suggests that she could wear a bit more, she flashes to these men. Men who would have been tempted enough if she was wearing sweatpants and the ugliest, baggiest jumper the universe had to offer.

She provokes the men in more ways than one. No, I’m not saying she would have been safe had she been smarter. But as a viewer, her stupidity and provoking really pisses you off. And it is funny how she switched from “We don’t lock our doors around here” to “They killed our cat, let’s sleep with a gun!”

They should have left when the cat was killed.

Yes, of course the husband shouldn’t have ever, ever left her alone in the house. But he certainly didn’t see that they were psychopaths.

As for Janice (Willa Holland), she was even stupider than Amy. She repeatedly went after, tried to seduce and flirted with the town’s big man/little brain Jeremy (Dominic Purcell). Yes, she knew his father (James Woods) would kill the guy if he was ever seen with her. She knew there was an incident where another girl was hurt. And the funniest thing? She got killed by him- not because he was trying to hurt her, but because he got so scared when he was trying to hide from her father. And her disappearance is what finally caused the ultimate battle between the Summers and the rednecks.

Oh, never mind the Sheriff who tries to calm a group of rednecks – where one guy is a well-built 6’4”, and the other one is a crazy, alcoholic father- by himself. Right. That is of course smart. I don’t care how safe they claim their town to be. Guns+ alcohol+ hot blooded men don’t equal safe, and it is not a one-man job!

So yes- the characters act like they have read a book called “How to Be Extremely Stupid” and lived by it. Yes, the villains were disgusting, and had nothing to redeem them. The victims set a new low for being idiots.

The hypocrisy? Oh yes. According to our villain Charlie, it is rude and not nice to walk out on a sermon- but it is completely OK to rape his ex, and then watch while another friend rapes her too.

But I don’t rate movies on the intelligence of characters alone. The movie was nicely-shot, the actors did a good job, and I love a good old fighting-back sequence when the “victim” finally gets rid of the villains one by one.

Rated at 5.6 on IMDB, Straw Dogs is underrated. But I won’t give it a 7 when the victims make the villains’ jobs so much easier. 6.5 from me. It could have been a bit shorter, and could have repeated some stuff a lot less.

Other James Marsden Movies & Articles

The Box starring James Marsden, Cameron Diaz & Frank Langella

Stardust, The Air I Breathe, Playing by Heart, The Good Shepherd, Hairspray & He’s Just Not That Into You: 6 Good Movies with Brilliant Casts (Hairspray features James Marsden

Enchanted starring Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey & James Marsden

Movie Reviews of 4 Nicholas Sparks Adaptations: A Walk to Remember, Nights in Rodanthe, Message in a Bottle and The Notebook (The Notebook co-stars James Marsden)

Gossip starring James Marsden, Lena Headey, Norman Reedus, Kate Hudson & Joshua Jackson

The 24th Day starring James Marsden and Scott Speedman

Friends with Benefits starring Justin Timberlake & Mila Kunis

Posted on December 26, 2011 Written by ripitup

Friends-with-Benefits-movie-poster-(2011) — Friends with Benefits movie poster via posters555.com

Premise

Jamie (Mila Kunis) is a successful executive recruiter from New York. Dylan (Justin Timberlake) is a successful blog’s art director from LA. When GQ wants an art director, Jamie knows that Dylan is the guy. When he comes to New York, she dazzles him with the city and he can’t say no to such a terrific job offer.

Being new to New York, and seeing how fun Jamie is, Dylan wants to keep hanging out with her. But because they were both recently dumped (Jamie for being too romantic, and Dylan for not being emotionally available), they opt for being really good friends instead of trying to date. And then when they both miss dating and sex, they come up with the idea of having sex, as friends.

Friends with Benefits- Mila Kunis with Justin Timberlake

They think they figured out how to prevent all awkwardness, and for a while, they do have a great time as friends with benefits. Their friendship even survives the attempts of dating others. But real problems start when they will have to face that they might mean a little more to each other than just friends who hang around a lot…

Why should you see this movie?

Friends with Benefits is a lot of fun! I never thought I’d laugh at a Justin Timberlake movie so much. I always thought I could only handle him in small dozes (like in The Social Network).

Well, I’ve got to hand it to him- he made a great couple with Mila Kunis: they were both hilarious, entertaining, sweet and entirely likeable.

This romantic comedy has the right combo: 70%comedy, 30% romance.

It makes fun of romantic comedy clichés, but it is smart enough to abide by the clichés the romcom audience wants, especially our happy ending.

The supporting cast has Jenna Elfman (our very own Dharma from Dharma and Greg) and Bryan Greenberg (One Tree Hill, Prime) and Patricia Clarkson (Married Life, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Cairo Time).

There are cameos by Emma Stone and Andy Samberg- they are the ones who dump Timberlake and Kunis in the beginning of the movie.

Kunis’ Jamie is a big romantic comedy fan, and her favorite movie is the fake movie starring Jason Segel and Rashida Jones. And Rashida Jones, Jason Segel and Any Samberg did star in an actual romantic comedy (well, a bromance) together called I Love You Man.

Segel also co-starred with Mila Kunis in the romcom Forgetting Sarah Marshall. She played the love interest and the movie was written by Segel.

Hawaii Five O’s nerdy medical examiner Masi Oka makes a cameo as a plane passenger sitting next to Timberlake’s Dylan.

It really is funny and romantic. And the sex scenes are hilarious.

Rated at 6.6 on IMDB. See it if you like your modern romantic comedies.

Friends with Benefits scene- Mila Kunis with Justin Timberlake — Friends with Benefits- Mila Kunis with Justin Timberlake. Image via moviecarpet.com

Entertainment References:

Poking fun at other romcoms and pop culture in general, the movie has some familiar references:

Dylan accuses Jamie of acting out a scene from Will and Grace, referring to the airport scene where they first meet. She’s on the conveyor belt, looking for the sign with Dylan’s name on it.

Dylan starts humming the Semisonic song Closing time when they are having sex for the first time. He insists the song belongs to 3^rd Eye Blind, a popular 90s modern rock band that got a lot of radioplay during the same period as Semisonic. He later says that the lyrics are meaningful, and jokes about 3^rd Eye Blind being poetic. In the end, he admits that the song is Semisonic’s.

3^rd Eye Blind is the band that sang “Semi-Charmed Life”, How’s It Gonna Be” and “Jumper.”

Patricia Clarkson’s Lorna wants to have a mother-daughter getaway, and she says it will be just like a Nora Ephron movie. Nora Ephron is the screenwriter of the Meg Ryan movies You’ve Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle and When Harry Met Sally.

In the beginning of the movie, right after Jamie was dumped by her boyfriend (Andy Samberg), she is complaining about romcoms to her friend. They pass by the DVD poster for The Ugly Truth, a romantic comedy starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler. She shouts: “Shut up, Katherine Heigl, you stupid liar!

After Jamie and Dylan decide to stop having sex and going back to being friends, Dylan decides that he will talk to the pretty girl they see. The girl is reading a book, and Jamie comments that it is probably a book by Nicholas Sparks, the bestselling author of The Notebook, Message in a Bottle and A Walk to Remember.

Before her boyfriend broke up with her, she was waiting for him to see Pretty Woman again. Pretty Woman stars Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, and is one of the most famous romantic comedies of all time.

Emma Stone starred in the 2010 comedy Easy A, directed by Friends with Benefits director Will Gluck. Her sexually liberal mother with a happy past was also played by Patricia Clarkson.

Both lead character say that they want to be like George Clooney after they are dumped.

Jamie says “I’m just gonna shut myself down emotionally. Like George Clooney.”

Dylan says “I just want to work and f***. Like George Clooney.”

Also on Mila Kunis

Forgetting Sarah Marshall starring Jason Segel, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand & Kristen Bell

The Black Swan starring Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis & Vincent Cassel

Also on Justin Timberlake

The Social Network starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield & Justin Timberlake