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Easy A starring Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Thomas Haden Church & Dan Byrd

Posted on February 7, 2011 Written by ripitup

Easy A starring Emma Stone, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Dan Byrd & Thomas Haden Church. Featuring Lisa Kudrow, Cam Gigandet, Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson & Malcolm McDowell. Image via sinemag.com

Easy A is easily one of the best movies set in a high school. It is original, totally fesses up the clichés it uses and rubs its nose in it – while making us laugh and smile the whole time. A bit like Gossip (minus the darkness and drama) combined with 10 Things I Hate About You, but it is its own movie. Here we go:

Olive (Emma Stone) is a pretty, smart and accomplished high school student but no one really seems to know who she is, apart from her best friend Rhiannon (Alyson Michalka), school’s hot mascot (Penn Badgdley) and her favorite teacher Mr. Griffith (Thomas Haden Church).

This all changes by one annoying coincidence when she lies to Rhi about losing her virginity. The school’s religion-obsessed Marianne (Amanda Bynes) hears it and the next thing, the whole school has spread, changed and “enriched” the story. Not that Olive’s complaining, at least now everyone knows her name. But when she confesses the truth to school mate Brandon (Dan Byrd), he decides that he can do the same thing- spread a rumor and have a better high school life.

Brandon is gay and he asks Olive to say they slept together. When they fake it for the whole school, the rumor becomes that Olive’s slut. Rhi gets pissed Olive’s getting all the attention and Marianne is becoming more obsessed about making Olive find Jesus. Then a whole bunch of school boys ask for lies from Olive and Olive finds herself understanding what Hester went through in The Scarlet Letter…

The movie has a hilarious story, backed-up with great one-liners and an awesome cast. We have Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci for Olive’s sweet and unconventional parents, Thomas Haden-Church for the English teacher, Friends’ Phoebe Lisa Kudrow as the worst guidance counselor ever and Cam Gidanget as the oldest high school student. Of course the lead Emma Stone fits the role just fine. Amanda Bynes is annoying and funny as hell. And Penn Badgdley does look the part as the understated, good-looking guy who happens to be nice too…

Favorite Line:

Emma: I’m looking for the bible.

Bookstore Clerk: Oh, it is in the Bestsellers, right next to Twilight.

Fun notes:

Cam Gidanget, who plays Marianne’s boyfriend was actually in the first Twilight movie. He played the main villain.

Also on Patricia Clarkson:

Cairo Time starring Alexander Siddig & Patricia Clarkson.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona starring Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall, Javier Bardem. Feat. Patricia Clarkson

Also on Stanley Tucci

It Could Happen to You starring Nicolas Cage, Bridget Fonda, Stanley Tucci and Rosie Perez

Billy Bathgate starring Dustin Hoffman & Nicole Kidman. Feat. Stanley Tucci

It Could Happen to You starring Nicolas Cage and Bridget Fonda

Posted on October 19, 2010 Written by ripitup

It Could Happen to You starring Nicolas Cage, Bridget Fonda, Rosie Perez and Stanley Tucci — It Could Happen to You starring Nicolas Cage and Bridget Fonda. Lovely romantic comedy from 1994. Image via moviesoftheday.com

Charlie (Nicolas Cage) is a really nice guy and a decent cop. He is honest, good with people and he definitely doesn’t mind living in Queens, New York. Unfortunately, he is married to his high school sweetheart Muriel (Rosie Perez), who couldn’t have been more different. She is a hairdresser who believes she is destined to have a much better life and a husband who makes more money. She doesn’t want kids (at least not on Charlie’s salary) and she is dying to get out of Queens. That’s why she encourages Charlie to buy a lottery ticket.

Yvonne (Bridget Fonda) is having the worst year of her life. Her actor wannabe husband (Stanley Tucci) has left her broke. So broke in fact that, she can’t even afford a divorce. To top it all, he has maxed out her credit cards and the court declared bankrupt.

It is on this day that Charlie and his partner Bo (Wendell Pierce) walk into the diner she waiting tables at. Charlie realizes that he only has enough money for the bill and not the tip, so he tells Yvonne that he has bought a lottery ticket. If he wins, he will share half of the money with her. If he doesn’t, he will come back the next day with her tip. With her luck in life, she is skeptical that Charlie will come back at all.

But Charlie’s ticket wins a total 4 million dollars. He is shocked and Muriel is over the moon. Being the decent man he is, he goes back to the diner and tells Yvonne to choose either her tip or half the lottery money. Yvonne chooses option number two and against his wife’s wild objections, he shares the money with Yvonne.

He and Yvonne become good friends – who are really attracted to each other. But 4 millions is a lot of money and Muriel won’t let go without a fight. And of course 2 million dollars suddenly make Yvonne the target of her husband…

It could happen to you is a very warm-hearted, sweetheart of a comedy that is like a modern day fairy tale. Charlie is too nice to be true – Muriel is pretty much like the evil witch and Yvonne fits the damsel in distress model. The story is too hopeful and it sounds too good even to the romantic/dreamers like me. But let’s be honest. What are the odds of your hitting the jackpot? And even you do win, would you really share it with a stranger who you made a promise to on a whim?

But despite its fairy-tale like qualities, this is a really fun movie. Made in 1994, it is the first movie I ever watched Nic Cage in – and the movie that made me a fan. Going back to this movie, I realize once more what a good actor he is. Watching Charlie, you couldn’t imagine Nic could ever be a villain or a whacky character or a depressed alcoholic or an obsessive compulsive conman…

Yet he pulls it off. Watch it if you can suspend your skepticism. And you will get a large smile on your face.

One bad thing about the movie is Rosie Perez’ character. I know she’s supposed to be annoying but the accent and the tone of voice make me cringe every time.

Written by Jane Anderson, directed by Andrew Bergman.

Other Nicolas Cage Movies and Posts

Face/Off starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage

Lord of War starring Nicolas Cage, Ethan Hawke and Jared Leto

Nicolas Cage Trivia

Moonstruck starring Nicolas Cage and Cher

The Sorcerer’s Apprentice starring Nicholas Cage, Monica Belluci, Jay Baruchel and Teresa Palmer

City of Angels starring Meg Ryan and Nicolas Cage

Knowing starring Nicolas Cage

Favorite Actors to Play Villains feat. Nicolas Cage, John Travolta and more

Billy Bathgate with Dustin Hoffman and Nicole Kidman

Posted on February 24, 2010 Written by ripitup

Billy Bathgate with Dustin Hoffman and Nicole Kidman — Image via:sondheimguide.com

I should be ashamed. I am a Hoffman and a Kidman fan, but I hadn’t even heard of this one. My bad. But then again, I have so many actors to follow. I missed the first 20 minutes or so, but it is a movie where the plot is pretty straight-forward so catching up was easy.

Dutch Schultz’ (Hoffman) is a gang leader. He is smart, quick and pretty ruthless. He is having his fun with the pretty, young and free-spirited Drew (Kidman). He also has a young rookie under his wing: Billy (Dean). Billy wants the glamor and the power. But there are two things wrong with him. 1) He is too nice to be a successful crook. 2) His admiration for Dutch gets overshadowed by his admiration for Drew.

As if these aren’t enough, anyone working for Dutch could be in danger because of a more powerful guy as well. ..

The movie is fun. It is not complicated or really orginal. I am not going to suggest you go running to the closest DVD store but you shouldn’t flip the channel if you run across this one either. I never saw a movie where Hoffman was any less than good. Kidman is so young here. I especially loved Loren Dean- casting him was the perfect choice because he portrays innocence, indecision and conflicts so well. The movie has another couple of niice surprises: It has Stanley Tucci and Steve Buscemi. Even Bruce Willis makes an appearance.

Entertaining experience with actors you like.

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