I Love You Phillip Morris
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Run time: 100 minutes
Director: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Cast: Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor, Leslie Mann, Rodrigo Santoro
Theater: Eccles
Synopsis and review (by Geoffrey Gilmore in the Sundance Film Guide):
With alacrity and style, Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, the codirectors of I Love You Phillip Morris, have fashioned an improbable, but true, tale of a spectacularly charismatic and resourceful con-man’s journey from small-town cop to flamboyant white-collar criminal. Concocted by the absurdist sensibilities and warped minds that were behind the creation of Bad Santa and centered around an eccentrically wonderful performance by Jim Carrey, the film relates a story that is truly stranger than fiction and showcases a love story that will not be denied.
When a local Texas policemen, Steve Russell (Carrey), turns to cons and fraud to allow him to change his lifestyle (in more ways than one), his subsequent stay in the state penitentiary results in his meeting the love of his life, a sensitive fellow inmate named Phillip Morris, perfectly portrayed by Ewan McGregor. What ensues can only be described as a relentless quest as Russell attempts escape after escape and executes con after con, all in the name of love.
This is the world of the preposterous: it plays like a farce but it is vastly entertaining because it turns all that we take for granted about life on its head. As a primer on the irresistible power of a man who is either insane or in love (is there a difference?), I Love You Phillip Morris surely serves to remind us of the resilience of the human spirit.
Thoughts and observations:
I found this film funny, heart warming and unexpected. Jim Carrey was spectacular as was Ewan McGregor. I loved that the cons in this movie were on so many levels and, to explain further, would spoil parts of the movie. I found the characters interesting, entertaining and wholly engaging.
What a nice surprise that both Carrey and McGregor attended the Q&A! Carrey is much more normal looking and attractive in person. Both had some nice comic moments in responding to questions but I was more impressed with the sincerity with which they spoke about their characters, the real people on whom the film was based and the movie.
In the afternoon, we attended the world premiere of Brief Interviews with Hideous Men.
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
.jpg)
.jpg)
Run time: 72 minutes
Director/Screenwriter: John Krasinski
Cast: Julianne Nicholson, John Krasinski, Bobby Cannavale, Ben Shenkman, Dominic Cooper, Christopher Meloni
Theater: Eccles
Synopsis and review (by Trevor Groth in the Sundance Film Guide):
John Krasinski, best known for playing the charming everyman, Jim Halpert, on The Office, may seem an unlikely candidate to adapt and direct the late David Foster Wallace’s caustic exploration of the hideous nature of men. However, he proves himself up to the challenge and delivers a provocative and darkly comedic film.
When her boyfriend leaves her with little explanation, Sara Quinn is left looking for answers. A doctoral candidate in anthropology at a prestigious East Coast university, she thinks she can remedy both her heartache and her academic challenges with a new research project and beings conducting a series of interviews with men. As she records the astonishing and disquieting experience of various subjects, Sara discovery much more about men – and herself – than she bargained for.
The subject matter of the stories ranges from the bizarre to the banal. What is most alarming is that the stores aren’t extreme but all too common. Julianne Nicholson delivers a subtly nuanced performance as the recording object, both literally and figuratively, of the men’s revelations and desires. Motivated by all the right reasons, Krasinski’s passion for the book resounds as he crafts a film that is sure to inspire heated conversations. He also displays his deft ability in front of – and behind – the camera.
Thoughts and observations:
Although this movie was short (72 minutes), it felt like a much longer film. I found it difficult to care about any of the characters and, unfortunately, found most of the movie unentertaining and underwhelming. The scene between the father and son is by far the best scene in the movie but seemed misplaced among the other scenes dealing primarily with the relationships between men and women.
John Krasinki, Julianne Nicholson, Christopher Meloni and Ben Shenkman were at the premiere. John Krasinki is intelligent, articulate, attractive and charming and I wished that I liked the movie as much as I liked him. I have never watched The Office but listening to him today made me want to watch more of him. Christopher Meloni came into the theater strutting his stuff which I found quite amusing. Let me tell you that man has some guns on him! There were a number of the other cast members there (the two waiters and the father/son scene actors) and I will have to look up their names at a later date.
The midnight movie tonight was the world premier of Helen.
Helen
Run time: 120 minutes
Director/Screenwriter: Sandra Nettelbeck
Cast: Ashley Judd, Goran Visnjic, Lauren Lee Smith, Alexia Fast, Alberta Watson, David Hewlett
Theater: Library
Synopsis and review (by Geoffrey Gilmore in the Sundance Film Guide):
Director: Glenn Ficarra, John Requa
Cast: Jim Carrey, Ewan McGregor, Leslie Mann, Rodrigo Santoro
Theater: Eccles
Synopsis and review (by Geoffrey Gilmore in the Sundance Film Guide):
With alacrity and style, Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, the codirectors of I Love You Phillip Morris, have fashioned an improbable, but true, tale of a spectacularly charismatic and resourceful con-man’s journey from small-town cop to flamboyant white-collar criminal. Concocted by the absurdist sensibilities and warped minds that were behind the creation of Bad Santa and centered around an eccentrically wonderful performance by Jim Carrey, the film relates a story that is truly stranger than fiction and showcases a love story that will not be denied.
When a local Texas policemen, Steve Russell (Carrey), turns to cons and fraud to allow him to change his lifestyle (in more ways than one), his subsequent stay in the state penitentiary results in his meeting the love of his life, a sensitive fellow inmate named Phillip Morris, perfectly portrayed by Ewan McGregor. What ensues can only be described as a relentless quest as Russell attempts escape after escape and executes con after con, all in the name of love.
This is the world of the preposterous: it plays like a farce but it is vastly entertaining because it turns all that we take for granted about life on its head. As a primer on the irresistible power of a man who is either insane or in love (is there a difference?), I Love You Phillip Morris surely serves to remind us of the resilience of the human spirit.
Thoughts and observations:
I found this film funny, heart warming and unexpected. Jim Carrey was spectacular as was Ewan McGregor. I loved that the cons in this movie were on so many levels and, to explain further, would spoil parts of the movie. I found the characters interesting, entertaining and wholly engaging.
What a nice surprise that both Carrey and McGregor attended the Q&A! Carrey is much more normal looking and attractive in person. Both had some nice comic moments in responding to questions but I was more impressed with the sincerity with which they spoke about their characters, the real people on whom the film was based and the movie.
In the afternoon, we attended the world premiere of Brief Interviews with Hideous Men.
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
.jpg)
.jpg)
Run time: 72 minutes
Director/Screenwriter: John Krasinski
Cast: Julianne Nicholson, John Krasinski, Bobby Cannavale, Ben Shenkman, Dominic Cooper, Christopher Meloni
Theater: Eccles
Synopsis and review (by Trevor Groth in the Sundance Film Guide):
John Krasinski, best known for playing the charming everyman, Jim Halpert, on The Office, may seem an unlikely candidate to adapt and direct the late David Foster Wallace’s caustic exploration of the hideous nature of men. However, he proves himself up to the challenge and delivers a provocative and darkly comedic film.
When her boyfriend leaves her with little explanation, Sara Quinn is left looking for answers. A doctoral candidate in anthropology at a prestigious East Coast university, she thinks she can remedy both her heartache and her academic challenges with a new research project and beings conducting a series of interviews with men. As she records the astonishing and disquieting experience of various subjects, Sara discovery much more about men – and herself – than she bargained for.
The subject matter of the stories ranges from the bizarre to the banal. What is most alarming is that the stores aren’t extreme but all too common. Julianne Nicholson delivers a subtly nuanced performance as the recording object, both literally and figuratively, of the men’s revelations and desires. Motivated by all the right reasons, Krasinski’s passion for the book resounds as he crafts a film that is sure to inspire heated conversations. He also displays his deft ability in front of – and behind – the camera.
Thoughts and observations:
Although this movie was short (72 minutes), it felt like a much longer film. I found it difficult to care about any of the characters and, unfortunately, found most of the movie unentertaining and underwhelming. The scene between the father and son is by far the best scene in the movie but seemed misplaced among the other scenes dealing primarily with the relationships between men and women.
John Krasinki, Julianne Nicholson, Christopher Meloni and Ben Shenkman were at the premiere. John Krasinki is intelligent, articulate, attractive and charming and I wished that I liked the movie as much as I liked him. I have never watched The Office but listening to him today made me want to watch more of him. Christopher Meloni came into the theater strutting his stuff which I found quite amusing. Let me tell you that man has some guns on him! There were a number of the other cast members there (the two waiters and the father/son scene actors) and I will have to look up their names at a later date.
The midnight movie tonight was the world premier of Helen.
Helen
Run time: 120 minutes
Director/Screenwriter: Sandra Nettelbeck
Cast: Ashley Judd, Goran Visnjic, Lauren Lee Smith, Alexia Fast, Alberta Watson, David Hewlett
Theater: Library
Synopsis and review (by Geoffrey Gilmore in the Sundance Film Guide):
Feature a riveting performance by the gifts Ashley Judd and infused with intelligence and detail by Sandra Nettelbeck, a storyteller who clearly knows intimately the parameters of this universe, Helen transcends the usual limitations that besiege portraits of mental illness and depression. In trust, for all that we’ve learned about depression – its causes, its cures, and the breadth of its affliction – the old clichés and stigmas still dominate our tales and popular culture. What Nettelbeck and her colleagues have accomplished is an unapologetic moving examination that offers no simplistic answers and refrains from reductively singular happy endings.
Helen focuses on a woman with an apparently perfect life: a successful academic, she seems happily married with a wonderful daughter. But we witness a sudden breakdown and a journey that is enigmatic and heartbreakingly real. When solutions prove elusive and Helen is hospitalized, she forges a relationship with Mathilda, a former traveler who both aids and traumatizes her life’s course. When death seems the only answer, and the safe haven of family gives no respite, the pain of bipolarity is exhausting and overwhelming. Told with poignancy and insight – and ultimately concluding with as much courage as inevitable sadness – Helen is the work of artists whose craft and sensibility are special.
Thoughts and observations:
Here are the immediate words that come to mind when I think about this movie: devastating, heartbreaking, moving, genius, powerful, uncontrived, riveting, sad, compassionate, haunting, sympathy, special.
Ashley Judd was magnificent in this brilliantly written story. While a movie about mental illness could have come across as contrived and totally unrealistic, this movie did not and Sandra Nettelbeck sensitively, articulately and delicately presented an incredibly raw and intimate portrayal of mental illness. The witnessing of Helen’s breakdown was nothing short of gut-wrenchingly brilliant. The soundtrack was fantastic (I want to get the Couperin piano piece that Judd’s character plays at the beginning of the movie). Music and silence each seemed to be characters in this movie. The actress who played Mathilde was mesmerizing. Mathilde is more than just a character who helps and devastates Helen; she symbolizes Helen’s mental illness itself.
Sandra Nettelbeck attended the premiere and I wish that I could sit down with her and talk more about this screenplay. This movie worked on so many different levels. I would really like to see it again and I hope that the soundtrack will be available.
Helen focuses on a woman with an apparently perfect life: a successful academic, she seems happily married with a wonderful daughter. But we witness a sudden breakdown and a journey that is enigmatic and heartbreakingly real. When solutions prove elusive and Helen is hospitalized, she forges a relationship with Mathilda, a former traveler who both aids and traumatizes her life’s course. When death seems the only answer, and the safe haven of family gives no respite, the pain of bipolarity is exhausting and overwhelming. Told with poignancy and insight – and ultimately concluding with as much courage as inevitable sadness – Helen is the work of artists whose craft and sensibility are special.
Thoughts and observations:
Here are the immediate words that come to mind when I think about this movie: devastating, heartbreaking, moving, genius, powerful, uncontrived, riveting, sad, compassionate, haunting, sympathy, special.
Ashley Judd was magnificent in this brilliantly written story. While a movie about mental illness could have come across as contrived and totally unrealistic, this movie did not and Sandra Nettelbeck sensitively, articulately and delicately presented an incredibly raw and intimate portrayal of mental illness. The witnessing of Helen’s breakdown was nothing short of gut-wrenchingly brilliant. The soundtrack was fantastic (I want to get the Couperin piano piece that Judd’s character plays at the beginning of the movie). Music and silence each seemed to be characters in this movie. The actress who played Mathilde was mesmerizing. Mathilde is more than just a character who helps and devastates Helen; she symbolizes Helen’s mental illness itself.
Sandra Nettelbeck attended the premiere and I wish that I could sit down with her and talk more about this screenplay. This movie worked on so many different levels. I would really like to see it again and I hope that the soundtrack will be available.
No comments:
Post a Comment