At the Movies: The Silver Linings Playbook

Okay so the whole movie mania has struck my house and we have been going to the movies quite a bit in the last few weeks! And one of the movies I saw was Silver Linings Playbook. 

The story follows Patrick - a bipolar guy - as he tries to regain a sense of normalcy after being released from a psychiatric hospital, where he was sent after he assaulted the man his wife was cheating with, his whole motivation is to get back to his wife Nikki and he will do almost anything to make it happen. 

So when he meets Tiffany - a somewhat unstable young woman who recently lost her husband and she claims to be able to get him in contact with Nikki (because her sister Veronica is Nikki's best friend) he agrees to do her a favor in exchange for her help. 

Soon he's spending most of his day with Tiffany and seeing things in a different light. 

I had heard a lot of good things about the movie before I went to see it but I wasn't really expecting much, part of me was even braced to not liking the movie, but it surprised me by how funny and movie it was. 

Do I think it's one of the best movies of the year? not necessarily but, again, it was fun and sweet and I actually enjoyed the time I spent in the movie theater - which is more than I can say of, say, Flight.

It was a quirky romantic comedy and sure I was annoyed of how hung up Patrick was on his ex Nikki, and Tiffany was sometimes just Too Much. But both Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence had plenty of charm and chemistry to keep Tiffany and Patrick from being overly annoying. 

Secondary characters were great too, I really liked Patrick's therapist and Danny, his friend from the hospital that was always trying to escape. The whole subplot with Patrick's dad and his business as a bookie was a bit meh to me but it was okay. 

At the end of the day, I give the movie a solid B and I do see myself re-watching it in the future. 

At the Movies: The Mighty Macs

In the 1972, Immaculata College was a small all-girls, Catholic school on the verge of being closed and sold, when Cathy Rush was offered the position of women's basketball coach. 

A former player and married to an NBA referee, Cathy sets out to create a winning team with little resources and only a handful of girls willing to play. 

She slowly gets to know the girls of the team - each with her own troubles -and finds an unexpected ally in Sister Sunday, a young novice who is wondering if she's cut for a nun's life after all. 

Eventually finding the college's team spirit, Cathy, Sister Sunday and the Mighty Macs become a championship team. 

I won this movie from Carrie @ At In the Hammock Book Reviews (you can check her review of the movie here) and I loved it. It's just such a nice, feel good movie. I love sports movies like this - because it's not so much about the sport itself but about becoming a team and a family and all that stuff that sounds corny but it's still fun to watch. 

My sister and I both loved it and we don't usually like the same movies, but we both liked this. 

Also, I need to say that I loved all the shoes and outfits Carla Gugino, who plays Cathy, wore in this movie 'cause they were awesome. 

All in all, I was happy to add The Mighty Macs to my movie collection and I give it a B. 

At the Movies: The Pirates! Band of Misfits

The Pirate Captain might not be the best known pirate of the seven seas, but he has a crew that loves him, Ham Night and Polly, his beloved parrot - even if she's a little fat for a parrot. 

But he also wants to gain the respect of his peers, so he decides to enter the Pirate of the Year Award. Only that, while he does have an spectacular beard and rousing pirate songs, he isn't really all that scary nor does he has the biggest bounty.

And, after being humiliated by other three pirates - all front runners for the Pirate of the Year title -  Pirate Captain decides he's not going down without a fight, and sets out to bet enough bounty to show them he's a great pirate.

Eventually, this quest leads him to meeting Charles Darwin and eventually even tangling with Queen Victoria in a series of strange adventures. 

I found The Pirates! A Band of Misfits to be a cute movie in stop-motion (which I LOVE) by the same people who did Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run, I found it to be very clean and vibrant in colors and texture, which can be hard to accomplish with stop-motion, but I found this movie to be technically brilliant. 

I loved the cast of mistfits - the Pirate with a Scarf, the Surprisingly Curvaceous Pirate, etc - and Polly the parrot/dodo. And I loved the villain of the story - Queen Victoria. I found the inclusion of Darwin and his butler monkey Bobo to be a little strange sometimes, but Bobo had some of the best 'lines' and laughs. 

Now, if I have a problem with the story is that it felt a bit sluggish at times, and I thought it was a tad long for a kid's movie. though the kids at the theater where I saw it seemed to like it a lot - and they got pretty involved with the fate of the characters - so maybe it was just me.

Over all, I thought it was a fun movie and I give it a B.

At the Movies: A Better Life

A Better Life tells the story of Carlos Galindo, a gardener in East L.A. and his son Luis. Carlos is an illegal immigrant that spends the majority of his time working, struggling to provide a better life for his son. For this, and even though he doesn't have a driver's license, Carlos decides to spend all his money buying a pick up truck, which will help him become his own boss rather than being at the mercy of other contractors. 

So it makes sense that his world begins to crumble when the truck is stolen and he's left without means to work or move. 

Meanwhile, Luis is struggling between his desire to become someone different to his own father and wether or not he should join one of the many gangs of East L.A. 

And even though they haven't seen eye-to-eye lately, Luis and Carlos make it their mission to find the truck, hoping that'll change their fates. 

A Better Life it's a fairy simple story of the struggles many immigrants go through once they cross the U.S. border trying to find a better opportunity that they had in their places of origin.

I went to see this mainly because I had heard it was pretty good, and because Mexican actor Demian Bichir got nominated to an Oscar for it. And I gotta say that I did like it but that it was slow at times and I struggled to find the heart of the movie. 

Plus, when it comes down to it, comparing movies about immigrants, I realized I liked 2007's Under the Same Moon a lot more. So, I give this movie a B. 

At The Movies: The Hangover 2

Stu, Phil and Alan are back from their Vegas adventures and ready to spend some really tame few days in Thailand, where Stu is taking his turn as the groom.

But then, of course, Alan tampering with a bag of marshmallows leads to them waking up at a hell-hole hotel in Bangkok with a stolen monkey, a Chinese crook and no recollection of what happened the night before.

Also, Stu's 17 year old future brother in law is MIA.

So now, the guys have a few hours to untangle the mess of the previous night, find the missing guy and make it in time Stu's wedding.

I went to see The Hangover - Part II with my sister because she kind of loves Bradley Cooper and well, we both liked the first one just fine.

I found TH2 a bit more racy - some things that happened did make me go, really? was that necessary? - but it was still lots of fun.

Loved how unapologetic the movie was, these guys just went ahead, did crazy things and, though there were consequences to their antics, there is no punishment, they just dealt with what happened like the irresponsible adults that they were.

I think it's a good movie, though maybe not for everyone. I'll give it a B.

At The Movies: HOP

E.B. has always known that someday he'll be the next Easter Bunny - that's what happens when your dad is the Big Bunny himself! -  but, deep down, he has always known that what he really wants to be is a drummer in a rock and roll band. And so, on the eve before he was supposed to become the new Easter Bunny, E.B. runs away to the land where dreams come true: Hollywood.

After wandering for a while - and trying to gain access to the Play Boy Mansion (as he's both a bunny and really sexy) - E.B. meets Fred, an out of work and out of luck human who gets stuck taking care of E.B. while trying to keep his life from becoming even a bigger mess.

Fred has never really known what he wants to do with his life, and his family has grown tired of waiting for him to leave the nest, though his sister Sam does try to help him; and it's while doing her a favor -and gaining a place to stay in the process - that he runs into E.B. (literally).

Meanwhile, at Easter Island - HQ of the whole Easter Operation - the clock is ticking as Easter is just a few days away and E.B.'s dad is going crazy both worried about his son and his responsibilities as the Easter Bunny, while his second in command Carlos is trying to stage an uprising against the rule of the bunny.

Okay, I'm aware I just said Easter and bunny a bunch of times but gosh, I really adored this movie. Granted I'm a fluffist and I love all things bunny - I got my bunny ears and about fifteen plushie bunnies to prove it! - but I had such a great time watching this movie, I even liked Russel Brand -who voices E.B. - and I generally don't like it. Hugh Laurie and Hank Azaria as E.B.'s dad and Carlos, respectively, were awesome too.

The animation was cute and really good, and I nearly went into sugar overload when I saw the candy factory. And the humans -mostly Fred and his Family - where so funny. I loved James Marsden and Kaley Cuoco and how they played brother and sister.

Do I think HOP is the movie everyone is waiting for? nope. But it's a fun, family movie. So I give it a B

 

Added the trailer in case you hadn't see it.