Eat, Pray, Love: Wake me Up When we Get to Bali

For a movie starring Julia Roberts and taking place over three gorgeous locations, this movie should be a vicarious thrill. Instead, we are given the first 2/3 of the movie inside main character Liz’s (Roberts role) quest to find herself during a yearlong sebactacle - a long, boring, self-centered to the extreme view of the world. The movie fails to sufficiently explain to us why her character is so miserable in the first place and why her marriage ultimately fails. One minute she is seemingly happy attending a party with her husband (Billy Crudup in a to brief role) and the next she is crying while she prays to god asking what she should do next. I think it would have been easier to go on this journey with Roberts character if we were given the chance to be privy to her life experience prior, but I digress.

First stop on the itinerary is Italy, a ho-hum experience where the best story is happening to her friend (a fellow American) she meets in a café upon arriving. Julia eats spaghetti and pizza guilt-free and buys bigger jeans with before mentioned girlfriend in a moment of inspired feminism, but otherwise, it’s uneventful but beautiful to look at. It seems Liz is still mourning the end of her marriage she thought she wanted and then a brief fling with a young, up and coming actor played by James Franco that was ill-advised and ill-timed. Much like the ending of her marriage, the audience gets no real explanation of what goes wrong, the relationship just sours and she moves on.

Next is India, where her plan is to meditate and find inner peace– all I found were minor characters far more interesting than her and a travel tip to bring straws if I’m ever planning to travel to India myself. I did like the interaction between Roberts and Richard Jenkins who plays a fellow meditation student, but it was not enough to distract from the other clichés that abounded.

I did wake back up when Javier Bardem comes on the screen during the last leg of her trip in Indonesia (namely Bali). It has been quite awhile since I noticed so distinctly an actors charisma and star power as he literally brought this film to life. If only the entire movie had included his performance it would have been better off. This is a story you grow to care about because we’re given a chance to; we learn why his character Felipe has shut himself off from love and feel satisfaction in seeing them together. It makes sense to know that Felipe in the book is her now husband and subject of her second book “Committed”. Even the music seems to come alive as we’re treated to the best of Brazilian samba.

Not all books move well from page to screen and this is one I fear was lost in translation.

2 out of 5

Affleck Finds his niche in "The Town"

I couldn't help but be struck by two things while watching "The Town"; the first is that Ben Affleck is a much better director than he is an actor and that his heist drama had a sense of authenticity that was almost unnerving in it's details of life in Charles"town".

Opening with a bang, we are given front row seats to a bank heist in progress that is frightening in it's efficiency - that is until one of the gang members decides they need to take a hostage to ensure they make it out with the cash. The problem?? Ever hear the line "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine" well, it's like that for Doug MacRay (Affleck) who finds himself falling for said hostage, Claire (played with understated grace by indie fave Rebecca Hall). The fallout from that meeting sets up the rest of the films events. After leaving Claire unharmed by a nearby beach, the robbers find out that the drivers license they took from her lists her address as 3 blocks from them and that's a problem. What if they run into her around town and she recognizes their voices? The solution becomes the real problem when Affleck's Doug takes it upon himself to "take care of it" by setting up a spontaneous meeting with her at a Laundromat and then ends up falling for her instead. The exchange that follows with her explaining her subsequent breakdown to the previous bank heist leads to unexpected laughs as we are privy to information she's not, her being innocent to Doug's involvement.

A movie about a bank heist isn't new by any stretch, but what feels new is the family legacy spin on the act of robbery as a business and the idea that in this small Boston neighborhood, it is literally passed down from father to son. The characters throughout are well drawn and well acted by the likes of Jeremy Renner as Dougs best friend and fellow robber. Renner provides the most tense scene of the movie when he "bumps" into Doug and Claire having lunch together. Just see if you aren't squirming waiting for her to notice a certain tattoo on said friend. Jon Hamm is unstoppable as the no nonese FBI agent intent on taken the crime ring down. Chris Cooper is also on hand playing Doug's convict father & painting a picture of what Dougs life could become. The cinematography is also first rate at the hands of Robert Elswit who gives us the feeling of truly being one of the group with a view inside their life of crime just to survive. Watch for Blake Lively from Gossip Girl in a taut performance as a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who just wants Doug to love her - she is cast against type here and shines. I believed her performance which could have been cliched and vulgar but was instead insightful and subtle.

I was reminded in a way of "Good Will Hunting" oddly enough, because by the end of that movie, you so want Will to overcome his circumstances and become his potential leaving his former life. I wanted the same for Doug and you will too although his is fraught with obstacles and not much else.

Affleck has truly found his niche, his ability to show you Boston through his lens is a powerful gift. I felt the pressure of his circumstance and absorbed the despair he portrayed, he should do for Boston what Woody Allen has done for New York.

5 out of 5

Money Might Never Sleeps but You Will

In Oliver Stone's Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, the world of high finance was never more boring. The sets may be first rate and the casting sublime, but the problem is I didn't care about anything that was happening to them. The storyline is very similar to the first movie in that we have a wise old mentor in the way of Frank Langella to Shia LeBeouf's protege Jake. Jake is an up and coming trader trained by Langella who happens to be in love with Gekko's daughter Winnie. In fact their mentor/protege relationship was the only one I really felt invested in and it was was over before I knew it and then the rest of the movie went downhill without it. We see Gekko exit prison with a cell phone the size of a brick which provided both a laugh and a point of reference as we are told it's been 7 years since the original movie and alot has changed. Douglas's Gekko is as slick as ever and you can tell Douglas delighted in playing him again. I did like his refreshed take of greed being what got us in our predicament we are all in now and references to the mortgage collapse, but Gordon Gekko feels and looks tired. It's not that Michael Douglas's performance wasn't good, it's just that I don't feel that Wall Street was a movie that held up over the years, it feels dated; from the computers to the fashion to the mindset. Stone's a heavy handed director and nothing's different here - the pace is slow and it feels at times like he is making two movies; one about greed and the market, both in 1987 and now, and the other a melodrama about starcrossed lovers from different sides of the tracks. It would have been nice to have more of a backstory as to why LeBeouf's Jake and Carey Mulligan's Winnie got together in the first place - their story needed to be fleshed out better and explained if the audience is expected to root for them- as it was it felt like she gave up to fast and he walked out to willingly. James Brolin's character is perfect as the villianous, evil, star broker who's pulling all the strings - I loved to hate him, which is to his credit. Even so, every turn Stone takes is predictable and at 2 hours felt overly long. By the time the credits rolled I felt relieved - never a good sign. If you want a great movie about Wall Street and stocks, rent 2000's Boiler Room instead.

My take 2 out of 5 stars

My Review of Roku HD Player

Originally submitted at Roku

The best-selling HD Player (as known as Netflix Player by Roku) plays High Definition video and connects to surround sound audio.

Roku HD Player

ROKU's a Necessity!!

By Reelgirl from Seattle, WA on 9/13/2010

 

5out of 5

Pros: Easy to use, Video selection, Reliability, Great value, Compact, High quality picture, Easy to set up

Cons: Want more video choices

Best Uses: Bedroom, Living room

Describe Yourself: Early adopter, Home entertainment enthusiast, Netflix fan, Movie buff

I bought my first ROKU player the moment Netflix advertised it. When it stopped working 2 1/2 years later, the week I was without one was horrible. This is one of the single best purchases I have made in recent memory - it's compact, easy to use and a great value for the money. I tell anyone who will listen to run to Netflix and order one STAT!!

(legalese)