This weekend I saw a couple of the new movies out in theaters. I went into both not really knowing what to expect and just really LOVING both of them. Let's break it down:
(500) Days of Summer
This movie has many things that I love: Zooey Deschenel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and non-linear storytelling to name a few. It was a very simple story told in an interesting way. It had a lot of the mainstays of indie films as well, but I didn't feel that it detracted from it at all. It also had a lot of interruptions in the storyline to stylize it and show the fantasy and daydreaming involved in the beginnings and ends of a relationship that I really enjoyed. The random musical number and the expecation/reality scene being the most prominent. Well, in all, I just really loved the movie and highly recommend it to you all. Also, here's the Rotten Tomatoes show's review about it:
Have you seen it already? What did you think?
Whatever Works
This is a classic Woody Allen film, and a good one at that. If you like Woody Allen films (Annie Hall, Manhattan, Bullets Over Broadway, etc) then I think you will like this one. It features his trademark neuroses, all living in Larry David's Boris, and the May-December romances that you come to expect in his films.
Woody Allen actually wrote this script in the 1970s, but when the lead actor he had in mind died, he shelved it until he could find the perfect leading man. He found that with Larry David, and that's why the film is out now. But while it is set in a timeless modern NYC, it still feels very '70s in terms of the relationships and metamorphses tha take place. But the film doesn't feel dated or like a period piece, so it just goes to show you how little people have really changed in the past 40 years.
While the film has been receiving mixed reviews, I really enjoyed it and if you enjoy Woody Allen's paranoia tinged humor, then you'll enjoy it too.
