Movies Blog : movies, comedy

Wacky Wonderful Bad Movie Night!

wag.mado@evpl — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 14:25:00 GMT

If you’ve never been to Bad Movie Night, you’ve been missing all the fun. Here’s your opportunity to come and enjoy (on the big screen)some of the wackiest movies ever made. In cool comfortable surroundings at Central Library, you and your friends can sit back with a drink and popcorn --------and it’s all free!

Bad Movie Night this month features The Thing With Two Heads starring Ray Milland and Rosie Grier. The 1972 cult film is being shown in Central’s Browning Events Room this Thursday August 11 at 6:30 PM.

Come and see what the excitement is all about!

Winter Holiday movies

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:39:00 GMT

During the few days I had off over the holidays, I was able to catch a lot of movies. Some in the theater (Avatar- excellent!; Sherlock Holmes- pretty good), but even more at home. Two movies that I had been waiting to come out on DVD did so right before I left on vacation.

500 Days of Summer stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt (loved him in 3rd Rock from the Sun) and Zooey Deschanel. Tom (Gordon-Levitt) is a greeting card writer who believes in fate and one true love. Enter the new girl at work (Deschanel), who Tom believes to be is soul mate. Unfortunately, Summer does believe in much of anything, but especially relationships. The movie bounces back and forth throughout their relationship's beginning, middle, and end. Quirky romance, great soundtrack. Highly recommended.

The creator of Office Space is back with his newest movie, Extract. This time we are introduced to happy business owner, Joel, who is content with his extract business, his wife, and his life. A freak on-the-job accident, however, throws Joel's life into a spin. Jason Bateman stars as business owner, Joel, Ben Affleck as his slacker best friend, Kristen Wiig as Joel's bored wife, and Mila Kunis plays a con artist in the middle of it all. I love Office Space (who doesn't?), so I had high expectations for Extract. I really wanted to love it, but it falls short for me.

Easy Virtue

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 15:55:00 GMT

I am a huge fan of Colin Firth. I might question his decision to make films such as What a Girl Wants, but he easily redeems himself with performances in Love Actually, Then She Found Me, and now Easy Virtue. In this movie, Firth plays the distant father and husband of an English family living in a crumbling estate. Firth’s character returned home after wandering around Europe following WWI as part of the Lost Generation. He now hides in his family’s shed repairing an old motorcycle and avoiding his family and their problems. He pops up throughout the movie with sardonic wit and repressed feelings.

Easy Virtue was adapted from a Noel Coward play set in the late 1920s. Jessica Biel plays American racecar driver, Larita, who steals the heart of English heir, John (played by Ben Barnes). The two marry and head to the family's English estate. Larita faces the scorn of her new mother-in-law who had plans for her son to marry the wealthy neighbor girl. Kristin Scott Thomas does an excellent job as the mother fighting against her daughter-in-law for her son's attention and affection. Larita's only allies come in the form of the family's servants and father-in-law (Firth). Once her past scandals come to surface, however, Larita must decide if she will stay with John or leave him and his family behind.

I loved the music, costumes, and actors in Easy Virtue. This movie slipped my attention before landing on the library shelves, so I guess many others may have missed it as well. Check it out- highly recommended.

Sunshine Cleaning

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 20:24:00 GMT

Rose and Norah were little girls when their little mother died. They both came in from playing in the yard to find their mom dead in the bathroom, an apparent suicide. As the two girls grow up, that day shapes their lives. Rose is a single mother working hard as a house cleaner to raise her son, while having an affair with her married high school sweetheart. Norah is a party girl. She doesn't have a boyfriend, drinks all the time, and can't hold a job. Their father is a quirky man always looking for a get-rich-quick scheme.

After Rose's son is expelled from school and a reunion with her high school friends approaching, Rose convinces Norah to start a crime scene cleaning business with her. Hilarity ensues as the two women struggle to learn the ropes of cleaning up grisly crime scenes, but there is an underlying seriousness as well. With their new business taking off, both Rose and Norah have to come to grips with what happen to their mother all those years ago and figure out what they want out of their own lives.

Fans of Little Miss Sunshine will like this movie with the quirky characters, humor, but a serious storyline as well. I laughed out loud and cried a few times as well. Highly recommended.

"Pushing Daisies"

MediaPhile@evpl — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 02:26:00 GMT

The first season of this new ABC series just came out on DVD.

"Pushing Daisies" is a fast-paced, whimsical, and light-hearted comedy -- nothing like the dark humor of "Six Feet Under" that I expected. Bryan Fuller (Heroes, Wonderfalls) and Barry Sonnenfeld (Men in Black) are the driving force behind it, and their artistic talents are evident.

Nothing is quite normal in this series. The characters are all quirky and have odd names. The colors are unnaturally bright and saturated. The stage sets are wildly inventive and almost theatrically stagey. And the story lines have unexpected spins and twists.

The male lead, Ned (Lee Pace), has the amazing ability to bring dead things back to life. The only problem is that the dead can only stay alive for one minute, or someone else will die in his/her/its stead. Also, if Ned ever touches this reborn entity again, the result is immediate and irrevocable death. A detective who solves murder cases for the reward money uncovers Ned's secret and convinces him to be his partner. And a new TV series is born........

Other series regulars are childhood sweetheart Chuck (Anna Friel), gumshoe detective Emerson Cod (Chi McBride), Pie Hole waitress Olive Snook (Kristin Chenoweth), and Chuck's Aunt Lily (Swoosie Kurtz).

"Pushing Daisies" was nominated for 12 Emmy Awards for its first season, and the second season begins on October 1.

"In Bruges"

MediaPhile@evpl — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 19:39:00 GMT

A couple of friends mentioned this flick, so when I saw a copy on the NEW shelf, I grabbed it. I had imagined some dense foreign flick, and wasn't prepared for this wacky British combination of comedy and drama.

Bruges, it turns out, is a town in Belgium that contains one of the most perfectly preserved medieval areas in Europe. So why aren't hitmen Ray (Colin Farrell) and Ken (Brendan Gleeson), fresh off a job, delighted to be there? Well, Ken is delighted, but he likes history and art. It is obvious that Ray is going through some sort of meltdown.

"In Bruges" is an intricate dance of a movie that even gets better when hardnosed family-man/mobster Harry Waters (Ralph Fiennes) shows up. This is not the romantic Ralph Fiennes of "The English Patient" and "The Constant Gardener" but rather a comically flawed sociopath. His gesticulations and expressions are a wonder to behold, as is his foul-mouthed vocabulary.

Critics praised this movie -- it got an 80% on Rotten Tomatoes. If you like the Coen Brothers you will enjoy "In Bruges." It is laugh out loud funny.