"If you ride like lightning, you're going to crash like thunder."

In the past month, I have seen Iron Man 3, Star Trek Into Darkness, The Hangover Part III and Furious 6 and they were all good. If you liked the previous franchise movies, you will probably like these as well. However, I am not going to review them here because most people have probably already made up their minds about whether or not to see those. Instead, I am going to talk about The Place Beyond the Pines and The Iceman, which were fantastic and I am not sure these films are on most peoples' radar.

To be fair, I mostly saw these two movies because of who is in them (Bradley Cooper, Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans), but I am glad that I did and now think you should too!

The trailers for The Place Beyond the Pines made it seem more like an action movie and, while it did have a few fast-paced scenes, I would call it more of a character study. Similar to director Derek Cianfrance's most recent movie, Blue Valentine, it is about the how these peoples' lives intersect and how each action affect those lives.

The movie is split into three acts. The first act focuses on the character of Luke, played by Ryan Gosling, a motorcycle stunt rider who starts robbing banks in order to provide for his son. The second act follows Bradley Cooper's character, Avery, who is a young cop in a small town police department run by corrupt detectives. Avery and Luke's individual stories only overlap once, but that small interaction has huge consequences, which you see fifteen years later in the third act of the movie between their two teenage sons. It is an intense story and very well done.

The acting is great all around, as is to be expected from all involved, but I was especially impressed with Eva Mendes. She is the only actor that is in all three acts of the film and normally I am not a huge fan of hers, but she actually surprised me in this. And, of course, I would get my wish of having Cooper and Gosling in the same movie only to have them be in only one scene together. C'est la vie.

"I don't have delusions of grandeur, I have an actual recipe for grandeur."

I now present you with a list of my favorite movies from 2011. I do not believe that most of these films will win any awards, but I enjoyed them the most of all the things I saw this year. They were the movies that stuck in my head the most and made me want to watch them again as soon as I walked out of the theater. You may disagree, and that is fine, and I would invite you to share your favorite movies with me in the comments section below.

So now without further ado and in no particular order.....

Limitless
I am a little Bradley Cooper-biased, but I actually really enjoyed this movie a lot. I especially liked that it was not presented as a science fiction movie but more as an exploration of the human mind. You think more about the moral implications of what it would mean to take a drug like NZT. How would it change the way you interact with other people and how you live your life. This movie was engaging and highly entertaining.

Bridesmaids
This was the funniest movie I have seen in a really long time. I have been in six weddings, none were quite this hilarious, but I can definitely relate to many of the situations with which these ladies had to deal. The entire cast was great as an ensemble and even better in their individual roles. Each women adds a different level of hilarity throughout the entire movie. Also, I have said it before and I will say it again, I expect puppies to be given as favors at every bridal shower I go to from now on.

"All the reporters love you. Even the reporters that hate you still love you."

It took me a little longer than planned, but I finally saw The Ides of March and it was totally worth the wait.

Ryan Gosling plays Stephen Meyers, a press secretary for Democratic Presidential primary candidate, Governor Mike Morris, played by George Clooney. He takes a meeting with the opposition's Chief of Staff Tom Duffy, played by Paul Giamatti, and everything starts to fall apart after that. He finds out that his friend and candidate is not as perfect as he once thought that that sometimes you have play dirty to stay in the game.

Along with starring in the film, Clooney also co-wrote and directed it. We also see Philip Seymour Hoffman as Morris's Chief of Staff Paul Zara, Evan Rachel Wood as Meyers' love interest Molly Stearns and Marisa Tomei as journalist Ida Horowicz. It is based on the play, Farragut North, by Beau Willimon which was loosely based on the 2004 Howard Dean campaign.

"I'm either coming with you or you're fishing for your keys in the sewer."

The big films in theaters this weekend are Real Steel and The Ides of March.

Real Steel is set in the future when the sport of boxing has gone high-tech and been taken over by robot boxing. Charlie, a former boxer and struggling promoter, thinks he has found a new champion in a robot he finds in the junkyard. With the help of his estranged son, Charlie teaches the robot his old moves and takes one last shot at a comeback. The film is based on the 1956 short story "Steel" by Richard Matheson and stars Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly, Anthony Mackie, Kevin Durand and Hope Davis.

Trailer #2
Real Steel at MOVIECLIPS.com

"If I drive for you, you'll get your money...

You tell me where we start, where we're going, where we're going afterwards, I give you five minutes when we get there. Anything happens in that five minutes and I'm yours no matter what. Anything a minute either side of that and you're on your own. I don't sit in while you're running it down. I don't carry a gun. I drive."
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We all know that I love Ryan Gosling, so I would have seen Drive regardless of the reviews, but this movie really was excellent.

Gosling's character has no name, but is simply referred to as 'Driver.' He is a movie stuntman by day and a criminal getaway driver by night. He becomes interested in his neighbor and when her husband come home from prison, he tries to help with a heist and it goes horribly wrong. A contract is put out on him and he now must protect himself and the woman he loves.

I thought that it was fantastic. The tone and style of the movie are totally different than any thing you have seen. Like Gosling's character, the plot is simple and to the point. There is not a lot of dialogue in many of the scenes because the Driver only speaks when he feels it is necessary. It was a little darker and more violent than I expected, but not in a bad way. There actually is not a lot of violence, but in the few violent scenes it is pretty intense.

Chris: I don’t know how she does it. All those children…

Kate: I have two
Chris: So impressive
Kate: You have four!
Chris: Yeah, but two of mine are twins
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The big movies coming out this weekend are: I Don’t Know How She Does It, Straw Dogs and Drive.

Drive is about a Hollywood stuntman who moonlights as a get-away driver for criminals. He must protect his neighbor and her son after a heist goes south. This movie stars Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman and Albert Brooks. I think we all know that I would be seeing this movie regardless, but it actually has been getting great reviews.

Trailer #2
Drive at MOVIECLIPS.com

"I should have fought for you. 'Cause you fight for your soul-mates."

As many of you know, I think that Ryan Gosling is the best actor of our generation. Unfortunately, he has not been in a lot of mainstream movies, so most people only know him from The Notebook. This is a shame because he has been in some fantastic movies that I recommend you watch immediately.

That being said, I loved Crazy, Stupid Love. It starts out a little slow, introducing you to all the characters and their stories, but it gradually picks up. The general tone of the movie is more serious than I expected it to be, but still really funny at the same time. There is some really great comedic acting from Steve Carrell, Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. This might be a little surprising for Gosling, who usually plays dark, moody characters, but he is such a fantastic actor that the comedy did not seem unnatural coming from him. This movie was emotional, it was smart, but mostly it was just really funny.

"I feel like men are more romantic than women...

When we get married, we marry, like, one girl, 'cause we're resistant the whole way until we meet one girl and we think, 'I'd be an idiot if I didn't marry this girl, she's so great.' But it seems like girls get to a place where they just kinda pick the best option...'Oh, he's got a good job.' I mean, they spend their whole life looking for Prince Charming and then they marry the guy who's got a good job and is gonna stick around."
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Okay, so this is technically old news (a whole week old) but I just have to officially say that, I am so excited that Henry Cavill was cast as the new Superman!  If you have read any of the articles about him lately, you know that he was up for the role in Superman Returns and lost to Brandon Routh, James Bond and lost to Daniel Craig and was Stephanie Meyers first choice for Edward in Twilight but could not do it because by the time the project was made he was too old to play a seventeen year old.  While I am glad the last one did not work out, I am even more glad that he is finally getting recognized for his talent.  I realize that I have not been on this bandwagon for very long, only since last year really, but he is a wonderful actor and I am happy that people will finally get to see that in a mainstream film.  I really had no plans to see the new Superman, but now I will have to.

On a completely separate note, being stuck in your house for several days because of snow can be very boring.  Thank God for OnDemand.  In the past two weeks I have watched Despicable Me, Red and Buried.

From the trailers, I did not really understand what the plot of Despicable Me was before it started.  I thought it was supposed to be about a super villian, Gru, and his rival.  But once I realized that it was more about the relationship between Gru and the three little girls than it was about him being a super villain, I actually really enjoyed it.  I will probably have to watch it again to truly appreciate it, but I will do so gladly.

Bedtime Story


Despicable Me
at MOVIECLIPS.com

Red was another movie where I did not really know what to expect before it started.  It had gotten good reviews when it was in theaters, but I did not really have any desire to see it.  However, I have to admit that it was pretty enjoyable.  A little ridiculous at times, but mostly enjoyable.  I do not think that it was really aimed at my age bracket (my mother also really enjoyed it :o), but it was entertaining enough to hold my interest.

Buried was also really good and I am surprised that Ryan Reynolds did not receive more recognition for his performance.  I was hesitant to see this movie because, well, the thought of being buried alive inside a coffin does not really sound all that appealing to me, to say the least.  However, the movie was quite captivating.  Reynolds' character did have access to a cell phone, so you hear other character's voices, but he is the only person you ever actually see.  I thought it was very well done and even had an ending that I did not really expect.  Obviously, being buried alive, you do not see the typical humor that you see in most of Reynolds' characters, but he still did an excellent job.

When the snow did stop, I finally made it out to see Blue Valentine at the Bryn Mawr Film Institute.

We all know that I am partial to Ryan Gosling movies, but honestly, Blue Valentine is fantastic.  Though, it is definitely not a happy movie.  There are happy moments at the beginning of their relationship, but by the end of the relationship they just seem to be going through the motions.  The thing I liked most is that you do not see the middle parts of the relationship, which I think makes it more real.  They do not know how they got to the place that they are in their relationship and neither do we as the viewer.  It makes us wonder how one gets to that point in their marriage where they just seem to be tolerating each other.  It makes me hope that I never end up in a relationship like that.

Oscar nominations have also come out since my last post.  I was a little shocked that Christopher Nolan did not get nominated for Best Director and, after having seen Blue Valentine, I think Gosling is a little more deserving of a nomination than Jeff Bridges, but other than that, the nominations were not a huge surprise.  I will post my predictions when the show gets a little closer.

A few more mid-season TV shows have started or are starting this week and I will tell you how I feel about them once I have watched a few episodes.

I hope that everyone is staying warm and I especially hope that Punxsutawney Phil was right and Spring is on its way :o)

xoxo
c


Presbyterian Disaster Assistance
Habitat for Humanity
United Way
StillerStrong
The Nature Conservancy
National Wildlife Federation
American Red Cross
World Vision
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Cordelia: I personally don't think it's possible to come up with a crazier plan.

Oz: We attack the Mayor with hummus

Cordelia: I stand corrected
Oz: Just keeping things in perspective
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I went with my mom the other night to see Julie & Julia. If you have not yet seen it, you definitely should. Meryl Streep is, of course, amazing in any role that she takes on, and she is hilarious as Julia Child.

But that's not my focus today.

Part of the movie is based on the real life story of Julie Powell and her blog about cooking her way through Julia Child's cookbook and it made me think about my own blog. Her goal was too make all 500+ recipes in 365 days and she wrote about each one. Considering this, I feel like I need more focus and direction. I have no problem writing aimlessly about random thoughts I have about movies and actors and whatnot, but I now have a new plan.

I've talked a lot about my Netflix queue and how I'm slowly trying to work down from 230 movies - yes, that number has gone up since I last mentioned it - and now you get to go through that journey with me. That may not interest you at all, but like I said before, if you don't like it, don't read it.

Once the regular fall TV schedule starts up again, I might throw in some comments on current shows, and I'll comment on current movies as I deem necessary.

I feel better now that I have more direction :o)

As I am currently on my Bradley Cooper kick, I have been working my way through the entire Alias series. Although, he was only in the first two seasons, with a couple guest appearances later in the series. I did not watch Alias when it was on TV, mostly because none of my friends did - that I know of - and no one ever really told me that I should be watching it. So far, I have finished the first two seasons.

The first season was alright. I felt like I could not pay attention to the actual missions Jennifer Garner's character, Sydney, was sent on and still understand what was going on. The relationships were more interesting to me than the actual plot of the overall show. However, the second season was much more engaging, if only because Merrin Dungey's Francie had more to do than just constantly ask Sydney why she was traveling so much when she worked for a bank.

I find that, often, shows of this nature either have an amazing first, maybe second season, and then go down hill (ie. Lost, Heroes) or they have a mediocre first season and don't hit their stride until the next season (ie. Buffy, hopefully Dollhouse). The problem with that second scenario is that studios have no patience anymore and want shows to be a hit right away, so they end up canceling really good shows too soon that just have not found their audience yet.

The only thing that seriously bothers me about Alias is that, no matter how many hairstyles or different outfits Jennifer Garner's characters put on while undercover, her face always looks the same. You'd think as high-tech as these operations are, they could give her a prosthetic nose or something! Especially since she's usually trying to get information from the same people and several times has been recognized. I mean, come on, if I can figure that out, certainly the CIA should be able to!

Other than that I find the series interesting enough to keep watching. I'm not totally obsessed, but it's pretty entertaining. Mostly, I just hope that Greg Grunberg has more lines like this to Michael Vartan: "Well, something's going on. No man naturally smells as good as you do right now." :o)

Alias, season three, here I come.

I would love to hear your thoughts on anything I've said, even if you disagree with me, so feel free to take full advantage of the comments section below. Thanks for reading and spread the word to friends and family so that I can become famous, meet Ryan Gosling and have him fall madly in love with me.

A girl can dream.

xoxo
c

# of dvds in queue: 230

dvds at home: Alias - Season 3 - discs 1-3

"This one... I don't even have to ask but, I will. What do you think of this one?"

I tend to go through these phases where I decide I really like an actor or actress and then I proceed to watch almost every movie they have ever been in.

I first did it with Ryan Gosling, now my favorite actor of all time. I had first seen him in Remember the Titans as the adorable Alan Bosley who loves country music. But, like what happens so often, he was a minor role and I didn't pay much attention to him. I next noticed him in the trailer for Murder by Numbers with Sandra Bullock, but I'm not a huge fan of scary movies so initially I did not see it. Then came The Notebook. I read the book first, and made my mom read it too so that she would go to the movie with me :o) It's a pretty sappy romance, but you cannot not fall in love with Noah Calhoun...especially when he is as gorgeous as Ryan Gosling :o) I then proceeded to add every movie he had ever done to my Netflix queue....

Side note: I have been a member of Netflix since the middle of my sophomore year of college (2003) and there are currently 221 movies/TV shows in my queue. I don't think it has been below 200 in several years because I just keep adding to it.

Now, aside from the random TV shows he did before Remember the Titans, I have seen every movie Ryan Gosling has ever made. Granted, that's only 10 movies, but still :o) Between Titans and the Notebook, he mostly played weird, sometimes slightly deranged characters, but he was always phenomenal. Titans, The Believer, Fracture and Lars and the Real Girl being my favorites. I liked Half Nelson, and definitely thought he deserved the Oscar nomination (I have not yet seen The Last King of Scotland, so I cannot say if he deserved to win) but it was a little too depressing for me to want to watch over and over...and over again, and that is pretty much how I determine my favorite movies. I did eventually see Murder by Numbers and it was good, as was The United States of Leland and Stay. The Slaughter Rule was just a little too weird for my taste. All of them are definitely worth seeing.

According to People.com, Ryan Gosling is now working on an album. The group is called Dead Man's Bones and I've only heard one song called "Name in Stone", but it sounds pretty good. The video is different, but I like it...

His next two movies coming out are:

All Good Things with Kirsten Dunst and Jeffrey Dean Morgan about "a detective that begins to unravel a missing-persons case that looks to spell doom -- and quite possibly death -- for the heir to a New York real estate dynasty." Not sure when it'll be released.

Blue Valentine with Michelle Williams about "a contempo married couple, charting their evolution over a span of years by cross-cutting between time periods." Out next year sometime.

I look forward to both, and many more of his movies hopefully, to come.

I do this because I feel like you cannot really say that you like or dislike an actor until you have compared his entire body of work. I definitely do not have time to do this with all actors - if i could somehow find a way to get paid to watch movies all day every day, it might be possible - but for now, I must be more picky about to whom I devote my time.

xoxo

c