'Philomena' (PG-13) ***
Recently fired and depressed, world-weary political journalist Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan, who also co-wrote the script) picks up the story of a Philomena Lee (Judi Dench), who has been searching for her son who had been taken away from her decades ago after she became pregnant and was forced to live in a convent. Based on a true story and nominated for 4 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress (Judi Dench), Best Original Score (Alexandre Desplat) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope). It is a very interesting and rather sad story, often very funny and spearheaded by a great performance by Judi Dench. It didn't exactly resonate with me after I saw it, but I did enjoy it as I was watching it. Some have claimed that 'Philomena' is anti-Catholic. As a Catholic myself, I didn't feel that this movie was anti-Catholic.
TRAILER
'August: Osage County' - Doesn't look bad, just not something I'd go see.
'Her' (R) ****
Set in the not too distant future, 'Her' follows the story of Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), a lonely writer who is going through an impending divorce from his childhood sweetheart Catherine (Rooney Mara). He soon develops an unlikely relationship with his newly purchased operating system named Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson) that's designed to meet his every need. Also features Amy Adams as Theodore's neighbor Amy, Chris Pratt as Theodore's boss, and Olivia Wilde as a woman who Theodore goes on a blind date with. Nominated for 6 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay (Spike Jonze), Best Original Score (William Butler and Owen Pallett), Best Original Song ("The Moon Song"), and Best Production Design.
Whenever the trailer for 'Her' would pop up over the past few months I would always say the same thing. Looks good...but also really strange. And after having finally seen 'Her', yes it is indeed a very strange movie. But at the same time I thought it was great. It weaves back and forth between being a rather serious drama and a very funny comedy (Kristen Wiig's voice cameo as a lady in a chat room that Joaquin Phoenix stumbles upon and tries to talk to had me and the other three people in the theater laughing out loud). It is very well acted, shot well, and the music is also pretty good. There are also a couple monologues in the final scene of the movie that provided an emotional gut punch that I haven't felt during a movie in a long time. Those final monologues from two of the characters elevated this movie from being really really good to being great. Let's just say had some events from last year not happened, then I would not have felt as much a connection to this movie as I did. I still probably would have liked the movie a lot, it just wouldn't have meant as much as it does now. I highly recommend this movie. And it's better than the other Spike Jonze movie that I've seen, the adaptation of 'Where The Wild Things Are'.
NO TRAILERS
Never had that before...
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