Movie Favorites: Midnight in Paris

Synopsis: Gil (Owen Wilson) and Inez (Rachel McAdams) travel to Paris as a tag-along vacation on her parents' business trip. Gil is a successful Hollywood writer but is struggling on his first novel. He falls in love with the city and thinks they should move there after they get married, but Inez does not share his romantic notions of the city or the idea that the 1920s was the golden age. When Inez goes off dancing with her friends, Gil takes a walk at midnight and discovers what could be the ultimate source of inspiration for writing. Gil's daily walks at midnight in Paris could take him closer to the heart of the city but further from the woman he's about to marry.

Unique Selling Point: The movie is magical, I fell in love with it right away. It manages to show Paris in the most beautiful way possible. And the perfect leading man was chosen for the role of Gil Pender: Owen Wilson.

Most Valuable Player: Director Woody Allen. His unique way of telling a story, and showing the beauty of a beloved city, worked really well.

Best Moment: At the end, when Gil sees Gabrielle again. He tells her that he’s going to stay in Paris and Gil invites her for a cup of coffee. It starts to rain. Gabrielle tells Gil she doesn’t mind getting wet and that Paris is at its best when it’s raining.

Movie Favorites: Jaws

Synopsis: When a gigantic great white shark begins to menace the small island community of Amity, a police chief, a marine scientist and grizzled fisherman set out to stop it.

 

 

Unique Selling Point: Probably the only really good shark movie ever made. It’s an absolute classic and it’s still scary after watching it many times. The build-up is great, that creates the tension and gives you scares. Even though it’s not timeless because of technique, no other shark movie will top “Jaws”.

Most Valuable Player: Composer John Williams, by making his music even scarier than the actual shark.

Best Moment: The opening scene, with Chrissy who decides to go skinny dipping. Not a good idea!

Movie Favorites: Jane Eyre

Synopsis: After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre (Mia Wasikowska) goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meets the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Mr. Rochester (Michael Fassbender). Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Mr. Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?

 

 

Unique Selling Point: Although the story has been told many times, it does the classic novel justice. It’s filmed beautifully and the actors have plenty of room to show their skills. It’s great to see how efficiently the hundreds of pages of the book are made into a film.

Most Valuable Player: Michael Fassbender as Rochester, the handsome and charismatic man with a dark edge.

Best Moment: Every hopeless romantic would go for the part where Rochester asks for Jane’s hand in marriage.

Movie Favorites: Drive

Synopsis: A mysterious man (Ryan Gosling) who has multiple jobs as a garage mechanic, a Hollywood stuntman and a getaway driver seems to be trying to escape his shady past as he falls for his neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan) - whose husband is in prison and who's looking after her child alone. Meanwhile, his garage mechanic boss is trying to set up a race team using gangland money, which implicates our driver as he is to be used as the race team's main driver. Our hero gets more than he bargained for when he meets the man who is married to the woman he loves.

 

 

Unique Selling Point: Magnificent montage, great camera work. An easy switch between fast action sequences and slower scenes. Sharp dialogues and on edge humor. The acting is strong, the movie is visually stunning, this is powerful cinema. Very impressive and intriguing.

Most Valuable Player: Cinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel, it’s pure art.

Best Moment: The elevator scene. Driver and Irene are in the elevator when he sees the other passenger is carrying a gun. Driver wants to protect Irene and he pushes her back, kisses her and then he smashes up the guys face.

Movie Favorites: 50/ 50

Synopsis: Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a 27 year old writer of radio programs and is diagnosed with a rare form of spinal cancer. With the help of his best friend (Seth Rogen), his mother (Angelica Huston), and a young therapist (Anna Kendrick) at the cancer center, Adam learns what and who the most important things in his life are.

 

 

Unique Selling Point: It always amazed me how they could tell a story with such a heavy theme so light and with humor. It isn’t a sob story, it’s a movie with a lot of heart. And the cast is outstanding.

Most Valuable Player: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who else? Movies like this hardly ever get an Academy Award nomination, but they missed one here. It was an Oscar worthy performance, very sincere and he made Adam Lerner one of the most likeable characters in movie history.

Best Moment: Adam is about to go into surgery. His parents are there and Adam realizes this could be the last time he sees them. He’s scared. It’s really a heartbreaking moment, I just wanted to hug him.

Movie Favorites: Hot Fuzz

Synopsis: Top London cop, PC Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is good. Too good. And to stop the rest of his team looking bad, he is reassigned to the quiet town of Sandford. He is paired with Danny Butterman (Nick Frost), who endlessly questions him on the action lifestyle. Everything seems quiet for Angel, until two actors are found decapitated. It is called an accident, but Angel isn't going to accept that, especially when more and more people turn up dead. Angel and Danny clash with everyone, whilst trying to uncover the truth behind the mystery of the apparent "accidents".

 

 

Unique Selling Point: This is how action and comedy should be mixed. This is probably my favorite out of the cornetto-trilogy.

Most Valuable Player: Edgar Wright, for writing one of the greatest comedies in movie history. Clever jokes, something that makes me laugh every time.

Best Moment: Nicholas Angel jumps over a fence, smoothly. Danny also does it, not so smoothly. “What’s the matter, Danny? Never taken a shortcut before?” Well, he clearly hasn’t.

Movie Favorites: Beauty & the Beast

Synopsis: Belle is a girl who is dissatisfied with life in a small provincial French town, constantly trying to fend off the misplaced "affections" of conceited Gaston. The Beast is a prince who was placed under a spell because he could not love. A wrong turn taken by Maurice, Belle's father, causes the two to meet.

 

 

Unique Selling Point: A great story, with a deeper message. But when you throw in some catchy sing and dance songs and amazing visuals, it makes it extra special.

Most Valuable Player: Art director Brian McEntee.

Best Moment: For most people it would be showstopper “Be Our Guest”, but the opening song “Bonjour” always puts a smile on my face.

Movie Favorites: Shaun of the Dead

Synopsis: Shaun (Simon Pegg) doesn't have a very good day, so he decides to turn his life around by getting his ex to take him back, but he times it for right in the middle of what may be a zombie apocalypse. But for him, it's an opportunity to show everyone he knows how useful he is by saving them all. All he has to do is survive. And get his ex back.

Unique Selling Point: This is the kind of comedy I like, a zom-com in fact. And with this movie we’re also introduced to an amazing trio: Wright, Pegg and Frost.

Most Valuable Player: Nick Frost as the numb nuts sidekick Ed, who doesn’t really do anything useful.

Best Moment: Whacking zombies while “Don’t Stop Me Now” by Queen is playing on the jukebox. “It’s on random”.

Movie Favorites: Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Synopsis: King Arthur and his knights embark on a low-budget search for the Grail, encountering many very silly obstacles.

 

Unique Selling Point: The story about King Arthur and his knight, told the Monty Python way. Their humor is clever, intelligent and out of the ordinary. No one tells a joke like a Python does.

Most Valuable Player: Graham Chapman carries the film as the baffled but brave King Arthur.

Best Moment: Fighting the black knight. “It’s just a flesh wound”

Movie Favorites: "(500) Days of Summer"

Synopsis: After it looks as if she's left his life for good this time, Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) reflects back on the just over one year that he knew Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel). Despite being physically average in almost every respect, Summer had always attracted the attention of men, Tom included. For Tom, it was love at first sight when she walked into the greeting card company where he worked, she the new administrative assistant. Soon, Tom knew that Summer was the woman with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life. Although Summer did not believe in relationships or boyfriends - in her assertion, real life will always ultimately get in the way - Tom and Summer became more than just friends.

 

Unique Selling Point: When you thought “(500) Days of Summer” was just another rom-com, you’re wrong. The way this story is told is unique and that makes it inventive, funny and true.

Most Valuable Player: Screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, for this originally told story.

Best Moment: The expectations versus reality scene, with the split screen, is nothing like I’ve ever seen. It’s amazing.

Movie Favorites: Atonement

Synopsis: When Briony Tallis (Saoirse Ronan), 13 years old and an aspiring writer, sees her older sister Cecilia (Keira Knightley) and Robbie Turner (James McAvoy) at the fountain in front of the family estate she misinterprets what is happening thus setting into motion a series of misunderstandings and a childish pique that will have lasting repercussions for all of them. Robbie is the son of a family servant toward whom the family has always been kind. They paid for his time at Cambridge and now he plans on going to medical school. After the fountain incident, Briony reads a letter intended for Cecilia and concludes that Robbie is a deviant. When her cousin Lola is raped, she tells the police that it was Robbie she saw committing the deed.

 

Unique Selling Point: The movie is based on a best-selling novel and it stays very close to the source. It’s a romantic drama, set during world war II, with secrets, lies and betrayal as important themes.

Most Valuable Player: Saoirse Ronan as young Briony Tallis. She is fantastic and overshadows her very experienced co-stars.

Best Moment: The moment where Cecilia and Robbie meet up at the fountain. We get to see their version and how Briony sees it.

Movie Favorites: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Synopsis: Petty thief Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey Jr.) poses as an actor and is brought to Los Angeles for an unlikely audition and finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation along with his high school dream girl (Michelle Monghan) and a detective (Val Kilmer) who's been training him for his upcoming role.

 

Unique Selling Point: The movie has a film noir feel to it, but with loads of dark humor. It’s sly and witty.

Most Valuable Player: Robert Downey Jr. was cast perfectly as Harry Lockhart and he nails every spike one-liner he gets.

Best Moment: While trying to get information from a suspect, Harry tries to scare him with his gun. He only puts one bullet in it. After not cooperating, Harry shoots but the first shot already contains the bullet, leaving Harry speachless and Perry mad because he just shot the only source of information. Harry trying to do the math on the odds makes it even more hilarious.

Movie Favorites: Avatar

Synopsis: When his brother is killed in a robbery, paraplegic Marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) decides to take his place in a mission on the distant world of Pandora. There he learns of greedy corporate figurehead Parker Selfridge's intentions of driving off the native humanoid "Na'vi" in order to mine for the precious material scattered throughout their rich woodland. In exchange for the spinal surgery that will fix his legs, Jake gathers intel for the cooperating military unit spearheaded by gung-ho Colonel Quaritch, while simultaneously attempting to infiltrate the Na'vi people with the use of an "avatar" identity. While Jake begins to bond with the native tribe and quickly falls in love with the beautiful alien Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), the restless Colonel moves forward with his ruthless extermination tactics, forcing the soldier to take a stand - and fight back in an epic battle for the fate of Pandora.

 

Unique Selling Point: I have to admit that I was a bit skeptic about this movie. I refused to watch it, because it was hyped so much. It wasn’t until it was released on DVD, that my curiosity won over my will to rebel against the majority. “Avatar” isn’t just another action-packed, special effect spectacle. It has a deeper meaning, global change and the fact that people always destroy beautiful things. I was amazed by the visuals, but the message also grabbed me. I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t get to see it in theaters, because that would be amazing.

Most Valuable Player: Definitely Zoe Saldana, who plays Neytiri, who manages to feel real and she wins your sympathy. She isn’t only gorgeous, but her performance was stunning.

Best Moment: When Jake Sully has to choose an Ikran, but it also has to choose him. When the band is made he and Neytiri fly off. It gave me butterflies in my stomache.