Lazy lately.

Well I haven't had the time, or energy, to write any movie reviews. I recently watched Pretty Little Sunshine. And while I highly enjoyed it, I just don't feel like writing haha
Bit, I did get a Samsung Galaxy SIII maybe a week ago and I got a couple cases for it. Here's one of them!

Film Review: American Beauty (1999)

This is the story of Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey), who is going to die in a year. Don't worry, this isn't a spoiler. The audience finds this out in the first couple minutes of the movie. Although, we don't find out how Lester will die, he just let's us know that he has one year left. Lester's life seems that of a conformist. He has a job he hates but yet he's been there for years, has a very cold marriage with his wife Carolyn (Annette Benning), and doesn't communicate, much less talk, with his daughter Jane (Thora Birch). Lester has never challenged his way of life. He's dealt with every disappointing aspect.
Suddenly, Lester's job has hired a man to make things more 'efficient' by getting rid of the unwanted employees. Needless to say, Lester is one of them. Realizing his job isn't what he wants, how unhappy he is, and because he smoked some good marijuana with his new 18 year old next door neighbor Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley), Lester starts making changes, drastic ones. Becoming infatuated with his 16 year old daughter's friend Angela (Mena Suvari) pushes him to make these changes. He quits his job, gets a job reminding him of a time when he was younger and happier, and starts working out because Angela loves muscles.
I won't give away the ending on what happens to old Les but I will say that I feel that he was truly liberated and essentially, content, maybe even happy. The characters in this movie were so dynamic. Everyone changed or realized something in their lives that made a bigger semblance in their life then what they thought was real. Carolyn, who I might say is my least favorite character, dodged a bullet in the end. I find her so selfish and so hard to like. I felt sorry for Angela in the end, her insecurities while not resolved in the movie, might take years to come over (if she were real). I do hope Jane and Ricky escape this world, even if it is to become very well-off drug dealers.
This might be one of Kevin Spacey's best movies for me. Although I didn't like Annette's charater she potrayed her amazingly well, I could not imagine anyone else playing Carolyn. Thora BIrch is one of my favorite young actresses and although this wasn't her greatest or biggest role, it was very well played. I honestly don't recall Wes Bentley in any other movie. He depicted Ricky very well, his character gave me the creeps but at the same time, made me strangely attracted to him.
The cinematography in this film was quite different, just like the story. the lighting was at times a little dark but I believe that it added to the cynical feel of the entire movie. Sometimes, the director would zoom in on an an actor's face, making it take up almost the whole screen and making the audience a little uncomfortably but also acutely aware of the feeling being shown.
After one watches this movie, I believe they'll tend to re-evaluate their own lives, as did I. It males the audience ask, "Am I really happy?", "Do we still love each other?", and "Is this what I really wanted out of my life?". This film shows not to conform, do what makes you happy even if it is working at Burger King. In the end however, it shows the opposite of conformity may not be the best route to travel either. Is there ever a happy medium?

Films

I'm still on my film kick. I've decided to write reviews on here of some of the movies I watch. Even though no one will read them. Oh, and I've added two more movies to my lists.

Number 1: Ghost World

"Enid and Rebecca are social outsiders who, after graduating from high school, play a mean prank on a middle-aged geek."
*I've had a really weird Thora Birch obsession lately.

Number 2: Girl With a Pearl Earring

"A young peasant maid working in the house of painter Johannes Vermeer becomes his talented assistant and the model for one of his most famous works."
*I've read this book previously, I hope the movie is even half as good. But are they ever?

Weird

Why do my page views go up like 5 times in one day when I only have one follower? I wonder who else is reading my blog.

To escape.

I just want to get up and travel in one direction one day, all day. I don't care if i end up at an airport or train station taking the next ride out. I want to see things I've never dreamed of and experience life and the world without a care in my head.
I used to have a best friend in high school. Sometimes we talked about doing something similar. Like getting bikes, jumping on a train, and just experiencing all of America, maybe more.
I wish I was carefree enough to do this. I wouldn't even mind if I was alone.I just want to be so full of curiosity of the world that no matter what, I have to leave, to escape.

 Btw, me today.

Moviieee timeee

I've been on a big movie kick lately. I'm trying to make it so I've seen tons of great movies! Right now I have four on my list that I want to watch in the next week.

Number 1: Little Miss Sunshine

"A family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant take a cross-country trip in their VW bus."

Number 2: American Beauty

"Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation for his daughter's attractive friend."

Number 3: The Color Purple

"This film follows the life of Celie, a young black girl growing up in the early 1900's. The first time we see Celie, she is 14 - and pregnant - by her father. We stay with her for the next 30 years of her tough life..."

Number 4: Atonement

"Fledgling writer Briony Tallis, as a 13-year-old, irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit. Based on the British romance novel by Ian McEwan."

I've seen half of Atonement but I want to get through it, it seems amazing. I hope all these movies are good and quench my thirst for good films!