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Old 09-13-2008, 12:51 PM   #3319
MystGirl
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I've been kind of bored with stuff coming out at the theaters lately, so I've been renting a lot of movies or watching my brothers anime when he orders more.

I rented Smart People with Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ellen Page... Dennis Quaid is a stuffy, uptight professor who's wife died years earlier. He meets Sarah Parker when he has an accident and they start dating. (she's a doctor in the ER where he ends up) His daughter Ellen Page is not happy with the situation. Ashton Holmes plays the moody distant brother at collage. Her unemployed, unrealiable uncle tries to get her, and her father to loosen up a bit. He's played by the lovely Thomas Haden Church. He is so good, at sarcasm. I have to admit, I have a bit of a crush on Ellen Page, even though she's only 21. She is good at playing uptight moody teenagers. I guess I related to a lot of her characters since I felt like such an oddball as a teenager and never fit in with any cliques. She's just adorable. Hope that doesn't make me sound creepy. It's a platonic kind of crush. Dennis Quaid is good as the surly professor that his students and fellow staff members can't stand.

I also saw My Blueberry Nights recently with Norah Jones and Jude Law. I'm not sure if this is Norah's first acting gig, but she she was pretty good. Her music is played here and there throughout the movie. It starts with her ending up in a little cafe in New York that Jude Law runs, after finding out her boyfriend is cheating on her. Jude offers a sympathetic ear and a piece of blueberry pie while she decides what to do. He also shares some stories with her about keys that he keeps in a fishbowl that previous scorned lovers have left in the cafe. Norah and Jude have obvious chemistry but she decides to leave New York to work as a waitress and bartender in Memphis for awhile to "get over" her ex and figure things out. She writes postcards to Jude, telling him of people she meets and what she's doing. He tries to call different Memphis places to find her, but can't locate her.

Norah meets a poor drunk named Arnie, played by the brilliant David Straitharn, who is trying to drink away the fact that his wife (Rachel Weisz), whom he's separated from, is with someone else now. Rachel Weisz is great as the boozy wife and there are great fireworks between these two when they have a confrontation in the bar. Norah eventually meets Natalie Portman, who plays a card hustler. They have a short adventure. I don't want to spoil the end of the movie. Does Norah return to New York, or does she stay on her adventure? The movie was a bit slow, but great performances by all. I enjoyed it quite a bit.


Guess I'm on a romantic movie kick lately.
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