Stranger than Fiction

There are very few movies that I go crazy for, but let me tell you... This was an EXCELLENT movie. Jeanette and I saw it Sunday afternoon, and while we went in expecting another post-modern reminder that life is depressing and man is depraved, we left feeling good and loving the characters.

I won't spoil the plot any more than the previews give away but the idea is that Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) finds that someone is writing a story about his life and his impending death and he can hear the narration. Will Ferrell plays a quiet predictable IRS Agent who falls in love with one of the people he audits played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. Emma Thompson plays Kay Eiffel a writer who always kills the heroes in her stories and Queen Latifah plays her undesired assistant Penny Escher who, interestingly enough could have been played by anyone. The role wasn't a largely necessary one, other than it gave Emma Thompson someone to talk to, so I found it interesting that she would take such a small part, but she did a great job none the less. Dustin Hoffman plays Professor Jules Hilbert, a literature expert, who helps Crick figure out the type of story that he's in.

That's all I can give you without explaining too much, but it was a breath of fresh air to see BIG Names in Hollywood (Hoffman, Thompson, Ferrell) make an actual feel good movie that not only is funny, but has some great themes and morals to it.

I give this movie 2 Thumbs WAY up and like 4 stars or whatever it is they rate movies with.

Tags: Stranger than Fiction, Ferrell, Thompson, Hoffman, movies, review

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*paces*
What do I stand for? Do I stand for morals and ethics all the time? Or can they be cast aside for the sake of a great storyline? Can my integrity be bought for so cheap a price? Do I stand for "Art for Art's sake?" Willing to stare into the darkness that is Man's soul because I am an artist/actor and I get something from seeing the depths to which a man's soul can fall? Why do movies like this appeal to me? Why do they appeal to guys in general? Sleven, Fight Club, Rounders... the list goes on. Twist-stories that go back years and years to the days of Hitchcock and others who twist their readers/watchers around on themselves and see not just a person who could do something like this, but the potential in your own soul. I loved these movies, not because they stood for what I want to stand for but because in a sick small way I related to them. I know my sin, I know how quickly a person can go from sane to insane at the suggestion of a glance. I watch people, I learn them, and these movies give me a deeper view into people's lives who are depraved and open, like a carcass with it's ribs split in front of me. I can't look away because I'm fascinated. I want to know what's in there, regardless of what it's surrounded by or how it's presented in front of me.

*stops and stares into camera*
But at what cost.
Fight Club had a blurred sex scene, Sleven had 3 that were far from blurred. the movie had 3 freakin porn scenes! We looked away 3 times instead of walking out, because the storyline was THAT good. When sex scenes go from two people under a sheet staring at eachother, to a pair of naked people in front of you doing things that I can't even say in front of my fiancee... we've gone too far. I almost went and saw this with her and her parents on opening night! Watching a movie like that myself is bad, watching it with the woman i love, worse, but going with your father and mother inlaw? HOLY CRAP.
Naw, I can't do this anymore.

Look, I know hollywood isn't reading my blog, no one does for the most part, and I'm fine with that, but I'm not gonna see movies like this anymore. I don't want that stuff in my head. That might sell movies to some people, but not to me. Not anymore. I'm trying to be different. I mean that sentence both ways. I'm done with darkness. I'm done. If I have to watch kids movies and romantic comedies for the rest of my life so be it.
*walks out and shuts the door*

Pause...

*door creaks back open, sticks his head in*
hollywood, if you ARE there - make good movies again. Sleven will be a flash in the pan, it's just like 98% of the other crap out there. Napoleon Dynamite gained insane following, not because of sex(none) profanity(none) crude jokes/innuendos(none) murders(none) but because it had endearing characters people related to, great dialogue, catchphrases people STILL (annoyingly admittedly) won't stop saying, and a terrificly simple story.
Bring me back in hollywood. bring me back in.
Come back to excellence again.
Please

*shuts door*