CognitiveDissonance

I’m giving this Rom-Com four stars solely because of the incredible acting of Clooney & Roberts. The plot is fun (if not a little played out) and there are a few genuinely heart warming moments, again…great acting. The story is a bit over the top at times, and I was really disappointed by the inaccuracy of central plots in the script - mainly - you can’t just become a lawyer after completing a four year undergrad program! You have to attend law school for another three years and then pass the bar exam, a notoriously difficult licensing requirement that takes many students multiple attempts. You can teach law without passing the bar, but you’re not getting head hunted by a large law firm. Seriously, how did they get such a basic concept wrong in a movie that cast George Clooney & Julia Roberts?! Maybe I’m being too critical, but that just rubbed me the wrong way early on, it’s just an unnecessarily careless oversight of a widely understood concept. I’d give the movie itself 3 stars but I’m bumping it up because strong acting allowed me to forget about the glaring plot holes for short amounts of time.

Spanglish is a comedy-drama full of complex characters that struggle with life, parenting, and a wide variety of relationships. The character that stood out the most to me is Deborah Clasky, played by Tea Leone. I think a lot of critics and viewers misunderstood her insecurity for simple narcissism. Sure she’s manic, self centered and ridiculously inept at perceiving social cues, but multiple scenes (as well as great acting by Tea Leone) demonstrate that her self obsession was rooted in deep seeded self-hate and a constant need for approval. Tea Leone played this character so well that at times I forgot I was watching a movie and became genuinely fearful of her character and for those around her. Deb went beyond simple “quirks” and exhibited truly unstable and erratic behavior. It doesn’t surprise me that the writer of this story, James L. Brooks, is also responsible for the award winning movie “As good as it gets”. Brooks writes mental illness very well. Deb’s character was most definitely intended to have some form of untreated mental illness, while her husband struggled to understand and cope with her erratic behavior. Of course the main story is centered around Flor, a Spanish speaking immigrant mother who would do anything to protect her daughter Cristina, who narrates the story through a college admission essay. Flor interviews for a maid position with the Clasky’s in order to spend evenings keeping an eye on her daughter. Then there’s Deb’s husband John, a sweet man who struggles with his wife’s manic behavior and poor treatment of their daughter when he ends up falling in love with Flor, despite being unable to communicate with her, Deb and John’s sensitive and overweight daughter Bernice, who is constantly put down by Deb for being overweight, Deb’s alcoholic live-in mother Evelyn, who eventually sobers up to try and stop Deb from ruining her marriage, and Deb and John’s son Georgie, who plays no roll in this movie other than to help illustrate the Clasky’s strained marriage. If you are expecting more comedy than drama, then this movie may not be for you. I thought this movie was wonderful for what it was, a touching and tumultuous story centered around a family’s struggles.

I’m so disappointed in this one. There was so much talent and potential for this movie that was just wasted. This movie is far from a comedy. Vaughn delivers his usual unique wit. James takes a shot at a serious role. The most entertaining character in this movie was Tatum, who delivered the only humor and lightheartedness of the film. Ryder’s character was plain despicable. I think they erred in making James’ character unfaithful as well. It’s silly for Vaughn’s character go to the extremes he did after he finds out his best friend goes to a Korean massage parlor every week for sexual gratification. So are they insinuating James is less guilty than Ryder because he pays for it? Pretty misogynistic of the writers. At the end, Ryder confesses the affair and confronts James on his infidelity and his discretions are completely downplayed or outright ignored by James and everyone else. Ryder complains to Vaughn that her husband hasn’t touched her in 6 months. If a man completely neglects his wife but goes for a “massage” every week like clockwork, then he is just as responsible for the dysfunctional relationship as the wife who has an affair in response. I think that really hurt James’ character and made Vaughn’s actions too extreme and unrelatable. Most reasonable people would either confront both of them as they were both cheating, or just mind their own business. In my opinion it would have been a much better story if they left that out. This isn’t a movie I would go out of my way to watch again. The potential was there. They had all of the elements and with Vaughn and James, they could have actually made it funny. I really expected more.

Ignore all of the bad reviews that were written by people who were simply offended by the dark humor. Bad Teacher is certainly not for the uptight. This is a raunchy comedy modeled after the Bad Santa and Bad Grandpa movies with a similar level of dark humor, although I think Bad Teacher is actually mild in comparison. I find this movie hilarious for what it’s supposed to be, a satirical comedy, not a life model. The plot: An attractive, gold digging, middle school teacher, Cameron Diaz, quits her job after she’s set to marry a wealthy doctor. After saying goodbye to her colleagues on her last day of work, she returns home and is confronted by her nerdy fiancé and his overly-involved mother about the amount of money she’s been spending. Realizing that she was only after him for his money, he breaks off the engagement, leaving her broke and forcing her to return to her much hated job as a teacher. She decides that in order to secure a rich man, she needs bigger breasts. Unable to afford the surgery on her own, she starts skimming money from the school and scheming her student’s parents. A charming and good humored gym teacher, Jason Segel, repeatedly hits on her but she rejects him because he isn’t wealthy. Meanwhile, a fellow neurotic and goody two-shoe teacher, Lucy Punch, continuously confronts her about her lack of dedication. An attractive but flakey new teacher (Timberlake) catches her eye after she notices he’s wearing a very expensive watch and he tells her that his family owns the company. When she discovers Ms. Squirrel (Punch) is also interested in the new teacher, a hilarious rivalry begins between the two.

I’m shocked at the number of bad audience reviews for Leaving Neverland and all who claim that this documentary is based solely on the word of two men. While the main context of this documentary revolves around the two accusers and their families, a large amount of corroborating evidence is also presented through personal photos, news reports, court documentation, and other relevant content. The one thing I wish the director would have included is interviews with members of Law Enforcement who worked on the investigations. I feel that would have brought the documentary full circle. Despite that one complaint, I thought this documentary was brilliantly put together to bring awareness to a very important topic that people seem to want to just remain oblivious to. Even though some people would prefer not to hear about such a disturbing topic, the sad reality is that it is happening to many children even as you read this review. Those children need the other adults in their lives to be aware of the common behaviors of pedophiles to help identify the children who are being abused. This documentary did a very good job at showing how many lives can be effected and ruined by abuse beyond just the victim. I found Safechuck to be particularly credible and believable. I believed Robson as well, however I was a little more hesitant to forgive him for testifying on behalf of MJ as an adult, and denying Gavin justice. That’s not very fair though since he went through horrors that no child should ever go through and his mother basically forced their world to revolve around MJ. For that reason I found myself particularly angry at Wade’s mother for putting her own desires and ambitions above the well being of her son and her family. It’s heartbreaking that the boys who had the courage to speak out against MJ were lambasted by his attorney’s and never received justice, especially Gavin who went forward with the criminal trial and didn’t receive a 28 million dollar payout, only for MJ to be found not guilty. If Wade had the courage to speak out sooner I’m certain that trial would have had a different outcome. Other people can choose to stick their heads in the sand and continue to defend a man who abused many children and destroyed countless lives, but as the saying goes where there’s smoke there’s fire. All of the red flags were there. MJ was an adult man who chose to have little boys in his company. He brought them on tour with him as “traveling companions”. He slept in the same bed with them for months at a time. He used his mega celebrity status to groom them and their parents by offering extravagant gifts and trips. Once he successfully won the trust of the parents he attempted to isolate them from their sons by always claiming some sort of special advancement opportunities. He used manipulation to explain why he needed to sleep with their sons and have time alone with them. Sure on occasion he allowed little girls to sleep in his giant multiple floor bedroom as well, but he never brought them in his bed and slept with them for 30 nights in a row. It’s also strange that all of the accusers described the exact same grooming behaviors and that an adult man in his 30’s would choose to have young boys in his bed and as traveling companions over an adult he had a relationship with. As I said, stick your heads in the sand all you like and believe what you want but that is exactly why powerful men like MJ get away with the abuse.

I don’t think the bad critical ratings for this movie are fair. Like it or not, the Middle East is behind the West in women’s rights. I bet all these critics that wrote that this movie is unfair and racist have never actually been to the Middle East and I implore them to make the trip to see how women are actually treated there. And not just at fancy hotels, but on the streets and in everyday life. If anything, I think the movie goes out of its way to try to empower Middle eastern women by having everyday street women wearing expensive designer clothes at the end, which I think is the most unrealistic part of the film. As somebody who has a large number of Arabian acquaintances, I can tell you that sexism is very much alive and well in the ME until this day. Just because some critics don’t like the way it looks or feels doesn’t mean it’s not accurate. As for the film itself, I thought it was fun and unique! I enjoyed it more than the first one and have watched it many times. I would recommend to anybody who isn’t sensitive to the injustices taking place in other parts of the world.

This is a movie about consequences. The main character, Michael Douglas, has everything....a beautiful wife, a beautiful daughter, and a high powered career. But when an opportunity for no-strings-attached sex presents itself with a mysterious and attractive book editor, Glenn Close, he takes it. She manipulates him by insisting she can be discreet. But she starts coveting a life with him after only one weekend and becomes jilted when she realizes that he won’t be leaving his wife for her. Soon her feelings of rejection turn into psychotic obsession as she becomes more and more unhinged. Guaranteed to scare the s%%t out of every red blooded American man, Fatal Attraction forces all of us to face our own moral dilemmas and the consequences that could arise from our mistakes. With very strong performances by both Douglas and Close, you feel like you’re right in the nightmare with them.

This is a great movie! Probably one of my top ten favorites of all time. It’s an action, comedy, and romance all rolled into one. John Malkovich’s character is the best character in the movie imo. Not many movie characters can actually make me laugh out loud anymore and there were at least 3 times throughout this movie that he made did just that. This movie is fun, upbeat, exciting, and heartfelt all at the same time. The graphics are a little over the top at times but I think that only adds to the comedic charm. I highly recommend this movie to anyone that is just looking for a fun movie to watch. I had a blast and was actually upset when it ended because I wanted more. I can’t wait to watch Red 2 now.