a film review: This is 40

this film, simply put, is about a upper-middle-class family that loves each other, but doesn't like each other at all (if that makes any sense at all to you) and their struggles with aging. there, done!

i know, i know, i may have over simplified this film (my ass felt all 133 minutes of this one), but what more do you need to know? nothing? okay, maybe i have some other thoughts on this film.

we are reintroduced to Debbie (Leslie Mann) and Pete (Paul Rudd) who we know from Judd Apatow's previous film, Knocked Up some 7 years ago. they are a couple who seem to have nothing in common except for the fact that they share two children together. i feel that we aren't supposed to really like or really hate the husband and wife duo throughout this film, that they both have virtues and faults that are supposed to make them more realistic and less like film characters. blah blah blah. the problem i had was that i didn't feel that way at all.

i just thought Debbie was a crazy-ass bitch, and i felt bad for Pete. now this is where the lines of reality blur for me, and i'm sure the same goes for a lot of (bat-shit crazy) women out there who are like me, because we LOVE Paul Rudd. so during most of the film i was all like "what the fuck, bitch? if you have a problem being married to Paul Rudd, i'll take him off your hands for you. and let the man have a goddamn cupcake." as a friend told me, "i'd listen to grunge music with Paul Rudd any day of the week."

i feel bad for Leslie Mann, too, because i feel that with these film roles she is trying to bring well-written lead comedic lady roles forward, and she is a really funny lady and i want to see her doing these roles. it's just this role wasn't that. Debbie is just a nag. well i could actually go out on a tangent here with Leslie Mann in Apatow films because a lot of his roles for her feel they are just a showcase for him to be like "look at my hot wife, isn't she hot?" but i digress.

but the most important thing, what i loved the most was the house. it was beautiful! the same house from Knocked Up, it is just gorgeous (i've been trying to find pictures of the house, but i'm having a hard time and losing patience, so no pictures. boo!). i always thought it was the actual Apatow/Mann house, but from what i've read it's a house just down the street from the Apatow/Mann family home. so let's do some stalking, just kidding, no stalking. stalking is bad! i could move into that house and be at home. i want to see that home featured on HGTV.

i did like the film. and i feel bad that it hasn't been reviewed well. it is what it is, whiny rich white people having a hard time getting older and because i'm a whiny poor white person having a hard time getting older, i can go with it. xoxo.  

and one more Paul Rudd picture. you're welcome.

a film review: Killing Them Softly

or more astutely, salivating at the greatness that is Brad Pitt. (i bet you thought i would have a Brad Pitt picture right at the beginning of this post. boy, were you wrong.)

good lord, is Brad Pitt not gorgeous in this film or what? when i left the theater i couldn't stop thinking about him. he is not my typical crush when it comes to the hollywood leading man. first and foremost he is a blonde, and i do not find blondes attractive. i could go on and on about why i dislike blondes, but in short they are just creepy-looking to me. think flesh-colored beards (thank you, Joel McHale). ick. the funny thing is, of course, that i'm a blonde. talk about self-hate. but i digress. give me tall dark-and-handsome any day of the week. Pitt in this film also reminded me a bit of Jax Teller (portrayed by Charlie Hunnam) from Sons of Anarchy. but if you ask me Pitt is an adult and Teller is just a boy with ill-fitting clothes.

*spoilers, beware!

now how about the film, because this is a review, right?
the title of this post is telling me so, right?

this is a film that takes its time. directed by the same man that brought us The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (that was a mouth full), Andrew Dominik, brought us an American crime drama that was visually impressive. just like that aforementioned film, Killing Them Softly was like watching a lyric poem. it did have moments where i almost fell asleep, but i do wake up at an ungodly hour for work, so most evenings i have a hard time keeping my eyes open.

James Gandolfini was disgusting, but of course it's his character. Ben Mendelsohn was gross and fantastic, i could totally smell his repugnance. and Brad Pitt's speech at the end of the film was amazing:

Everybody is alone in America. America's not a country. It's a business. Now fucking pay me. 

he had me the moment he walked into the wood paneled bar. there, i'm done. this was very analytical.

side note to all directors out there: when you film a movie in New Orleans make sure it's set in New Orleans. even though this story is supposed to take place in Boston we all knew it was filmed in New Orleans. it is one city that can only be itself.

but Brad Pitt, oh boy. the entire film he wore black and smoked Parliament cigarettes. he had a confidence about him that made me melt. he didn't say much, but does a man who looks like him and has a strut that makes me weak in the knees need to say much? no, i don't think so. he just oozed manliness and control that was intoxicating. i could go on and get more explicit about how he affected me, but we would be moving into ratings that wouldn't be suitable for the more sensitive viewer.

but come on. he donned a black dress shirt with a black vest that hugged him ever so tightly. i tremble. sigh.

so with this riveting review, i hope you go out and enjoy this film. i know i did. xoxo.