Valentine's Day (2010)

Director: Garry Marshall
Writers: Katherine Furgate (luckily this was better than "The Prince & Me"), Marc Silverstein and Abby Kohn (both did "He's Just Not that into you" and "Never Been Kissed")
Composer: John Debney


Cast:
[in no particular order]
Reed- Ashton Kutcher
Alphonso- George Lopez
Morley- Jessica Alba
Julie- Jennifer Garner
Dr. Harrison Copeland- Patrick Dempsey
Sean Jackson- Eric Dane
Paula- Queen Latifah
Edgar- Hector Elizondo
Estelle- Shirley McClaine
Alex- Carter Jenkins
Grace- Emma Roberts
Edison- Bryce Robinson
Holden- Bradley Cooper
Captain Kate- Julia Roberts
Kara- Jessica Biel
Kelvin- Jamie Foxx
Susan- Kathy Bates
Felicia- Taylor Swift
Willie- Taylor Lautner
Liz- Anne Hathaway
Jason- Topher Grace

Write-up:

There are so many people in this movie that I couldn't tag them all even if I wanted to :P

In a nutshell, this is "Love Actually," but instead of British Christmas, it focuses on Valentine's Day in Los Angeles. Lots of different stars getting together with their stories intersecting one another.
Other than "Love Actually," I haven't seen another movie (except for maybe "He's Just Not That Into You"... guilty pleasure of mine) handle this archetype better.
"New Year's Eve" was a classical disappointment. Not nearly as fun or funny. Not to mention certain plot lines didn't make sense- Michelle Pfieffer acting like New Year's Eve is Y2K because she had a list of things she wanted to do before midnight.

I went with my mom and sister to see this in theaters in 2010. It was a good fun time. We really enjoyed ourselves (obviously because I got the DVD- although I believe it was dirt cheap and/or used at FYE- excellent condition).
And it's become almost a tradition. Every year on Valentine's Day (or close to it), we have to watch this movie. Last year, we missed out because we were with family that day... and the day after, I was not well.

Where to start with storylines?

We open with a marriage proposal- Ashton Kutcher and Jessica Alba. He's a florist and a bunch of our characters go to his place for gifts.
Among them is his best friend [Jennifer Garner]'s boyfriend... Patrick Dempsey is such a cheating bastard. He's been together with his wife all this time and has a girlfriend on the side. He's a doctor yet he's not smart enough to go to two different places to get flowers for his two ladies. She finds out the hard way, but the way she gets him back is priceless.
McDreamy or not (never saw "Grey's Anatomy- except for when they killed him off- maybe it was karma for what his character did in this role, but still... that was infuriating to watch).

We have a storyline with an aging football player on the losing side of a SuperBowl and on the cusp between free agency and retirement. A stone-cold Queen Latifah (kinda like a Miranda Priestley but with a wicked sense of humor in her final scene) plays his agent and is Anne Hathaway's boss. Jessica Biel is his publicist and Valentine's Day is so depressing for her that every year she hosts an anti-Valentines Day party.
She's a neurotic hot mess, but she and Jamie Foxx (who goes to her to get into the Sean Jackson press conference) wind up hitting it off.

Apparently it is such a slow news day (I guess there's only so many times you can cover bad LA traffic) Jamie Foxx is being sent out to cover Valentine's Day.
And when the press conference thing happens, his camera man gets a chance to shine. Particularly at the local high school.

The one part I look forward to every year watching this: the scenes where the cameraman is interviewing Taylor Swift and her then-boyfriend Taylor Lautner. She plays your stereotypical LA valley girl, but does it so well. Her character's so over the top and freaking hilarious. Also cool that she gets a song on the soundtrack- "Today is a Fairytale"
Then Taylor Lautner, who is amidst his time as Jacob in the "Twilight" franchise," it's great seeing him in a normal role. And he makes a comment about not being comfortable taking his shirt off in public- an inside joke my mom and I laugh at every time.

Emma Roberts and her boyfriend are saying they're going to have sex for the first time. But when they go to do it, it doesn't quite work out. Mainly because he gets there first to set the mood but he's caught buck-naked by her mom (who's at his house for some reason...).
That's a complicated thing- especially for teenagers. But at least the script is smart enough where they recognize that it needs to happen at the right time and can't be forced.

Bradley Cooper and Julia Roberts meet on an overseas flight heading back to LA. The two of them bond quite a bit and they have connects to people we've already gotten to know. How that winds up working out... I'll just leave as a surprise for the end.
Both are playing against type quite a bit.
Julia Roberts is one of the reasons to stick through the credits because she pays homage to "Pretty Woman," the movie that launched her career that also happens to be directed by Garry Marshall.

We have young love- although Edison (Emma Robert's his babysitter) is in love with someone much older than him.
And we have old love with Hector Elizondo and Shirley McClaine. Great professionalism from those two. It is not without its hiccups, but there's a great payoff at the end.

Another of my favorite storylines- Anne Hathaway's character. She and Topher Grace (Eric from "That 70's Show"... he and Ashton Kutcher have zero screentime together, funny enough) have been together for only two weeks.
But she has a dirty little secret. Lots of hilarious dialogue on her part [thanks to "50 shades" I get more of the jokes now], although when Topher finds out, it's not quite as funny. It involves a huge dose of reality that almost ruins whatever relationship they have.

But this is a rom-com, so all the deserving parties get their happy endings.
Even Ashton Kutcher, whose girlfriend takes hours to realize she DOESN'T want to marry him...
Those that do the heartbreaking don't get off nearly that easy. We never do find out what happens to Jessica Alba. Last we see her, she's walking alone with luggage and her border collie, Carmine.

The soundtrack isn't too bad either. Aside from Taylor's one song (well, there's also one during the credits), we get some old classics like "For Once in my life" and "I'm in the mood for love" (that I just picked out this time around- part of the Jersey Boys soundtrack). And it opens with that song by Michael Franti and Spearhead that was a hit on the radio at the time.

18. Ocean's Eleven (2001)

Code-name: Vegas
[where else?]

Director: Stephen Soderbergh

[yeah,  as a long time fan of this movie, I can't believe it's the same dude who directed "Magic Mike" and "Behind the Candelbra," both of which I saw back to back the first and only time]

Type: dramedy, adventure, heist

Notable Award:
ALMA- Andy Garcia for Best Supporting Actor

[on a side note, I don't think Brad Pitt did this movie just because there could have been a Teen Choice award in it for him]

Cast:
Danny Ocean- George Clooney
Rusty- Brad Pitt
Reuben- Elliot Gould
Frank Catton- Bernie Mac [RIP 2008]
Virgil Malloy- Casey Affleck
Turk Malloy-Scott Caan
Livingston- Eddie Jemison
Basher- Don Cheadle
The Amazing Yen- Shaobe Qin
Saul- Carl Reiner
Linus- Matt Damon
Terry Benedict- Andy Garcia
Tess- Julia Roberts

Cameos at Rusty's poker game:
Topher Grace [That 70's show]
Barry Watson [7th Heaven]
Joshua Jackson [Dawson's Creek]
Shane West [Once and Again]
Holly Marie Combs [Charmed]

Write-up:

Opening Remarks

I actually managed to list all Ocean's 11 from memory, either by actor or by character (most of them, both), with the exception of Livingston.

For the record, I have not seen the original movie by the Rat Pack. And I'm not sure if I want to. With the whole original vs. remake scenario, I tend to lean towards the version I see first and as a result, the second one does not live up to the same expectations.

I don't know how this movie appeared on my radar, why I wanted to see it as much as I did. Whatever the reason, I think of it as one of my first truly mature movies. I grew up on cartoons and many of my first movies were comedies. Everything else, I just didn't have the patience for.Don't get me wrong, "Ocean's 11" does have its slow moments (as often is the case, in the third act), but it's not usually the type of movie I go for.

And all of these types of movies, large ensemble heists like "Tower Heist" and "The Italian Job"... even "Now you see me" fits into this genre, "Ocean's 11" is the best representation.

On the whole, what makes it, not just glimmer but, SHINE... of course, is the cast. Particularly the dynamic of Clooney and Pitt.

You could jokingly say that this is a movie full of big stars, and if they weren't stars yet, they would soon be. Seriously, if you weren't a big star before this movie, you were on your way up to the A-list.

The biggest, brightest example of this: Matt Damon.
Shortly after this movie became a hit, he became a big action star (opposed to smaller projects like "Good Will Hunting") with the Bourne series

Plot

Ample Spoilers along the way...

The three act structure is pretty solid here, one of many things that rock about this movie

I: meet the players
2: forming the plan
3: the heist

Danny Ocean's out on parole after serving some time in jail.
We don't get a lot of details outside of his testimony in front of the parole board:

"My wife left me, I was upset, I broke into a self-destructive pattern"

It can't be much worse than House driving his car into Cuddy's house after she broke up with him.

So naturally after spending time in jail, the very first thing you do is get together with your best buddy, leave for Las Vegas and plan a massive heist... to get back at the new guy your ex-wife is seeing.

That's all well and good. Unless of course the guy happens to be as powerful as Terry Benedict; the man in charge of the trifecta of Vegas casinos: MGM Grand, Mirage and Bellagio. The combined total of cold hard cash in their underground vault on a Fight Night, the night they plan to rob it: $160,000,000+

And with any good heist, you're going to need a team of men with a unique set of skills.

Luckily, this is taking place in a movie, so they've got a wide variety of personalities to go with those skills. If not for those personalities, this movie would have sucked :P

The Cast

By the time this movie was available at Blockbuster, I think I knew the name Matt Damon.
I never watched it, but I knew Bernie Mac had a TV series back then.

I also knew who Julia Roberts was even though this was couple years before I saw "Pretty Woman."

And of course, there was Clooney and Pitt.
Two of the biggest names and I had yet to see any of their acting. I mentioned in my "Spider Man" review that I didn't get the pin-up appeal of Brad Pitt. Most of this was due to the fact he always seemed to have long hair in his movies. Nowadays, I say "It depends on the guy," but I didn't get why the long hair made all the other girls adore him.

Clooney was another big name that I didn't really know, but he already had an outstanding reputation.
Who would have thought putting them together would turn into something so amazing?

As for everyone else... I don't think the little Chinese guy (that's an actual line from the movie, btw) went on to do anything else.

Casey Affleck never made it as big as his brother. It's funny I should mention "Tower Heist" because he was in that.
And I was going to spend this paragraph trying to explain how I get him and Dave Franco mixed up (Franco was in "Now You See Me"... yet another tie-in I didn't expect when I named-dropped that film... loved it)

The other of the Malloy "twins" (they look nothing alike but that's how Clooney and Pitt called them in the movies), Scott Caan, would later make it big on the reboot of "Hawaii 5-0."

[Amazing bit of trivia: the twins were originally gonna be the Wilsons but they were doing that "Tenenbaums" movie and had to drop out... I don't think the movie could have handled their star power in addition to the main guys, lol]

Other than Matt Damon, I think of Don Cheadle as the biggest break-out star this movie has. I found his character Basher charming in a quirky sort of way (had to be the accent!!) with a wicked sense of humor, in both good and bad situations.
His biggest gigs include the Showtime series "House of Lies" and, of course, some of the "Iron-Man" movies... for whatever reason, I still haven't warmed up to his version of Captain James Rhodes. (That discussion will continue in the next month or so, promise).

An older audience might recognize Carl Reiner from "All in the Family." I hadn't seen that series and probably should, but he brings his own wily sense of humor to this part.

When asked [again] about being up for his part in the 'grand scheme,' he has a comeback for Clooney so good, there was simply no comeback for it.

"If you ask me that question again, Daniel, you won't wake up the following morning"[pause]Clooney (whispers to Pitt): "He's ready..."

Had it come from anyone else, this joke wouldn't have worked.

Another great addition is Andy Garcia as the villainous Terry Benedict. This is my first encounter with him and he blew me away. The way he carries himself on screen, maybe it's just that mob-style mentality he brings to his other roles, can't help but be impressed by that.

Then of course Julia Roberts shines as the only big female role in this movie. No matter who it is, she doesn't let anyone push her around. An admirable quality for sure.

The Writing

The best parts of this movie for me are a tie between the acting and the writing. Naturally, without a good script, this wouldn't have worked as well.

As Rusty, Brad Pitt is the one member of the team able to keep Danny in check, especially when it appears his priorities are a bit scrambled. Spending more time trying to woo Tess than working on the plan.

Their dynamic is amazing in that they know each other so well, they can finish each other's sentences. This is almost to the point of clairvoyance. They don't even have to say anything and the other knows exactly what their thinking.

My personal favorite: the one line that kept me coming back to the movie:

They'd just recruited Saul and Clooney is talking to Pitt:

"So Saul makes 10, 10 ought to do it, don't you think?... you think we need one more?... you think we need one more...... all right ,we'll get one more"

Absolutely priceless. Especially since Brad Pitt gives absolutely no indication he's dissatisfied with just 10 guys... it's just the aura he gives off as he's resting his chin on the counter.

Everyone works off each other so well. Even when plan A's have to give way to plan B's and C's, the improvisation often works out better than the original scenario.


Another thing that stood out to me about this movie when I was younger was that it had great balance between drama and comedy. There were enough light movements in between to break up the drama.


Other Lovable Details


It's one of those great movies my family and I like to watch together. As I do, my mom loves the Poker scene with Eric Forman from That 70's Show and other TV actors who have no idea what they're doing.


"Look, all reds!"


We also love poking fun at the fact that in almost every scene Brad Pitt is eating...
I got halfway through the movie and gave up counting how many scenes.


Apparently it was more than coincidence. Rumor is that everyone was so busy working on the movie that they barely had time to eat and Brad Pitt came up with the idea to give Rusty that unusual character trait.
And supposedly during one scene, they did so many takes that he wound up eating 40 shrimp.


My dad pointed out during our last viewing of this movie that the featured prison is Rahway Prison and on a recent customer call there, he drove by it.


One thing that also stood out to me was the second to last scene in front of the Bellagio fountain. "Clair du Lune" is playing in the background, all the guys are reflecting on the fact they got away with the money and they all go their separate ways one at a time.
When I was younger, I wasn't a fan of this scene. It was just so serious and kinda sucked the fun out of the movie for me. Or I just didn't fully grasp the genius or the beauty of it.


Combined with the fountain, the looks on everyone's faces, the swelling of the music, it's amazing to watch now that I understand it. I guess I just needed to mature a bit and it's great when you can appreciate more things from your favorite movies with age.


I only recently saw "Ocean's 12." It brought back a lot of the same players, which was nice, but unlike this movie, the great scheme didn't fully make sense. We saw the heist take place, but all wasn't fully explained until afterwards.


Coming Soon


Oh wow... got a really big one coming up next week...
I spent this past weekend looking back on some nostalgic things. Mostly music, both good and bad, and "High School Musical" (which remains as awesome as it was the first time I saw it).


Next week's movie is about as nostalgic as it gets.
Most likely my very first "favorite" movie.
I don't remember this, but supposedly I rented it so much from Blockbuster that one of my grandmas finally bought it for me.


And for anyone following my blog actively, they can probably piece together the fact that it's.... animated...

31. Pretty Woman (1990)

Code-name: Rodeo Dr.

Director: Garry Marshall

Cast:
Vivian Ward- Julia Roberts
Edward Lewis- Richard Gere
Concierge Barney Thompson- Hector Elizondo
Kit- Laura San Giacomo
Philip Stuckey- Jason Alexander

Notable Awards & Nomination:
nomination- OSCAR- Best Actress- Julia Roberts
Golden Globe- Best Actress (Comedy/Musical)- Julia Roberts
nomination- Golden Globe- Best Picture (Comedy/Musical0
nomination- Golden Globe- Best Actor (Comedy/Musical)- Richard Gere
nomination- Golden Globe- Best Supporting Actor- Hector Elizondo

Write-up:

I don't remember how this movie came into my life, but as I'd gotten older, more bits and pieces made sense to me. I've found more to love about it.

I think my extra dose of love came for it after Prince came into my life.
And there was that scene where Julia Roberts was singing along to "Kiss" in her bubble bath.

Richard Gere walks in on her and what follows is my favorite quote in the entire movie:

Vivian: don't you just love Prince?
Edward: more than life itself

That was so me in 2007 :-P and much of 2008.
Definitely appreciate them name-dropping him because he rarely gets his due. Certainly not in a positive way. The fact that "Kiss" isn't on the movie's soundtrack doesn't do him any favors either... but considering how he is about censorship, I understand.

This particular slot in my countdown could have easily have been taken by "Dirty Dancing." Both are romantic movies from the 80's... well, "Pretty Woman" felt like an 80's movie made in 1990 and "Dirty Dancing" is an 80's movie that takes place in the 60's.
"Pretty Woman" got the slot in my countdown because I'd seen it more often recently and I have one or two nitpicks with "Dirty Dancing". mainly, I kinda hate how dated the music sounds :-P although I am a sucker for "The Time of Life," "She's like the Wind' and "Hungry Eyes"... "Hungry Eyes" especially

Interesting enough, "Pretty Woman" went through quite a few changes from conception to production. It didn't even have that title. It gained this title because of the Roy Orbison song in the soundtrack. [The video for it was on a VHS tape that included dozens of MTV videos from the 80's... which is probably why I thought this was an 80's movie]
And supposedly the original script involved Vivian being a drug addict.

With the latest story I'm working on writing, now I'm kinda curious what that would have been like. But I understand why they changed their mind about it. They wanted Vivian to be a sympathetic character and the extra twists that come in relating to her addiction would have made the plot convoluted and her not someone you'd root for to get a happy ending.

For those who don't know... and seriously, who doesn't...

"Pretty Woman" could be interpreted as a modern twist on "My Fairy Lady" where a rich man takes under his wing a woman from the wrong side of the tracks, helps her become a lady and unexpectedly falls in love with her.
Although that's a bit of a stretch with all the extra twists and turns, and it's not as if Edward grooms Vivian to become a lady. He only takes her to a few fancy functions as his designated arm candy, making himself look better in front of his clients and co-workers.

Edward meets Vivian one night when he's driving home in a Lotus belonging to a friend of his. As rich as he is, he doesn't know how to drive a stick and Vivian offers to give him a hand. He's so taken with her that he gives her an offer she can't refuse.
[Yep, I'm quoting "The Godfather" here. Got a problem with that?]

The Cast

The offer: $3000 to spend a week with him, helping him keep up appearances, accompany him to functions, etc, etc.
The way girls were so love with Richard Gere in those days, so many would have gotten in line for such an opportunity. Heck, they would do it for free :-P
Kind of an odd thing to bring up, but one of those people might have been my professor in my US-China Relations college course. She said she liked him until he became an activist supporting Tibet.

I hadn't seen any of his other work (unless you count "Hachi: A Dog's Tale," where he dies and his dog tragically goes to the train station every day, waiting for him to come home... I only saw a short portion of the 2nd half of it and I still got emotional)
but Edward Lewis is the end-all be-all for him. Nothing else will probably be good enough for me coming from him :-P
I do have my curiosities about "American Gigalo," specifically because of the Blondie song that plays in the opening credits. But the last time a song moved to look for an obscure 80's movie, it didn't go well...

Everyone knows Julia Robert as one of the girls worthy of the title "America's Sweetheart,' and this was the movie that put her on the map. So many girls auditioned for this role. A bunch of guys auditioned for the lead as well. One was Burt Reynolds, who acknowledged that it was a huge mistake turning it down.

I believe this was also the movie that put Garry Marshall on the map. He's a director behind a bunch of my favorite rom-com's, particularly "The Princess Diaries" and "Valentine's Day"... both included frequent collaborator, Hector Elizondo.
To me, he'll always be Joe ("The Princess Diaries") but he played a great part as the hotel concierge, once he got that Vivian was an important guest. Still can't get over seeing him with hair. He'd been close to bald for as long as I'd known him. A comforting presence on set for sure.

One honorable mention I should make: this was Ralph Bellamy's last film. He played someone that Edward did business with and he walked away from their dinner meeting because he didn't like where he was going with his business.
Ralph Bellamy was one of the brothers in "Trading Places," which I discussed much earlier in my countdown.

And considering what a pervert he is in this particular role, I'm surprised I'm still able to watch Jason Alexander play George Costanza on "Seinfeld" reruns. Maybe the fact he has glasses in "Seinfeld" helps me distinguish the two.

The Story

The part that everyone remembers from this movie takes place on Rodeo Drive.
In "Romy & Michelle," the movie begins with them watching this scene and making fun of it.

First with the sales girls turning her away and the sad music's playing in the background.
"Like they're not bigger whores than she is"
then later on Michelle gets emotional and says "I'm sorry, I'm just so happy when they let her shop."

So sure. We're meant to care about Vivian because she's underprivileged and in a new, unfamiliar world, so it's sad when those girls are such bitches to her because of how she looks.
Luckily, Edward is sympathetic after she tells her that they were mean to her and gives her a credit card, which people on Rodeo love.
Leading the biggest payoff, which Julia Roberts brought up in a post-credits scene of "Valentine's Day".

"Big mistake, big, huge."

Edward's a bit of a complex, mysterious sort of character. I believe he described himself as a businessman who buys up other business and sells them in pieces. He doesn't really allow himself to get close to anyone, so it's an enigmatic riddle why he wants Vivian's companionship for this week. Some of it is selfish, making himself look good for other people, but some of it might also be wish fulfillment. Wanting to allow himself to get close to a person, but without the promise it'll go beyond this week. After all, she's just a prostitute, right?

The biggest criticism this film has gotten was the "hooker with a heart of gold" theme. People don't find that very realistic. It's never really explained why Vivian and her friend/roommate Kit are in the business. All we have to go is that they didn't go to college and couldn't afford to do much else in their end of Los Angeles.
As the movie goes on and Kit learns about what Vivian lucked into, she decides to make some changes in her own life too.
Given the difficulties that go with the territory, Vivian isn't the most damaged prostitute we'd  ever seen on film or TV. The only tell-tale scene of her difficult life comes from one quote where she says she doesn't kiss because it's too personal and she's like a robot when she goes to sleep with somebody.

But it is just so much fun seeing her getting all these perks, the beautiful clothes and the dinners... again, spending time with Richard Gere. I don't particularly care for the scene with them in the bathtub together (not sure why, maybe because I know of other actors I'd rather see topless... or I'm just a fricking prude :-P). I do love the scene where she goes downstairs to find him playing the piano (playing his own composition, amazing enough) and it gets pretty intimate after a while. That I can sink my teeth into.

Things go great for a while until the polo match where Edward winds up telling Stuckey the truth about Vivian. Because he was all paranoid that she was a spy for competition, being that he's his uptight attorney and all.
The obvious result is that he starts hitting on her and she lets Edward have it when they get back.

"I've never had anyone make me feel as cheap as you did today"

Reading through the script, it sounds like Vivian became a prostitute through Kit. After not getting along with her mom growing up, not being able to pay rent doing fast food and parking garages, she met Kit and got into the business because she made it seem like it was something good to get into.
Now that's a big mistake right there.

After Edward lets a big business deal fall through, Stuckey takes it out on Vivian in what almost becomes a very disturbing, traumatic rape scene.
Luckily, Edward showed up just in time to pull him off her and gave him a great right hook to the jaw. Cannot help but tighten up whenever the scene comes along because it's hard to watch, even when you know it's going to be all right.

Then somehow, against all odds, Edward goes after Vivian and gives her a Cinderella ending. Even overcoming his fear of heights to climb up her balcony to ask her to come back.

Edward: So what happened after he climbed up the tower and rescued her?
Vivian: She rescues him right back.
Yeah, having Richard Gere come and rescue you, the damsel in the distress, that's a dream many a girl had back in the day.
If I had this movie on my radar "back in the day," that'd be me as well. He's great in this one instance, but I can think of a couple other names I would put in his place. Not because I have anything against him. I just happen to know them a bit better because I have more than one role to go on.

Next Week

Hopefully I'll get the next entry out soon.

Going back in time with a slightly older film, another rom-com, but it's in black & white. And it features a very well-known and beloved actress- in the only movie I ever saw her in, but I'm still planning to work on that.