[KRX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Locke

Watched two fantastic movies yesterday first was

WALTER MITTY:

Despite heavy promotion in my cinema - hell I'm writing this in the promotional tshirt I wore for the film over the Christmas holidays - I had no idea what a Walter Mitty is. It's about some famous short story where he daydreams his own death at the end, or something? Don't ask the trailer, that seems to suggest something else entirely. So yeah, as you can gather, I had little to no interest in the movie because it had some of the worst promotion since Frozen. However, being out since boxing day, I knew this was one of my last chances to catch the flick, so I gave it a chance and I'm so glad it did.

Why am I glad? Well using the world Wiig uses at the end, 'real'. Although neither Stiller, nor the character he plays, are ordinary, Stiller seems to understand the mundanity of ordinary life so personally. That may not sound particularly positive, but as Mitty goes on his admittedly clichéd tale of self discovery and day seizing, you're so invested in it all that it doesn't matter if really, you've seen this all before. And you're so invested, because it's one of those rare gems that you would truly be able to relate to - it's even more rare that, a movie made for grownups. It's witty, it's charming and it's laugh out loud hilarious. Mitty may well be the best character Stiller ever gets to play.

Any regular readers will know I have a fairly large distaste of Hollywood's band of merry 'comedy' actors. In a sea of Jonah Hill's, Stiller is an actor I appreciate as when he's in a comedy it is usually pretty funny and when he actually has to act, he proves he can - he may be one of the only ones who can. So when I say Mitty may well be Stiller's best character, I don't mean that in a facetious manner of 'wow a character I could actually tolerate!', I mean that as a compliment to an actor who I think has played quite a few great characters in his history of cinema and to an actor I quite admire.

The thing that really completes and sets apart Walter Mitty though, is budget. As I said further up, Walter Mitty's core is nothing particularly original, but when a Mumblecore film on a budget of a hundred thousand tells us that what we daydream about, is really out there, it can only really show us in a microcosmic way. Walter Mitty on the other hand, takes the Mitty daydreaming of saving dogs from exploding buildings and fighting with his boss like it's a superhero movie and then has him battle in the real world (of the film) with sharks, running from erupting volcanoes, leaping out of helicopters and climbing mountains. Walter Mitty doesn't just tell us our daydreams are out there, it shows us. And when it tells us to stop being alive, and start living, I actually feel inspired as this movie can say more than 'get a girlfriend!'. And that is pretty darn special.

It also helps that it is a fantastically made movie. There's been rumours off and on that Stiller is going to quit acting to become a full fledged director and sure Tropic Thunder is a thing that happened, but when you see just how gorgeous Walter Mitty is, you can see Stiller is trying to make up for past mistakes. So I'd happily see him take the directors chair more often, even if I'd miss having him in front of the camera as well. It has gorgeous locations, incredible action set pieces and stunning cinematography with Stiller's eye for art in the every day a joy to behold on the big screen. It also has a great soundtrack.

Basically, in short, Walter Mitty is kind of wonderful. It could have been an inconsistent vanity project for Stiller to blow a wad of cash on his ego but instead this is one of the truest pieces of cinematic yolo I've ever seen, I loved it.

And then, HER:

I love the world through Spike Jonze's eyes. For a movie that almost singularly centres around a romance where only one person is on screen, Her is still able to be a profoundly beautiful movie. With many exteriors shot in Shanghai, this near future Los Angles feels so utterly alien and yet is so stunningly gorgeous.

It's as much a piece of fantasy, as it is a piece of scfi, as it is a piece of social realist romance. OS1 not only embodies the woman of our dreams, but OS1 also embodies the piece of tech of our dreams as well. A concept like that sounds like it could go horribly wrong, but Jonze treads the thin line and always stays on the best side.

There is also a fascinating twist later in the movie, one that isn't a critique of the now, but a critique of the future. It's brutal, and hopefully not prophetic, but finds perhaps the best way to end a story like this, classically but with a painful and modern twist. I'm happy to see Jonze run and explore his unique concepts, but only after he's already crafted a beautiful tale first. It could have easily become too bogged down in the science of it all, or too bogged down in the reality of it all but somehow Jonze manages to blend it seamlessly together. Better even than I'm Here, which is one of my all time favourite romances.

Theodore is a wonderfully complex character. A man who is the voice of relationships, a man whose career is built on sweetness and yet he is a man who is, in reality, a person who is entirely isolated from those things. Theodore is going through a divorce, which is messy and complicated, it may well all be his fault and that is the reason he can't let go. Who hasn't been there? He stays up late and has phone sex involving strangling women with dead cats.

As such, his career as a "beautiful handwritten letter writer" is wonderfully ironic. And highlights one of the many wonderful narrative complexities of this flick. This too bizarre to not really exist job involves Theodore wearing the shoes of people he has never met. He creates poetry out of vague details and photographs, culminating in a letter that is so deeply personal, surely it could have only come from the person whose name is at the bottom, not from some online service. Hell Theodore doesn't even write the "handwritten letters" he just speaks at his computer and waits for it to come up in a handwritten font. It's the mumblecore moonpig.

Theodore is a man who not only lives through the lives and loves of other people through his writing, but is also a man who does it all the time. He sits in public spaces and studies those around him, creating elaborate tales of love and life for them, that he himself is not living. This is a key theme that holds the entire movie together.

The cast is small, but every character is utterly memorable, and Theodore isn't the only one worth writing about. Sadly as basically EVERY character could have an essay written on them, I'm going to write about the three most important women to me, in the movie.

Johansson is an actress that maybe I don't appreciate as much as I should as here she has to carry the whole weight of her character through her voice alone and my GOD does she pull it off. Her and Phoenix have truly incredible chemistry. It's probably one of the best onscreen romances I've ever seen, and they don't share a single scene together. Physically any way. And this is especially impressive as Samantha Morton had completed her role as Samantha, before she was replaced almost at the last second by Johansson.

Amy Adams meanwhile is an actress I'd never really noticed before she really disappointed me as Lois Lane, but here I found myself falling in love with her character who is also called Amy. She is beautiful in this very ordinary way, she is so deeply understanding and just seems like a great person to have in your life.

Special mention though, must go to Olivia Wilde whose character doesn't even have a proper name, but her fleeting, nameless time in the movie is one of the most poignant and heartbreaking. It was certainly the first time I lost my composure and broke down in a blubbering mess, as Theodore recounts his date with her, and gives a step by step breakdown of his emotional motivations.

I haven't dated anyone now in about two years, I haven't been in love for more like three or four. I don't even really remember what being in love really felt like. But then, through this movie, I was able to remember what it felt like all over again. Theodore's crisis is that he fears he has already felt all he is ever going to feel, and he is only destined to repeat lesser versions of the same feelings, if ever again. I can really relate to that, Theodore's loneliness made me realise how lonely I am.

Perhaps most impressive though is Jonze thoughtfulness, he accepts and embraces things that other similar films attempt to skirt around for fear of it seemingly less idealistically romantic. Like for example, a big crux of the film is that Samantha has no body. Now many romance films drill into you that appearance doesn't matter, that sex doesn't matter, it's all about the personality but Her recognises and explores just how important physical attraction and sex is to a relationship, and puts its foot down on fantasists that say otherwise.

Sure the ultimate message is that joy should be embraced, in whatever form it takes, but it makes both Theodore but most importantly Samantha feel so much more real that they desire physical contact. Something so crucial yet so regularly cut out.

Similarly, it's nice that Theodore is so open about his relationship. Even though online dating is now completely common, there is still a certain stigma about meeting someone online, or falling in love through Skype or whatever. So it's nice that Her seems to exist in this utopic future where everyone is a romantic and no one will shame you for finding love, as it doesn't matter what shape it comes in, as long as you're happy.

And so as pathetic as Theodore may at times feel, his ex-wife Catherine certainly seems to, it's hard to hate a message carried on such a wonderfully good intentioned movie.

Basically in short. You will laugh. You will cry. You will scream at the top of your lungs. You will fall in love. And you'll just feel so fucking good. I don't think I've ever loved a movie, the way I love Her.

... Now, I really want to know your opinions on 3 Idiots.

Oh, look at that. The movie's right below this sentence!

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAF245E23419039BB