Zero Dark Thirty

Well, as the saying goes... Boyfriends come and go, but my free movie pass lasts until December 31, 2013...

That having been said, I chose to celebrate my newfound freedom by purchasing a movie for once!

There are only three movies that are nominated for the Best Picture Oscar this year that I still needed to see, and now there are just two, because I just saw Zero Dark Thirty.

And yes, my friend already pointed out to me that this is an odd post-break-up movie to take yourself to...
Maybe I just have a lot of issues.

But, two very important words made me really interested in seeing this movie: CHRIS PRATT.

Ahhh... he's so beautiful.  And charming.  And beautiful.  And he got super ripped for this movie.

However (Spoiler alert), he didn't show up in this movie for TWO DAMN HOURS.

Seriously?  Two hours.

So, basically, for me, this movie was me sitting around watching people get tortured and humiliated for two hours, and then about 20-30 minutes of awesomeness.

I must admit that I also wasn't a huge fan of The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow's last movie.  I remember feeling similarly un-enchanted by the characters and storyline.

I wonder if it's an aversion to movies about very recent current political/war events.  Because I also didn't care for W, or Game Change.  And it's not about politics or war, but I have almost ZERO interest in seeing the Ashton Kutcher movie about Steve Jobs that's coming out.  Ugh.  That looks horrible.  But I think that's more about Kutcher than anything else.

I think it's possible that we don't have enough perspective on these very recent events to be able to make the kind of movies I want to see about them.

Anyway, Zero Dark Thirty was not for me.  It had a decent script, believable performances, and a really gripping final 20 minutes, but overall, I found myself checking my phone. And, it was thoroughly humorless. There were a few attempts at lightening the mood, which all failed miserably.  And yes, I realize that humor is a strange thing to ask for in this movie, but I just can't deal with stories that are that IMPORTANT.  Please, I beg you to give us someone to root for, and something to laugh at just a little bit.

But, now that I'm thinking about it.  Maybe this was the perfect movie to watch after being dumped like an old bag of garbage.  At least I'm not tied to a wall in Gitmo, shitting up my pants and being waterboarded.  Suddenly I feel like the luckiest girl in town.

But for the rest of you, if you need a Chris Pratt fix, like I did, maybe just rent Moneyball, or watch Season 2 of Parks & Rec.

Peggy's rating: Two out of five stars

Netflix Suggestion of the Week: 5 Movies about Mental Illness

Since I have seen so many movies this week dealing with mental illness in one way or another, I decided to put together my top 5 movies currently available on Netflix Streaming dealing with mental illness.

I tried to include those that I think make meaningful statements about the mental illness, possible causes (many narrative accounts of mental illness misplace the blame, such as in movies about people with Schizophrenia that blame mothers, when we know that Schizophrenia is a biological disorder,) the mental illness's effects on the person's family, personal relationships, and enjoyment of life.

We used to do exercises in Grad School where we'd watch a movie and write a diagnosis and treatment plan for one of the mentally ill characters.  It was actually pretty fun.  I still do it informally from time to time.

MAN, I'm boring today.  I just had a really tough workout, and I'm exhausted.  Maybe the funny part of my brain is sleeping.  And, also, this has so much to do with my profession that I tend to slip into social-work-speak.

Here's the list.  You can go watch them all right now!

1. Mary and Max
This animated movie sat on my queue for about three years before I actually got around to seeing it.  The description and poster don't make it look very interesting, but it is an absolute joy to watch.  A man with Asperger's Syndrome finds a meaningful relationship and avenue for personal exploration and growth through a pen-pal relationship with a little girl who lives halfway across the world.  It's funny and touching and makes an important statement about why we shouldn't jump toward trying to "fix" people with what we have labeled "disabilities."  It's a really empowering story, and the animation is adorable.   

2. Punch-Drunk Love
This is a very polarizing movie. I know many people who love it and many more who hate it. I think the reason is that the director tells the story of a man who is pushed to the edge of his anxiety through pushing the audience's anxiety in small ways. Brilliant soundtrack. Brilliant acting. It's also frustrating to watch, and forces the audience to become uncomfortable. I adore it.

3. The Hours
This movie is a patient, emotional story of three women from different eras, each dealing with depression in a different context. Famously, Virginia Woolf suffered from a cluster of mental health issues, ultimately resulting in her suicide. This movie is more of a bummer than most that I would suggest, but it's really haunting and poetic in its storytelling. All of the performances are world-class, and no one should not see it. Plus, I think it raises some interesting issues about how the way we think about depression, especially among women, has changed over time in some ways, but in other ways, it has stayed the same.

4. The Machinist
I think everyone should watch this movie, just to see the freak-show-esque images of an emaciated Christian Bale. This movie deals with the effects of acute trauma on mental health. It's quite upsetting at moments, and has a number of really great plot twists. This is Christian Bale at his best.

5. Lars and the Real Girl
This movie made a lot of noise for an indie a few years ago. It's the story of a man (played by the devastatingly adorable Ryan Gosling) who falls in love with a life-size sex doll. It's quirky, and has great moments. It also shines a light on the role of families and friends in helping people with mental illnesses.

There are a few other movies of note that I recommend for those of you who don't limit your viewing only to what's available on netflix. If you get a chance, you should definitely check these out:
6. What About Bob?
7. The Cable Guy
8. The Talented Mr. Ripley
9. Shine
10. The Soloist

9: Love, Marilyn

The final movie I saw this weekend was the Documentary "Love, Marilyn."  I'm really bummed about missing Ginger & Rosa, which was in its last screening this evening, but I ended up getting called away at the last minute, and missed it.  Sad times.

Love, Marilyn was a re-telling of the Marilyn Monroe story, this time through personal journals, letters, and poetry that were recently unearthed. Well-known actors performing Marilyn's writings as monologues were interspersed with interviews with close friends and photos and video of Marilyn while she was alive.

Honestly, I haven't ever been that interested in Marilyn Monroe. She did a few great movies, and was really stunning, but I have always thought of her as being pretty dull.  However, I ended up really liking this movie. I didn't realize how much I didn't know about M.M. It feels like her story is part of our zeitgeist, but there were a bunch of details that I enjoyed hearing about.

For example, I did not know that she had attempted suicide, and was put in a psychiatric hospital for six days and left against medical advice not too long before she died.

That's so upsetting to me.

A few people in the audience scoffed when a statement was read that was put out by the psychiatric hospital after her death, stating that if she had been allowed to stay there, she may not have  died. And, you know, there is some speculation about whether her death was a suicide or accidental overdose, but either way, I wonder. I think the scoffing was at the idea that someone like Marilyn Monroe would be subjected to a psychiatric hospital. I think that's sad. She was suicidal and on narcotics. It's not glamorous, but that's where she would get help for those things. She clearly wasn't getting the kind of help she needed elsewhere.

There was a weird undertone of a romanticizing of her death in this movie. It was really frustrating for me, because I think people don't think of her as having been a real person. And in some ways, it seems like we expect young beautiful women to either die or disappear before they become old and no longer of use to the general public. That really kind of rages me out.

I would like to have seen her old, crazy, chain-smoking and slowly growing mold in her palatial estate.  Receiving the Cecil B. Demille award, or popping up as a cameo in an episode of the Nanny. But, that's probably just me.

My biggest problem with the presentation in this movie was the monologue aspect. There were about 15 actors that read parts as either Marilyn or other key figures, but only 3 of the monologists were watchable, in my opinion. The rest were uncomfortable, in that they were TRYING SO HARD to act.

At one point, Lili Taylor gave a dramatic, anxiety-filled reading of Marilyn's recipe for cooking a turkey.
NO JOKE.  It was embarrassing to watch.

The good performances were pulled off mostly by the actors reading the non-Marilyn roles, such as Oliver Platt, Paul Giamatti, and Ben Foster. The reason for that seems really obvious to me. Marilyn was writing in a journal, and that style of writing really doesn't translate to dramatic monologue very well. Also, monologues are like watching someone go poop: There's a chance it will be good, but usually it just stinks.  (Ba-da-BING!)

Having said that, Glenn Close killed it as Marilyn. They should have just let her do the whole thing.

Some of the more disastrous Marilyns included Lindsey Lohan (in HORRIFYING bleached out hair and prostitute makeup), Marisa Tomei, and Uma Thurman.

A small bit of tension was relieved during the end credits, when they showed outtakes from the monologist's more embarrassing attempts at delivering their lines.  However, that was too little, too late.

It's unfortunate, too, because if I had been watching this at home, I never would have made it past the first 20 minutes, which were the most monologue-filled.  The second half of the movie is where all the good stuff is hiding.

I recommend this movie if you're a die-hard Marilyn Monroe fan, or if you have Netflix Streaming in about six months, because I'm sure it will end up on there.

Peggy's Rating: Three out of Five Stars.

8: Women in Cinema SHORTS!

Isn't it the perfect time of year for short films?  I don't know why that is.

Maybe it's that the Oscars remind us all that shorts even still exist...

Ranging from boring to confusing to exceptional, the Women in Cinema Shorts reel was pretty standard in terms of selection.  That's not really a bad thing.  I've just come to have specific expectations for these kinds of showcases.

The first film was "Spark," a touching story of two children who meet and share a special moment, with foreshadowing of adulthood looming in the background.  Really, really fantastic.

The second film (Night Hunter) was weird, and I have no clue what was going on. That is the perfect spot to stick something weird that no-one will remember anything about, except that it was weird.  It was a bizarre animation that included some footage of an old actress, and a bunch of shit that was cacophonous and jarring.

The Pompous Man sitting behind me loved it.  Before the screening, he made a long series of condescending remarks to his female companion.  She mentioned that she was going to plan some kind of trip to India, and then he berated her for referring to India generally, instead of regionally.  "It's a big place, you know."

Why this woman goes anywhere with that man is beyond me.  I felt like telling him to hit the bricks on behalf of humankind.

You know what you're supposed to say when someone tells you they are planning a trip to India?  You say, "That's great!  I'm so happy for you."

Anyway, Pompous was impressed.  "Interesting," he whispered in the dark.

What a douche.

The third film (A Cuillin Rising) was really interesting and upsetting, but I really have no clue what was going on.  It was much, much too vague. I got the general sense that there was some family unrest, and maybe a Romeo & Juliet kind of thing going on. But for reals... I didn't get it. It did, however, make me want to watch a feature-length version of it, provided that said version would make sense in some way.

I think number four was Zing.   A SUPER CUTE animated short.  I loved it.  It was bizarre and dark, but had optimism smeared all over it.  Plus, it had a weird-looking old dude, and a tiny heart-warming, but precocious kid with a cat.  How can you go wrong?   Loved it!

Number five was "Us, a Family Album."  This one was strange, because I got the sense that it was supposed to be a documentary, but all the scenes looked staged.  It also had the misfortune of basically being the exact same idea as this viral video, only much less well done.  Sad for them.  But, if it was a real couple, then good for them.  We all love gay people in Seattle.  In fact, it almost seemed like a non-twist to me.  Maybe it came out 10 years too late.

Number six was a really sweet, beautifully shot movie called "The Fisherman" out of Mexico.  A touching allegory about life and death, passing time, love, and memories.  Really excellent.

And finally... (I think... You know, these might all be out of order.  It's a mystery.) The Tram.  AH!  I loved the Tram.  It was the story of a busty, shy, horny female tram driver having an erotic fantasy while driving rigid, humorless men to work. SO FUN. Lots of overt sexuality and super cute animation. Plus, a really sweet ending. It was my favorite of the bunch.

So, there you have it.  Most likely, none of you will see any of these shorts.  But, if you get a chance, go see a short film showcase.  Usually there's one weird one, one stinker, and several that are really great.  That's better than your odds at most feature length films!

Peggy's rating: Four out of Five stars.

7: Vanishing Waves: Or "A Tale of Two Moles"

This weekend marks the end of the Women In Cinema series at the SIFF theaters.  I wish I could have gotten out earlier in the week to see some of these, but I was stuck at work!  So, I'm catching the tail end.  Most of these movies will not be playing at theaters anytime soon, so you may be annoyed with me for making you want to see them. But, it's good for you to learn to deal with disappointment. Let's think of this as a learning experience for you.

I caught the 9pm showing of Vanishing Waves, a Lithuanian erotic sci-fi thriller, this evening.  And I really, really liked it.  Now... I'm about to make fun of this movie.  You may not have noticed, but that's kind of my thing.  But, I want to start out by saying that it was a really well-made movie.  Visually beautiful, artistic, interesting, well-acted, upsetting, frightening at times, and full of innovative imagery.

That having been said... the main character, Lukas, has a GIANT HAIRY MOLE on his neck.

The movie starts, there are lots of scenes in labs, talking about this experiment where they are going to hook up Lukas to this machine that will mind-meld him to a comatose woman, and all I can think about is this GIANT HAIRY MOLE.

Seriously.  It's the size of a thumb-print.  Right there on his neck. With about 80 hairs sticking out of it.

They even had a scene with his girlfriend shaving his head for the experiment... and they shaved off all his hair... except the mole hair.

Later in the movie, he shaved his face... except the mole hair.

I felt like I was taking crazy pills.

Then we meet the comatose woman in this inception-like-but-way-less-cheesy mind world, and ... she has a smaller, but equally hairy mole on her FACE.

So, Mole-neck meets Mole-face, and they decide to roll around together naked on a hardwood floor for awhile.  They have all kinds of crazy sex.  There's a really upsetting food fight scene that you have to see for yourself.

And then it's game on: Mole-neck vs. Mole-face in the race to see who goes crazy the fastest.

You know, no one even seems to notice the giant moles, either. You'd think one of those other scientists would have said something like, "Hey, why didn't you just shave that mole while you were shaving your entire head? How long is that mole hair? 2 inches? Maybe you should get it scanned. It could be cancerous. It looks pretty gross."

But no.

Other upsetting parts of this movie include a few rapey scenes, sudden bursts of violence, a lot of psychosis, and a lot of suspense. If you can deal with those things, you should try to see this movie if you get the chance.

Other awesome parts include a 3-4 minute shot of Mole-neck running nude under a spotlight (really cool!), hypnotizing CGI representations of brain waves and dream images, and an excellent soundtrack.

Peggy's rating: Three out of Five Stars

6. My Worst Nightmare: Proving I'm not cool, once again

I've been seeing trailers for My Worst Nightmare, a French romantic comedy, for the last month. Frankly, it didn't look that interesting to me.

(1) It's subtitled, and comedy+subtitles=crap

(2) Comedy is one of those things that doesn't often transcend culture that well.  I recall a movie night with friends once where I was forced to sit through two excruciating hours of an Iranian "Comedy."  I have no idea what the EFFF was going on in that movie, but none of it even partially resembled humor to me.  Unless you count people screaming at each other incoherently.  I don't.

(3) This movie appeared to follow the Dharma & Greg (but in reverse) plot structure.  Wacky, free-spirited man meets buttoned-down type-A woman... etc. "Will they ever learn to understand each other??"... ugh.

But, despite all that, it was free, so I saw it.  ;)

And, you know, I liked it.  It definitely had some plot problems.  Instead of the traditional 3-act structure, this movie had about 14 acts, none of them were particularly inventive.  It also felt long, and it's only 99 minutes, so that's not a great sign.

But, it did have a lot of dick jokes (a plus, in my book). And I really liked the main actors. I loved Isabelle Huppert in I Heart Huckabees as the French Existentialist Philosopher Katarine Vaubon. And I had never seen Benoit Poelvoorde in anything. I enjoyed both of their performances. Benoit had a number of great lines, and played a totally gross frenchman in a really fun way.

I love movies about ugly non-americans. It makes me feel a sense of camaraderie with the world. We all have embarrassing people among us.

Now, when I saw this movie, I was sitting behind two old ladies, and the three of us cracked up throughout the movie. I mean... it's a ridiculous, low-brow movie. Why not laugh?

However, I walked out behind a group of hipsters who complained loudly about how much they hated it, and couldn't believe that people thought it was funny.

So... apparently I have the sense of humor of an old lady.

I'm ok with that.

Peggy's rating: Three out of Five Stars

5. Silver Linings Playbook

So, unless you've been hiding under a rock, I'm sure you've had five people tell you to go see Silver Linings Playbook. Pulling in a solid 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, it's hard to consider this movie anything other than a solid bet.

This movie is currently playing at the SIFF theater, and... I saw it the first weekend it came out! But, guess what? I saw it again for FREE!

The first thing you should know about my feelings about this movie is that I'm a social worker who works with chronic and severely mentally ill patients.  I also have people in my life who are mentally ill, and I spend a huge portion of my time thinking about the problems surrounding relationships with these people and my clients. That is one of the reasons that I saw this movie immediately when it came out. I really wanted to see how they were treating the issue of mental health.

Other reasons include: (a) I'm a giant Bradley Cooper fan, and have been ever since I was calling him "the cute one" on Alias; (b) David O. Russell directed my all-time favorite movie, I Heart Huckabees; and (c) When it was first released, I was bored, and had already seen every other half-interesting movie in the theaters.

The one big reason that I did NOT want to see it is... sigh ... (ok, don't crucify me, people) I think Robert De Niro is one of the worst actors ever. He is awful. And I know you're going to throw a bunch of Taxi Driver and Cape Fear references at me, but seriously? He has done 30 shit performances for every 1 interesting performance throughout his entire career. He has ZERO comedic timing.  No, wait.  He has NEGATIVE A THOUSAND comedic timing. And, if he's not playing a character with some very overt psychosis, he's really not that interesting. I'm also one of those people who hates Raging Bull. So, sue me.  He hasn't made a good movie since 1996, and even then, he had been just rehashing his old shit in less interesting ways for about a decade.

If I'm being totally honest, the only movie I truly love him in is The King of Comedy. De Niro plays the world's worst stand up comic. HA! He definitely pulls that character off. If you haven't seen that, do yourself a favor and hunt it down. It's so weird. There's a really long scene in which Sandra Bernhardt tries to seduce Jerry Lewis, who has been taped to a rolling chair. It's so hilarious in the most upsetting way. I really love that movie.

Anyway, so, back to Silver Linings Playbook. SURPRISE! I liked De Niro in it! Despite the few truly awful scenes (such as the scene in which Jennifer Lawrence negotiates the absurd "parlay"), De Niro was excellent! He was somewhat subtle. He did really well with what he was given, and there were some really difficult scenes. I thought he pulled it off. I almost thought of his character as a real person. And that's an accomplishment for him, if you ask me.

There were a lot of problems with Silver Linings Playbook. It sort of seemed like two different movies got in a weird car accident and became fused together. But, really, I didn't mind. It was entertaining. Yes, it was watching beautiful, midas-touched people trying to sell that they are actually the kind of people who are chaotic and for whom the acts of getting by in life and maintaining relationships are a constant struggle, but I thought they did a decent job. I thought that Jennifer Lawrence didn't seem to be fully invested in the craziness of her character, but oh well.  She was fine.  Bradley cooper was outstanding, as usual.  That boy can act.

I also applaud the writer of the book and the people who turned it into a movie for showing mental illness as a family issue. Families all over the world struggle with the kinds of problems brought up in this movie. How do I help a person I love who seems to be incapable of receiving my help?  How do I find meaning in my life, when I'm in and out of psychiatric hospitals?  How do I maintain relationships with people who constantly cause me pain?

This movie simultaneously brought up these issues, and also offered slivers of humor, and a half-cup of hope.

If you ask me, they could have ditched the love story.  It seemed a bit forced.  But I think the world would have revolted, because GOD FORBID two people of opposite sexes help each other improve and not fall in love.

I recommend Silver Linings Playbook if you aren't that into dancing (seriously, it's barely part of the movie) and if you are the kind of person who can see an empty mayonnaise jar in 5 scenes in a movie, and never find out why it's there.

Peggy's Rating: Four out of Five stars