305 days, 305 films-500 Days of Summer

Mar 10, 2010 by Sami

Film #7 5oo Days of Summer

I was unable to produce an entry for today so my dear friend @FrequentLee lent me a hand and agreed on me posting the below review for 500 Days of Summer that was originally posted on his great blog . I do highly recommend watching 500 Days if you haven’t done so yet.

SPOILERS

Because I really want to discuss this film. I can’t get the formatting to be pretty, so because a large “SPOILERS” sign is needed, we’re just all going to have to suffer. More you than me.

If you’re trying to decide whether or not to watch it, watch it. At worst, you’re out a few bucks and a little under 2 hours, with another view on relationships. At best, you get a deeper understanding of relationships and realize that all people suck. And not in the “happy ending” type of way. The “sad ending for you” type of way. Which is the opposite, and not really an optimal outcome.

I knew very little going into the film, other than that it severely changes the dynamic of relationships upon being watched. The Ring for relationships? If you watch that film, your relationship will die in 7 days? Well, nobody scary will crawl out of your TV, I guess. Unless you ALSO saw that video tape, in which case 1) you’re just plain screwed and 2) you had a very, very busy night and I sort of envy you. You know, minus the “the spectre of certain death looms heavily over you.” That, not so much.

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305 days, 305 films- Hard Candy

Mar 8, 2010 by Sami

Film #6 Hard Candy

Many people will tell you that Juno was Ellen Page‘s breakout roll. I beg to differ; I think Page’s breakout role was playing Hayley in Hard Candy. I just watched the trailer to refresh some of the missing pieces in my memory which only led to my heart rate increasing for the duration of the clip. I  realized then that I forgot how suspenseful this film is.

Why do I think Hard Candy is deserving of your time? Well, for once  Ellen Page is genius in it. She portrays one of the most innocent girls I have ever seen on film. At least for a little while. At the beginning of the film I might have actually yelled out “no don’t go with him, you’re so naive!”. Turns out, I was the one that was so naive. So was  Patrick Wilson‘s character, Jeff Kohlver. Also, the fact that the majority of Hard Candy is shot with only both Page and Wilson reinforces their impeccable acting skills because the duty of capturing the audience falls on, only, them; unlike most of the films labeled “thrillers” out there. For what might be my first time, I actually felt remorse for the bad guy. Want to know why? Check out Hard Candy at your local or cyber video rental store.

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