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Category Archives: Movies
Whitney’s Rom Com MASH Mania!
Being a twenty-something undergrad with no marketable skills and a crippling TV habit can have a lot of fun upsides (all day Joss Whedon marathons, low-budget Oscar parties, a staggering collection of Doctor Who merch). Low-paying menial jobs are not one of them. Luckily, I found a way to numb the drudgery without ever having to resort to pills or after work fight clubs. I call it RASH, or Rom Com MASH. It combines all the randomized fortune-telling nonsense of a MASH game with the Romantic Comedy tropes we know and love, effectively allowing you to build your own rom com. Allow me to demonstrate:
1) First list your possible Leading Men
- Christian Slater
- James Van Der Beek
- Tom Hiddleston
- Chris Evans
- Adam Scott
2) Next list your character’s possible career. This is important because it tells your audience what kinda gal you are without requiring any actual character development. For the purposes of this example, I’m going for the ol’ Driven-But-Emotionally-Unfulfilled-Career-Woman. Classic.
- High ranking magazine editor
- Journalism student looking for her big break in the big city
- talented cardiac surgeon who needs someone to work on her heart
- you get the idea
3) Now think up some possible Meet Cutes. Decide how you and your squeeze first meet.
- Oh no! You try to hail the same cab in the rain
- You are mismatched co-workers in a very cramped office space
- you both are chosen to fight for your lives in a dystopian death match in post-apocalyptic America (my personal favorite)
This process can go on for a while. Who’s going to play your spunky BFF? What’s your movie’s theme song? What’s your Box Office take? Once you’ve got your categories lined up, all that is left to do is play! Believe me, if you are a cinephile with a lot of time on your hands, this is your game. Share your results in our comment section!
–Whitney
Grade A, Choice Picks: Top Christmas Movies
Merry Christmas, Fangirly readers! Or Happy Holidays to any varying denominational readers! I can’t think of a better way to geti n the holiday spirit than to continue my holiday series and detail my favorite Christmas movies for you. So let’s get into the countdown, shall we?
10. The Santa Clause (1994) – Ah, the 90s. Where Tim Allen was king and Judge Reinhold had a little more going for him other than Mock Trial with J. Reinhold. This one was definitely a childhood fav, but I had to relegate it to the tenth place because I was too young to understand the double meaning of the title so it will forever make me hesitate when I go to write Santa Claus’ name. Curses be upon you, Disney and your clever wordplay!
9. Miracle on 34th Street (1994) – Before you look higher on the list, no, the black and white version is not there. And before you go on iMDb, yes, this is the Dylan McDermott version with the girl from Matilda and the grandpa from Jurassic Park. I’m just going to say it. I like this one, I will not apologize for that. If you want an apology, talk to my mom who bought me the VHS of this version and not the 1947 version when I was at the tender age of 7.
8. While You Were Sleeping (1995) – Ok, so not specifically marketed as a Christmas movie, but I still like watching during this time of year and it has all the attributes. Set during Christmas, check. Message about being around loved ones, check. Bill Pullman slipping on ice and ripping pants, check. Finding a new family in the least likely of places, check. Crazy coma hijinx, check. So not all of those are necessary to a Christmas movie, but they don’t hurt.
7. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) – Basically, I just love the Muppets. The only thing that could have possibly made this better: Muppet…wait for it…Babies. Nah, we’ll just leave it as is. And really I owe a lot to this movie. Michael Cain and Scrooge McDuck really introduced me to the concept of being a Scrooge.
6. Home Alone (1990) – Oddly enough, I like this movie more with age. I cry a lot more, too. I’m sorry but you would have to be a robot to not tear up when after hours in airports and on a van with John Candy, Kevin’s mom is finally able to see her son on Christmas morning. Then, you know, there’s the whole bad-guy-booby-trap thing that is going on in the rest of the movie. Awesome.
5. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) – I know, you’re shocked. A movie that is usually number one on Christmas lists and I have it at number five. This is another one that I was introduced to later in life. It gets on the list because even if I only see the last five minutes, I will still weep openly and thoroughly.
4. Scrooged (1988) – Another one during which I cry (Wow, I have a problem). Nobody does curmedgeon-who-needs-to-change-his-ways-on-a-nationally-recognized-holiday better than Bill Murray. He has more funny lines than I have room to quote them, so just go watch the movie if you want a laugh (or a cry, look into that little boy’s eyes as he says “God bless us, everyone” and try to keep it in).
3. Elf (2003) – Easily one of my most quoted movies, and that’s 365 days out of the year, my friends. “Francisco, that’s fun to say”, “Buddy the Elf, what’s your favorite color?”, “I like to whisper, too?”, “You sit on a throne of lies”, “Bye Buddy, hope you find your dad”, “You smell like beef and cheese.” I suppose I could keep going, but you get the gist and it’s really Will Ferrell’s delivery that makes the movie so funny. Bonus: This movie introduced me to Zooey Deschanel’s singing voice leading me to discover She & Him years back. Thanks, Elf!
2. Love Actually (2003) – Disclaimer: This movie only gets demoted to number two because it doesn’t quite ring “Christmas movie” like my number one choice does. Those of you who know me know that I love love love this movie, actually. I could go on for a whole blog post about how much I love this movie (hmmm….), but I’ll just say this: I cry every time during the airport footage at the very end, I love everyone in this movie, and I just love the accurate portrayal of …love. Sometimes it’s happy, sometimes it sucks, sometimes it’s romantic, sometimes it’s with family and friends. Just delightful. Never ceases to literally warm my heart. Yes, literally.
1. A Christmas Story (1983) – In my opinion, THE seminal Christmas classic. I could quote the whole thing, but so could most of you, I’m sure. This movie is forever a part of my concept of Christmas. Some families have decking the halls or caroling, my family has A Christmas Story.
So there you have it. Now you have a better understanding of my preferences in Christmas fare. Well, you know the drill. Did I miss anything? Would you have put one movie over the other? Don’t forget to check out my favorite Christmas specials and TV episodes and stay tuned for my favorite Christmas records!
Top Five Sick Day Movies!
Flu season has finally arrived! Being sick has the tendency to suck pretty thoroughly, but I’m here to tell you that there are ways to circumvent the suckiness. One tried and true way is to have a stock pile of Sick Day movies that have plenty of entertaining, if not medicinal, qualities. Hold on to your lunch, because here are my top five!
5) Joss Whedon’s Cabin in the Woods– I’m a fan of gore even when I’m not chucking cookies or sneezing out stuff that looks alarmingly like bits of cerebral cortex. But somehow, watching cute co-eds get disemboweled right after you heave up bits of your own viscera tends to put your misery into perspective. Besides, Fran Kranz is enough to make any girl feel feverish.
4) 13 Going on 30– As a card 
carrying lady, I reserve the right to watch ANY rom-com, at ANY given time. However, there’s something about sick days that makes watching two extraordinarily hot people fall in love (what Hollywood calls romance, I call Darwinism) even more satisfying. This one is especially suited for sick days because Mark Ruffalo’s dopey good looks and Average Joe sensibilities are a soothing balm for any gal in pain.
3) The Princess Bride– If it’s good enough for Fred Savage, it’s good enough for you!
2)Evita- Sore throat? No Problem! Here’s what you do: put on a frilly night gown, adopt an air of neuvo riche superiority, and reenact the death bed scene where Eva scratches out her final refrain. SO. MUCH. FUN. 
1) Ghostbusters– Just in case your sick day hasn’t seen enough green slime.
–Whitney
Web Bytes: X-Men: Days of Future Past Trailer
I don’t mean to brag, but I saw most of this trailer back in July at Comic Con. (Oh, wait. That’s right. I love bragging about Comic Con. ) This doesn’t mean that I was any less excited to see this new trailer this morning. How rad does this look?! Granted, I will get excited about any Fassbender/McAvoy vehicle, but especially an X-Men movie. Which happens to work out nicely, since that is all they have done together.
Anyway, check out the trailer and get excited for May 23rd with me!
–Ellen
Run-On Sentence Review: The World’s End
I will forever love anything involving Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and/or Nick Frost because I love Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz THAT much so it is hard for me to be impartial in this review so I just won’t be impartial and say that I loved this movie and it may not have the perfection of Shaun of the Dead but it was still awesome and hilarious and I loved seeing Pegg and Frost play such different roles from their others in the Cornetto trilogy and Martin Freeman will always be a welcome addition to anything for me.
Verdict: If you haven’t seen Shaun or Hot Fuzz, see those, then go see this movie!
Summer 2013 AKA The Worst Summer Blockbusters… Ever?
It has always been my philosophy that summers at the movie theaters are the best summers. It’s a big dark, air conditioned room that smells of popcorn and shows the biggest movies of the year. What’s not to like?
Most summers, I am prepared with my list of must-see-opening-weekend movies followed by the movies for which I can bear to wait a week. However, as I reflect back on the past few months, I find their offerings to be lacking. We didn’t have that movie that everyone seemed to be talking about, at least not in a good way. The movie that you ran out and told all of your friends to see.
This could be a result of Hollywood’s determination to remake and sequelize anything and everything (Iron Man 3, Despicable Me 2, Star Trek 2, Man of Steel, Monsters University, Fast & Furious 6, etc.). That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy some, if not all, of these movies, but let’s spice it up a little, people!
Am I being too cynical about this summer’s fare? Am I am alone in feeling disappointed?
–Ellen
Run-On Sentence Reviews: Austenland
It is no secret that I am a Janeite, Austenphile, or whatever you want to call it (proof of which can be found here, here, here, here, and here) so of course this movie was made for the likes of me because it is about a girl who just can’t seem to separate fiction from reality and wishes that modern day romance was a little more like it is in an Austen novel and I know that any of my friends reading this are rolling their eyes because this could be my bio pic but I would like to point out that I am not nearly as pathetic as the heroine played here by Keri Russell but I would also spend way too much money to go to Austenland where one lives like an Austen heroine especially if said Austenland has JJ Feild as Mr. Henry Nobley (worth the price of admission) who makes a bad first impression on Jane (sound familiar?) and Bret McKenzie as Martin the stable boy.
Verdict: While this movie can be a bit too silly and a little over the top, I know that any fan of Austen is going to have a jolly good time watching it, even when it hits a little too close to home.
–Ellen
Ellen and the Incredible, Exhausting, So Good, Very Rad Day(s) at Comic Con
Well, I did it. I survived yet another year at Comic Con, and while I have not been this tired in quite a while, every lost hour of sleep, every sore butt from sitting in the same chair for hours, every hour spent squished in line with a bunch of fellow nerds was worth because this was an EPIC year! I feel like I say this about every year at Comic Con, but I am super serious, you guys. If you don’t believe me check out the slideshow below or my thoughts on the panels that we attended. Skip around to the stuff you like, read it all (if you have no life), I don’t care.
Wednesday:
Psych the Musical Midnight Screening: After dealing with heinous Comic Con traffic from LA to San Diego and checking into our hotel, my mom and I headed downtown (yeah, I go to Comic Con with my mom. What’cha gonna do about it?!). Continue reading
Fangirly’s Favorite Things: James Franco’s Movie Reviews
Have you ever read a movie review and thought, “wow, this is just way too coherent and concise?” I know I have. Is it too much to ask that a review be so weird, rambling, and incoherent that you wondered if someone just scanned a page of “Great Expectations” and called it a day? James Franco doesn’t think so. In his series of film reviews for Vice magazine he gives you all the pseudo-intellectual nonsense you could ever hope for. Here’s a particularly stirring excerpt from his recent Great Gatsby review:
“The challenge Baz Luhrmann had in adapting The Great Gatsby to film was similar to what Walter Salles faced with On the Road: how to stay loyal to the era depicted, while still retaining the rawness of the original text. Salles did a great job of capturing the ambiance of 1950s America, but it could be argued that his Dean and Sal didn’t have enough zeal—enough of that desire to live, live, live.”
This critique seems utterly valid to me. I mean, what DOESN’T a guy born in 1978 know about life in 1950’s America? You know, that desire to live, live, live.
His real masterpiece, however, was his latest review of Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel.
“I was also at Leicester Square earlier this year for the premiere of my film Oz, when the red carpet was a yellow brick road, but the night I saw the new Superman, I arrived incognito: 1) because it wasn’t my film, and 2) because I don’t think Henry Cavill would have wanted to see me there.”
Wait… what?
“Not that we’re enemies. Years ago we worked on a film together called Tristan and Isolde. I played Tristan and he played my backstabbing sidekick. My hunch is that he didn’t like me very much. I don’t know this for certain, but I know that I wouldn’t have liked myself back then because I was a difficult young actor who took himself too seriously.”
I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to find some self-awareness among young Hollywood! Please, James Franco, go on.
“What Henry took seriously back then was Superman. He wanted to be Superman more than anything in the world. Personally, I’m not sure why. I missed the whole Superman-film phenomenon. I was more a fan of director Richard Donner’s Goonies and Lethal Weapon. I can understand the appeal the original Superman comics had for the WWII generation and its need for a hero to rid the world of evil, but in my days as a young man, this appeal was long outstripped by the cheesiness of the character’s suit and his douchey invincibility.”
James Franco seems to understand what no one else in The Business does. The people don’t want to read a two page snoozer about “character development” or “narrative arcs”. We want to read a four page ramble that manages to belittle the star and subject of the movie it’s supposed to be reviewing. So keep them coming, Franco! As long as you keep churning them out, we’ll keep laughing at them.
–Whitney
Run-On Sentence Reviews: Man of Steel
Before proceeding with the review, let’s just get this out of the way, shall we? Holy mother of Zod, Henry Cavill! His body is IN-SANE. SuperABifrajDELICIOUSexpialiHOLYSHIZ.
We will now return you to your regularly scheduled run-on sentence review:
The reviews were not great and it seemed to be quite divisive amongst Superman fans so I went with moderate expectations and they were more or less met because while I thought it was a nice movie to look at (and look at and look at) the story dredged on a little too much and I did not buy Lois and Clark’s relationship at all and not only because Henry Cavill is a god amongst men but because they did absolutely nothing to develop that relationship and I just kept thinking during this move that the DC movies need to take some tips from Marvel and add SOME levity to their movies because, for example, Superman is often criticized for being TOO perfect and TOO impenetrable so think of the fun they could have with that and I know that there is a lot of hullabaloo about the ending and I have my own problems with it but I just have to ask what you expected with Zack Snyder and Chris Nolan at the helm?
Verdict: If you were looking for a cool “big screen” experience, then I say go. Otherwise, a rental will suffice.
– Ellen
Run-On Sentence Reviews: This is the End
There is no denying that this movie is ridiculous and at times over the top but I have also not laughed this hard in a while and I think the movie gets away with it because the “characters” are such over the top portrayals of themselves that you can just take everything with a grain of salt so just go in knowing that and I think you will enjoy it as much as I did and I have heard concerns that you may not be familiar with their previous works and get a lot of the jokes but I didn’t find that to be completely necessary and it really just becomes like any other movie about a group of friends that you have no previous history with except that we sort of do because these guys happen to be famous actors and I had also heard that about half the movie was ad-libbed and I thought it showed and really helped the movie feel authentic and like you really were watching Seth Rogen and Co. deal with the apocalypse.
Verdict: IF this is your thing and IF you can handle a LOT of raunchy (but pretty dang funny) humor, then, sure, yeah, go see it.
– Ellen
Run-On Sentence Reviews: Much Ado About Nothing
I was crazy excited to see this movie because it is my favorite Shakespeare play adapted by Joss Whedon who is one of my favorite humans on planet Earth and that just seemed like the perfect movie and all of my excitement turned out to be completely warranted because I loved it and thought that it was a really great adaptation that was perfectly topped off with all of those funny little moments that make a Joss Whedon project a Joss Whedon project and I thought that everyone just did a fab job and I was more attracted to Fran Kranz than I have ever been before and Nathan Fillion joined the pantheon of great Dogberrys.
Verdict: GO! RUN! HURRY!
Fangirly Crush of the Week: Chris O’Dowd
Blame it on my recent viewing of Bridesmaids, where he plays the perfect male (that is not hyperbole). Blame it on his meteoric rise to hotness on The IT Crowd. Blame it on the recent feature on him in Entertainment Weekly, where he was utterly charming. Blame it on the billboards all over LA for Family Tree with his adorable face. Blame it on whatever you want, but it will not be denied that I am feeling Chris O’Dowd in a major way right now. I mean, look at how adorable he is?! And seriously, watch Bridesmaids and try to not fall in love with him. It can’t be done unless your heart is made of cold, hard, unfeeling, black granite.
Or, better yet, you can just watch the video below and try to avoid his wonderful blend of humor and charm. It can’t be done! (Also, try to not hear Whitney and I squealing at Ewan McGregor, Chris O’Dowd and Graham Norton being in a room together).
– Ellen
Run-On Sentence Reviews: Star Trek Into Darkness
With this review keep in mind that I really liked the first (new) Star Trek which I know a lot of people didn’t but I really liked it and it just so happens that I really liked this one too because it was funny and of course Benedict Cumberbatch was amazingly awesome as the surprise villain and it was just overall a fun sci-fi adventure.
Verdict: Go see it. Especially good on the big screen.
– Ellen
Web Bytes: Catching Fire Trailer
Just in case you missed it:
In with the Old: The Sandlot
Baseball season. The smell of freshly cut grass, the taste of peanuts and Cracker Jack, the sound of the crowd roaring in the stadiums. But for this girl, the best part of baseball season is the yearning I get to watch The Sandlot. Granted, this is coming from the girl who spent a good portion of a Dodgers game analyzing the Padres right fielder’s butt, but everything I know about baseball, I learned from The Sandlot. How else is a 7-year old to learn who the “Great Bambino” is?
If you’re reading this post, you probably don’t need me to tell you what a great movie it is, but it’s a great movie. It’s one of those rare family movies that the whole family can actually enjoy. We must have watched it at least 100 times (no joke) in my family. It’s the only way to explain why I can still quote the entire movie. And why I still think that Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez is the perfect man.
More than anything, I love Sandlot for it’s heart. There are few movies that capture childhood as well as this movie. It only makes me sad that kids don’t seem to have summers like that anymore, running around the neighborhood getting up to antics kids get up to. Blame it on To Catch a Predator, kids with iPads, or whatever it is we are blaming these sorts of things on these days.
So here’s to summers of big dogs, throwing up on Scramblers, Wendy Peffercorn, playing ball “like a girl”, S’mores, and shaving your dog’s butt and teaching it to walk backwards.
Don’t lie. You want to watch Sandlot now, right? Don’t be ashamed, it doesn’t take much for me either.
– Ellen
Run-On Sentence Reviews: Admission
I went into this thinking “Tina Fey and Paul Rudd, my girlfriend and boyfriend in one movie, what could possibly go wrong?” and while nothing necessarily went wrong, per se, there wasn’t anything that went crazy right either and that left me a little sad inside because while Paul Rudd was adorable as ever this was pretty much my dream team cast and it didn’t live up to expectations but I would recommend that if you go see it to know that it is NOT a comedy but more of a drama with somewhat humorous moments because everyone I went with was expecting it to be a laugh a minute and that will only lead to extreme disappointment.
Verdict: Meh. You can wait for Redbox.
– Ellen
Run-On Sentence Reviews: Jack the Giant Slayer
I went into this with fairly low expectations which I find usually leads to me quite enjoying a movie so it should come as no surprise that I quite liked this even though it wasn’t anything amazing it was still enjoyable and Ewan McGregor was super fine and I swear he doesn’t age and Nicholas Hoult was pretty adorable as well and all in all, it was a pretty good time at the cinema.
Verdict: If you are looking for pure, escapist fun (or if you also enjoy watching Ewan McGregor), then you just might enjoy this movie.
– Ellen
Web Bytes: Much Ado About Nothing Trailer
Could my day get any better? I stumbled upon this trailer today and am now only upset that it took me a full week to do so.
Much Ado About Nothing has always been my favorite Shakespeare play, so when you throw in Joss Whedon, one of my favorite people out there, I’m sold.
The trailer has done nothing to put a damper on said excitement. In fact, it increasing with alarming frenzy after each viewing of the trailer. Maybe I should just stop watching it?
– Ellen
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