Laura Sees Movies: The Muppets

The Muppets!!!!

Honestly, I had mixed reactions when I first heard this movie was underway. I was initially apprehensive mostly due to Jim Henson's death, and Frank Oz's lack of involvement, but I was intrigued when I heard that Jason Segal was writing it, solely based on my enjoyment of his Sarah Marshall vampire puppet musical.


The Muppets as written by Jason Segal works quite well. It is entertaining, sweet, hilarious, adorable, and chock full of fun celebrity cameos (as expected). Without any spoilers I will just say I was awful excited to see that waitress.

A traditional musical, this movie embraces the honest emotional conflict about the idea of a new Muppet movie on the big screen. Should we? Do we still want to see a Muppet movie? Should we let sleeping Muppets lie? Maybe their time has passed and there won't be an audience for it anymore? Will we wreck everything with this if it sucks? Yet no one can deny how loveable our Muppets are, everyone has a favorite (mine is Pepe), and we will always want to see more.

The point is, the true heart in this tickling movie, is that it takes our beloved Muppets of the past and tells this new story with the weight of the material in hand. At no point do you feel the Muppets are being violated or that anything is "wrong." Granted, it's not our traditional old Muppets and honestly, it never will be due to the change in voice artists. None the less, Jason Segal honors the Muppets with this script, his love letter to their legacy.

Go see it. I love The Muppets. And I want to hug Jason Segal.

Laura Sees Movies: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1

Well this is it. The review you all have been waiting for. The Twilight film tetralogy is peaking with the final book that I've been told by readers "get weird." Many people have told me Breaking Dawn is "terrible," "my least favorite of the books," "jumps the shark," "takes a left turn," etc.

I, having read the summary of the Twilight book series on Wikipedia once by accident, was aware it was about to graduate to a significantly more adult level, however, I was curious how they would handle it on screen. After all, their bread and vegan butter is a teenage audience, and violent vampire sex plus the birth of a demon baby seem like R material to me.

No worries Team Jacob fans. Taylor Lautner's shirt comes off in the first 10 seconds of the movie. Seriously.

SPOILER ALERT: the dialogue is terrible. Honestly sometimes I can't believe these were ever books. To enjoy the Twilight series purely as a set of bad vampire teen movies is one thing but every time I remember someone actually read this drivel I get super depressed.

Breaking Dawn showcases the authors socially conservative beliefs even more than the previous stories. They wait for marriage to have sex, and once pregnant, Bella is horrified at the idea of an abortion and hardly considers it. Edward constantly dominates Bella and the most annoying thing Twilight does is hide this sexism under the guise of romance. It was easier for me to take it's blatant disregard for women lightly when it's just sexy boys fighting over having tense unfulfilled moments around a girl, but now that marriage and babies are involved it gets too deep and honestly I think the message these movies send is probably doing more harm than good.

Teenagers adore these boys because they say amazing things and that's quite powerful before you've learned how much people will lie. They're also hot. It's all sexy all the time and Bella, although exceptionally beautiful, is very much an every girl. I absolutely understand the obsession with this phenomenon. If I was younger, or maybe less bitter, I would be right there with those screaming teens.

Still, if I had a demon baby inside me, I don't think I would carry it to term, especially if it was killing me. And I wouldn't let my vampire husband boss me around either just because he might drink my blood.

Whatever. Robert Pattinson's hair looks good, Taylor Lautner is almost old enough for me to stop feeling guilty for wanting to slap him with my panties, and we are finally headed toward the payoff that the previous films have been so dramatically building up. Luckily part 2 is released in one year and then hopefully all these young fans will realize that people can be full of it and that Stephanie Meyer wove some really sick messages into her fiction.

It's a polarizing feeling to love terrible movies and simultaneously hate the message one is sending to young female minds. It's probably not doing nearly as much damage and I imagine.

Laura Sees Movies: Like Crazy

I am extremely fond of this movie.

My favorite movies list for 2011 is quite short, and Like Crazy has made the cut. An incredibly down to earth, refreshingly honest piece that portrays a complicated journey. A literal and simple examination of trying to make long distance work, Like Crazy minces no words, and is no fairy tale.

This couple is presented with the obstacle of attempting to maintain a relationship when our British heroine, Anna, driven by her passion for our American hero, Jacob, violates her student visa by staying a few months past it's expiration. Following this incident, our lovers are kept apart by inconvenience, red tape, and new sexual relationships with people who aren't halfway across the world.

Two young people are as capable of deep love as anyone, and you hope for our sweet couple throughout. However, you empathize with their attempts to have a normal life as well. As you watch, it's impossible to know what's best for anyone, and naturally, you begin to wonder if location is more powerful than love. Maybe hearts eventually travel to wherever our feet are, even if that's not necessarily where we would like them to be.

Without any spoilers I will say that the ending will surprise you, but Like Crazy does not have anyone skipping out of the theater. The performances are excellent, the dialogue is lovely, and it is shot in a delightfully uncomplicated manner which compliments the realistic style. It's about love, really.

Laura Sees Movies: Drive

I know I should have posted this earlier in the week but I've been terribly lazy.

Drive is phenomenal. One of the best movies I've seen in a long time. It feels timeless as if you are finally getting around to seeing a movie you've always known was great. Classic.

I rushed out to see it last weekend due to trusted buzz and this outstanding review by Roger Ebert whose words rang in my head as I watched the film.

Extremely quiet, extremely violent, and extremely simple, this movie is perfectly executed. A story that leaves you wanting more yet provides all you require to be entirely captivated. Nothing is given away and all of our emotions are earned. Well done.

Drive will be remembered as one of this years most unique and refreshing movies. Finally!

Laura Sees Movies: Our Idiot Brother

Isn't Paul Rudd charming? Gosh he's doing so well these days. I am so happy for him. Honestly, I think he seems super nice.

Anyways, Our Idiot Brother is a pretty decent flick. I enjoyed it thoroughly and although it does not exactly paint it's female characters in an attractive light, it ultimately has a payoff that is worth the huff and puff.

The opening is set up perfectly with our protagonist selling weed to a uniformed officer. The scene is written so well and executed so perfectly, it's 100% believable and you immediately know that our hero, Ted, is a great guy who's only fault is that he has faith in people.

More of a statement on the world than upon the 'idiot' this movie is about how much we all forget how nice our lives actually are, how we take our families for granted, and how we make fun of the honest people who truly enjoy the simple things.

Ted is loyal, sweet, and fiercely honest. His sisters are not. His sisters, however, do not seem to be 'idiots' by society's standards and therefore thrive where Ted fails. It's an interesting movie about interesting people who seem real.

The only sore spot is how much they bothered to 'lesbian up' Rashida Jones with costumes for her role as Zooey Deschanel's girlfriend. Her entire 'look' just felt a bit pushed to me, but I suppose I'll let it slide.

Additionally, I must mention Kathryn Hahn's appearance as Ted's ex. Hilarious and steals every scene she is in, I cannot wait for her new sitcom to hit my TV, she is currently my favorite working actress.

A summer sleeper worth seeing, Our Idiot Brother is quite nice.

Laura Sees Movies: The Help

Emotionally manipulative and basically boring, The Help is an ok movie with great performances that has spurred much controversy. Kathryn Stockett's novel has been criticized, and mostly because it was written by her, a white woman, and the story is heavily about the struggle of black women. I don't blame people for getting worked up.

My problem with this film has not much to do with Kathryn Stockett's whiteness, although I do find it odd that she would desire to tackle this material, my problem is with the overall dullness of the story. All emotion and almost no heart, the story of Skeeter and her beloved maid is overshadowed by the side stories and crowded out by fillers.

As a viewer I desired so much more to see truly where Skeeter came from, why she felt so connected to her own maid as a mother figure and how that would drive her to write a book. Instead Skeeter is beautiful, yet we are supposed to believe she is plain, she is a strong single character, yet we are forced into an empty love story that goes nowhere, and mostly it seems that she simply gets lucky and her book happens to be a success. She lacks the strength and conviction I believe this character would have to possess to pull off this publication. This should truly be Skeeters story, and it is not successful. I didn't connect to her journey at all, and I was heavily distracted by all the more interesting stories she was surrounded by.

All of the acting is excellent, let me say that first and foremost. Viola Davis is, as ALWAYS, a powerhouse of truth, and shoots Aibileen's arrow straight into our hearts. Bring tissues. Emma Stone is great too, despite that lack of depth that has been written into her character. Bryce Dallas Howard is delightfully hate able, Sissy Spacek and Allison Janney both sneak in as scene stealing mothers, and my favorite performances belong to Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer whose touching story could have been a delightful movie all by itself.

There is too much happening, it all makes you cry, and yet it all feels meaningless. It lacks authenticity, and a genuine heartbeat. Dull, pushy, sappy, and too long, this movie is pretty lame. I'd love to say it was great, it had plenty of potential, but I wasn't happy for anyone at the end, nor did I care much what had happened. A wonderful display of great acting, it's a shame it had to come in such a crappy candy coating.

Laura Sees Movies: The Future

Miranda July's sweet and amazing new movie is showing in just a select few cities, but if you visit her website you can check out her blog and see where it's going to be.

This movie is just wonderful. I read several marvelous reviews before I saw it. That combined with my friend's fondness for Miranda July in general is what got us to go out.

I'm so glad we did. The movie is hard to describe in any way that could possibly do it justice but I will try. It is heart-wrenching, sweet, hilarious, complicated, sad, goofy, simple, and strange. The word I've heard several other reviews use is whimsical. Our heroine, Sophie, is so sympathetic I felt as though her struggles were mine. Her sweet boyfriend Jason is the same, someone I felt very connected to and understood.

The story is narrated by an alley cat who is currently under medical supervision in a shelter that Jason and Sophie have agreed to adopt. They realize taking in a sick cat will change their lives and decide to live it up the final month they have to themselves before he joins their family. The cat himself as a character moved me in the most surprising way. I adopted an alley cat myself this year and Pawpaw's journey gave me insight into her scarred soul and previous life on the streets in a way I'd never imagined. I was dying to come home and see her once the credits rolled.

This movie will touch your heart. It carries you off to a world that feels familiar as though it's happening somewhere we all have been. Lovely and powerful, it is by far the best movie I've seen this summer.