He's Just Not That Into You: a romance galore!

Poster:

Trailer:



Plot:

Nine people in Baltimore deal with their respective romantic problems, usually thwarted by the differing ideals and desires of their chosen partner. At the center of this is Gigi Phillips (Ginnifer Goodwin), a young woman who repeatedly misinterprets the behavior of her romantic partners.

Gigi and Alex

Gigi is a single woman who repeatedly misreads mundane actions and comments from her dates as indications that they are romantically interested in her, and frets when the guy does not call her.

In attempting to meet Conor Barry (Kevin Connolly), a real estate agent, at a bar, she befriends the bar owner Alex (Justin Long), who reveals the strategies men use to avoid a woman.

He explains that if a man is interested in a woman, he will overcome any obstacles to ensure they date again, and that Gigi has been misinterpreting and obsessing over imagined "signs" that she receives.

Their friendship continues, and Gigi interprets his eagerness to always assist (such as taking Gigi's call while he is on a date) as a sign that he is interested in her. She makes a move, but Alex claims he is not romantically interested in her and chastises her for ignoring his advice. She angrily replies that at least she has not let herself become cynical and bitter like him.

Gigi eventually moves on from Alex, however, in a role reversal, Alex begins falling for Gigi.

After leaving several unanswered messages, Alex arrives at Gigi's apartment to declare his love. Gigi thinks that she is the rule, but after Alex suddenly kisses her passionately, he says that she is his exception.

Janine, Ben, and Anna

Gigi's friend and co-worker Janine Gunders (Jennifer Connelly) is having difficulties in her marriage to Ben (Bradley Cooper). As Janine obsesses on their home renovations, Ben becomes attracted to Anna Marks (Scarlett Johansson), a yoga instructor and aspiring singer, and the feeling is mutual.

Ben and Anna pursue a flirtatious friendship under the pretense of him helping her establish a singing career. Ben reveals to Anna that Janine once gave him an ultimatum by threatening to leave him if he did not propose. Ben agrees to be friends with Anna, and in order to flirt with him she strips and jumps naked into a swimming pool. She invites him to join, but he decides against it.

Fervently anti-smoking (due to her father's death from lung cancer), Janine pointedly asks Ben if he has been smoking and later is perturbed to find cigarette butts hidden in their back yard. Ben insists that they are not his, and their contractor, Javier (Luis Guzman), says none of his workers smoke at the house.

During a tense shopping trip, Ben reveals to Janine that he has cheated on her. Janine is devastated but rationalizes Ben's behavior, blaming herself for being too cold in the relationship, and decides she wants to save their marriage.

After a positive meeting about her singing career, Anna begins to have sex with Ben in his office. They are interrupted by Janine who, hoping to spice up their marriage, has arrived unexpectedly. Anna hides in a closet, and Ben attempts to send Janine away who then makes a heartfelt plea to save their marriage, and there are indications she succeeds in seducing him. After Janine leaves, Anna angrily departs vowing to cut ties with Ben. As Janine tidies up Ben's clothes back at their completed house, she discovers a fresh pack of cigarettes in a pocket, and she explodes in anger. When Ben returns home, he finds his clothes neatly folded with a carton of cigarettes and a note attached from Janine asking for a divorce. Janine moves into a new apartment by herself to start a new life, and Anna is later seen performing at an upscale nightclub. Ben is alone, purchasing the same beer at the same supermarket where he met Anna.

Conor, Anna, and Mary

Meanwhile, Anna enjoys a close friendship with Alex's friend, Conor. He is romantically interested in her, but Anna is only interested in a casual relationship. Conor misinterprets her hugs and cute nicknames for potential romantic interest.

Anna's friend, Mary Harris (Drew Barrymore), works in advertising for a local newspaper, and helps Conor promote his real estate business in a series of print ads. Like Gigi, she meets many men (mostly online), but despite constantly monitoring emails, pager, phone, and Myspace messages, her dates go nowhere.

While Conor attempts to cultivate a gay clientele, two gay men tell him how he is going wrong with Anna. Taking their advice, Conor decides to declare his love to Anna. Vulnerable after falling out with Ben, Anna agrees to start a serious relationship with him. But when Conor proposes buying a house and moving in together, Anna admits she doesn't want to, and they break up.

Mary later runs into Conor, recognizing him from his ad photo, and introduces herself, since they have only spoken over the phone. They hit it off, and start dating.

Beth and Neil

Gigi's other co-worker, Beth Murphy (Jennifer Aniston), is living with her boyfriend, Neil (Ben Affleck), who is also friends with Ben. After seven years of dating, Beth wants to get married, but Neil does not believe in marriage. With Gigi's newfound pragmatic stance on relationships after advice from Alex, she announces she will no longer misinterpret vague gestures from men as more than they really are. This spurs Beth to confront Neil about their relationship. When he still doesn't want to get married, she breaks up with him.

Later, the preparations for her younger sister's wedding brings the issue into sharper focus for Beth after hearing many back-handed comments from various family members. During the reception, her father Rod (Kris Kristofferson) suffers a heart attack. Beth looks after him as he recuperates while her sisters wallow, and their husbands remain glued to the television playing video games and watching football with constant takeout as the household falls into chaos. As Beth reaches the end of her patience looking after her siblings and in-laws as well as her recovering father, Neil arrives with groceries and helps with the chores. The two reconcile, with Beth saying that Neil is more of a husband to her than her sisters' spouses are to them, and she will not insist they be married. Neil later proposes to her, and they marry in an intimate ceremony aboard his sailboat.

Review:

I've watched the movie many times that i could literally mouthed off the lines :D

the most favourite couple would of course be Alex and Gigi. they're sweet together. especially after Alex starts mooning over Gigi soon as they parted ways.. amek kau. padan muka Alex :evil laughs:

then, there would be the sweet pairing of Connor and Mary. they hit it off so easily because they had the same sense of humor. funny isn't it, how easily one can bumped into one's soulmate after despairing for so long over someone unavailable.

i like the part when Neil realises that though he doesn't believe in marriage, he's willing to give it a shot just because he loves Beth too much. it made the 7 years of waiting worthwhile, don't you think? Beth ni mmg sabar betul!

as for Janine, JC played it so convincingly that to this day i detested her character, she made me itched! same detest goes to SJ's character, she's only into Ben so much so because he resisted at first. but you have to admit, he was unhappy with Janine. when Anna continued to charm his pants off, he simply surrendered, albeit haltingly due to his loyalty to Janine. in the end, they were all three unhappy people. though Janine admitted that she's now dating again.

but then, i do think Ben and Janine are best divorced. their marriage is lukewarm at best and Ben is always held by guilt to stay married to her. of course you have to work hard at making the marriage works. but if you can't find it in yourself to confide in your partner about the things not right in your relationship, maybe it wasn't meant to be. Ben was suffering. he doesn't know how to convey that he's not happy without having Janine freaked out and feeling an ass himself. so he rebelled by smoking as in retaliation.

Well, enough of that. This however is my favourite scene of the movie:



love it!

Comet: kinda confusing but it had some good moments

Trailer:



Movie:



Plot:
After meeting by chance at meteor shower, pessimist Dell (Justin Long) and insightful Kimberly (Emmy Rossum) begin a 6 year journey through a relationship that blooms and fades over time. The movie is shown through glimpses of parallel universes and flashbacks that are not chronologically ordered, showing the viewer the progression and depression of their intricate relationship.



Review:
The timelines are convoluted that I failed to determine which is after which.. Even wiki is unable to help. so sorry. I'll expand the plot part when I get to watch this movie again later. one thing that I particularly like about Dell's characterization is that he is so forthcoming. he just says what he wants to say regardless of the outcome. like asking for Kimberley's number outright in front of her date for the meteor shower. nasib baik mamat tu tak hempuk je dia kat situ, hahaha..

I love the cinematic shots of this film. and the way JL and ER looks different effortlessly for each timeline.. Dell also has some memorable quips. what I really don't love is Kimberley's moodswings. they are simply too much to handle.

update -> after watching this movie for a second time, now only did I understand the story. and it's kinda good. a love story of two f-up person. Dell falls in love Kimberley because she's a little crazy, which is perfect for him, he thought. little did he know, the craziness in her drove his already neurotic self into despair when they fought over simplest miniscule things.

Dell taught Kim to lie, because he believed lies are always there in a relationship, so better make up some lies, as they progress into their relationship.. only to have that belief bit them in the ass, causing fights and break-ups when both parties can't handle the lies. truth to be told, Dell is the one that can't handle the lies. he flew off the handle so quickly, being that pessimistic. it's only lucky that in the end, he managed to finally get over his pessimism and stupid 5 minutes rule, to realize Kimberley's lie about Jack and her pregnancy.

sigh.. so many drama. the first time watching it, I couldn't get over my disappointment of Kimberley's behavior at the hotel in Paris. the second time watching it, I disliked Dell's rash behavior even more. he shouldn't have flushed the ring into the toilet in fits of anger. it's as if he doesn't really want to get married.

all in all, it made you reflect on relationship. Dell was often worried that he will miss good things in life, not to realize that it was his actions caused him to miss it.. like the way he missed the comet shower and the right moment to propose. to make it work in life, you have to grab the moment and not let the worries distract you.. just like the ending of this film :)

 

sad :'(





 

Accepted: Simply GENIUS thought provoking FUN

 

Trailer:


The Plot:
Bartleby Gaines (Justin Long) is a persuasive high-school senior who, among other pranks, creates fake IDs. His gifts do not extend to grades, however, and he receives rejection letters from all of the universities and colleges to which he applies, including those with high acceptance rates.



In an attempt to seek approval from his strict father (Mark Derwin), Bartleby creates a fake college, the South Harmon Institute of Technology (S.H.I.T.). He is aided by his best friend, Sherman Schrader III (Jonah Hill), who has been accepted into the prestigious Harmon College, and fellow rejects Rory Thayer (Maria Thayer), a hard-working girl who, due to prevalence of Legacy preferences, failed to get in to Yale University, the only school she applied to, Hands Holloway (Columbus Short), who lost his athletic scholarship after an injury, and Glen (Adam Herschman), who got a "0" on the SAT when he neglected to sign his name.


To make the "college" seem legitimate, Bartleby convinces Sherman to create a fully functional Web site for the school. Later on, with Rory's help he also leases an abandoned psychiatric hospital adjacent to Harmon College and renovates it to look like a college campus, using the college enrollment fee that his father gave to him.



When his domineering father insists on meeting the dean, Bartleby hires Schrader's uncle, Ben Lewis (Lewis Black), a former educator, to play that role.



The seemingly innocent ploy quickly spins out of control when the website, which automatically accepts any applicant, enrolls hundreds of other rejected students.



Bartleby realizes that these people have nowhere else to go, so he lets them believe that the school is real, a place where they will finally feel accepted.After a visit to Harmon disenchants him with traditional college life, he has the students make up their own classes and be their own teachers.



Students write down what they want to learn on a giant whiteboard, with classes ranging from the culinary arts and sculpting to "Taking a Walk and Thinking about Stuff," "Foreign Affairs: Hooking Up Overseas," "Rock Our Faces Off 222," and the invention of one freaky kid (Jeremy Howard) who wants to learn how to "blow shit up...with my mind."



Bartleby even goes so far as to create a school newspaper (the S.H.I.T. Rag) and a mascot (the S.H.I.T. Sandwiches).

Meanwhile, the dean of nearby Harmon College, Richard Van Horne (Anthony Heald), makes plans to construct the Van Horne Gateway, an adjacent park-like "verdant buffer zone" by which the dean hopes "to keep knowledge in, and ignorance out." He dispatches Hoyt Ambrose (Travis Van Winkle) to free up the nearby properties, but when Bartleby refuses to relinquish the lease for the South Harmon property, Hoyt sets to work trying to reveal the college as a fake.

The dispute turns personal, since Bartleby has been vying for the affections of Hoyt's ex-girlfriend, Monica Moreland (Blake Lively). Hoyt exposes South Harmon as a fake institution through Sherman, who is attempting to join Hoyt's fraternity as a legacy, but is treated with humiliation and abuse by his fraternity brothers. After having Sherman beaten up, Hoyt forces him to hand over all the files he has created for South Harmon.

Hoyt then contacts all the students' parents to expose the school as a fake. Soon after the parents come and as a result of that, the institute is shut down. However as Sherman's has taken the initiative to file for accreditation, it gives Bartleby a chance to make his college legitimate.



At the State of Ohio educational accreditation hearing, Bartleby makes an impassioned speech about the failures of conventional education and the importance of following one's own passions instead of being dictated on what to do, convincing the board to grant his school a one-year probation to test his new system.

The institute reopens, with more students enrolling, including Sherman and Monica. Also, Bartleby finally earns the approval of his father, who is proud that his son actually owns a college. As the film closes, Van Horne is seen walking to his car in the Harmon College parking lot, only to watch it suddenly explode. Bartleby watches in astonishment as the freaky guy from earlier tells him "I told you I could do it", in that he made his psychokinetic explosions reality.

Review:
To me, Accepted is a simple take on education industry. It happens that these days, our generation lives by a certain standard that if not provoked, and flexed to a certain extent, it shall waste good talents like Bartleby's.

Of course, to some extent, it was too good to be true. but the ideals put forth are worthy. thought provoking.

Plus, I got JL and CS at their most carefree roles. JL is admirable and reminds me a lot about my younger brother who didn't graduate himself. sometimes life is more than just certificates and good job. it's about how you live your life and impacts on others.

Accepted has put JL in my good books the same way Get Over it puts Ben Foster on my map. They are both good and off-beat, a delight to put on rerun :)

10 Years: a story that warms the heart...

... of those who look back at their memory of past...

the Trailer:



the Plot:
Jake (Channing Tatum) along with his girlfriend Jess (Jenna Dewan-Tatum) arrives at his high school friend's house owned by married couple, Cully (Chris Pratt) and Sam (Ari Graynor).






There, some of Jake's friends start to arrive including: best buddies Marty (Justin Long) and AJ (Max Minghella), musician Reeves (Oscar Isaac) and Scott (Scott Porter) together with his Japanese wife, Suki (Eiko Nijo).

The boyfriends then start driving to their high school reunion venue. Other friends from their high school arrive including: Garrity (Brian Geraghty) along with his wife Olivia (Aubrey Plaza) and Garrity's best friend Andre (Anthony Mackie).

Meanwhile, a reclusive woman Elise (Kate Mara) arrives at the reunion alone. She tries to greet the party planner, Julie (Kelly Noonan) but is cut off when Anna (Lynn Collins) arrives to the delight of the others.

Though, the now highly successful rock star Reeves notices her and appears to be the only person who remembers every detail of Elise during high school amongst the clique. it seems all night that amidst other people's clamoring for pictures with him, Reeves tries to get Elise into a conversation.



long before, Elise used to have a boyfriend who moved to Austin. and because of that Reeves never gets the chance to date her. and meeting again, this time she has a boyfriend in Chicago.

All night, Cully, the former school bully is trying to make amends with all his victims, to no avail as he, after excessive alcoholic binge, reverts to his old self, much to the consternation of his long suffering wife.

luckily Jess is a sport who keeps her company in her own misery of watching Jake unfolds when Mary (Rosario Dawson), his high school sweetheart arrives with her husband, Paul (Ron Livingston).



Marty just breezes in from New York City, but his Wall Street lifestyle may not be all that he claims. AJ reprises his not-so-friendly competition with Marty for the attention of Anna. They fawn over her and looking at the old pictures, AJ even commends that Anna always has the glow about her.

As the night goes on, the gang proceeds to Pretzels for some karaoke and more booze. Anna declines though, much to the disappointment of AJ and Marty as Anna is always known to be the party girl. She graciously exits and the two best friends decide to follow her home and do some toilet-paper-bombing just for the fun of it.



Anna freaks out as she catches the two in action. to their surprise, Anna is actually a single mom with 2 kids.



her vivacious appearance at the reunion is her dismal attempt at reliving the glow and now that the guys find out how screw-up she is, the facade is ruined. in aghast, Marty confesses that his life in NY is not that dandy either. and AJ confides that his doctor wife is leaving him. they settled down for a late night supper with Anna's kids. looking at her dealing with her kids, Marty whispers to the teary Anna that she looks more glowing than ever.


And Garrity (Brian Geraghty) has changed in a manner that surprises his best friend, Andre who thought that he has lost his nigga attitude and married a white woman for real. Olivia is stumped likewise to realise that Garrity has a different persona growing up and that perhaps she doesn't know him much at all.



Jess notices the tactful way Jake is reacting around Mary and decides that she'd rather go back to the motel to give Jake the space he obviously needs to settle the matter with Mary. Jake offers to go back with her but Jess insists that he stay.

it is later revealed that because of Mary's father being hospitalised on Prom Night, both Prom King and Prom Queen were not in attendance to receive their dues. and as the others left for college, Jake has tried to stay and keep Mary company during her father's illness but later he just got to leave for college and be a man.

Paul is upset when he finds out about how close Jake was once to Mary and she confesses that thinking of Jake always reminds her of her deceased father. and she is not comfortable about mentioning Jake because of that. Paul then leaves for home and Mary is left alone.

during a karaoke session, Cully made a fool out of himself. and then he invites Reeves to sing his hit: "Never Had". Elise who never hears it before is stumped to know that the song is of her. and feeling much out of depth, she feels that she has to go, only that Reeves manages to coax her to be with him now. at the parking lot 10 years ago, Elise had left him alone. and this time, Reeves finally fulfills his desire of being with Elise, at the car park, steaming the windows together.

as the night went on and the last couple is leaving, Jake and Mary resolves what was left unsaid before. and Jake is relieved to find out that Mary is happy with Paul, and she's expecting. knowing Jake, Mary softly encourages him to propose to Jess, something that Jake has postponed to do for the last 8 months.



back at the motel, Jess is actually waiting up for Jake to come back. and much to Jake's profound happiness, that the woman he's marrying really understands that he just got to see Mary settled down happy before he can continue with his life. they then leave for some breakfast at the nearby cafe. luckily Scott, Suki, Julie and other friends are there too. looking at Jess, Jake wills his courage and gathers the ring he kept in the car, finally deciding to propose.


the Review:

there are a lot of familiar faces in this movie. chemistry is there and i love the laidback way the story unfolds. it was quite hard to follow their conversation word to word because i have not the subtitle. nonetheless i manage to enjoy the story. it is bittersweet, touching the inner chord of us lamenting our past.



it touches me so when CT looks to his wife. JD was more adept at concealing her true feelings that the chemistry they had seems lukewarm or so. but i like her attitude. she's not like other jealousy gf so insecure of the guy she loves.


the bittersweet attachment between Mary and Jake is also apparent. seems that first love really last long, especially if the guy was decent enough a fellow.



i really like Scott's character. he's cool and charming. and when he confides about staying in Japan for good, it was real nice. his reasoning is really fine and reflects his mature sense of self.

as for Anna, it is a pity that she stumbled in life. but it took real heart and guts to show up vivaciously confident. i for one would not have that in me. last 2 days in fact, i showed up in an event that some old friends showed up too and i stayed for measly 10 mins before bailing out.

Cully is really a douche. and Sam is really a patient wife though she does cracked up at the end. the slight she received from Peter as she tried to apologise on behalf of her husband is more than she deserves for finding something nice and sweet about Cully. if left to me, i would dump his ass quicker than he can dunk the tequila shot himself.




some reviewers say the story of Reeves-Elise deserves more than window-steaming ending. but to me, it is a start. and it is sweet that someone remembers you so fondly after all the years and makes a song about you that ends up a big hit that launches his career. aww.. so shweeetttt! enjoy the soundtrack. i kept hitting replay everytime it ends :)

the Soundtrack:


PS:
i'm sorry i reneged on my promise for Safe Haven and the Bourne Legacy. i'll try soon, ok.