Begin Again
It took a sold-out afternoon matinee of another movie that I really wanted to see and had driven too far to see, that propelled me toward buying a ticket to a movie with the ubiquitous Kiera Knightly (whose acting chops, in my opinion, are minimal and who has that irritating quality of seeming always to be projecting an aren't I a beautiful and thin Actor?). The presence of Mark Ruffalo, one of my favorites, and Catherine Keener, who makes me glad to be middle-aged, looked to be redemptive, so I plunged in and was delightfully surprised by this quiet and not-always predictable little gem of a movie. As a down and out alcoholic music producer who drives an old beater Jaguar and lives estranged from his wife, struggling to be a decent father to his almost-lost teenaged daughter, Mark Ruffalo's character gave me that weak-in-the-knees feeling, and even Kiera's reedy singing voice was charming enough that I was lost, lost, blessedly in other people's stories.
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Total Hollyland crush on Mark Ruffalo ever since the beginning which for me was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind a movie I adore one of the very few I own the only one I own with Jim Carrey in it. I would gladly tolerate Keira for this film.
ReplyDeleteI have adored him harder since I've read of his brain tumor and his brother's murder. He is real as opposed to Hollyland plastic or seems like it from here.
For reasons even I don't understand, I enjoy Keira (thinness and all) and as has already been expressed, Mark Ruffalo, well. Thank you, Elizabeth. I trust you on these matters. Went back to re-read your GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, with which I am in love forever. xo
ReplyDeleteAnd as always, I believe you!
ReplyDeleteAlso- I think you could get paid for these succinct reviews. They are delightful.
You are so good at this! And I too love Mark Ruffalo. Don't laugh, it began for me with 13 going on 30, a movie my daughter and I just loved.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Elizabeth. I haven't been to a movie in a long time, and I think I'll break the movie-fast with this one. Like 37 Paddington, my love for Ruffalo started with 13 Going on 30, which has a dance sequence worth the whole movie. Check it out on YouTube.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ms Moon: your reviews are wonderful. Someone should pay you.
Yeah, Mark Ruffalo, he definitely falls into the sexy category. Which is so interesting, because to look at him, he doesn't appear immediately sexy. Kind of schlubby, right? He just has something, though.
ReplyDeleteI am not a huge Kiera fan (despite seeing her on the street a couple of weeks ago!) and I've been reluctant to see this movie, but maybe now I'll take the plunge.
Your description of Keira was exactly right. Don't you think Winona Ryder was like that, too? I remember all my guy friends drooling over her and praising her stunning acting skills, and it always confused me.
ReplyDeleteI am backwards from you. I could take or leave Ruffalo, kinda dislike Keener, and strangely, I've always appreciated Kiera for what I've seen as her willingness to look unattractive. Her facial expressions don't give me the idea that she's always trying to look prettily upset, prettily dismayed, prettily pained, etc. But whatever. It sounds like you enjoyed it more than I enjoyed the very violent Snowpiercer.
ReplyDeletei like Keira, but this movie sounds a little too much like the disillusioned middle age man begins again thanks to beautiful and young woman plot. a plot that sadly draws from real life (where the middle aged is always a man, and the young and beautiful is always a woman).
ReplyDelete