Flipped (2010)

MIMDB score: 7.1
Current IMDB score: 7.7
Director: Rob Reiner
Main Actors you care about: John Mahoney (old dad from Fraiser).  I like Madeline Carroll. She's not someone you would know though.

Why I liked it: I think this is a good idea for a romantic comedy.  I don't know how much comedy is in this movie though.  The movie switches between the thoughts of both main characters.  So you'll get what one characters thinks then the other.  Again if you don't like romantic comedies then this will be just be a slightly interesting movie which is why I'm rating it lower than a 7.7.

What stands out: The girl.  She's beautiful.  Her personality is beautiful.  She's not bad looking or anything but that's not what stands out.  That's the best kind of girl.  She reminds me a little of Kitty from Anna Karenina a little.  This applies to more than just girls but if girls spent as much as time on there personalities as they did their looks, I would like a lot more girls.

The egg scene.  It's so sad when she catches him throwing them away.  It's so sad to see good people being let down by the world.  It might be one of the worst things to see.  I think this is another movie that should make you see what kind of person you should be.  It also shows you that the good people in the world can make people better just by being themselves.  It's a fantastic thought and should be enough reason to try and be a really good person. If not for yourself then for everyone else in the world.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:
I like now she thinks she secretively smells his hair. This is so interesting of a perspective.  Everyone thinks they are so secretive about liking people.  95% of the time though I feel like people know what's happening.    It's like a quote from the movie Elizabethtown: "Trust me, everyone is less mysterious than they think are".

Chet Duncan: It's about honesty, son. Sometimes a little discomfort in the beginning... can save a whole lot of pain down the road.
Many instances in movies/TV have shown that honesty is actually the best policy in like 99% of cases. Be as honest as much as you can.  It makes life easier more often than not.

"After the eggs why should I care what he thinks about anything. . . but I did."  Love sucks in that way.  Caring about others who don't care about you is so not fun.  It makes you feel worthless but you can't help but care about them.  It's the sucky part of love.

Sum of parts stuff.  It's an interesting thought. Paraphrased:
"I started looking at people, trying to figure out if they were more or less than the some of their parts.  Chet was right.  A lot of them were less.  I couldn't seem to place Bryce though.  Maybe I just want him to be more than the sum of his parts. Was he really sorry or was he saying these things to make himself feel better?  As I looked into his eyes, for the first time, I was pretty sure Byrce was less."  It's upsetting when you've loved someone for so long with what you believe are good reasons just to find that you've been bamboozled all along.  You feel so drained after a realization like that.

I don't know if most people suck.  I go back and forth.  I think this movie separates good people from bad people.  Yea that's an ok level of thinking.  There was a class in school that talked about levels of thinking.  So yea there's the bottom one like the one that does not equal the sum of their parts.  Then there's one above that, that is the sum of their parts.  Then I venture to say there is a level above that level of thinking when you realize all people are neither good nor bad.  There are just people who act good AND bad.  Some act better than others and certain points in their lives.  The general rule though is is most people are good and bad.  Once you start thinking like that you judge people less.  It's hard to write people off when you think like that as well.  This movie only points out the first and second level.  That's good enough I guess to get people thinking.

It's hard to consistently think like that though.  When confronted with what seems like bad thing after bad thing it's hard not to considering most people terrible.  Whenever I get to that point in thinking I remind myself that I am most people.  If I want to think most people are terrible then I have to consider myself terrible.  That usually stops me from thinking most people are terrible.

Chet Duncan: You know, Bryce... once's character is set at an early age. I'd hate to see you swim out so far you can't swim back.
Bryce Loski: Sir?

Going along with what I just said, I don't think you can ever swim so far that you can't be good again.  Again this is 99% of the people.  There are terrible, terrible, terrible people and those people usually do things that put them in jail or death.  Just because you do one bad thing to one person doesn't make you terrible.  We can't live in a society like that because everyone has treated at least one person poorly.  Some people need to treat someone poorly in order to realize how to treat the rest of people in the world.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: The Affair, Little Manhattan

"Side" note: I would have been the basket boy with peanut butter and banana sandwiches.  I would have gotten about 8 dollars.  That's 63.89 today though so you know, not bad?  Whenever the auctioneer says "peanut butter and banana sandwiches!" I have to smile.

Little Manhatten (2005)

(I couldn't find a poster I liked)

MIMDB score: 6.8
Current IMDB score: 7.6
Director: Mark Levin
Main Actors you care about: Josh Hutcherson, the red-head from Sex and City.

Why I liked it: The boy's inner thoughts are too exact to my own life not to review this movie.  I don't like admitting that I think like this boy but I do. An adult wrote it so it's not exactly like I think like a little boy.  Too many times in the movie I said to myself "Yep, that's what it feels like."

What stands out: It's in New York?  That's cool if you like New York.  It's not a great movie.  I doubt it should be as high as 7.6.  It's just a cute, interesting, and child-likeish view on love.  Then again I don't believe children think childish thoughts.  Children just don't have the experience or wisdom adults do.  They can be just as smart (and smarter) as adults in some cases.

What I Would Change (if anything): It is what it is.  Child acting isn't great so don't focus on that.  You just have to view this is a nice little romantic comedy since that's what it is (Little Manhattan).

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:
Gabe: Where's the whole wish you can come to the wedding? Where's that Rosemary? The Rosemary i loved? Not this alien with her crazy weekend. You're new sparing partner is he coming to the wedding?
Rosemary: What Tim?
Gabe: Oh is that what you call him? Are you calling him after you call me?
Rosemary: What are you talking about?
Gabe: I'm talking about you and Tim Staples sitting in a tree K.I.S.S.I.N.G first comes love then comes marriage then comes Tim Staples in a baby carriage.
Rosemary: You sound crazy you know that?
Gabe: Why don't you have time this weekend?
Rosemary: I'm sorry Gabe i haven't even started packing.
Gabe: You know what? I hate you!
Rosemary: What?
Gabe: I hate you! Why do you even care? I hate you!
Rosemary: Well i hate you too!
Gabe: I hate you more!
Rosemary: How can you say something so mean? I hate you!

It pains me to realize more often than not I'm acting like a child in love whenever I'm in love.  It's really hard when your feelings are on the line.  It's so hard to start a romantic relationship.  So many things have to be in place I feel like.  Really it should be easy but the start never is.  It's always easy in my mind anyway.  It just never comes out or ends up that way.  There's too many things to think about and mess me up and too many unknowns in the other person.

Rosemary: But I thought you hate me.
Gabe: I don't. I lied.
Gabe: [thinking] I wasn't gonna be like my father. I wasn't gonna let all these things left unsaid smother me.
Gabe: Rosemary, I love you.
Rosemary: You what?
Gabe: I do. I'm sorry, but I love you more than anyone's ever loved. I love you, I love you, I love you.
Gabe: [thinking] How's that for letting it all hang out there? And hang, and hang, and hang.
Gabe: You think you might wanna love me, too?
Rosemary: I don't know what I think, Gabe, I'm only 11. I don't think I'm ready to be in love.
Gabe: I'm not ready and I'm doing it!
Rosemary: Maybe I was wrong, maybe girls don't mature faster.
Gabe: No they do, they do, you know they do. You even said so at the park. We at least mature at the same rate.
Rosemary: I don't know what mature is anymore, but I'm really happy you came. Do you want to dance, Gabe?
Gabe: Sure, what the hell.

"I do. I'm sorry. but I love you . . . ."  I hate having to apologize that you are in love with someone.  The person on the other end of it should be so freaking happy that they could inspire anyone to love them.  It doesn't happen often from my experience.  Cherish it when you can inspire it in others.   Even if you don't feel it back.  It's still a rare event in your life.

"I don't know what mature is anymore"  Yea thinking and having opinions on things seems so stupid.  Things change way to fast in life. Things are so grey it's insane.  What happens in one case won't happen in another.  Love is not like physics.  There's no laws in love, only theories.  Theories that don't even hold up for every person on Earth.  It's crazy.

"I've been in love for two and half weeks and it's a pain I wouldn't wish on my worst enemies."
Unfortunately that's how you sure fire way know you are or were in love.

Leslie: Maybe not everything is supposed to last forever. Certain things are like... like... skywriting. Like, like, like a really beautiful thing that lasts for a couple moments and then... You know?
Gabe: [cries] Mommy!
Leslie: I know, honey. Love sucks.
Gabe: Yeah.

Anything people say when you are in "love pain" doesn't really help I feel like.

Gabe: [practicing in the mirror] Hey Rosemary. Hey there, pretty lady. How's it goin, girl? Hey, Rosemary Telesco.
This scene is pretty funny and cute.

All of the following quotes I've thought before in every relationship I've been in (or close to have been in):
Gabe: What choice did I have but to return to my old, miserable life? Wait a minute. You were happy. Oh, please! I was miserable. I just didn't know how miserable I was.
____
Gabe: Look at me. I can bounce back. I don't need some girl in my life for me to happy.
____
Gabe: There are very few things more painful than watching the woman you love grapple with another man. Actually, I take that back. There are no things more painful.
____
Gabe: See, life is about so much more than Rosemary. I had my family, my health, my kicking career. I really had no room for a woman in my life.
____
Gabe: [thinking] My first date. The big spender. Häagen-Dazs all the way, baby. So, how come I have nothing to say to her. Why isn't she looking at me? Am I that hideous? Do I Smell?
Gabe: You um come here often?
Rosemary: Central Park?
Gabe: Um, yeah.
Gabe: [thinking] What kind of question is that? I hate myself.
____
Gabe: This was no time for small talk. It was time to lay things on the table. To reach through the phone line and dig deep into that woman's soul.
____
Gabe: I had no idea what she was thinking she was this total mystery to me. Did I want to kiss Rosemary Telesco? Yes I guess I did. I wanted to more than anything on Earth.
Gabe: Do you want some Gatorade?
Gabe: Who was I kidding anyway? Was I really going to kiss her? I mean come on she's eleven, I'm ten well ten and three quarters actually.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: Flipped, Bridge to Terabithia, and My Girl maybe?

"Side" note: I think it's safe to say girls develop faster than boys.  They hit puberty earlier which is proven and that's in general of course. Maturity is probably about even.  There are articles like this though that will say girls mature up to ten years faster than boys.  Maybe like the worst boy compared to the best girl.  I'm guessing if you do the same comparison the other way you probably will find a similar difference in age.  Either way it's probably not that big of a deal that one sex matures faster than another because "we are all fools in love."

The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

MIMDB score: 8.1
Current IMDB score: 7.9
Director: Gabriele Muccino
Main Actors you care about: Will Smith, Thandie Newton, Jaden Smith

Why I liked it: It's just another person to look up to in life.  Will Smith's character struggles like most people dream they do.  Whenever he says things like "this part of my life, this part right here" I get really happy.  I do that so often in my life since watching the movie.  "This part of my life, this part right here is called going to weddings." That's currently where I'm at in my life.  I'm sure whenever the next step starts, I'll say something similar to myself.  It's a good way to zoom out and view my life in the third person.

What stands out: Will Smith.  He did fantastic.

What I Would Change (if anything): I wish the mom wouldn't have left.  I get it, life is hard and you aren't strong enough to handle it.  That's lame though.  Every life has good in it.  You really need to see that by the time you have kids.  Maybe she was going through something but I don't think he was being that awful of a person or that the situation was that awful before she left.  It got worse after she left of course partly because she left.  Maybe I'm being too hard on her but I feel like she should have stayed with the family but I wasn't in her shoes so I guess I can't be too hard on her.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:
"It was right then that I started thinking about Thomas Jefferson on the Declaration of Independence and the part about our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And I remember thinking how did he know to put the pursuit part in there? That maybe happiness is something that we can only pursue and maybe we can actually never have it. No matter what. How did he know that?"
Fantastic.  Most people are never fully happy.  They are always not quite there and always in pursuit of it though.  This might just be personal bias but I believe that is true.  You might get there for a short period of time but then time will go by and things will change and you won't be fully happy again.  What the quote is getting at is you will always be in pursuit of happiness.  The title's misspelling indicates this.  Happyness is in the title but it's supposed to be spelled: happiness.  It's so close but it's still pursing to become happiness.  I maybe reading into it but I like to think that's what they intended to do with that misspelling.

I think it's okay not be truly happy because it's like perfection.  Perfection is great to think about but it's not obtainable.  It is unequivocally healthy to pursue perfection.  Giving up pursuit because you know perfection is not going to be obtained by you doesn't make sense.  

Christopher Gardner: Hey. Don't ever let somebody tell you... You can't do something. Not even me. All right?
Christopher: All right.
Christopher Gardner: You got a dream... You gotta protect it. People can't do somethin' themselves, they wanna tell you you can't do it. If you want somethin', go get it. Period.

I actually find this moment a little cheesy.  Mostly because I've heard something like this thousands of times.  Chase your dreams.  It's sad when good quotes don't do anything for you because you've already thought through or heard the idea a few dozen times.  I mentioned it because it's considered a really good moment in the movie and it kind of is.

Christopher: Hey dad, you wanna hear something funny? There was a man who was drowning, and a boat came, and the man on the boat said "Do you need help?" and the man said "God will save me". Then another boat came and he tried to help him, but he said "God will save me", then he drowned and went to Heaven. Then the man told God, "God, why didn't you save me?" and God said "I sent you two boats, you dummy!"

See if you've heard that before you won't like it as much.  It's well done in the movie because the kid delivers it well and the placement of it I think is great.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: Seven Pounds, Similar feeling from What Dreams May Come

"Side" note:  The world's current largest rubic's cube is 17x17x17.  I'm sure many people know the movie is based on the real life of Chris Gardner.  Less known is the real Chris Gardner walks past the fake Chris Gardner at the end of the movie.

Pride & Prejudice (2005)

MIMDB score: 7.8
Current IMDB score: 7.8
Director: Joe Wright
Main Actors you care about: Keira Knightly, Rosamund Pike, Jena Malone, Carey Mulligan, Donald Sutherland, Matthew Macfadyen

Why I liked it:
One of the few movies I could watch on repeat.  I would love to say this is higher than a 7.8 but I can't do it.  I don't think everyone lives in a world where love is the most important thing in life.  If you don't find stories of the agony of falling in love insanely interesting then you'll find this movie boring.  If you do find love insanely interesting then you'll find this this movie fantastic.  The book is one of the best books written about the loveliness of falling in love. This version of the movie is in my opinion the best version.

What stands out: It's beautiful.  The music is perfect.  The scenes are spectacular.  The acting is spectacular.  The cast was fantastic.  It is so very good.

I can not stress enough that I love the witty banter between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth.  That might be my favorite part of love.  It's well done in this movie and makes me smile every time it happens in the movie.

What I Would Change (if anything): Sorry, I can't think of anything.  It's so very meaningful.  It makes me feel so good just watching the opening credits.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:
Hmmmm, where to begin.  I want to watch the first proposal scene over and over.  It's so wonderful.  That's where I'd like to propose if I ever propose to someone and it was up to me where it happened.  I know Elizabeth said no there but doesn't matter because the setting is so amazing.  The second proposal scene is just a regular scene for me.  It's nice and all and the lighting is fantastic and his words are fantastic but it doesn't have the extreme emotion that's in the first proposal.

The dance scene where everyone else fades away and it's just Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth.  I think that's been done before even in dancing scenes but it was the first time I saw it in a movie and it added to the scene a lot.  Reminds of The Fountain scene where he is walking down the street and doesn't hear anything besides his own footsteps.  The moments when everything else fads away and it's just you and maybe one other person are what life is about I feel like.

There is a tracking scene at a dance where Wickham is suppose to show up.  It's just one camera shot the whole time and you see what everyone is doing.  I really like that way shooting in general.  Especially when you have to show a lot of what people are doing in one scene.  This movie does that well.  There always seems to be a few things going on in one scene like this that you have to pay attention more than you would a normal scene.

Mr. Darcy: "I... do not have the talent of conversing easily with people I have never met before."
Elizabeth Bennet: "Perhaps you should take your aunt's advice and practice?"
One of my more favorite witty banter between the two.  I don't have the talent of conversing easily with people in general.

Elizabeth Bennet: I'm very fond of walking.
Mr. Darcy: Yes . . . yes I know.
These aren't thought provoking but they make me happy when I think about them.  He's so in love when he says his line here.

Elizabeth Bennet: "Only the deepest love will persuade me into matrimony, which is why I will end up an old maid."  Same with me except an old bachelor?  What's a old bachelor called? An old bastard probably.

Charlotte Lucas: "Not all of us can afford to be romantic, Lizzy."
This line kills me.  I understand in the past that Charlotte wouldn't have the ability to refuse a man per say but today I would hope no one would settle.  Settling is a hard thing to understand.  Do people know they are settling?  Is settling the same as what other people think it is.  Is that a rule that everyone should abide by?  Anytime you get married you probably settling in some format.  No one is perfect.  No relationship is perfect.  No two people line up like soul mates or whatever. Also your life isn't over until it's over.  You will not meet everyone you are going to meet till the end of your life.  You could meet someone better.  You don't know.  Because of that marriage is settling.  Marriage is not a terrible thing though.  How could settling be a terrible thing then?

Settling is just a mentality.  It's challenging to think about whether some one else is really settling or just looks like it.  I think with yourself that it's easy to feel if you are settling.  Therefore I trust people are not actually settling.  They could be settling in love because they want something else in life more.  For instance some people want kids more than they want love of a husband or wife.  Settling in love has to be okay because of that line of thought.  I just don't see myself settling in love.

Charlotte Lucas: "We are all fools in love."  Amen Charlotte.  I might even extend it to "We are all fools in life".  I haven't met anyone who knows what they were doing in life, let alone love.  People just get lucky and some people don't in life (and love).

Similar Movies/TV Shows: All the other Pride and Prejudice versions and remakes.  None of them are as good as this one though in my opinion.  Bronte sister movies: Jane Eyre (2006 version is best), Wuthering Heights.  Jane Austin's other novels that are decent movies: Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Mansfield Park.  Downtown Abbey probably.  None of these are as lovely as this version of Pride and Prejudice though.

"Side" note:  I think it's subtle in the movie but the youngest (Mary Bennet) is in love with Mr. Collins.  I didn't pick that up till I listened to the commentary.  They don't even mentioned it in this diagram.

Moneyball (2011)

MIMDB score: 7.7
Current IMDB score: 7.6
Director: Bennett Miller
Main Actors you care about: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, Chris Pratt

Why I liked it:
I had a friend that once said you can't find anything meaningful in some sports like golf.  There's meaning in everything including boring sports.  This movie isn't about golf but it is about a boring sport like golf.  Baseball just like any other facet of life has meaning in it if you look for it.  There's a beautiful scene that I'll explain later that shows this.  There's meaning in everything.  You just need to look for it.

What stands out: Brad Pitt does fantastic.  That's not a surprise though.  Jonah Hill does really well here.  That is somewhat surprising since he hasn't done a role like this. Hats off to him.

What I Would Change (if anything): Sorry, I can't think of anything.  The movie is about baseball so it could be considered boring if you don't like baseball or sports.  You should really learn to enjoy as much as you can in life though.  Try not to have bias towards things and you'll find more things in life (like this movie) are amazing.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:
This scene is amazing.  Just watch it.  If you don't feel anything then you shouldn't be reading anything I'm writing.

The last scene of the movie is really meaningful as well. He's leaving Oakland to work for another team.  He's leaving his daughter behind who he loves a lot and she sang him this song earlier in the movie but he wanted her to record it for her.  As he's essentially leaving Oakland he plays the recording.  You can see he's just fighting tears the whole time.  "Life is a maze and love is a riddle."  It's just a really good moment for the end of a movie.  This guy struggled the whole time to do what he believed in and it kind of paid off but kind of didn't.  I don't know.  I just really like it and it made me feel good.

Billy Beane: "I know these guys. I know the way they think, and they will erase us. And everything we've done here, none of it'll matter. Any other team wins the World Series, good for them. They're drinking champagne, they get a ring. But if we win, on our budget, with this team... we'll have changed the game. And that's what I want. I want it to mean something."
That's what we should all be looking for in our own lives.  For things we are doing to mean something.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: Trouble with the Curve, Field of Dreams, Rudy, The Sandlot, and maybe even Cool Runnings.

"Side" note:
The girl that played the main character's daughter sang the song at the end of the movie during her audition.  The director liked it so much he put it in the movie.  The song was written in 2008 and the movie is set in 2001 so it threw off historical correctness.  He probably didn't care because it was so good.

What Dreams May Come (1998)

MIMDB score: 7.9
Current IMDB score: 7.0
Director: Vincent Ward
Main Actors you care about: Robin Williams and Cuba Gooding Jr.

Why I liked it:
I don't know why this movie doesn't have more than a 7.0.  It really should.  It's a highly thought provoking movie.  Heaven is such a insane topic and this movie's view on it is beautiful.  There's so many artistic scenic shots in this movie.  It also takes you a little bit through hell.

What stands out: Robing Williams did amazing.  He's good in most things he did around this time.  Robin's heaven is amazing.  Half paint and half reality is such a fantastic heaven.  I hope he's in something like this right now.

What I Would Change (if anything): Nothing comes to mind.  It's kind of slow which might be a turn off to some but it's fine.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:
Chris: "Thank you for every kindness. Thank you for our children. For the first time I saw them. Thank you for being someone I was always proud to be with. For your guts, for your sweetness. For how you always looked, for how I always wanted to touch you. God, you were my life. I apologize for every time I ever failed you. Especially this one..."
Anytime someone is being so loving it hurts it makes me feel so good.  I love this scene. For some reason sitting in a row of trees makes the scene that much better.

Albert: So what is the "me"?
Chris Nielsen: My brain I suppose.
Albert: Your brain ? Your brain is a body part. Like your fingernail or your heart. Why is that the part that's you?
Chris Nielsen: Because I have sort of a voice in my head, the part of me that thinks, that feels, that is aware that I exist at all.
Albert: So if you're aware you exist, then you do. That's why you're still here.
Everyone should take a philosophy class to better understand how to think.

Annie Nielsen: "A whole family lost to car crashes. Enough to make a person buy a bike."
I've always liked this line.

Annie Nielsen: "Dear Diary, I am writing in your bullshit pages because my shrink is crazier then I am. He thinks you're therapy. He figures if two babies can hammer me into a Psycho ward, what will I do with this? He is so stupid. He's so stupid that he thinks he pulled me through the breakdown when it was Christy. Always. Only Chris. I was looking through his postcards. Paintings were his obsession. He used art as another way to love me, to help me. To keep us always together."
I don't think I will ever go to a psychiatrist.  If you are at rock bottom it makes sense but I feel like most people just need a really good friend in life to make it through.  Just find someone that listens to you and helps you clarify your ideals and thoughts.  That's all talking to a psychiatrist will really do.  Everyone deals with similar bullshit.  Some people deal with more but however much bullshit you have to deal with you will make it seem worse than it is.  This will make it seem like your bullshit is just as bad as people going through real bullshit.  There are exceptions like people that need medication and those people should go to a psychiatrist.  I'm not talking to about people with real mental disorders.  If you are just going because you are really sad you just need to find a friend that will let you talk for hours and just talk all night.

Suicide doesn't make sense in non terminal cases.  Life can be really shitty at times.  By shitty I mean terrible.  It can also be pretty good at times.  By pretty good I mean amazing.  You have to get to the point where you can take the good and the bad and learn to be ok with both.  If you get really good at life you should be able to enjoy the terrible moments as well as the amazing ones.  They are both better than death.  Yes, I would be messed up for awhile if my family died.  Then after awhile I'd join the Peace Corps, a non-profit, or start a foster home. That way I could spend the rest of my life helping other people because I would believe my chance at happiness was gone.  Helping others get to happiness is a good plan B.  There's always something you can do with the hand you are dealt.  Folding should not be an option.

Similar Movies/TV Shows: The Lovely Bones, Although these are books: Dante's Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.

"Side" note:
When Robin Williams goes to the city in Heaven where people are flying around, watch for characters from Peter Pan and Mary Poppins.

Closer (2004)

MIMDB score: 7.1
Current IMDB score: 7.3
Director: Mike Nichols
Main Actors you care about: Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Julia Roberts, Clive Owen

Disclaimer: This is not a wholesome movie and therefore will not be a wholesome review.

Why I liked it:
This movie, along with a few other things, opened me up to the idea that there are wolves and there are sheep when it comes to relationships.  This movie is the world of the wolves.  As this movie shows wolves can't really control themselves.  Some can in Natalie Portman's case but most can't like in the other three main characters' cases.

If you are wolf I'm sorry.  I think you are more likely to have a life full of pain.  People can't help that they are wolves or sheep though so good luck with whatever you are.  I really don't know though how you could want to live in a world like Closer if given a choice.  These people treat each other so poorly it's absurd.  By the end of it I want to turn it off and not have to think about this world.  It's important though to see things differently than my own experience. Unfortunately this is probably more like life than what I believe life is and you have to be prepared for it.

What stands out: Natalie Portman is seductive in this movie.  That's the wolf in her.  I really liked Natalie Portman in this movie as well as anything she did before Black Swan.  After Black Swan it's like she was just taking jobs to pay the bills.  Hopefully that changes soon.

What I Would Change (if anything): I think Julia Roberts is a bad casting choice.  She didn't seem to fit I don't think.  All the rest played there part but I don't think she did that well.

Favorite Line(s)/Scene:  "And so it is. Just like you said it would be."  I love the ending and beginning scenes. Damien Rice's song is perfect. It reminds me of a quote from What Dreams May Come.  “It’s just that when everybody’s dancing I feel like … I’m all alone … in a sea of faces.”

Dan: "This will hurt" . . . . Alice: "How? How does it work? How do you do this to someone?" Agreed.  Answer that question well and I'll give you a bajillion dollars.  How do you cheat on people?  It blows my mind every time I see it in movies and books or hear about it in real life.  How can anyone do that to someone they are suppose to be in total love with?

These are the reasons that google gave me.  The person they are cheating on is abusive and the cheater doesn't want to deal with more abuse, they are married and don't want to lose half of their stuff and/or kids, or having a big ego and needing people to love them outside of just there significant other.  I'll address all three of these.  Abusive: You are picking short term happiness over long term happiness.  If the person is abusive then fix that first, if it can't be fixed, leave before cheating.  You don't even need someone to cheat on to get out of that relationship.  If you get caught cheating think about about how much more abusive they would be than just leaving.  Marriage: I don't know, I can't comment too much on this as I'm not married.  I'd say stuff are just things.  If you can't do without material things you have right now then you need to re-evaluate your life.  Things are mostly meaningless.  Losing your kids though?  That can be really hard.  I don't know what to say in that situation.  Don't have kids if you have a wandering eye I guess.  That doesn't really help though as you can't control your feelings ten years down the road.  You just have to believe in commitment and your choice you have made of marrying that person.  Wait longer to get married?  That might be an understandable reason to cheat but it's still not a good reason because you should still not cheat.  You should wait until you are for sure you want to leave your spouse and eventually do that before cheating.  If you aren't a piece of shit you should still get to see your child(ren).  Your children can turn out fine even when you get divorced.  Cheating and then having your spouse hate you the rest of life might actually make the kids not fine.  Ego: This is not a good reason at all.  Learn to like yourself for other reasons than how many people you can have sex with in a given day. Sex is not everything in life.

Maybe it's just the sheep in me but I will never understand why cheating is acceptable.  Cheating means you don't care about the person.  It means you care less about the other person and more about your own selfish desires.  It's not like sheep don't have the same urge or same opportunity.  I don't want to hear that argument.  Sheep do have the same urge and opportunity but most sheep are able to control there actions.  Alice: "Oh, as if you had no choice? There's a moment, there's always a moment, 'I can do this, I can give into this, or I can resist it', and I don't know when your moment was, but I bet you there was one".  Most wolves give in and that makes them weak even though sheep are considered weak.  Maybe the only difference in a sheep and a wolf is a sheep can control their actions whereas a wolf weakly says he or she cannot.

I'm not talking about feelings here, You can't control feelings.  You can control actions for the most part.  Nobody accidentally has sex.  Maybe on super mind altering drugs but I don't really count that. You choose to be on a drug that could potentially lead to you cheating if you want to get technical.   The majority of the time it's a choice.  Love is not really a choice.  It's fine that you love someone else more than your current lover because you didn't have control over that really.  Break up with your current lover before having sex with the new one.  I'm over-simplifying but really I'm not.  As stated in a previous post this advice is a waste of Blogger.com's data because people will cheat if they want to no matter of how much anyone explains to them not to.

Larry: "You're leaving me because you believe you don't deserve happiness but you do Anna."  I never noticed this quote before.  It's very similar to the Perks of Being a Wallflower quote.  Probably because in this movie it's odd because he isn't treating her very well considering he admits to soliciting a prostitute right before this line is delivered.  I've gone through this idea enough in the Perk's post though. I won't dwell on this much here.

(New Section)
Things I still don't understand: Why did Natalie Portman tell her real name to Clive Owen and not to Jude Law?  She loved Jude Law more right?  She said she did and it looked like it?  She kind of leaves England after that relationship so maybe she just wanted to have an adventure in England?  Maybe the movie is trying to say love is just an illusion?

Similar Movies/TV Shows: I've never come across a movie that gave me the same type of awful feeling about relationships and people.  Maybe Requiem for a Dream?  I don't really understand the decisions made in that movie either so that's a possibility.  Oh Anna Karenina.  That shows the life of a wolf and a sheep.

"Side" note:
Natalie Portman was nude in her club scene with Clive Owen originally.  She talked the director out of it as not needed.  I agree, nudity isn't overly needed in movies ever.  For instance had she been nude in that scene it wouldn't have added anything to the plot of the movie.  It was just as good without it.  There are some exceptions but normally it's a cheap way to get people to like the movie more.  I respected her for it.  Later though she was nude in Darjeeling Limited (excuse me, Hotel Chevalier) which her character could have not been in at all and been just the same movie.  Why did she try so hard to not be nude in a movie that was saying a lot more like Closer than a ironic comedy movie like Darjeeling Limited?  I don't really know.

The park Alice and Dan go to in the beginning of the movie is an actual park.  They do have a memorial to ordinary people that died saving others.  It's called Postman's Park and is in London if you are ever there.  I'm sure it's a fantastic place to be.  Here is a list of all the people at the memorial.