I have always, always loved movies. I feel so attached to the characters and the stories, they become apart of me. It is almost like you are constantly being sucked into them and at the very end, I always wish I could push replay. I am the same way with movies that I am with music, I re-watch it until I can't watch it any longer. I remember when I was young (ish) and for the first time I saw Sleepless in Seattle and I cried the entire time. I watched that movie so many times in a row, almost as much as re-runs of Full House. I felt so emotional and grown-up and in love. That movie made me think that real love was possible despite being 13 and about to go into high school. I always yearned for more.
Over the weekend I was in a movie-watching mood and on Friday I stayed in and finally got to watch "The Kids are Alright" and on Sunday I went to the Angelika theatre and saw "Somewhere". If you haven't seen these movies, spoilers and feelings and emotions about them are running rampant below this, so you may not want to keep reading. Enjoy! xo
The Kids Are Alright had me from the very beginning. Already knowing the story I would witness helped in my decision to rent it. Seeing Annette Benning win a Golden Globe for Best Actress just catapulted my anxiousness for wanting to see it. I had to rent it and when I finally did I was not disappointed. This movie will make you get a sense of the modern family and what a family means. Not every family is perfect and this is evident throughout the entire movie. But it is also about loss and the strength it takes to get through life when things are hard and things change and even when everything falls apart. You will love and hate both Annette and Julianne and will feel for Mark Ruffalo, who through it all, wants to be apart of a family that doesn't really need him in the end.
Somewhere had me from the first moment the screen lit up. The ways in which you are instantly sucked into Johnny's life, played by Stephen Dorff, are immediately apparent. You feel for him, you laugh at him, you follow him. His journey starts slow and by slow I mean, he is doing nothing with his life. We get a brief look into his drinking, partying, sexing ways which come to an abrupt stop once his daughter comes to stay, played by Elle Fanning. A delightful girl, just like her older sister, lites up the screen and gives her father his life back. We love them because we seem him learn how to love. And in the end, he just wants to go somewhere. This movie and the music and filmography will grip you from beginning to end. GO SEE IT. now.
