13 Going on 30

13 Going on 30 (known as Suddenly 30 in Australia and some countries) is a 2004 American romantic comedy fantasy film (hybrid film)  written by Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa, and directed by Gary Winick. Starring Jennifer Garner, Mark Ruffalo, Judy Greer, Andy Serkis and Kathy Baker, the film was produced by Revolution Studios for Columbia Pictures and it was released on April 23, 2004. It follows a 13-year-old girl who dreams of being popular. During her birthday party, she engages in the party game Seven Minutes in Heaven. The game turns out to be a humiliating experience for her, and she refuses to come out of the closet. She even blames it on her best friend Matt (Matty) and doesn't talk to him anymore afterwards.  When she eventually does emerge, she finds herself five days shy of her 30th birthday, uncertain to how she got there.

The film received generally positive reviews from critics, with most praising Garner's performance and its nostalgic environment. It was also praised for its humorous plot and self-empowerment message. The movie was also a commercial success, earning $22 million in its first week, and grossing over $96 million, becoming one of the year's biggest DVD rentals and sellers. The movie's soundtrack features songs spanning the 80's to the 2000s, with a range of hits from famous recording artists such as Billy Joel, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Pat Benatar and Whitney Houston. Additionally, the soundtrack charted inside the top-fifty on the Billboard 200 chart. Jennifer Garner's acting earned her nominations from both MTV Movie Awards and Teen Choice Awards, and the movie was also re-released in DVD in 2006 with a special packaging titled "Fun and Flirty Edition", and on Blu-Ray in 2009.

A girl who's sick of the social strictures of junior high is transformed into a grownup overnight because of a wish she made to be thirty, flirty, and thriving. In this feel-good fairy tale, teenager Jenna (Christa B. Allen) wants a boyfriend, and when she's unable to find one, she fantasizes about being a well-adjusted adult. She has always wanted to be popular, accepted, to be and look like the other girls, and all in all just grow up already! Suddenly, her secret desire becomes a reality, and she is transformed into a 30-year-old (Jennifer Garner). But adulthood, with its own set of male-female challenges, isn't as easy as it looks.  She works as a magazine head at the company, Poise, who has been getting sabotaged by the magazine, Sparkle, for a long time.  She finds that she is in love with Matty, makes a new face for the magazine, and has a wonderful time.  It all crashes when Lucy stabs her in the back and sells her prints to the rival magazine, Sparkle. In the end, she is transformed back to her 13 year old self, and happily marries Matty when they get older.

This is such a feel good, fun movie to watch!  It could be considered a chick-flick, but I think that it's a nice movie to watch if you want a laugh.  It teaches you to enjoy life and don't try to rush it!

Fall Preview: Argo, Moonrise Kingdom, Seven Psychopaths, Looper

Must See Movies For This Fall:
The following is a review of several movies coming out this Fall that already have buzz both with general audiences and critics.

Argo:
The declassified story of a CIA operative who has to infiltrate a hostile Iran in order to save six Americans seeking refuge in the house of a Canadian ambassador. The film is based off of the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, which adds to the intensity of this political thriller.

Moonrise Kingdom:
This film is going to be a serious awards contender because of it's trueness to film form and cinema photography.  The plot is a classic style love story of a young boy and girl who meet, run away together, and fall in love.  However the spin on this movie is that both are begin chased by a ragtag team of campers and camp councilors.  The director Wes Anderson has been on a hot streak with his films and this film seems to continue his run.

Seven Psychopaths:
The story of a man who becomes wrapped up in the crime industry after accidentally kidnapping a dog belonging to gangster.  This star studded cast includes Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Abbie Cornish, Sam Rockwell, Olga Kurylenko, and Tom Waits.  This dark comedy has such a solid cast and such an interesting plot it will be interesting to see how general audiences react to this new take on comedy.

 Looper:
This film so going to be a psychological thriller/action flick to remember.  Staring Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt this movie has the star power and script to be a box office power house.  The story of a future mob that sends enemies into the past (our present) to be executed and eliminated is a fresh new idea with a lot of potential.  Such an interesting concept is sure to insight many plot twists and turns that will surely bring about a lot of buzz.

Psychological Thriller: "Donnie Darko" v. "The Butterfly Effect"

Recently I watched the films “Donnie Darko” by Richard Kelly and “The Butterfly Effect” by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber back to back.  Both of these films are categorized as psychological thrillers and both films have many similarities in their plots. Both films played with the time space continuum, both films had characters who have supernatural experiences/powers, and both films featured a troubled protagonist you follow through it all.  Despite these films similarities at the end I found that I disliked “Donnie Darko” but loved “The Butterfly Effect,” and I had to ask myself, “Why?”

            “Donnie Darko” is the story of a teenager named Donnie Darko who hallucinates and sees a demonic bunny named Frank.  The bunny will put Donnie in a trancelike state and Donnie will do his bidding.  One day Frank makes Donnie sleepwalk out of his house, saving his life as a jet turbine that falls from the sky and crashes into his room.  As the story goes on Donnie feels like he owes the bunny for saving his life and his hallucinations get progressively worse until he feels as though he has discovered time travel.  In the end Donnie uses his “new found knowledge” to alter the past (I don’t want to ruin the ending so I wont get too specific).   However at the end of the movie I felt disappointed and almost annoyed.

As I mulled the movie over in my head I began to realize why I found the story so disinteresting.  When the plot is broken down the entire film is based off a hallucination bunny saving Donnie from a mysterious airplane turbine.  Although the airplane turbine was eventually explained it was still too far fetched of a conclusion to be satisfying. I feel that although it was well filmed, directed, edited and shot but the fact of the matter was the plot was not cohesive or believable enough for me.  I feel as though if the central event of the film was more realistic then I would have been able to get more into the movie. 

Inversely, this idea that the script and plot are central to the film is a main reason why I enjoyed “The Butterfly Effect” so much.  Although the central plot point of this film is about a young man named Evan Treborn has a supernatural power to travel into his past it was so well set up and well developed that this seemingly far fetched idea became believable. The teleportation of Evan back in time in order to save his future and the futures of those he loved was beautifully executed.   The ability of the film to catch the audience up to the “new present,” transforming years into only seconds was amazing. However what really impressed me was the preservation of cause and effect in the film and the realism of the outcomes, or new futures, that were created though Evan’s travels into the past.  The writer/filmmakers also had an understanding of their audience.  This is apparent when the filmmakers play into everyone’s worst fear that the protagonist Evan is in fact insane and that he has been imagining his flashbacks the whole thing.

I feel as though these movies stand as prime examples for what good writing can do as well as the determents of having an unbelievable storyline.  In the genre of “psychological thriller” the plot is imperative to the success of the film in the eyes of the viewer.  In my opinion if things do not come full circle and there is no clear/or realistic revolution, especially for this genre of film, the film will not satisfy the viewer.  It goes to show that, for the most part, even if you shoot a beautiful film if the script/storyline are not compelling or believable then in the end the audience will not be satisfied.

Contact (film)

First off I would like to say that I am a sucker for a good sci-fi/thriller movie. With that said, yesterday I saw the movie Contact starring Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey (directed by Robert Zemeckis).  The film follows Dr. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster) and her struggle to prove the existence of extra terrestrial life.  After finally picking up conclusive radio proof of intelligent aliens, the Ellie's life changes forever.  Trying not to give away too much of the plot, I would like to say that while bordering on the realm of science fiction, Contact is a movie that makes you ponder the impossible.  Not only did it make me realize how tiny and insignificant are might be, but it also made me realize how precious and valuable we are as human beings.  Anyways, from a film making stand point, the film was beautiful and engaging. I was literally in awe in some scenes. If you are interested in the sci-fi/thriller genre you should definitely watch this movie. Or if you enjoy movies that make you think, this movies for you too.