I am "Theatre Hopper"

To end my week off from work I couldn't think of a more fitting way than spending most of the afternoon at my local AMC movie theatre. There wasn't a wide selection of films that I wanted to see or hadn't already seen, but I managed to choose a couple and I'm happy with my choices.

Film #1: "World Trade Center" by Oliver Stone
A couple months ago I saw the trailer for this film, and to be honest, it looked horrible. It looked overly melodramatic, overly dramatized and full of reaction shots of people crying and being shocked at death. But then, a month later I saw the same trailer only this time in the theatre before seeing "Talladega Nights" (a hilarious film by the way). This time the trailer had a completely different effect on my emotions. I guess on my home computer the moustaches and the performances of the actors just looked so cheesy and artificial. When I saw the image of a 35mm image being projected on a 50' screen, it looked completely different and really made me want to see this film.

Like most people, I'm a big fan of nearly all of Oliver Stone's films, with the exception of a few. But all in all, I see him as a very responsible filmmaker with an interesting view on the world, and that perspective always comes through in his pictures. I'm not sure at the moment, but this could possibly be his only non-R rated film, which to some might arouse some skepticism. But for me it mainly meant that Stone wasn't going to be up to his cheap tricks of blood, gore, sex, drugs and violence...and if you know Stone films that's usually something he relies on. But I was interested in seeing what he would be capable of without retreating to his comfort zone.

What we got is a beautiful, reverent, well acted and intimate portrait about the events of that day. He was smart to not replay the infamous footage of the second plane crashing into the 2nd tower (something Michael Moore did in "Bowling for Columbine" just to get a reaction it seems). On the most part, we only get to see and know what the two cops and their families know as the events unfold. And as I was watching this film I was thrown back into feeling the emotions of that day, feelings of confusion, shock and surreality. At one point Officer Jimeno (Michael Pena) screams out "This can't be happening!" Which is something most people were thinking while attentively watching the news that morning.

Nicolas Cage as Sargent McLoughlin was surprisingly good. In most films Cage comes off as more of a caricature than an actual person, but this time around he played it as honest and straight as I've ever seen an actor play a part. Maggie Gyllenhall as Officer Jimeno's wife was the most memorable performance of the film, she stole every scene she was in, which wasn't very hard because she was the focus of all her scenes. But her performance was a filmmaker's dream, you can tell she's really developing more and more as an actress with each film she makes.

I rated this movie 4 out of 5 stars, but the 1 star deduction is mainly for Maria Bello's makeup. They gave her some really awful blue contact lenses, I guess to match the eyes of the real life Mrs. McLoughlin, but they were so distracting and obviously fake that all of her scenes (especially the closeups on her face) totally took me out of the film. But besides that, I highly recommend this film.

Film #2: "Little Miss Sunshine" by Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris
Seeing the trailer should give you enough incentive to go out and see this film. It's hilarious, adorable, heartbreaking and fun all at once. The various personalities that can be found in this film are so extreme that it's a nearly perfect concoction for a "road movie".

We have the preechy, motivational speaker father (Greg Kinnear) who can't seem to keep his mouth shut when he senses any sign of weakness in the people around him. His wife (Toni Collette), perhaps the only "sane" person in the VW bus and the glue that holds the family together. Dwayne their oldest son who has taken a vow of silence until he can be allowed to attend flight school to become an AF pilot. Grandpa (Alan Arkin), the loveable pissed off and dirty old man who you just can't get enough of because although he loves his family and is very opinionated, you can sense the sadness of him being a broken man with a heroin addiction.

Steve Carell plays Toni Collette's suicidal scholar brother who is just released from the hospital after an unsuccessful attempt at "checking out early". Carell perhaps had the hardest part in the film, he was forced to explore the entire dramatic spectrum, from being lowly and depressed to being refreshingly funny and sarcastic, really a jump for Carell's acting career.

And then, last but not at all least "Little Miss Sunshine" herself, Olive (Abigail Breslin). She is so incredibly adorable and innocent that she is the one who is the family's constant reminder of what is truly important, what really matters. She reminded me of Scout in "To Kill a Mockingbird", huge changes are going on around her, adult situations veiled by adult ignorance abound. But then here comes this little chubby girl with these granny eyeglasses to bring the story back to its essence.

And then to top it all off, the score was really good with a couple of additions from Sufjan Stevens to really escalate the emotional impact of some key scenes.

Hands down, 5 out of 5 stars.

So that's all I saw today. I've been known to watch at most 5 movies while theatre hopping. Me and Gus used to go to the theatre at 11am on a Saturday and not leave until Midnight. I doubt I have the stamina to ever do that again, but I'm up to the challenge should it arise again. But anyway, I was happy with my theatre hopping experience this day.