July 5, 2011

day 3.201

movie review: monte carlo

selena gomez, movie star? the disney starlet makes a case for herself in monte carlo, a tween-centric rom-com. gomez plays grace, a texas high schooler who can't wait to escape her small-town life, even for a week. after graduation, grace, her best friend emma (katie cassidy) and step-sister meg (leighton meester) jet off to paris. the girls seek out adventure on a lack-luster tour, coming up empty. then, adventure finds them, when grace turns out to be a doppelganger for british socialite cordelia. when cordelia decides to blow off a trip to monte carlo, the three girls swoop in and jet off to play pretend. romance, mystery and chaos ensue. monte carlo's the perfect escape film- the movie itself is beautiful, the director's very own love letter to france. while the plot's been seen before, it's a story that holds up and holds interest. at just less than two hours, monte carlo met my watch test, mixing just the right amount of laughter and heart. while it might be targeted toward tweens, don't skip out on it- gomez's turn on the big screen is worth checking out.

movie review: larry crowne
tom hanks and julia roberts together? movie magic. tom hanks stars as, you guessed it, larry crowne, a big-box store clerk who loses his job when he doesn't have the college education to move up the corporate ladder. crowne decides to head back to school in order to regain his life. and who should his teacher be but julia roberts. while most of the movie's given away in the trailer (above), larry crowne is well written (co-scribed by hanks and my big fat greek wedding's nia vardalos) and well acted, with a supporting cast including gugu mbatha-raw and george takai. it's a rom-com with a lot of heart and a lot of smiles. while you might not laugh out loud from start to finish, you'll definitely leave the theater feeling like you just watched a movie from the 90s. at an hour and 40 minutes, larry crowne's the perfect summer comedy for every and anyone.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I have loved Tom Hanks since I was a little girl watching Big and dreaming of such a magic. He is one of the more talented actors in Hollywood and I'm glad to see he is still making movies, the fact tat this one has Julia Roberts makes it even better. I would love to get my hands on some of Hanks old films from his early career and I think I finally have the way. I was speaking with a colleague the other day about how our company Dish Network had acquired Blockbuster and made some changes. No more late fees or due dates to start with, which is very good for me. In addition, kiosks and movies by mail, which means I can get my hands on some of those older movies I have been wanting to see. http://bit.ly/jP1NIT I'm putting a link in here only for anyone who wants to see where to get at some really cheap movies. I think as long as actors like Tom Hanks continue to make movies Hollywood has a chance of retaining some of the beauty of the classic style.