Recommendations: December 7

Hyde Park on Hudson - I'm not too sure about this one.  It's a biopic featuring FDR (Bill Murray), his wife (Olivia Williams), and future mistress (Laura Linney), during the visit of King George VI (Samuel West) and his wife (Olivia Colman) shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War.  All enough to catch my attention, except it's not getting the best reviews so far and it's only getting a limited release.  We'll have to see.

Playing for Keeps - This one's about a former soccer star (Gerard Butler) who starts coaching his kid's soccer team in an effort to win back the love of his ex-wife (Jessica Biel).  It's a romantic comedy starring Gerard Butler, so I wouldn't recommend expecting much from it. Heck, I expect I already know the ending to it.

The Dark Knight Rises - The final installment in Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy.  This was a great movie, so check it out now if you haven't seen it already.

Finding Nemo - This Pixar hit is being re-released on DVD and Blu-ray, probably because of the 3D release of the film a few months ago in theatres.  This is always a good one.

Hope Springs - A cute movie about an older couple struggling to revitalize their marriage.  This one stars Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones as said couple, so yeah. If you like romantic comedies, I'd say check this one out.

Fifth Business - The first novel in Robertson Davies' Deptford Trilogy, this novel is considered one of the best novels of the 20th century, and in my opinion is one of the best Canadian novels and definitely Davies' best novel.  Fifth Business follows the life of narrator Dunstan Ramsay and the constant struggle that he has with the guilt surrounding his part in the childhood accident that deeply affected the life of Mary Dempster, a woman Dunstan considers to be a fool-saint.  The novel really nicely integrates religion, morality, myth, and history,

Finding Nemo (2003)

Starring: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Alexander Gould

Director: Andrew Stanton

Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy

Rating: A

"P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney! You asked me where I'm going? OK, I'll tell you: P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney! That's where I'm going!" 

Oh, my God, I love this movie.  It's definitely my favourite Pixar film and one of my favourite animated films of all time.  It's cute, it's funny, it's sad... it's really the whole package.  While I'm not sure if I would say that it's everything I want from a film it's definitely got so much going on that the entire time I'm watching it I'm completely submerged in it, and when I'm done watching it I'm still quoting from it.  It's the kind of movie that makes me excited about watching movies.

On the Great Barrier Reef lives a clownfish, Marlin (Brooks), and his son, Nemo (Gould).  Marlin is horribly overprotective as the result of the death of Nemo's mother, some years earlier, and thinks that Nemo isn't as capable because of a bad fin.  Nemo responds exactly as you would expect - and rebels, which leads to him being abducted by a scuba diving human.  In his journey to find his son, Marlin meets Dory (DeGeneres), a fish with a severe memory issue who helps him find his son.

The thing that really makes this movie great is Dory.  The role was written for Ellen DeGeneres and it's one that I really can't imagine anyone else playing - which is saying a lot, given as it's voice acting.  Someone else could have easily done any and every other role in Nemo as well as the actors cast, but DeGeneres really steals the show.  After seeing this movie I'm always left quoting her lines, or singing "just keep swimming" - and I even have a friend who can often be heard trying to speak whale, regardless of the presence of actual whales.  Dory just makes this movie awesome.

Dory, however, isn't the full movie.  There's also this insanely amount of detail put into it.  I love the shots of the Reef and the way that the fish in and out of water looked different - although, I did think that they didn't do much to differentiate between in and out of water when not dealing with fish, which does kind of take away from the fish thing a bit.  The supporting characters are also amazing.  I love the sharks and the turtles and the seagulls - God, I love the seagulls.  The way the seagulls are portrayed is just so perfectly and exactly what you think a seagull is saying.  This movie is like those seagulls - pretty much perfect.

Recommendations: September 14

Liberal Arts - Josh Radnor's second take in the director's chair.  This time he plays a 30-something year old guy who goes to a party at his Alma matter and falls for a college student... I feel like I've already seen this movie based on that, but it has Zac Efron in it so who cares.

Finding Nemo - Okay, so obviously this is a re-release.  Everyone's favourite clown fish (Albert Brooks) and memory impaired regal blue tan fish (Ellen DeGeneres) are back, this time in 3D.  While I doubt the 3D will really add to Dory's ability to speak whale this is still going to be a movie worth catching.

The Master - This one's only on limited release this week (it comes out in full next week), but it looks really good.  Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman it's about a Naval veteran just home from war.  This movie is set to be the first controversial film of the year and is based in part on the foundation of Scientology.

Arbitrage - I saw the trailer for this the other day and it made me really want to see the movie.  Richard Gere plays a rich (or maybe formerly rich, but hiding that fact from his family) man who's in the process of selling his company when he gets into a car accident that kills his mistress.  A cover up ensues and, based on the trailer, his whole life starts to go to shit.

10 Years - Another limited release (that's 4 for this recommendation), this one's an indie take on the high school reunion.  To be honest, the only reason I'm really looking forward to seeing this one is because it's an on-screen reunion of real-life couple Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan-Tatum.  I can be fairly easy to please at times.

Snow White and the Huntsman - Okay, so I know I'm lame, but I actually really liked this movie, even Kristen Stewart's role in it.  And now... well, hey! This is the movie that broke her and Robert Pattison up!

What to Expect When You're Expecting - The movie inspired by the book about pregnancy.  I wasn't really a big fan of this film, but it definitely had some good points.

Killer Klowns from Outer Space - This movie is the reason people are afraid of clowns.  Or at least it should be.  One of those horrible B-movies from the 80s, Killer Klowns is now being released on Blu-Ray.  Which totally means you should check it out.

Wizards of Odd - A collection of stories edited by Peter Haining, this features fantasy works by Terry Pratchett, Philip K. Dick, Ray Bradbury, and others.

The Flying Sorcerers - The follow up to the above collection, The Flying Sorcerers collection of fantasy based stories featuring works by Terry Pratchett, Roald Dahl, Arthur C. Clarke, Angela Carter, and others.  You can't really go wrong there.