Happythankyoumoreplease (2010)

3/5

Happythankyoumoreplease is another middle-of-the-road quirky indie comedy, but what this one has that no other one has is an annoying title that omits spaces for no reason whatsoever. The plot follows three couples in New York: 1) Sam (Radnor) and Mississippi (Mara) after a three-night stand, 2) Annie (Akerman) and Sam #2 (Hale) in a workplace romance, and 3) Mary Catherine (Kazan) and Charlie (Schreiber) with an unexpected pregnancy. I really don't have much to say about this movie, except that it is exactly what I expected based on the preview.

It's about six 20-something romantics and their sex lives, who try to find grand meaning in the smallest details of their boring lives. The characters were bland and uninteresting; nobody had a backstory to make them fleshed out or complex. The acting was equally unmemorable and flat. The movie's saving grace was the humor (yes, it was funny), but the script overall was pretty weak. (And I always hate it when people try to argue that New York is the greatest city in the world when we all know it's Chicago.) And although they feel trite and overused, the movie's messages are thoughtful and real. It's a happy enough indie movie that's enjoyable enough to sit through without feeling like your time was wasted, but it's nothing to write home about.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1481572/

127 Hours (2010)

3/5

127 Hours tells the true story of Aron Ralston (Franco), an engineer who gets trapped under a boulder while canyon-exploring alone. I think just about everybody knows what he had to do to escape, but I won't ruin it for you if you don't (perhaps because you're the one who's been living under a rock, huzzah!). Knowing how the film ends--you know, from hearing about it on the news in real life--turned out to be a huge detractor from the film's thrill and excitement. Lingering scenes that would normally build tension just feel like unwanted guests in your home that you want to kick out so you can get on with your day. Pacing became critical, as everyone is just waiting for the eventual finale to come. Luckily the movie didn't overstay its welcome too much, thanks to pitch-perfect acting and on-point editing. The directing also helped keep the film interesting, using hallucination scenes and unique POV shots to explore Ralston's internal struggles and emotions. All in all, this is a well-made film about last year's water cooler topic that will likely soon be forgotten.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1542344/

Transsiberian (2008)

3/5

Transsiberian attempts to be a finely-honed thriller but instead frequently crosses the line between tense and boring and often mixes up scary "what if" paranoias with absolutely ludicrous impossibilities. The movie follows an American couple, Roy (Harrelson) and Jessie (Mortimer), leaving China on an 8-day train ride to Moscow. On the train they meet another couple, Abby (Mara) and Carlos (Noriega), and quickly place way too much trust in them. When Roy is nowhere to be found when the train takes off, Jessie gets worried. She gets off at the next stop and waits there with Abby and Carlos, but they don't hear from Roy all night. Also, randomly, Ben Kingsley plays a narcotics officer that eventually gets involved.

The plot itself is a mixed bag. As I said earlier, the creators must have found it very difficult to strike the balance they desired. Oftentimes the movie drags, oftentimes it is preposterous. The other half of the time they spin a wonderfully taut psychological thriller. On paper it must have seemed well-crafted, giving the audience subtle clues and background stories to foreshadow ominous events before an exciting and climactic finale. But the whole thing seems very written and pre-planned. Unfortunately, the more you get into the movie, the less you believe it and the less you care about the characters. None of the technical features really stood out to me while watching it either. Still, this was a relatively enjoyable popcorn flick with a few too many contrivances and plot holes for me to really love it.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800241/