CharleeWith2Es

It’s no secret that I have a bit of an obsessive disorder. Not obsessive compulsive. I don’t need to turn the light switch on and off ten times to makes sure it’s off and I don’t wash my hands five times in a row to make sure they are clean. I just obsess over things. Like new favorite foods, music, movies. I develop a very fast comfort zone and I very much enjoy my comfort zone. Over the weekend I saw the trailer for Matt Damon and Emily Blunt’s new film called The Adjustment Bureau. Oh. My. God. I can’t stop watching it. The emotional build up of the music is so intense. And their chemistry….I never pictured them together but now that I see them it makes perfect sense. Check out the trailer here http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/universal/adjustmentbureau/ then we’ll talk about it. Okay, did you watch it? Because we can’t talk about it if you didn’t watch it. It won’t make sense. First we need to talk about Emily Blunt. I’ve decided that she’s my new favorite actress of the late ...

Surprise, surprise, I watched a movie this weekend. I had wanted to see this one for months now. First it premiered in London under the title Pirate Radio and it seemed like it took forever to get a North American distribution date and once it finally did it only played in select theaters. Boo! Well, it finally came out on DVD under the title The Boat That Rocked and it sure did rock. The first thing I want to make note of is Tom Sturridge. Where have you been and when can we see more of you? My God – how can you not fall for Young Carl? He’s just the cutest. This movie is a comedy which takes place in London during the 60’s when rock music defined a generation. At a time when the government tried to control what the people listened to and instead of listening to the government, a group of rogue DJ’s took to the sea’s to give the people what they couldn’t live without…Rock Music. Can you imagine how different the world would be without The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Elvis ...

It’s kind of ridiculous how much I LOVED this movie. I watched it twice…in the same day. It’s no secret that I love the British Royal family. I love the monarchy. I love being part of the commonwealth. I love it all. In fact – When Will and Kate get married I plan on taking the day off to watch the ceremony. Of course my dream would be to physically attend the wedding…but I doubt that would ever happen. Anyway…when the movie ended for the first time, I ran downstairs in a frenzy to find my Will to tell him all about it. I was tripping over my own words with the excitement of it all. I wanted someone else to watch it so I could talk to them about it. Eventually I, without too much persuasion, convinced one of my co-workers to watch it…AND….she LOVED it also. Now I have a partner in crime to talk to about it. The Young Victoria stars Emily Blunt as Queen Victoria and Rupert Friend as Prince Albert and it really focuses on the love story between these two and honestly, it’s epic. The sto...

I don’t often go to the theater to watch movies. I would say I average around six theater movies a year. I prefer to enjoy films in the comfort of my home. I love to lie on the couch, wrapped in my favorite quilted blanket with a snack – guaranteed to be better and cheaper than anything you can find at a movie theater. I like to be able to press pause if I need a bathroom break. I’m one of those people who will not leave the theater. I don’t care if my bladder is about to explode. I can’t stand missing a part of the movie, especially when I paid $15 to see it. Instead I will squirm in my seat, re-positioning myself a dozen times and when the movie ends I practically stampede my way out of the doors and to the nearest washroom. That doesn’t sound like fun does it? You’re exactly right. It’s not. So I usually wait until the movie comes out on DVD and I watch it at home, that is unless it’s a movie I have been aching to see or it has great effects (i.e. Avatar). Some movies are just bett...

To really know me you must understand how much I love British Films. They are my secret crush. I wish they would get more attention in North America but then maybe they wouldn’t seem as special to me. Maybe it’s because I often secretly wish I was British. When I come across one, which is usually an independent art house type film; I exult in clappy jumps and squeals. I love the dry humor most people never get. I love the drama. I love the accents. Intense moments just seem so much more dramatic when the lines are delivered with such an accent. My sister in law lives in London. I am jealous that she gets to hear it all the time. So I have been waiting for months to see An Education. I saw the trailer on Apple/trailers ages ago and have been salivating over it ever since. This film stars this year’s BAFTA winner for Best Actress, Carey Mulligan and American Born, acting as a British lad, Peter Sarsgaard. My expectations were high and they were met. There was no disappointment with this...

Finally got around to seeing this little movie that could and loved it just like I thought I would. In the first few minutes a narrator will say, “This movie isn’t about a love story.” It is and isn’t true. It’s a movie with a great love story in it, but the movie itself isn’t a love story. It’s a movie about life. The awesomeness and the crappiness of life. You win some and you lose some kind of thing. Let’s talk about Joseph Gorgon-Levitt for a minute. I’ve blogged about him before and I’ll say it again. I think JGL is one of the best actors of my generation and I’m looking forward to watching him give his acceptance speech at the Oscars someday…..soon. Also can’t wait to see him in Inception (Check out the trailer here. It’s going to be badass: http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/inception/ ) The relationship between his character Tom and Zooey Deschanel’s character Summer is superb. You fall in love with them both and you will find little parts of yourself in each of them. Here is the...

So the question becomes. What would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live? What life boat would you grab on to? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic local would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? These are the questions asked in the fantastic film ‘One Week’ starring Joshua Jackson (who is Canadian by the way). Amazing movie! Amazing! I had goose bumps from the first minute to the last and a ball at the back of my throat with tears on the edge of spilling out from the corners of my eyes. If you are Canadian, watch this movie and be proud of your Country like you always are. If you’re not Canadian, do yourself a favor and watch this movie to understand why Canadians are so proud. One Week follows Ben Tyler as he travels across Canada in search of a final great adventure after he is diagnosed with stage four cancer. It certainly isn’t...

Love begins and love ends. Love Actually is all around us. That is the premise to this movie. My god it’s a good movie. It follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely and interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England. Almost the entire cast is made up of the greatest British darlings of acting. Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley, Liam Neeson, Bill Nighy…the list goes on and on. This movie came out in 2003 and it has become a Christmas tradition for me, much like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, but instead of only making me excited for Christmas it picks me up and takes me away to the land of love and true romance, especially with Colin Firth’s character. If you don’t know what I mean then you seriously must watch this movie. It’s probably mostly a chick flick but dudes can enjoy it as well. It has some wicked British humor, and the placement of certain songs thr...

I haven’t seen the movie Precious yet, but I am impatiently waiting to see it. It premiered at the Sundance International Film Festival to rave reviews and early Oscar buzz is predicting possible nods to the lead, newcomer Gabourey (Gabby) Sidibe. Love this girl!!!!! Why can't there be more girls like this in Hollywood? You’ve heard of Precious, right? Well if you haven’t, then here is the lowdown. Based on the novel Push by Sapphire, Claireece Precious Jones played by Gabby is living a horribly neglected life. She is abused by her mother, raped by her father and unnoticed to everyone else in this world. This is the story of adversity, love, hope, strength and courage. This is the story of life. The first interview I saw Gabby give was on Conan O’Brien a few weeks ago. I wasn’t expecting much to be honest but I watched it anyway. Within a minute I was literally peeing myself laughing and I’m sure Conan was too. She was recanting the story of when she first met Oprah, who is an exe...

“And now I walk Into the Wild.” Those were the written words of Christopher McCandless as he walked into the Alaskan wilderness on his great adventure. Into the Wild is a movie based on a book based on the true life story of Christopher McCandless, a twenty something middle class American kid that felt the need to rid his life from every obligation and all possessions to find his ‘true’ existence on this earth. Into the Wild tops the list for me when it comes to best book, movie and soundtrack. I feel like I’m always talking about this story or sending people songs from the soundtrack. I can’t get enough of it myself. Emile Hirsch played the role of Christopher MacCandles (A.K.A. Alexander Supertramp) in this movie and his performance blew me away. Honestly, I’m pissed that he didn’t get more recognition than he did. He put his heart and soul into this performance and you can truly see it in the real life transformation he went through to look like a man dying of starvation. It’s shock...

It’s Saturday night and my only plan is to sit on the couch and veg. I turn the TV on, start going through the program guide, nothing, nothing, nothing…oh, “Almost Famous, “ I love that movie, I think I’ll stay put and watch it. Kate Hudson is great in this movie, isn’t she? She played the ultimate band aid. I wonder if “band aids” still exist. Do they still follow the bands around from city to city, partying with them, watching the concert from the side stage night after night? Imagine getting to do that. Even just for one week. Back in the day they were groupies, totally acceptable to the scene. People that follow bands around now from city to city have a new name….stalkers. The plot of the movie as described by IMDB goes like this: William Miller is a 15 year old kid, hired by Rolling Stone magazine to tour with, and write about Stillwater, an up and coming rock band. Can you imagine if that kid was you? Like holy shit. Going on the road with your favorite rock band to write a story...

Remember this guy? He was the kid on that T.V. show 3rd Rock from the Sun back in the 90’s. I vaguely remember having a crush on this guy. I remember watching that movie “Angels in the Outfield” over and over again. I loved that movie. He was also in that movie “Ten Things I Hate About You” with Heath Ledger. He played the nerdy kid that was always ditched for the more popular person and never got the girl. Oh god he was cute in that movie, right? At that time Joseph Gordon Levitt (we'll call him JGL) was at that awkward stage in life, transitioning from a teenager to an adult, lingering in a place that most child actors can never come out of. He could have easily dropped off the face of the earth, in fact some people might suggest that he did, but that’s not the case at all. He did take a hiatus from full time acting from 1999-2004 while attending Columbia University all the while keeping his feet wet by doing a few guest appearances a year in TV. Although we haven’t heard a lot o...

I am in love with this movie and I haven’t even seen it yet. The expected release date for “Up in the Air” is Christmas Day, December 25th; however I have been hearing that reviews are so good, like potential Oscar nominations good, that they might move the release date up. Not sure, will keep you posted. The first time I saw the trailer I felt a sense of Déjà vu, then it hit me, I totally had this exact conversation with my boss back when I first started working. I was so much like Anna Kendrick’s character Natalie. Fresh out of University with the business suites (such a grownup / take me seriously look, non?) and all of the naivety in the world but not recognizing even an ounce of it. I was focused and driven, but I didn’t have any idea what I wanted to be doing in my career, I just knew that I wanted to be good at it. Then you work for a few years…..you gain that experience and things change. Life happens, other things become far more important and you realize that everything you t...

This is pretty fantastic. Last week I blogged about another blog I found called ScriptShadow where you can read scripts that have either been purchased for production or not. The first script I read was called Source Code. See my blog entry here: http://charleewith2es.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-new-favorite-thing-reading-movie.html Great news...Source Code has just been given the green light. That means they are going to start production and turn this into a real movie. And guess who is taking the lead....Jake Gyllenhaal. ScriptShadow is pretty pumped about this as he should be. He said " You guys did it. By putting Source Code at the top of the Reader List, you convinced Hollywood to take the project seriously and put it into production." The power of the internet is incredible isn't it. If you want something, demand it. This is very smart for the movie studios to boot. By having so many people so interested in the story before any money is actually invested is a dream. Th...

A few days ago I tweeted ( www.twitter.com/charleewith2es ) about a blog I found one night while surfing the web. It was called ScriptShadow. I can’t remember exactly how I stumbled upon it, but I’m so happy that I did. I love movies…no, really….I LOVE movies. I watch a couple movies a week. It’s my favorite thing to do. I can’t deal with movie talkers. You know those people that talk during a movie or ask questions. No asking questions…just watch! I love getting lost in a movie. I love the feeling you get when you are really into a movie or the characters. I’ll watch a movie several times over just to get that feeling again. Some people don’t understand the point to that. In their mind, you’ve seen it once already, you know what’s going to happen, why watch it again? But that’s me. When I find something I really like I almost become obsessed with it. I’ll do everything to learn more about it…throwing myself into information overload. I can’t help it. I do it with everything. If I hear...