Seven Psychopaths - Movies You Haven’t Seen Yet

What’s this? Another new segment for your viewing enjoyment? One where I tell you all about a movie that I went to an advanced screening of and am so pumped about that I’m telling you about it 2 months early (I need to work on this run-on sentence thing)! It must be Christmas at MoviesandtheManic! So here’s your present all wrapped in Harry Potter wrapping paper with a string of gummy worms tied together as the bow!

Seven Psychopaths is written and directed by the same genius that brought you In Bruges - Martin McDonagh. If you saw and liked In Bruges, don’t even bother reading the rest of this, just buy your ticket when it comes out. If you haven’t seen In Bruges, finish reading this and then GO EDUCATE YOSELF. Fair warning though, this is a kind of off-color and violent humor that is not for the puppies and ponies crowd. That being said, Seven Psychopaths does feature one adorable Shih Tzu and a white bunny rabbit. Still, I want to prepare you In Bruges virgins for something that is strange and bloody and hilarious.

The story is centered around Colin Farrel’s character, a writer in LA who has two things: a lot of writer’s block and the title of his next script - Seven Psychopaths (so meta, as my friend said). And can I for one just say, I am much happier seeing Mr. Farrel in this than in Total Recall. Farrel’s best friend in the movie is Sam Rockwell, a slightly unhinged but always delightful man who spends his time kidnapping dogs and then collecting the reward money. Rockwell’s performance is easily one of the most entertaining and enjoyable that I’ve seen this year. He is insane, bloodthirsty, and generally very likable. The movie also features a classically wonderful and terrifying character played by Christopher Walken. You can see one of my favorite moments of his in the trailer, when he just says "no" after being asked to put his hands up at gunpoint. Essentially, the movie is about the seven psychopaths this ragtag band meets and the dog kidnapping of a Shih Tzu who belongs to one very pissed mob boss (Woody Harrelson).

This movie is kind of like Inglorious Basterds, without the Nazis, but with all the good times and slaughter. It’s very self-aware and often tells you exactly what’s going to happen, which in my opinion has a freakin’ compelling effect. It’s interesting, which is rare, and genuinely and uniquely funny, which is even more rare. So, go check this one out on October 12!

Celeste and Jesse Forever - Obscure movie of the week! (or month or whenever I see an obscure movie) - Cue catchy theme song

This movie isn’t playing in a lot of theaters yet, and my parents haven’t heard of it – so… drum roll please… It has the honor of being my first Obscure Movie of the Week (seriously think a little tune when you read that phrase, it makes it so much more awesome) review!

Let’s get one thing out of the way first – who’s name is Celeste? I’ve never met a Celeste. Have any of you ever met a Celeste? I mean I guess the odds are a lot better when you ask a large group of people that ONE of them will have met a Celeste, but let’s be real – could they have picked a more hipster name? And what doesn’t even make sense is that when she (Celeste) was born, being a hipster wasn’t even cool yet, so why would her parents have named her a hipster name? Wait. Does that mean that I don’t make sense or that the movie doesn’t? Still… Celeste… grimace

Moving on to the part of this thing where I actually critique the film and not the strange choice of name for one of the title characters. This was one of those movies that I had a hard time forming an opinion on. It felt cool. As I was watching it, I was thinking, “I’m probably pretty hip for watching this movie right now.” I imagine people in LA will line up for this movie for blocks and blocks and drink their juice cleansing diet drink things and talk about the latest exercise class that they took that combines zumba and push-up and none of them will even make a joke about how that could be called Pumba like from The Lion King. I’m afraid I’ve gotten sidetracked again; but, the point is, this may just be an LA sort of movie. I have nothing (not a lot anyway) against LA, but I do think that generally movies should appeal to more than one geographic area’s population.

This movie has the right ingredients. I like Andy Samberg. I like Rashida Jones. Heck, I like the trailer. But, after you watch these two friends for two hours, you don’t really like them anymore. I appreciate that it’s trying to explore a modern relationship – friends who get married who are better off friends. As the girl code demands of me, I think that guys and girls can be friends. But, this movie makes me question the girl code. It doesn’t make sense. How could they have been married and neither of them had any hurt feelings when they got divorced? There is love for a friend and there is being in love, and if they were in love, wouldn’t it hurt to… I don’t know, not be in love anymore or be rejected by someone you’re in love with? This is going off into a whole philosophical realm that I don’t like to spend much time in; but basically, I think the effort to show a relationship that is current and common turned into showing a relationship that doesn’t exist and doesn’t make sense.

A lot of the humor and the dialogue is very funny, and it feels very of-the-moment. I’ll give it that. Emma Roberts, who has a smaller role, is even a bit of a breath of fresh air. She seems to be one of the only characters who has emotions. They’re highly dramatic emotions, but maybe that’s what makes her stand out – that she’s not of the older MTV generation that feel no highs or lows and makes everything into a joke. I desperately wanted to like Elijah Wood, but alas, who the heck was his character supposed to be? Every time he comes on screen I hold my breath and hope for hilarity, but I’m always left confused.

Overall, wait for Netflix.  

LISTS - BOO YAH!

And here are the BIG THINGS. Moving on.

Just wanted to make you all aware of the new lists on the side of the homepage (the right side to be exact). There you can discover some wonderful treats I've prepared just for you. The first list is some movies that are out now that you might want to see, and by might I mean probably should because I liked them and I’m recommending them and if you’re reading my blog my recommendation means something to you… where was I going with this? Oh, yes, the movies in the first list – good ones. The next couple of lists are movies being released in the coming months that I’m really looking forward too.

For example. I AM REALLY EXCITED FOR THIS MOVIE.

I know it is catering shamelessly to my demographic, or the demographic I still wish I was in, but those freaking songs man... I’m welling up just thinking about them – “I’m never changing who I am” fist pump fist pump fist pump. I’m pulled together now.

Anyway, each movie on these lists is linked to an IMDB page, so you can go check them out for yourself! Aren’t I clever! (Notice that's not a question). Not clever enough to figure out how to just put a calendar on my blog, but hey, one can’t be magically delightful at everything. I’ll try and update these lists so that you never miss out on anything and you never have to think – “oh, this is outdated. I hate this blog.” Wanting to avoid those sentiments.

New reviews on their way!

Big things are on their way...

Soon there will be new reviews, new musings, new EVERYTHING

Big things are happening my friends... big things