50x3: Flakes (J-1)

As I was watching this movie I immediately thought two things: 1) Why is this not a thing? 2) Since it is not a thing, why can't I make this happen?

For Jessica's first film on the list I watched Flakes. I had never heard of this film, nor did I have any idea what it was about. I didn't even know who was in it except Zooey Deschanel - and that was only because she was on the cover of the poster.

So, the film stars Aaron Stanford as Neal Downs, a struggling musician who works at a local 'restaurant' named Flakes. It is owned by an old hippie stoner, Willie (Christopher Lloyd).

The 'restaurant' is actually just a little place that serves bowls of cereal. What an amazing premise. Who doesn't love cereal? I mean I can eat it at pretty much any meal, or just grab it as a snack - with or without milk.

This place is a Cheers-esque place where they have a certain repeat clientele - and sort of created their own little niche in the area. They brought in special cereal from all over, and worked at getting some brands that were even discontinued.

Deschanel plays Pussy Katz, Downs' girlfriend. She is pretty much a struggling artist, who really encourages Downs to get back into the studio and finish his album - which would mean taking time off at the restaurant. He promises to take some time off to finish it, but stuff continues to come up and he never does it.

One afternoon, Stuart (Keir O'Donnell) comes into the restaurant and sees a moneymaking opportunity and asks Downs if he would like to franchise the place. Downs and Willie are both pretty anti-big business and toss Stuart out.

But, not long after a place just like Flakes opens across the street - and to his surprise is run by Stuart. As the two restaurants begin to fight for customers - Downs decides to stay on board and not take the time off to work on his album. This angers Pussy, and to hurt him in a way she takes a job for the rival restaurant.

So, Downs now has three things going on - save the original Flakes restaurant, finish his album and make peace with his girlfriend.

Very surprised how much I enjoyed this movie. I pretty much like most Deschanel films, and adding a little Christopher Lloyd to the mix only enhances that. I wasn't familiar with many of the other actors, but they all did extremely well.

A small, odd film about cereal - it's amazing how such as simple premise could be so enjoyable.

Grade:

19/50x2: (500) Days of Summer

As I sat down to write a little bit about this film I suddenly got this and 50/50 jumbled together, so this could have been one odd review - but still probably an excellent movie.

Well, as I have said before Joseph Gordon-Levitt is quite possibly one of the best working actors in Hollywood today. In (500) Days of Summer he stars as Tom Hansen, a college graduate with a degree in architecture, who is working at a greeting card company.

He works with his best friend McKenzie (Geoffrey Arend) - who I really enjoy almost every time I see him and wish that he was in more things (oh and is married to Christina Hendricks, but I am of topic) - and one day notices a new hire as his boss' assistant, Summer (Zooey Deschanel).

Tom confesses to McKenzie that he is attracted to Summer, and one night over karaoke lets it slip to Summer. Despite not wanting a boyfriend, Summer and Tom grow rather close and eventually do become a couple.

The rest of the film, which is done rather well with a graphic to break things up, jumps to good and bad portions of their relationship. During the first part of their relationship everything is happy and chipper, the birds are singing - but as the relationship goes on things become much gloomier.

As things progress, Tom and Summer are out together and when another man flirts with her he jumps in and gets into a fight. Thinking it showed his feelings for her he was happy about it, but she was not and they get into their first real fight.

On day 290, after seeing The Graduate Summer announces to Tom that they should break up because she is no longer happy with their relationship, but that he is still her best friend.

He storms off and falls into a great depression, and his much younger sister, Rachel (Chloe Moretz) is called in to get him out of his doldrums. Rachel is in the film a few other times as Tom seems to always go to her for help.

I will not reveal anymore as to what happens, because this is a really good movie and if you haven't seen it you should.

As I said, anything Gordon-Levitt is in is appointment watching for me lately. Plus, I have always enjoyed Deschanel's work - and Moretz, though not in a ton of things, has done well in her outings as well.

I loved the way the story was told, including the small graphic breaks that they had in place. I liked that there were two different tones to the movie - the light and fluffy and the dark and dreary. Just like life.

Grade:

25 Days: Elf

I must admit that I did laugh out plenty of times last night while watching Will Ferrell as Buddy in Elf.

Buddy is an orphan who climbs into Santa Claus' (Ed Asner) sack one Christmas Eve night and ends up at the North Pole.

Papa Elf (Bob Newhart) raises Buddy as his own - and as an elf - despite his huge size difference to the other elves.

After overhearing a few other elves speak about him being a human, Buddy sets out to New York City to find his birth father, Walter (James Caan).

Buddy, however, despite being about 30 years old still has the mind of a child and is constantly trying to spread Christmas cheer wherever he goes.

The only thing that convinces Walter that Buddy is his child is a blood test - and even then it appears that Buddy is more of a nuisance to him than a son. Walter's other son, Michael (Daniel Tay) is also neglected by his father - who is a bigshot children's book producer.

Buddy also falls for a girl who works at the Gimbels Department Store, Jovie (Zooey Deschanel) - and takes her out on his first ever date, and even gets his first ever kiss.

After interrupting a very important meeting that might cost Walter his job - Walter unleashes on Buddy and throws him out of his office. Buddy decides to leave and on his way sees that Santa's sleigh hs crashed in Central Park.

This is where things get sort of weird for me. I know that a movie only has a short amount of time to tell a story, but when Michael comes to get his father to come help find Buddy - it was an awfully quick turn around for Walter. I mean this man has been married to his job for years, including blowing up at Buddy not a few hours before - and all of a sudden he is a great family man, I don't buy it.

The story itself was rather interesting - Ferrell did a great job as Buddy and I really enjoyed Deschanel as Jovie. I think she is a really underrated actress.

I wasn't as thrilled with Caan's performance but I guess he was going for a Scrooge-like character that all of a sudden catches the Christmas spirit.

A decent film that one can watch each Christmas - but doesn't truly leave a lasting impression.

Grade: