Quote of the Day

"Life is better with company."

-Up in the Air

(Photo via Vi.sualize)

Valentine's Day

"Love is the only shocking act left on the planet."

Perhaps this is true. After so many people get their hearts broken or lose love, isn't it surprising that the majority of people still want to fall head over heels? Ummmm.... no, actually. Love is the most amazing thing on Earth. Valentine's Day, however, is not. No, this is not "the lady doth protest too much"~ I genuinely dislike Valentine's Day. 

I've never had a good one.

Nevertheless, this movie looks ridiculously cute. Brought to life by Garry Marshall, the director behind Pretty Woman and Runaway Bride, Valentine's Day surrounds over a dozen plus characters on this one very special, Hallmark card holiday. With such cast members as Julia Roberts, Bradley Cooper, Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Garner, Patrick Dempsey, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Eric Dane and Ashton Kutcher~ how do you go wrong? That is a lot of talent for one movie.

It is released, appropriately, on February 12 but humor me and
watch the minute and a half trailer here.
If you don't laugh out loud like I did... well, then maybe I'm just a love geek. Seriously. Watch. Adorable City. Warm fuzzy feelings beware.

Need I say... Bradley Cooper, major swoon. 

(Photos via IMDb)

Leap Year

When I saw the above photo on IMDb I immediately had to search for the trailer to Leap Year. It's amazing to me how one photo can conjure such intense emotion. It gave me goosebumps. I, of course, am a sucker for romantic comedies and throw one in a foreign country and I'm a goner. I adore Europe so nearly all my favourite movies are set there. Leap Year stars Amy Adams (a truly gorgeous redhead and two time Oscar nominee) and Matthew Goode (British and yum) as the romantic leads and though the plot seems a little "out there" (the woman is going to propose to her boyfriend in Dublin on Leap Day), the chemistry between the two certainly seems worth the watch. I know it's a light recommendation, but watch the trailer for a few goosebumps of your own! If you're a romantic like me, you'll get them. 

Watch the Leap Year trailer here. 

Christmas Movie Marathon

Well, it's almost December! When the calendar finally turns to the 1st the nonchalant pretending that I don't care in the last few weeks of November turns into a full on Christmas love fest. Christmas decorating, Christmas baking, Christmas shopping and Christmas music... I adore it all. One of my favourite traditions is my month long marathon of the absolute greatest Christmas movies. Movies dedicated to the holidays always hold wonderful sentiments... family and friends, love, hope, dreams and generosity of spirit. I have a long list that I watch every December, year in year out. I could not do any countdown, because I love them all. However, number one?

1. It's A Wonderful Life~ Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed are magical together and I cry like a child every time. One day I imagine a marriage like theirs for myself. The most beautiful Christmas movie I can imagine.

2. Love Actually~ Not a Christmas movie per se, but it's set during the holiday season and is a wonderful testament to the power of love at this time of year. Plus, many of my girlfriends agree on this~ the cue card love scene between Juliet (Keira Knightley) and Mark is one of the most romantic movie scenes. Ever.

3. Scrooged~ Bill Murray at his finest as the vicious Frank Cross in this modern day (well, 1980's) re-telling of Charles Dickens' classic, A Christmas Carol. My first favourite and it still endures for me. I never get tired of it.

4. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation~ Chevy Chase? Check. Weird family visiting? Check. Hilarious scenes involving Christmas lights, a squirrel in the tree and Elaine from Seinfeld? Check! A ridiculously funny classic and a must see for
many laughs out loud.

5. The Holiday~ What can I say? Jude Law as a yummy single dad and Kate Winslet in her first romantic comedy role are enchanting. Again, not a veritable "Christmas movie" but set during the holidays, it is wonderful and heart warming. Eli Wallach as Kate's 90 year old neighbour steals the film, to be sure.

6. Home Alone~ Childish, I know. I first saw this in the theatres when I was ten years old and it still resonates with the kid in me. Although Kevin's hijinks when he is left behind are sweet and funny, the true heart of this movie lies within the importance of family, between the McCallisters and the family reunion of Kevin's mysterious next door neighbour.

7. The Family Stone~ Beautiful, touching and sad~ my favourite combination. Diane Keaton as the Stone matriarch is magnificent (with a touch of malice) and the bevy of Stone kids? Dermot Mulroney, Luke Wilson and Rachel McAdams with Sarah Jessica Parker and Claire Danes also in the supporting cast. A big, dysfunctional family Christmas. I love it.

8. The Family Man~ I'm not normally insane about Nicolas Cage but he is lovely and endearing in this role as a man who, while living a purely selfish life, is given a "glimpse" on Christmas Eve of what his life would have looked like had he married his college love. A beautiful, simple movie about family and the things truly worth having in this life (hint: it's not money and success). I watch this on Christmas Eve after all our family has left, in bed, nearing midnight.
I usually fall asleep to it.

9. How The Grinch Stole Christmas~ The 1966 cartoon version of this Dr. Suess tale is the one I love. A magical half hour about how a person (or creature) can truly change through the wonder of this holiday season. Boris Karloff's iconic voice in itself is worth watching the film for. Perfect for Christmas lovers of all ages.

10. A Christmas Carol~ My dad's absolute favourite, this 1951 black and white classic features Alastair Sim as Ebenezer Scrooge and is the most famous and enduring tale of this holiday season. This is always on in our house late Christmas Eve and I watch (part) of it with my dad every year while we drink champagne or rum and egg nog. Half an hour into it my adorable daddy is usually snoring happily
and so I retire to bed.

What are your favourite Christmas movies? Is there anything I have missed that are must sees?

New York, I Love You

One of my favourite films of the last few years was Paris, Je T'aime (I saw it three times in the theatres), a movie comprised of upwards of a dozen shorts dedicated to different areas and stories throughout the city of lights. It is a love story to Paris, highlighting its beauty and history while inviting the viewer into the lives of dozens of characters, but only for a few minutes at a time. It made me both laugh and cry, but more importantly, it made me fall in love with Paris over and over again. 

This month another film will be released in the same vein. New York, I Love You is also a series of short films, starring the likes of Natalie Portman, Bradley Cooper, James Caan, Orlando Bloom, Robin Wright Penn, Chris Cooper, Julie Christie, Shia La Boeuf, Rachel Bilson, Hayden Christianson, Andy Garcia, Ethan Hawke and Eli Wallach, as well as many others. The shorts, directed by such talent as Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth), Brett Ratner (Rush Hour, X Men) and Joshua Marston (Maria Full of Grace), weave tales of friendship, romance and heartbreak in the dynamic and iconic city, 

from Brooklyn to Central Park. 

I can't wait to see this. Watch the newly released trailer here. 

Chanel No.5

I adore Audrey Tautou in this just revealed advertisement, commencing her role as the new face of Chanel No.5 perfume (replacing the lovely redheaded Nicole Kidman). She is everything that Chanel embodies in the fashion world~ elegant, feminine, French! I, like many people the world over, fell in love with Audrey in her role as Amelie, the lonely Parisian girl with the gamine haircut seeking her equally quirky soulmate, while performing good deeds for others along the way. She is truly one of the most breathtakingly beautiful and talented actresses working today. Chanel is lucky to have her. 

It almost makes me want to buy a bottle of Chanel No.5~ almost, but not quite. 

I wear Coco. 

The Lovely Bones

I read Alice Sebold's chilling novel The Lovely Bones years ago and I can still remember the feeling of how the story of a young girl's murder haunted me. Fast forward a few years and acclaimed director Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Heavenly Creatures, King Kong) is bringing Sebold's book to the big screen, starring Mark Wahlberg (having replaced Ryan Gosling once filming had already commenced), Rachel Weisz and the truly luminous Irish actress (and Academy Award nominee for 2008's Atonement) Saoirse Ronan as the murdered Susie Salmon. 

This is not your typical murder mystery, however. Set in suburban 1973 the story is instead more interested with Susie after her murder and how she watches her family from the other side of mortality as they discover her disappearance, try to come to terms with her shocking death and become involved in her murder investigation. The description, I know, sounds grim and far too depressing, but the story itself is inventive and unique (Susie exploring her life after death) and the film would be worth watching for the amazing group of talent alone. Unfortunately you'll have to wait to see the film itself until it's released on December 11. 

Watch the goosebump-y trailer (just released officially yesterday) here.  

Update: My first trailer was already removed from youtube due to copyright infringement so I have to go with this clip from ET. Not as good, but still decent. 

You can purchase Sebold's novel online here. Trust me, it's worth it. 

500 Days of Summer

"This is not a love story. This is a boy meets girl story."

First of all, I love that. Not all couples have the same, typical Hollywood ending. 500 Days of Summer is so not your average romantic comedy, not even close. Starring the quirkily handsome Joseph Gordon Levitt and the pinch-her-cheeks-adorable Zooey Deschanel (fyi: engaged to my dream man, Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie) the movie bounces back and forth in time, exploring the relationship of a boy who has always wanted to find his soulmate and a girl who doesn't believe in love (um, hello role reversal!). What ensues is sweet, poignant and, most of all, honest. Relationships are messy~ let's tell the truth! Still, the movie is so lovely it is definitely my must see pick for the summer. Besides~ any film that has references to The Smiths, Belle and Sebastian and The Pixies in the first twenty minutes just can't be bad! 

Go see this immediately but watch the trailer here first! 

p.s.~ I adore the 1950's styling of the film~ so beautiful. The movie's blue obsessed colour palette was chosen to highlight Zooey Deschanel's eyes! 

Where The Wild Things Are

While watching Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince last night with Leah I also saw the trailer for the upcoming October release of the hotly anticipated Where The Wild Things Are. Brought to life over the last eight years by director Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) the film is based on the 1963 classic children's book of the same name, written by Maurice Sendak. While bringing such an iconic book to the big screen has been apparently both controversial and grueling for Jonze, the film itself looks magical. The story centres around Max, a young boy who acts out when his mother has her boyfriend over and is therefore sent to bed without his dinner. Max then creates his own world of escape, a land dominated by the Wild Things, who crown him as their ruler. I haven't read the book but you can be sure I will be doing so now, and before the movie is released! 

Watch the amazing trailer here. 

The song featured, which I have been listening to all morning, is Wake Up by Arcade Fire (hello, great Canadian band). 

Inside all of us is hope. 

(Photos via IMDb)

The Time Traveler's Wife~ Movie Trailer

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger was an impulse purchase for me last fall, shortly after my birthday for which I was given a gift card to Chapters. I had been given this book before and had passed it over as my grandmother (first mistake) deemed it "weird". Well, come this past winter I read it, absorbed it, relished it until I finished every page. Perhaps my grandmother was right~ it is weird, but wonderfully so. It became easily one of my favourite books of all time, and that's saying something, because as an English Lit major I have read a lot of books in my time. The story itself is creative, romantic and heartbreaking at the same time, combining everything I look for in any novel I choose. The moment I put it down I was anxious to see how soon the film was released. The movie itself, starring the flawless Rachel McAdams (of The Notebook fame) and deliciously sexy Eric Bana (Munich, The Other Boleyn Girl) debuts in August 2009 but the official trailer was released today (after many many You Tube searches by yours truly I am thrilled) and even its two and a half minutes gave me goose bumps in the best possible way. How can a trailer make you cry? Watch this and you'll find out. 

Watch the trailer here. 

(Photo courtesy of IMDb)

Watch This Now!

If you haven't heard any buzz about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in the last year then perhaps you've been living in a bubble (or under a rock). If you haven't yet seen it then please, for me, watch it now. Starring the horribly unattractive pairing of Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett (cue obvious eye roll here~ clearly a stunning duo if ever there was one, and playing lovers for the second time after 2006's Babel) the movie is based on the short story by amazing American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald (also of The Great Gatsby fame). The film is centred around Benjamin, born old and growing younger as time passes, but more importantly is a story about kindred spirits and true soulmates who can only be together for a very short moment in time, when their ages meet in the middle. A truly remarkable, visibly stunning and emotionally moving film about how true love prevails, even if it is not meant to be forever. And coming from a natural one, Cate Blanchett makes a truly lovely redhead! 

ps- The photograph above of Benjamin and Daisy in bed is one of my favourite cinema images of all time. The intimacy between them feels so real, so palpable, I can honestly imagine that is how true love and real intimacy should look and feel like. It's also my favourite scene in the movie. Please reward yourself and watch this now!