Day 141: Girl With A Pearl Earring

A young maid comes to work in the Vermeer household and becomes the subject of one of his most famous paintings. Griet (Scarlett Johannson) helps Vermeer with his work and his wife is devastated with jealousy.

While I can usually appreciate a slow-paced film, this was a little too slow for me. I’m not sure the acting was strong enough to hold my interest for long periods of time, particularly when they are supposed to be communicating with a look. The relationship between Colin Firth and Scarlett Johannson wasn't believable, there seemed to be no chemistry there whatsoever. I realise the reserved nature of the characters would’ve been true to the time and situation and it’s not that I was expecting sudden declarations of love or anything but it did all seem rather plain and dull. Perhaps I needed to be in the right mood for this film, I’m sure if I was then I’d give it a higher rating and would’ve enjoyed it more.

5/10

Day 95: The Island

Ok, so the picture isn’t technically from the film but there were just too many pictures of Ewan McGregor and not enough of Scarlett Johansson to choose from. My rules.

Curiosity leads to a hell of a lot of explosions. When Lincoln Six Echo (Ewan McGregor) has some questions about the facility where he lives, it leads him to discover that he and the other residents of the facility are clones who are being harvested for their organs. Pretty grim but he rallies like a champ and teams up with Jordan Two Delta (Scarlett Johansson) to escape and make people aware of what is going on.

There is so much running in this film. I mean, I was exhausted just watching them. And explosions all over the shop, but it is a Michael Bay film so that is expected. Some of the fighting scenes I could believe in, y’know, they might’ve happened. But then there’s the bit when Lincoln and Jordan are on the side of the building 70 floors up and they fall off and survive. Wouldn’t have happened. I know it’s a film about cloned people yaddayadda, but you’ve got to keep parts of it believable. Loved the fighting though. Pretty much all of my notes centre around how much of a badass Scarlett is. I’m not even sure what the notes refer to since all I wrote was “Oh my, such a badass” (and other variations along that line) but I’m sure the scenes were great.

I’m not really sure what would happen at the end. All the other clones escape the facility and it’s all pretty dramatic with them running about. But what happens next? Do they just chill with their originals? When the doctor was explaining, he said something about them being like children, so what would they do in the world? Although saying that, he did also say that they removed the sex instinct and that clearly didn’t work considering Lincoln and Jordan violate the proximity rules, if you know what I mean. I don’t know, would quite like to know what they did after they escaped. Probably had lots of sex.

6/10 

Day 86: We Bought A Zoo

Trying to move on with his life when everything around him reminds him of his dead wife is too difficult, so Benjamin (Matt Damon) buys a broken down zoo in the country and moves his family out to fix it up.

It must just be so hard when the person you love and built a life with dies. And for Benjamin, it wasn’t just his grief he had to cope with, he also had two young children to care for. His son Dylan (Colin Ford) is having a hard time dealing with the loss of his mother and he is acting out at school, eventually getting expelled. Benjamin decides that they need a new start and the zoo, with the huge house next door, is the perfect place to do just that. The zoo is pretty run down though and there’s a lot of work and money that has to go into rebuilding the place but he is confident that it is the right thing and he completely goes for it. I love that he threw himself into it even though he didn’t know the first thing about running a zoo, I think that's the mark of a strong character.

I wasn’t expecting to like this film but it was actually really good. Sappy as anything but I found that kinda nice. And Scarlett Johansson is amazing, so.

“You know, sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage. Just literally 20 seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.”

7/10

Day 30: Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Another day for Scarlett Johansson. And this time we also have Rebecca Hall and Penélope Cruz. And it’s a Woody Allen film. Spoiled, that’s what I am.

Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) are spending their summer in Spain. Whilst there they meet the devastatingly charming painter, Juan Antonio (Javier Bardem) who takes an instant liking to them both and offers to take them off to a beautiful little town. Oh, and also to make love. He has quite the effect on both women (eventually) and it’s interesting to watch.

When Juan Antonio says that he wishes to sleep with both Vicky and Cristina they react a little differently. Cristina isn’t sure what she wants from life yet so is open to new experiences, while Vicky has a life plan and sleeping with a stranger isn't on it. Both agree to fly off to the town with him but only Cristina says she will sleep with him. With the delightful line, “I’ll go to your room but you’ll have to seduce me.”

Cristina is taken ill and it allows Vicky and Juan Antonio to spend time together. Despite her initial misgivings, Vicky quickly warms to him. He is so honest about his feelings about everything, it’s refreshing actually. It’s coming up again, it’s going to be a recurring feature of this blog but: they clearly enjoy spending time together and it’s lovely. He is quite taken with her even though she isn’t the creative type he seems to favour. They listen to music together and are both moved which goes some way in explaining why Vicky drops her guard and gives in to her feelings for him.

They return and Juan Antonio goes off with Cristina. Vicky isn’t sure what to make of it, her life seemed simple to her before: marry Doug, get a big house, live practically. But now it’s all changed and she can’t stop thinking about this impulsive man. Meanwhile, Cristina moves in with Juan Antonio and eventually his ex wife, Maria Elena (Penélope Cruz). While awkward at first they all realise they complement each other nicely and their relationship evolves to include the three of them.

Having more than two people in a relationship has always interested me. Can you find everything you need or want in just one person? I don’t know what the average number of relationships people have in their lives is but each person must have given you something a little different to the last. So why not have more than one other person in a relationship at a time? Perhaps people would be happier that way, relationships might last longer and there might be fewer instances of cheating. I don’t know, it just seems to make sense to have more than just two people in a relationship.

The intensity of Penélope Cruz is wonderful. And I just love the spontaneity all throughout the film and that everyone is so honest about their feelings.

8/10

Day 26: Lost In Translation

You know when you’re having a bad day and you just want to watch a film with Scarlett Johansson in it because you know it’s going to make you feel better regardless of how shallow and potentially creepy that might be? But you’ve lost your copy of Lost In Translation and for some reason it’s not on Netflix anymore? But then you check SkyGo and it’s available but you have to pay for it? And you decide you’ll pay for it anyway because your day is just so bad? Yeah.

Bob (Bill Murray) is an ageing film star who is in Tokyo starring in an advert when he meets Charlotte, who is accompanying her husband on a photo shoot. Both are dissatisfied with how their lives are and both are questioning how the future will turn out.

Charlotte is clearly unhappy; her husband is busy and seems to be rushing off from her in any chance he can get (mad man!) while she is left to amuse herself. Which she seems alright with some of the time as she does stumble across interesting things while exploring. But mostly she just seems sad. She phones her friend in an attempt to connect but her friend doesn’t have the time for her and she’s left again. She’s not sure what she wants to be in life and says she feels stuck.

Bob’s marriage and his fading from film are the main problems for him. Clearly he is only starring in this advert because he has no other opportunities; you can see he is massively uncomfortable at every point when trying to shoot it. His wife doesn’t seem to care about him anymore (judging from their phone calls) and it sounds like they don’t know how to talk to each other. He says that in the beginning they used to have fun together, which he is now re-experiencing with Charlotte.

They both have trouble sleeping and so spend time together. A pattern I’ve been noticing is that I seem to like when people just enjoying being with each other. They don’t have to be doing anything particularly fantastic, they just feel comfortable and content in the moment that they are together. Oh, I also appear to love how people look at each other. Charlotte’s face instantly warms when she spots Bob and he always looks so much more relaxed when he sees her. They spend a lot of time just looking at the other and so obviously I was pleased. Towards the end they are lying in the same bed and through talking they seem to be able to get the sleep that they couldn’t get alone.

It’s time for him to leave and they both don’t want it to happen. They say bye but it’s not really how either of them wanted it and you can see he’s disappointed. On the way to the airport he spots her walking in a crowd and he jumps out of the car to catch up with her. He whispers something to her and they kiss. Then they go their separate ways and they’ll probably never see each other again but they’ve got the memory of the time they spent together and they’re both a little different as a result.

8/10