Little Miss Sunshine

This week I was treated to a pre-screening of the Fox Searchlight comedy Little Miss Sunshine.

It stars Alan Arkin, Greg Kinnear, Toni Colette & a bearded Steve Carell.

You HAVE to see this movie. Funniest thing in years.
I'll try not to spoil it.
The characters are part of a family, that is not as dysfunctional as what we are accustomed to, this could be ours.

- A suicidal uncle
- A teenager with a vow of silence
- A struggling motivational speaker dad
- A secret smoking mother
- A little girl hoping to win a beauty pageant
- A Heroine snorting Grandpa

The tag line says it all, as they are being pulled over the dad says: Everybody pretend to be normal.

Great stuff.
The audience even clapped after the movie.

I strongly recommend seeing this.
Enjoy!

I forgot an actor from my last post:
Vincent D'Onofrio, maybe the best.
If you only know him as the brilliant autistic cop from Law & Order Criminal Intent, then do yourself a favor and rent Full Metal Jacket.
That movie is a classic and D'Onofrio is frighteningly good.
Then check out The Salton Sea. It also stars Val Kilmer and I think is maybe even better than Memento.

Lady in the Water

I feel compelled to write something about this movie because it's being panned by the critics.

I know don't know if it's because a critic gets a harsh treatment in the movie but they're going overboard with the reviews.

This is a fairy tale (one he created for his family), so yes there are some fantastical elements. That's the point.

If you're looking for entertainment and some amazing acting, by 2 of the greatest of our generation - Paul Giamatti & Jeffrey Wright, then see this.
I knew some of the elements that were going to happen and I still loved it.

M. Knight plays a larger role in this one too, he's not that bad.

If you want to see Wright in brilliant roles I suggest Boycott, he plays Martin L. King, and the most amazing Basquiat, where he plays Jean-Michel Basquiat and David Bowie plays Andy Warhol.

For Giamatti make sure you see American Splendor, some of his best work.

For the record here's an incomplete list of the best actors in our generation, with a classic role:

Johnny Depp (Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas)
Jeffrey Wright (Basquiat)
Paul Giamatti (Man on the Moon)
Steve Buscemi (Trees Lounge)
Gary Oldman (Sid & Nancy) - He might be on the old side for this list
Ed Norton (American History X)
Benicio Del Toro (Traffic)
Robert Downey Jr. (Natural Born Killers)
Kevin Spacey (Se7en)