EAT PRAY LOVE - An Onscreen Travel Blog

Well, as much as I enjoy a Julie Roberts movie on occasion, dull is what I find myself saying about her most recent movie in which she plays the main character, Liz Gilbert in ' Eat Pray Love'  one of those 'find yourself' movies.  This movie which is suppose to be about a woman, Liz Gilbert, that has lost her passion for life; was more or less an onscreen travel blog - without action or excitement. 

Mini-Synopsis: Liz leaves everything behind, including her (newly) ex-husband, Stephen (Billy Crudup) and her even newer wanna-be-actor boyfriend, David (James Franco) to travel for an entire year.  First, she goes to Italy for a few months and rediscovers the joy of eating - I found the Italy experience to be one of the best, if not the only interesting of her experiences in the movie.  The second country she goes to is India.  In India she supposedly finds her inner peace through prayer and meditation - enough said.  The final destination is Bali, where she hopes to find balance - and the way she finds it, you guessed it, she falls in love with a wonderful man that makes her feel alive again.  Well, well, well, how else could there be a predictable neat and tidy happy ending without the protagonist falling in love.

Oh, one of the most memorable scenes (for me) in the movie, was when Liz and her buddy (during her India experience), Richard (Richard Jenkins) from Texas who referred to her as 'groceries' because of her appetite, was leaving for the airport.  As Liz and Richard were walking, the extras in the background were looking at Liz as if she were Julie Roberts, that was too freaking funny.  Of course in the next shot, the movie editor caught the flaw - too late. 

I'm glad I used my free-pass to see this chick-flick and I only did so because my copy of the book (which I needed to read for a book club meeting) hadn't come in yet.  What I did truly goes against my rules - never see a movie before reading the book it was adapted from; and I don't know how I could ever force myself to read the book now, considering what a snooze I found the movie to be - so I won't, because I just can't.

The Bounty Hunter – rent it if you need to get some sleep.

Geez, what was I thinking  I can not tell you how much I truly regret wasting my $1.07 at Redbox on this so-called “action-romance.” movie.   The Bounty Hunter, really?.…. Let’s put aside my opinion of Jennifer Aniston & her limited-talent as an actress (beyond television). What Aniston has had going for her is the media’s constant reference to her connection to Brad Pitt and being a blonde, which for some reason that I still can not fathom Hollywood seems to think solidifies one as star quality – perhaps all of Hollywood should dye their hair blonde and be done. 

That said,  Unfortunately, any talent Aniston supposedly has was not mustered into this performance.  Instead, as usual and for some inexplicable reason, there was more focus on her looks and body in this supposed “action-romance.”  

As there are no surprises in this, slow paced “action” flick, I won’t spoil it (any more than I already have) for those who still may actually want to rent it.  Butler plays Milo Boyd, an ex-cop, now bounty hunter who’s thrilled from his head to his toes when an old friend drops an assignment in his lap that calls for bringing Nicole Hurley (Aniston), his ex-wife who is a reporter for the New York Daily News, in for skipping bail. 

Despite the rumors of Aniston and Butler being an off-screen item during filming,  this pair shared absolutely no sparks what-so-ever on the screen; it was as if one found out the other had something they didn’t wish to catch.  On-Screen, Milo and Nicole seemed to despise each other so much that it was hard to even imagine why these two characters would have ever been married in the first place.  Which truly made it difficult to root for them to get back together — which is usually the central theme of movies of this sort.  However, I must admit, I was rooting for the end to be quick and painless as possible.  Alas, it was not – it dragged on at a very slow pace.

He captures her, she escapes.  He finds her, he loses her.  She needs his help, he needs her help, blah, blah, blah, you know the routine. 

Oh, the twist?  if you can call it that, is Nicole (Aniston) needs to get away from her bounty hunter – ex so that she can follow up on a story lead,  surrounding the mystery circumstances of a suicide that was something more menacing than a suicide; and of course, only a cracker-jack reporter such as Nicole along with her boarder-line stalker co-worker, can solve it. 

Recommendation, rent this when all else fails.  Or you need to get some sleep.

Death at a Funeral Delightfully Generates Laughter

Surprisingly, Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence were relatively the straight-men in this 2010 adaptation of the 2007 British film of the same name.  So don’t look to them to bring their usual stand-up brand of humor to this film, instead look to these two comic giants to graciously tip their comedian hats to an ensemble cast that mesh extremely well together; not to mention,  Director Neil LaBute smoothly orchestrates the flow of screwball action. 

This adaptation is almost a scene-by-scene remake of a 2007 British movie with the same title, and the mysterious guest Frank is played by the same actor, Peter Dinklage , and he's even funnier this time around.  

What was meant to be a respectful solemn service quickly turns into a fiasco,  when dysfunctional kinfolks reunite to mourn the death of Aaron (Rock) and Ryan (Martin Lawrence) beloved father.  While mourners gather at the family home, the descendant’s sons find out that their father had been living on the down-low, and to add insult to injury, their father’s 4-foot tall gay lover shows up, expecting them to pay him generously to keep silent about the affair the sons have a hard time believing ever occurred.

One of the back-stories that makes this comedy stand-out stems from Cousin Elaine (Zoe Saldana) not knowing that a bottle labeled "Valium" contained a next generation hallucinogen concocted by her brother (Columbus Short) when she gives one of the pills to her boyfriend, Oscar (James Marsden).  Marsden takes an old gag of his character, Oscar accidentally freaked out on drugs to bizarre heights, and has the audience doubled over in their seats with laughter.

The widow, Loretta Devine comedic timing is flawless as she seems to acquaint her husband’s death with the absence of a grandchild, a child Aaron’s wife, Michelle (Regina Hall) is so desperate to have, and attempts to get her husband to fertilize her during the midst of absolute chaos.   And as for Danny Glover he is over the top as crabby Uncle Russell, who could easily make a saint want to push him down a flight of stairs, wheel chair and all.   There is so much more to say about this film but time and space do not permit,  just know that Death at a Funeral is delightfully amazing and generates belly-roll laughter.

Why Did I Get Married Too, Is Worth Seeing Too

Although Tyler Perry's latest couple's retreat theory adaptation was not screened for critics, who knows why the heck not, perhaps because his movies are critic-proof; but regardless of critics and certain audience members not giving this movie the chance it deserves along side the others, it is an entertaining positive portrait of upper-middle-class life, and to top that off, despite critics and nay-sayers, it still earned over $30.1M at the box office during its opening weekend.

Tyler Perry has ascended to the status of media mogul on the strength of his combination of Christian morality, slapstick comedy, and soap-operatic melodrama. In 2005, his play DIARY OF A MAD BLACK...Tyler Perry displays his strength as a media mogul while using a combination of comedy and Christian morality, in this sequel to his 2007 “Why Did I Get Married” Perry continues to provide his audience with positive portrayals of (African-American) characters and family-friendly-subject matter, this film can actually appeal to a broad audience if given a chance beyond the color structure, because the subject matter is universal, and features an engaging cast.

The synopsis of the movie is that, four Atlanta couples who have been friends since college take their (second) annual one-week therapeutic retreat getaway, this time to the Bahamas, to evaluate their marriages and improve their relationships. Terry (Tyler Perry) and Dianne (Sharon Leal) are blissfully happy – but are they really, with two little kids at home. Angela (Tasha Smith) and Marcus (Michael Jai White) fight constantly, probably because she suspects that he's a serial cheater and she's clearly a belligerent lush – but is there something that lays beneath the surface that isn’t known to the other or both. Patricia (Janet Jackson), the bestselling self-help author, and her husband, Gavin (Malik Yoba), appear to be happy but are obviously concealing something, other than the fact that they don’t have the picturesque marriage she portrays they neither have nor the one he claims he wants them to have. And Sheila (Jill Scott) is there with her new husband, Troy (Lamman Rucker), a decent man who's a welcome replacement for her ex loathsome Mike (Richard T. Jones), but Troy appears to be concealing a secret he doesn’t want his spouse to share with the others. And speaking of the ex, Mike, he has the nerve to show up unexpectedly and unwelcomed. But the real melodrama begins when the couples get back to Atlanta, as Mike has an even more shocking and more disturbing secret to share with Sheila and the others. Which almost pales in comparison to the dramatic conclusion of events surrounding the other couple(s), including and especially… Ooops! lets not give this away to those who’ve not had the opportunity to see this entertaining movie.

The movie is enjoyable, it was not as predictable as part 1 or as so many other sequels and movies are, there are indeed some twist and turns not anticipated in this one. Although audiences will doubled over with laughter, they will indeed appreciate the dramatic intensity from the characters & storyline as well.