Cameron Crowe's ALOHA Opens Friday! #AlohaMovie

Bradley Cooper Emma Stone in Cameron Crowe's ALOHA

Tomorrow ALOHA is released. After much begging I was invited to see a screening earlier this week. I make no bone about my love of Cameron Crowe. If they made posters of directors I would hang his over my bed. It's hard to find films these days that feature the personal journey and Crowe is a master of them..

Tuesday night as we waited for the lights to dim in the theatre we were surprised by an appearance by the director himself. He urged us to set aside any leaked emails we might have read disparaging ALOHA. Personally I choose not to read the emails that came out but I know a lot of you did and I too would encourage you not to pay attention to how the sausage is made, because it is delicious.

Aloha is a story about selling out, as is often the case in Crowe films. The romance of the space program has been replaced by greedy megalomaniac billionaires (wonderfully played by Bill Murray).  Brian Gilchrist (Bradley Cooper) is said billionaire's prodigal employee returned for a chance at career redemption. Enter the extremely earnest Captain Allison Ng (Emma Stone), Brian's military baby sitter. She has different ideas about what kind of redemption Bradley's character should be after. Conflict and canoodling ensues.

The second story features Brian's (Bradley Cooper) long lost love Tracy Woodside (Rachel McAdams) who is married to the silent pilot Woody Woodside ( John Krasinski). There are lots of unresolved feeling and some hysterical scenes where they are resolved.

I found the film very sweet and even in a theatre full of film critics there was laughing out loud and a trickle of applause at the end. If you are looking for a film without super heroes, earthquakes, or post-apocalyptic shenanigans, run don't walk! They are few and far between and this is a good one.

Update: I know I was virtually on my own in liking this film. I definitely get why people were upset about Emma Stone's character and I thought I would share Cameron Crowe's response to that.

You can find it on his blog THE  UNCOOL

Finally The Trailer for Cameron Crowe's New Film ALOHA #ALOHA

Bradley Cooper and Emma Stone in Cameron Crowe's Aloha

I am so stoked to see Cameron Crowe's new film, ALOHA. I don't even have to know what it is because I trust him to make something I will love. Have we had some misses? Yes, but I am still true to him and Aaron Sorkin. They seem fine with sharing me.

As it turns out Aloha has an epic cast with, starting with the cast member I'm most excited about, Bill Murry, then in no particular order Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, Rachel McAdams, and John Krasinski. Kind of a dream team, right?

The story according to the studio: In Aloha, a celebrated military contractor (Bradley Cooper) returns to the site of his greatest career triumphs - the US Space program in Honolulu, Hawaii - and reconnects with a long-ago love (Rachel McAdams) while unexpectedly falling for the hard-charging Air Force watchdog (Emma Stone) assigned to him. 

It opens May 29th and based on the trailer I have a feeling it will be huge. So get advance tickets.




The music is great in this trailer, no surprise that Cameron has great taste in music. It's Cold War Kids and the song is called First.

The Grand Budapest Hotel Opens Friday

Wes Anderson's new film The Grand Budapest Hotel opens this Friday March 7th. If you love Anderson's films, like I do, you won't be disappointed here. It is all the witty, quirky antics of an all star cast you would expect. I can't be certain, because of all the amazing wigs, mustaches and makeup, but I think Wes managed to get the vast majority of all of his previous cast family in this. There are lots of small roles played by the likes of Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Tilda Swinton, and the list goes on and on.

The film itself tells the story of a luxury hotel Concierge (Ralph Fiennes) and his favorite lobby boy (Tony Revolori). You would think these two wouldn't get up to much but in Anderson's ridiculously stylized world they run amok. The Concierge, Gustave, has affairs with his elderly female guests and when one of them dies and leaves him something priceless in her will her family isn't happy and the chase begins. His faithful lobby boy, Zero, is there to lend a hand in any way necessary. The entire film has a caper quality to it complete with chase scenes, escapes, and clandestine confessions in churches.

It really is a beautiful film to look at and as always Anderson's screenplay is perfectly farcicle. It reminds me in someways of comedy films of the era it is set in, between the world wars in what I believe is eastern Europe. The characters, set and costumes definitely have that look to them. Certainly precode based on the language.

If you don't believe me just watch this trailer...

The Monuments Men Opens Friday

The Monument Men opens this Friday. My husband and I were invited to a screening earlier this week and loved it. The film is the true story of art historians who during WWII searched for the masterpieces of Europe that had been stolen by the Nazis. The cast is beyond impressive with George Clooney, Matt Damon, John Goodman, Bill Murray, and Cate Blanchett.

The film is very reminiscent of films of the WWII era. It is witty and action pact without insane special effects or overbearing soundtrack. My husband who usually loves those loud movies, loved this one too, and he can be difficult to please. I will warn you that if you are an art aficionado there are some SAW level disturbing scenes.

Much of the film happens in Belgium where I lived as a teenager in the 80s. I had no idea at the time that I had the men pictured above to thank for the works of art I saw there. They are truly responsible for saving the culture that fills Europe's museums and cathedrals, not to mention returning personal collections to their proper owners.

Wes Anderson Moonrise Kingdom

Finally got a chance to see a screening of Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom last night, and loved it. It had some of Anderson's regular players, like Bill Murray and Jason Shwartzman, but also some new people like Bruce Willis, Ed Norton and (one of my personal favorites) Frances McDormand. The entire cast was phenomenal, especially the two kids in the lead roles  Jared Gilman and Kara Haytward.

The story is about two misfit children who find one another and run away together.Reminds me in the vaguest of way of A Little Romance. It is incredibly sweet and as with all Wes Anderson films somewhat quirky. His mastery of the ridiculous had this audience laughing out loud throughout the film. There are several homages to great scenes from other films and it is fun to try to figure out what is from where. (see trailer below for one)

Some of my favorite characters were Jason Shwartzman's scouts supply sergent, who just like in every WWII movie, is able to get everything for a price. Though the scene was brief, I think he was channeling Tony Curtis from Operation Petticoat. Francis McDormand didn't get a lot to do but her bull horn wield mother was extremely real, and frankly I'm considering a bull horn of my own. Bruce Willis' cop was a sad little man but had some really gem lines like "Even smart people stick their finger in socket sometimes"

I give this film to Khaki Scout/Beige Lunatic thumbs up. If you love Wes Anderson like I do this is a sure thing. If you maybe somehow aren't that familiar with his films this is a great place to jump in and see what the waters like.

Here's the trailer if you need more convincing



Find Moonrise Kingdom at a theatre near you