Joe Lo Truglio

Joe Lo Truglio in Paul
Photo courtesy of http://collider.com/ken-marino-joe-lo-truglio-interview-party-down-movie/86426/

Happy birthday to Joe Lo Truglio, who turns 41 today.  Truglio is not a well known actor, but I am sure people have seen him in movies before.  He was in movies like Superbad, Fanboys, Pineapple Express, Role Models, and I Love You, Man.  In I Love You, Man, he plays the high pitch voice guy.  I chose to watch one of his more recent movies, Paul.

On with the movie.  While Truglio will sadly never have a main role, he does play his comical supporting roles very well.  This movie is no different.  His subtle humor and banter with Bill Hader was spot on.  My favorite scene with Truglio was when he is playing hide-and-seek with Hader.  It was just such a simple scene, and yet I was cracking up with laughter.  The movie itself was a little lack luster.  I had high hopes for this movie, but they fell a little short.  This movie was funny, but it didn't flow very smoothly.  It started out slow, picked up in the middle but slowed towards the end, and picked up just ever so slightly at the end.  It saddens me that most people will only know Truglio as that one guy, because he truly deserves to be better known.  I hope, someday, Joe Lo Truglio will become a household name.  And with that, I raise my lighter to light the candles on Joe's cake.

I give this movie 2 ½ cakes out of 5.

Ricardo Montalban

Ricardo Montalban (left) and Pricilla Presley
Photo courtesy of http://www.flixster.com/photos/ricardo-montalban-the-naked-gun-from-the-files-of-police-squad-ricardo-montalban-as-vincent-ludwig-in-the-naked-gun-from-the-files-of-police-squad-11338651

Happy birthday to Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino, or more commonly known as Ricardo Montalban. He would have turned 91 today.  He sadly passed away in early 2009 from congestive heart failure at the age of 88.  Montalban is probably best known for the TV show Fantasy Island.  I chose to watch his movie The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! from 1988.  One thing to note about this movie is that it is a spoof movie on the TV show Police Squad.


On with the movie.  I personally love this movie, mainly because I like spoof movies and I love Leslie Nielsen.  This movie is funny in that corny, 80's comedy kind of way.  The humor in this movie would not have been possible without the amazing cast, which includes Leslie Nielsen, Pricilla Presley, and O.J. Simpson.  Montalban plays the bad guy in this movie, but in a funnyish kind of way.  I haven't seen any of his other movies or shows so I only know him as this role, and he does a good job at it.  And with that, I raise my lighter to light the candles on Ricardo's cake.


I give this movie 3 cakes out of 5.  

Owen Wilson

Luke Wilson (left) and Owen Wilson in Bottle Rocket
Photo courtesy of http://bullmurph.com/2011/06/29/a-different-kind-of-independence-day-revisiting-bottle-rocket/

Happy birthday to Owen Wilson, who turns 43 today.  Everyone knows Wilson for his work in Meet the Parents, Cars, Wedding Crashers, and Zoolander, but I wanted to see the movie that started it all Bottle Rocket from 1996.  This was Owen Wilson and his younger brother Luke Wilson acting debut.  It was also writer, directer Wes Anderson's writing debut.  He co-wrote this film with our birthday boy.

On with the movie.  I love Wes Anderson movies, so I was really excited to watch this film.  Sadly, I was very disappointed.  The movie started out really slow, and didn't pick up until the final 15 minutes of the movie.  The only scenes worth watching in this entire movie were the escape from the hospital at the beginning, the robbing of the bookstore, and then from the big heist to the ending of the movie.  In the bookstore robbery, Owen thinks putting a piece of tape over his nose will protect himself from being identified, but it just causes the employee to say "why is there tape on your nose?" (which is my favorite line in the whole movie).  I found it a little weird/distracting that Luke Wilson was cast to play Owen's friend, even though they are brothers and look very similar to each other.  I think that this was either poor casting or poor writing.  Either way, it didn't really work for me.  Owen did an okay job on his acting.  He didn't really get to showcase his humor, which was a little saddening.  I did like the jumpsuit that Owen started wearing and his motorcycle scene.  His writing could have been a little better.  I mean they never really stated what they were stealing in the big heist, and they jumped around in a couple scenes without any transitions.  I am glad that Owen's writing and acting has gotten better.  And with that, I raise my lighter to light the candles on Owen's cake.

I give this movie 2 cakes out of 5.  If you are a Wes Anderson or Owen Wilson fan, I think that you should watch this film just to see how it all began and how far they both have come.

Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio in The Aviator
Photo courtesy of http://wabootboy.wordpress.com/2011/02/11/classics-the-aviator/

Happy birthday to Leonardo DiCaprio, who turns 37 today.  In honor of his new movie J. Edger coming to theaters, I chose to watch The Aviator from 2004.  The Aviator is the real life story of director and aviator Howard Hughes.  It follows Hughes's career from 1930 with his film Hell's Angels to 1947 with "the way of the future."
On with the movie.  Leo did an amazing job doing a slow decent into severe OCD.  Throughout the movie, Hughes's OCD gets progressively worse, and Leo does a great job at capturing this.  I am also going to credit some of this awesomeness to the director, Martin Scorsese, but a majority goes to Leo.  I always enjoy a good biopic, but this one was a little hard to watch.  The length of this movie was far to long.  It was 2 hours and 50 minutes.  It did NOT need to be this long.  I believe that this could have been a fine movie at 2 hours or even 1 hour and 30 minutes.  I was also extremely disappointed with the lack of a biographical wrap up at the end of the movie.  You wouldn't think this is a big deal, but the ending of the movie really left a lot of wondering.  I do enjoy knowing what happened to people after the movie has concluded.  Leo did an overall good job on portraying Hughes.  And with that, I raise my lighter to light the candles on Leo's cake.

I give this movie 3 cakes out of 5.  I'm not sure how I feel about this movie.  I think that if I watched it a couple more times that I would be able to give a more definitive rating.

Matthew McConaughey

Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew McConaughey in Failure to Launch
Photo curtesy of http://www.allmoviephoto.com/photo/2006_failure_to_launch_002.html

Happy 42^nd birthday to Matthew McConaughey.  This week I picked McConaughey's movie Failure to Launch from 2006.  This movie is about Tripp (McConaughey) who doesn't want to move out of his parents's house (played by Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw).  So his rents hire Paula (played by Sarah Jessica Parker) to pretend to be Tripp's girlfriend in order to boost his confidence and get him to move out of their house.  Bradley Cooper, Justin Bartha, and Zooey Deschanel also star in this movie.

On with the movie.  I'm going to be honest, I didn't really have high hopes for this movie.  I feel that having very low expectations for this movie, made it a decent and funny movie.  I know that the combination of McConaughey and SJP doesn't sound like a very promising pairing, but I guess it was ok...  I don't know that I would have chose them to star together, but then again I'm not the casting director.  I would like to know what the casting director was thinking when putting them together...  McConaughey is playing his normal outdoorsy type guy, so there really isn't much acting involved.  I believe that there is only two scenes where McConaughey has his shirt off.  With McConaughey playing himself, I can't really bash him that much on his acting.  And with that, I raise my lighter to light the candles on Matthew's cake.

I give this movie 2 cakes out of 5.  The 2 cakes is based on going into knowing it is a bad movie, also the dead pan humor of Zooey Deschanel and the good looks of Bradley Cooper.  If those things were not a factor, this would easily be a 1 cake or even ½ a cake...

Joaquin Phoenix

Well I would like to start out by saying happy birthday to one of my favorite actors of all time, Ms. Julia Roberts.  She turns 44 today.  I was going to review one of her movies, but I know that I would be far to bias in my review.  I just love her work, and she can do no wrong in my book.  Ok, sorry about that.  Now onto our other actor celebrating a birthday today.

Joaquin Phoenix in Buffalo Soldiers 
Photo courtesy of http://www.allstarpics.net/0618313/012003184/buffalo-soldiers-2001-pic.html

Happy birthday to the man who "quit" acting, Joaquin Phoenix.  He turns 37 today.  I chose to do a movie that it seems no one knows about.  It's called Buffalo Soldiers and was made in 2001.  No, it has nothing to do with Bob Marley's song of the same name.  It's actually about Ray Elwood (Phoenix) who runs a black market for everything and anything, including homemade heroin (scandalous!), and his struggle with a Sgt. Lee whom they call "Top" (played by Scott Glenn).  Anna Paquin plays Phoenix's love interest who is also Glenn's daughter.
On with the movie.  I just don't know where to start with this movie.  The storyline was different and interesting, but the added romance was unnecessary.  The storyline also got became a little difficult to follow at times, but it was overall interesting.
The acting on the other hand...  It was painful to watch.  I thought that Phoenix was suppose to be a good actor, but I guess I was wrong.  Granted he did have some good scenes but those were sparse.
I wanted to like this movie, but I found it hard to like it.  Phoenix character was undeveloped, along with everyone else's characters, and the ending to the movie was a little hard to believe.  And with that, I raise my lighter to light the candles on Joaquin's cake.

I give this movie 1 ½ cakes out of 5.  It could have been 2 ½ cakes but the bad acting by Anna Paquin and others became distracting and brought this movie down.

Carrie Fisher

Tom Hanks (left) and Carrie Fisher in The Man with One Red Shoe
Photo courtesy of http://www.themoviescene.co.uk/reviews/the-man-with-one-red-shoe/the-man-with-one-red-shoe.html

Happy 55^th birthday to the queen of Star Wars, Carrie Fisher.  Today I chose to watch a movie that is in no way related to Star Wars.  I picked The Man with One Red Shoe from 1985.  When I chose this movie, I thought that Fisher had a large role.  Boy, was I wrong.  She is only on the screen for four scenes if you don't count her voice recordings.
Any who, on with the movie.  Carrie Fisher in this movie is a scene stealer.  She plays the wife of Jim Belushi, but is trying to start an affair with Tom Hanks (who wants nothing to do with her).  Her "Jane" outfit, when she goes to "seduce" Hanks, is top notch (see picture above).  For the Star Wars fans reading, this is your equivalent to the classic Princess Leia slave outfit for this movie.
Fisher also plays a good jealous woman.  There's a scene with the orchestra where Hanks is making eyes at Lori Singer and Fisher sees it.  You can just feel the jealousy radiating off of her.
This movie tried to be funny, but it just came off as desperate and unfunny.  I only laughed once during this comedy.  It was when Belushi was finding all the dead bodies.  Fisher did a good job in this movie, too bad she couldn't help save this movie.  And with that, I raise my lighter to light the candles on Carrie's cake.

I give this movie a disappointing 2 cakes out of 5.  I thought the combination of Belushi, Fisher, and 80's Hanks would be brilliant, but the writing just wasn't right for this amazing grouping.

Steve Coogan

Steve Coogan (left) and Amy Poehler in Hamlet 2 
Photo courtesy of http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/hamlet-2-will-rape-your-face-mind-and-soulin-a-good-way.php

Happy 46^th  birthday to our friend from across the pond, Steve Coogan.  Today I chose to watch a movie of his that has been on my "movies I want to watch" list for quite some time.  That movie is Hamlet 2, and no this movie is not a sequel.  
On with the movie.  I don't know where to start with this movie.  It was funny, had a good message, the casting was good, and Coogan was great!  
Coogan was able to hold his own with scene stealer Amy Poehler.  He didn't let her take over the scenes, which was good.  
The way Coogan carries himself and his reaction to things in this movie really brought the laughter full circle.  An example of this would be when the character Octavio says his name is "Heywood Jablowme" and Coogan thinks this is his real name.  So he calls him Heywood the whole movie, until Coogan goes over to "Heywood's" parents house and learns his name is really Octavio.  The expression on Coogan's face is priceless.
The songs in the play Hamlet 2 are so catchy that you can't help but tap along.  There is one song in particular that I can't get out of my head.  Its "Rock Me Sexy Jesus" and I am just going to say you're welcome for getting it stuck in your head right now.  You will also see Elisabeth Shue (who plays herself in the movie) in this clip in the audience and in the nurse outfit.
My favorite lines in this movie were "Raped in the face" which was repeated throughout the movie, and "You're a liar! Everyone has rain gutters!"  I don't know why I laughed so hard at the rain gutters quote, perhaps it was the delivery of it.  
And with that, I would like to raise my lighter to light the candles on Steve's cake.


I give this movie 3 ½ cakes out of 5.

June Allyson

June Allyson and David Niven in My Man Godfrey.
Photo courtesy of http://dawnschickflicks.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-man-godfrey-1957.html

Happy birthday to the late June Allyson.  Today she would have been 94.  She died in 2006 at the age of 88.   People might know her as Jo from Little Women (1949) or perhaps from the Depends commercials.  In honor of her birthday, I chose to watch her movie My Man Godfrey from 1957.

On with the movie.  I honestly don't know what to say about this movie...  It was horrible.  It was such a struggle to sit there and watch it.  June looked too old for her role.  I felt like she was trying to be the equivalent of fast talking, wise cracking Katharine Hepburn, but failed miserably.  The lines were poorly delivered by all, and the plot was boring and nonexistent.  To me, June seems more of a dramatic actress and shouldn't really do comedy.  But that is just basing it off of the two movies I have seen her in, Little Women and this one.  And with that, I raise my lighter to light the candles on June’s birthday cake.

Overall I give this movie a disappointing ½ a cake out of 5.  The only reason it got ½ was because of the maid, played by Jeff Donnell.  She had some lines in there that got a chuckle, which is more than I can say for the rest of the cast...

Marion Cotillard

Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose
Photo curtsy of http://marion-cotillard.org/media/displayimage.php?album=165&pid=20801#top_display_media

Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose
Photo curtsy of http://marion-cotillard.org/media/displayimage.php?album=165&pid=21500#top_display_media

Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose
Photo curtsy of http://marion-cotillard.org/media/displayimage.php?album=165&pid=21075#top_display_media

Joyeux Anniversaire Marion Cotillard!  That's french for "happy birthday Marion Cotillard."  Today is her 36^th  birthday.  To celebrate, I chose to watch the movie that brought her home the Oscar, La Vie en Rose.  It is about the life and death of Edith Piaf, a French singer.  I'm sure everyone has heard her most famous song, but didn't know it at the time.  If you have seen Inception, then you know her song.  It is the song they use to let you know the "kick" is coming.  And for those of you who haven't seen Inception or don't believe me that you have heard her song, here is a great youtube of Edith singing her most well known songs "Non, je ne regrette rien" and "La vie en Rose."


Now on with the movie.  Marion Cotillard's Oscar was well deserved.  She did an amazing job.  I could really feel her pain and love with Marcel.  I had tears in my eyes during the watch scene (I don't want to give to much of this scene away but it is a heart breaking scene).  Then the tears came again during the drawn out, yet tasteful, death scene.  Cotillard's transformation between the decades of Edith is so well done (see pictures above).  I don't know if I should credit the makeup team for the physical transformation or Cotillard for her wonderful portrayal as Edith.  Brava to both.  And with that, I raise my lighter to light the candles on Marion's birthday cake.

I give this movie 4 cakes out of 5.  It would have been a higher rating if it wasn't for all the jumping around.  It was a little difficult to follow on top of keeping up with the subtitles.    

Mickey Rooney

Mickey Rooney (left) and Art Aragon in Off Limits
Photo courtesy of http://boxrec.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=78351&start=34100 

Happy 91^st birthday to Mickey Rooney.  I love me some Mickey Rooney.  I just want to go pinch his chubby little cheeks.

Everyone knows Rooney from his movies with Judy Garland and the Andrew Hardy films, and those are all great don't get me wrong, but I wanted to see just how great his comedy really was, so I picked the movie  Off Limits.  I felt that this movie would really put his comedic talents to the test because he is starring with one of the comedy greats, Bob Hope.

On with the movie.  I guess I should have known that you can't have a Mickey Rooney movie without some kind of singing.  This one is no exception.  He and Hope sang an interesting song about being a MP.  Other than on the singing front, Rooney can't keep up with Hope.  I don't know if it is just the writing or if it's the acting, but Rooney and Hope aren't in the same league of comedy.
And with that, I raise my lighter to light the candles on Mickey's birthday cake. 

I give this movie 2 cakes out of 5.

Lauren Bacall

From left to right: Marilyn Monroe, Lauren Bacall, and Betty Grable on the set of How to Marry a Millionaire
Photo courtesy of classic movie scan's photostream on http://www.flickr.com/photos/slightlyterrific/5190333781/ 

A very, very, very happy 87^th birthday to the legendary Lauren Bacall.  Yes, she is still alive and kickin' (knock on wood).  Now you might be thinking to yourself, "Great... An old dramatic/film noir movie...  Just what I want."  If you thought that, then you thought WRONG!  I chose to watch How to Marry a Millionaire from 1953, and it is a comedy about gold diggers before that phrase actually existed.  I just have to say before we go any further, that if my birth name was Betty Perske, I would totally change it.  Good move on Lauren's part.

Now on with the movie!  I've seen some Bacall movies before, but they were always the Bogart/Bacall movies.  They were full of mystery and drama, so needless to say, I've never really seen the comedic side of her.  And I guess I am going to have to wait a little longer to see the comedic side...
This movie also stars Betty Grable and Marilyn Monroe leaving Bacall as kind of the "Debbie downer" of the group.  Although she is credited as the "brains" of the group, her comedic timing and delivery leaves something to be desired.  Granted Bacall does have some zingers and some well delivered lines.
I found Bacall being upstaged by Monroe every time they shared the screen, or just anytime in general.  Bacall was sort of the odd ball in this cast.  I wouldn't mind having a discussion with the casting director of this movie and ask them why they cast her in this movie.

Well even though she got upstaged in this movie, and her comedic timing in this movie was nonexistent I still say she did okay in this movie.  And with that, I raise my lighter to light the candles on Lauren's birthday cake.

I give this movie 2 ½ cakes out of 5.  If it wasn't for Marilyn, this movie would have easily been 2 cakes.

Julia Sawalha

Julia Sawalha and her character Ginger from Chicken Run
Photo courtesy of http://www.allstarpics.net/0031718/014494379/chicken-run-pic.html 

A very happy 43^rd birthday to Julia Sawalha!  You might be thinking to yourself, who?  Well I did the same thing, until I saw her most famous movie, Chicken Run.  This movie is from 2000 and from the same guys who did Wallace and Gromit, so you know it is going to be good.  I love me some British movies and this one is no exception.  Julia chose the perfect movie to do a voice in!  She delivered her lines wonderfully, and her banter with Mel Gibson and the other chickens is great.  I don't think I can say anything bad about her performance.  She played a heroine magnificently.  I found myself really hoping her escape plans would work.  Well played Julia.  And with that, I raise my lighter to light the candles on Julia's birthday cake.


I give this movie 3 ½ cakes out of 5.

Salma Hayek

Salma Hayek in 54
Photo courtesy of http://www.salma-hayek.net/photos/displayimage.php?pos=-54

A very happy 45^th birthday to Salma Heyek!  My question is, what made her want to do 54?  Is it just because she wanted to sing and “dance” in a movie?  If that’s the case, I guess she picked the right movie for that…  Her “dance” scene was my favorite scene in the movie.  She was trying to teach disco to some lame kids who wanted to dance if they ever got into Studio 54.  I’m going to go out on a limb here, and say that that never happened for them…  She can do some comedy, which I had no idea.  And I also had no idea that she could sing!  The only problem was, with her having an opera singer for a mother, you would think that she could sing a little better…  Granted in the movie we only heard her sing for a little while.  I mean she was good, don’t get me wrong, but lets just say she isn’t going to win American Idol any time soon… And with that, I raise my lighter to light the candles on Salma’s birthday cake.

 And for those of you bold enough to watch this movie for yourselves or are just curious about what it was about, it was the rise and fall of a young employee of Studio 54 who was our narrator.  This film was rated R for sex and drug use.

I give it 1½ cakes out of 5.