New York Mornings

It's a funny coincidence that all the movies I've seen today are love stories of some sort which are set in New York . I just might be another cliche that is a starry-eyed dreamer, but I'd love to live in New York someday. There is something magical about New York. And from what I've been watching today, it seems as if there's more reason to just pack my bags and leave for New York right this instant.

The Good Guy (2010)

I don't know why exactly, but I've heard so much negative reviews about this movie. Sure, it fits the average, C-list movie category, which Alexis Bledel has been stuck in for the past I-don't-know-how-many movies, just because it's under-budget and under-publicized. But sometimes, good finds are found in the mediocre pile, you know?

The movie is supposedly a parallel to the book The Good Soldier which the main character, Beth (Alexis Bledel) has been pushing her book club to read. It's a war novel and a love story. The book's protagonist parallels the "good guy" Daniel (Bryan Greenberg, One Tree Hill's Jake Jagielski), who was a Marine before he worked in Wall Street with Beth's boyfriend, Tommy. The movie starts out with Tommy as the narrator, which kind of makes it seem as if he's the protagonist, because as Beth says, "you kind of just trust the narrator". Well, he is the boyfriend. Daniel, on the other hand, is in love with Beth despite sacrificing his job in Wall Street. Daniel seemed to be the antagonist who was going to steal Beth away. Turns out, Tommy's a cheating prick, kind of like the narrator of The Good Soldier.

It was a clever turn of events. It is true, we just trust the narrator. It's human instinct. But the fact is, he could very well be the antagonist, which in this movie (and The Good Soldier) he is. I'm a fan of anything and everything clever, which is a good thing for this movie. This movie isn't a cliche, and that's what makes it good.

The Switch (2010)

The Switch started a little bit slow, but it eventually picked up and turned out to be a pretty good movie. Jason Bateman, Jennifer Aniston, Patrick Wilson and Juliette Lewis. The cast was great. The story is similar to The Back-Up Plan mainly because it revolved around the female lead getting artificial insemination and finding love because of it. The twist is, her best friend (Jason Bateman) drunkenly "hijacks" the pregnancy by accidentally spilling the donation down the drain and replacing the donor's (Patrick Wilson) "seed" with his. Thus, the switch.

Patrick Wilson's character, Roland, was a weird character. During his "donation", he was married, which is weird. I mean, what woman would, in the right mind, let her husband make a donation? Sure, they said they needed money, but Roland was a college professor in New York. How could he not make enough money? And, again, no woman would allow her husband to do that. Well, true enough, they eventually got divorced, making him available to date Kassie (Jennifer Aniston). When they started dating, his character turned into this macho, risk-taking guy which didn't seem consistent to who he was earlier in the film. Is it just me, or is his character poorly written?

I love the kid's name--Sebastian. If it weren't reminiscent of that lobster from The Little Mermaid, I would totally name my son Sebastian. The character was so adorable, too! Although at the beginning he was so annoying, being neurotic and all (to highlight the similarities of his character to Wally's). But eventually, he became totally cute especially in his scenes with Wally. Kids are just cute. They can't help it.

The whole movie was like fate putting things together. It started with Wally's drunken mistake, a curve ball, which put his life, Kassie's and Sebastian's in place--which is together to live happily ever after.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008)

I decided to re-watch Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist today since the first time I watched it is on an iPod touch. I should also get to reading the novel.

I forgot Aaron Yoo was in this movie. He's been a welcome addition to a lot of great movies since Disturbia. He was in The Good Guy, too, by the way, but his character was a total douche--a stereotypical Wall Street guy. It's weird through that his character in The Good Guy is the most age-appropriate character he's played, since he's 30 and all. He doesn't look it, right? I like his high school characters. It suits him.

I love movies like this. Those that just happen in one night. The kind of night that you think is such a disaster, but turns out into something amazing. I like those. Adventures. 

I just have one question though. What is up with that gum?

I just realized, I started off this morning with 30 Rock, which is also set in New York. And that episode is about Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy accidentally getting married over the holiday break--a fitting addition to today's theme. I'm sorry. I'm easily amused.