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Reviews
Everything You Want (2006)
Happy, Serious, Funny, and E.Y.W.
I generally like simple romantic "fluff" films, but anyone who takes this wonderful tale as merely a college kids' love story is missing a lot.
First, Shiri Appleby was perfectly cast as the cute, naive, slightly odd art "student". She carried the role wonderfully, like a girl that I would truly want to get to know and ask out. Her interaction with her pretty but very ditsy blonde roommate Alexandra (Jessica Lindstrom) was both real and wonderfully timed, both actresses showing interaction and chemistry that you don't usually find in light romantic stuff.
Fellow art student and aspiring boy friend Quinn (Nick Zano) did a good job as the somewhat shy "hunk", but came off as a bit too "neanderthal" for a pre-law student, unless I don't remember what pre-laws were like. Could be this was intentional, since he seems to blossom as the film progresses. The sound track is apt, enjoyable, and counterpoints the film's action wonderfully.
Up to this point, the film would get a mere "6" for "I enjoyed it".
However, what pushes over the top IMAO are three things: Quinn's fully weird roomie Canadian Cal (Will Friedle) whose antics and delivery made me laugh out loud; Abbi's (Appleby) parents, George & Mary (Scott Wilkinson & Edie McClurg) who were the perfect foils for both roomie Alex's ditsiness and roomie Cal's weirdness; and the underlying theme of "surrealism".
George & Mary's odd antics suddenly catch you and force you to see that "weird and ditsy" is neither undesirable nor merely an aside, but that people can be truly happy within their own world. More, as events in the story continue, we see that Cal and Alex -- who never interact oddly enough -- are neither of them as dumb or weird as we are first let to believe.
This sub-theme, as well as the repeated hints about surrealism, subtly hint that it's OK, even laudable to live in your own dreams, as long as you are able to touch the real world. As Quinn says as he begins to awaken to the art world, "surrealism has less to do with what is random and senseless, and more to do with accepting that our lives don't always have to make sense." This film is a sleeper, sorta sneaks up on you, and you'll remember this one long after the final credits fade. Speaking of, is it mere coincidence that Alex only goes out with boys named "Ryan", and the film's most able director's ALSO Ryan (Little)? I think not! In fact, this is only one of many, many things that are not what they seem, but carry double ( and more ) entendres.
8/10, for "would see it again", "made me laugh out loud", and "made me think".
Hearts in Atlantis (2001)
Wouldn't've missed a minute of it.
To many, Stephan King is a well of horror, Lovecraftian chill that creeps upon us in the dead of night. So when his fantasy of insight comes along, they are struck blind, disappointed, let down by the mildness of the tale.
Director Hicks, screenplay writer Goldman, and the superlative team of Mr. Hopkins and young Yelchin have brought alive this artist's touch of Mr. King, in a finely crafted, sensitive film that just departs from the four walls of our mundane reality. In many subtle touches throughout the film, we -- even those of us Constant Readers who would read Mr. King's laundry list if he published it -- are guided through Goldman's skillful adaptation of the original novel.
Better than the book? Worse? No, this humble viewer will just say that the film can stand on its own, if we are just willing to let our eyes be opened to what can be.