The Rum Diary
starring Johnny Depp
based on novel by Hunter S. Thompson
– an American journalist working in Puerto Rico during the 1950s seeks a balance between island culture and the ex-patriots
The Ides of March
starring Ryan Gosling and George Clooney
–idealism. dirty politics. Ryan Gosling.
Moneyball
starring Brad Pitt, Robin Wright, Jonah Hill
–story of Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane’s successful attempt to put together a baseball team using computer-generated analysis to draft players
Machine Gun Preacher
starring Gerard Butler
–story of Sam Childers, a former drug-dealing biker tough guy who became a crusader for hundreds of Sudanese child-soldiers
Margaret
starring Anna Paquin, Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo, Allison Janney
–a woman witnesses a bus accident and the question of whether or not it was intentional affects many people’s lives.
50/50
starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogan
–comedy about a young man’s battle with cancer
Martha Marcy May Marlene
starring Elizabeth Olson
–a woman flees an abusive cult
The Skin I Live In
starring Antonio Banderas
written and directed by Pedro Almodovar
–a plastic surgeon creates a type of synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage
–In this eco-friendly experiment a writer and his wife and young daughter attempt to have the smallest carbon footprint possible. The New Yorkers shop the farmer’s market, go vegetarian, ride bikes around the city and stop using electricity. It’s a struggle and some things work and some things don’t. It’s thorough and thoughtful.
–This is one of the creepiest and most engrossing documentaries I’ve ever seen. Just see it. I don’t want to give anything away. Okay, I’ll say that two guys who grew up on Staten Island investigate an Urban Legend.
–A film about a parking lot and its attendants? Yes! It’s a parking lot near University of Virginia. It’s totally absorbing.
–Large cross-section of screenwriters interviewed for this documentary, at various stages of their careers. It’s fascinating and eye-opening.
–Stand-up comedy may look relatively easy but it’s not. This film shows what it takes to work out jokes, to play to different audiences and to keep the momentum over time.
Total Shutter Island moment. Too bad really because the Jim Sheridan [In America] film stars Naomi Watts, Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig may have potential but the trailer had to give it away. So frustrating. I’m always looking for a good thriller too. I’m sure I’ll still see it as I like the cast.
My dad always used to say I was positively charged. Negative people came at me.
–Hold Your Peace
It’s almost a bit of an insult to vegetarians. Fine they don’t eat meat but they deserve some form of respect in terms of cooking vegetables properly.
–Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares [what I've been watching on Netflix instant]
I’ve got someone working on it. He’s a Sheriff. And a vampire.
–Sookie Stackhouse, True Blood S3: episode 2
the first one was so fun. love almost anything that Robert Downey Jr. does and I’m a big fan of Guy Ritchie and Jude Law too. Plus will be good to see Noomi Rapace [Girl with the Dragon Tattoo] in something different.
I never liked her. It’s a horrible thing to say, it sounds so snobbish and superior, but I never considered her my equal, or yours, frankly. Not because she’s not smart, she is smart, but she’s not at all . . . imaginative or interesting. Or maybe it’s just that she has no capacity for joy or wildness.
I was your genius in a box, but I wouldn’t stay where you wanted me, wouldn’t act the way you thought I should. You always had the moral upper hand. I was always in the wrong.
The Astral by Kate Christensen
And who could want that acquiescence anyway? Where is the fight, the dance, the tease, the passion of the relationship? Is love so worthless that we give it up to be told what we want to hear?
From “Full Condom,” by Dianne Rinehart in He Said What?
It’s just hard for me to find the kind of girl I like in Chicago.
–Jessie in Jamie and Jessie are Not Together
I don’t need a blackboard or a classroom to set an example.
–Elizabeth [Cameron Diaz], Bad Teacher
The present’s a little unsatisfying because life is a little unsatisfying
–Midnight in Paris
You’re old when you learn that needs are to be eclipsed by civility. You’re old when you join the sticky, stenchy morass of concealed neediness that is society. You’re old when you give up trying to change people because then they might want to change you too.
–Anthropology of an American Girl: a Novel by Hilary Thayer Hamann
When we came up we were paranoid about stardom and that was a good thing . . . you keep a watchful eye to protect your music, your band, your internal life . . .
–Bruce Springsteen on Spectacle: Elvis Costello with . . .
You never stop needing your parents. They’re part of who you are.
Posted by Amy Steele 
