Winter Passing (AKA Happy Endings [UK Release])

Directed By: Adam Rapp
Written By: Adam Rapp
Starring:
Zooey Deschanel
Ed Harris
Will Ferrell
Amelia Warner

“The Woman treated me as a mild curiosity all my life” – Reese

Winter Passing is the first feature film from playwright Adam Rapp.

It follows the story of Reese Holden (Deschanel) a struggling actress living in New York who is approached by a literary agent who offers her a small fortune which she will get if she can obtain letters of correspondence from her famous famous novelist parents Don (Harris) and Mary Holden (Mary has recently passed away) from early in their relationship. Reese agrees to the deal and travel back home to Michigan to be with hear father and try to find the letters. While there Reese meets the people that her father has taken in since her mother’s passing, handy(ish) man Corbit (Ferrell) and former student Shelly (Warner).

This is a really nice film and is well made by Rapp.

Zooey Deschanel is superb, she plays her character of a young woman reduced to rubble by her parents extremely well. For the first twenty minutes or so she carries the movie on her shoulders. Ed Harris gives a stirring portrayal as the reclusive writer Don Holden. Will Ferrell and Amelia Warner are really good as the supporting characters.

There is going to be people who will consider the movie a bit slow, but it is a joy to watch. All the characters are well rounded and interesting to watch interact with each other.

The music that was chosen for the movie fits in nicely where they are placed. The music adds to the tone the movie is setting.

Deschanel’s performance really fully evokes on screen how Reese is feeling, cold and lonely.

I love the first twenty minutes of the film, before we find out much about her parents, we can see the psychological damage that they have inflicted upon her, She now does cocaine and has resorted to slamming her hand in a drawer just to feel something.

His is a wonderful and emotional film with great characters, a solid story and would be worth watching for Zooey Deschanel and Ed Harris’ performances alone.

7/10 – Cody
N/A – Michael

70%

(500) Days of Summer

Directed By: Marc Webb

Written By:  Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber

Starring:

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Zooey Deschanel

Geoffrey Arend

Chloë Grace Moretz

Matthew Gray Gubler

Clark Gregg

There’s no such thing as love, it’s fantasy… – Summer

(500) Days of Summer is Marc Webb’s stellar feature film directorial debut

This movie follows the story of greeting card writer Tom (Gordon-Levitt) who falls in love with the radiant Summer (Deschanel), who doesn’t believe that true love exists. The movie starts on day 488 and flips back and forth between the days as Tom remembers his relationship with Summer, the highs and the lows.

This film is easily one of the best romantic comedy movies ever made as it is more realistic, original and breaks away from the cinematic norm of what people expect a romantic comedy should be like. One part that is original in this movie that I personally love is the Expectations/Reality moment where we see onscreen in split-screen Tom’s expectations for a particular encounter, the reality and how different the two really are.

The acting is really great, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is wonderful as the lovelorn Tom and Zooey Deschanel is sublime as free spirited Summer. All the supporting Cast are very solid and funny especially Chloë Grace Moretz as Tom’s wise beyond her years sister Rachel and Geoffrey Arend & Matthew Grey Gubler as two of Tom’s Best Friends, McKenzie and Paul whose onscreen presence I really enjoyed.

This movie has a first rate script penned by Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber and is remarkably directed by Marc Webb.

The soundtrack is fantastic, the movie starts with the lovely Regina Spektor song “Us” and uses the Song “You Make My Dreams” by Hall & Oates in one of my favorite sequences in the movie, where Tom has slept with Summer for the first time the night before and is so happy that the song starts playing in his head and he precedes to walk to work, all the while imagining himself dancing in the street with the pedestrians around him. The film also contains songs from the always brilliant The Smiths and The Temper Trap.

This movie remains both funny and touching throughout the whole of its 95 minute run-time.

I really love this movie so very much, it’s smart, it’s sweet, it’s charming, it’s inventive and it’s quite brilliant.

10/10 – Cody

N/A – Michael

100%