In case you were wondering what we have been doing all week, here is a list of the films we have watched since last time.

The Cinesthete:

1. Zoolander - Not as bad as it looks, but overlong and Will Ferrell yells too much.
   
2. Wall-E - A sci-fi masterpiece! It may be Pixar’s best, which says alot.
   
3. Away We Go – Simple, sweet and better than it thinks it is.
   
4. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg – A love-story entirely in song. A film that could only be made in 60′s France.
   
5. A Decade Under the Influence – IFC’s documentary on 70s film. I found a whole bunch of films that I have to watch now.
   

The Lowest Common Denominator:

1. Zoolander – Genius in its idiocy, it even managed to make TC smile and, dare I say, giggle….several times!
   
2. Mr. Woodcock - Dear New Line Cinema: a film about an asshole banging Stifler’s mom is only funny if that asshole is Paul Finch and the movie is called American Pie.
   
3. Ghost Busters – If you need me to tell you how awesome this film is in a weekly viewing log, you’re probably already dead on the inside.  Expect a visit from Drs. Venkman, Stantz and Spengler (as well as my fist) in the very near future.
   

Sam Mendes, USA, 2009, 98 min.

This film is about two people who have everything they need to make a good family. They just don’t know it yet. John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph play Burt and Verona. A thirty-something couple looking for a place in the world to raise their unborn daughter.

They live in a run-down trailer and work from home. They are intelligent and likeable. They are in love and I believe it. Throughout the film they travel through the country visiting family and friends, seeing how others have found their way in life (or lost it), and learning as they go.

From Burt’s parents, to Verona’s old college friends. The perfect family is hard to find. Does it exist at all? They want to believe it’s possible but how will they achieve it? They have no idea what they are doing and no idea what they really want. They don’t know it but their journey will bring them closer to finding those answers.

The movie has been criticized for Burt and Verona being too perfect and all the people they meet being smug/daft or damaged. But I beleive that there are people like Burt and Verona in the world. People who have all the ingredients but are too unsure of themselves to flaunt it. And the people they meet in the movie may be exaggerated, but I guarantee they all exist and are not far off from the truth.

Away We Go is smart, funny and sweet. John and Maya are great and Mendes’s direction is suitably low-key, letting the situations and dialog speak for themselves. Eggers and Vida have written a film that creates good likeable characters and sets them on a journey where they find out how good they really are.