Hipster Phase.

I feel as though I have to warn you. I'm going through a hipster phase. Listening to unknown music, wearing weird clothes, and dropping showers in priority on the to-do list. This will no doubt affect my movie choices. Consider yourself warned.

Holy Rollers
A little known movie with everyone's favorite emotional flatline Jesse Eisenberg and Doug. Wait, I mean Justin Bartha. The plot line is that both of them are Hasidic Jews, who get caught up in a drug smuggling ring. Apparently it is based on a true story (see the story here: http://articles.nydailynews.com/1999-08-01/news/18111101_1_couriers-sean-erez-ecstasy)
and either way it was genius and extremely interesting. Jesse Eisenberg was surprisingly convincing, and it was really interesting to watch a super conservative Jewish reaction to the drug world. Justin Bartha was awesome, and his character progression throughout the movie was stellar. I would definitely recommend it, but wouldn't make it a priority.

Micmacs
This is a French film that came out last year, and I ventured into it without knowing much. There is a sad little boy who's father is killed by an IED, and through a series of unfortunate events he gets shot in the head and survives. He becomes homeless and is taken in by a group of misfits. They launch a plan to get back at the people who created the bullet in his brain and the device that killed his father. The plan that ensues is actually really funny and quirky, you just have to pay attention to the subtitles. The characters are hilarious and original, and very very strange. Micmacs, in french, is like slang for carrying-on and cavorting. Its supposedly derogatory, which makes it even funnier. A very tounge-in-cheek comedy that relies on an understanding of what Europeans think is funny. Its on Cinemax or HBO on demand, which makes it much easier to watch. Do it, if you want to be awesome, hip, cultured, and trendy like me.

Beginners
Big thanks to my friend for Shelbie for going to this with me. It was a Saturday night and very crowded, which could lead to mad awkwardness; only thing was that it was a predominately gay crowd, so we looked like "really good" friends. hah.
Beginners is Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer's new indie flick about McGregor's newly out gay dad, his death, and his failed relationships. It was extremely dry, and rather slow moving. I really didn't like it that much. Other people seemed to really like it, which is awesome for them. I thought the little dog was the best character, which is rather concerning. Plummer did a great job, and I enjoyed his performance. Ewan McGregor was just a bit too angst-y and psychologically defunct for my taste. Just a bit too much dry emotion and tortured souls. And I didn't buy that he was some moody illustrator and managed to pick up a hottie foreign model who managed to have the exact same issues as he did.

New Kids Movies (on the block)

Sometimes I even amaze myself with my wittiness and charm.

First Up...

Mr. Popper's Penguins
Okay, I really didn't want to see this movie. I'm not a very big fan of Jim Carrey, and I just in general thought this would be super dumb. I admit, I was wrong. It was actually super cute! I'm a little worried about Jim's personal life though; he seems to frequently play the negligent dad who's kids don't really like him that much, so he takes on something drastic in order to win his family back. Just Sayin. I loved the little penguins, they weren't nearly as computer generated as I expected, and his assistant Poppy was positively precious! I would go see it if you get a chance, and if not, add it to the list of movies for christmas or some such family gathering time.


Next,
Zookeeper

I guess I just have a melancholy outlook on life that I expect all of these movies to be terrible. It was, in fact, not terrible. The animals were super cute, and I seriously felt for Kevin James' character. Chubby, not well paid zookeeper looking for love in all the wrong places (adult spin-off possibly) and always falling for the money-hungry shallow lady. I loved that the monkey looked exactly like the monkey (probably the same one) from Hangover 2. Maya Rudolph's voice as the giraffe was awesome and all of the characters were really well done, and funny as zoo animals. I also loved that Griffin (James) takes Bernie the Gorilla to a TGIFridays. Hilarious. Go see it, you know you love talking animals.