Mark's must see Movies - Love Actually

Love Actually is the 2003 holiday romantic comedy that was met with much admiration and praise by many critics and viewers at it's release and the film has only garnered more of the same as it's aged. An all star cast consisting of Liam Neeson, Hugh Grant, Collin Firth, Emma Thompson, Bill Nighy, Alan Rickman, and Kierra Knightly combined with a charming plot are what makes this movie the special film it is.

The film takes place in London and follows the lives of the multiple and very different characters in the film and their journeys in and out of love. Among the central characters in the film is the newly elected Prime Minister of England David (Hugh Grant) whose career in politics has left him a bachelor for far too long. Though he seems to grow and instant connection with one of his new assistants. Karen (Emma Thompson) plays the devoted wife and mother who grows increasingly concerned with her husbands flirtatious antics with his secretary. Liam Neeson is the recently widowed Daniel who is caught between his period of mourning and having to deal with his 10 year old step son dealing with his own love crisis. And the last major character is Collin Firth who plays a young writer named Jamie who flees to a isolated house in France after catching his wife cheating on him. During his stay, he meets a woman who doesn't speak English but may be the true love he's been searching for. No matter what kind of plot line you enjoy in a movie, you'll find interests and relate with at least a few of these well written and portrayed characters.

My only real complaint for the film is that at times there is quite a bit going. For the most part the film is made very well but naturally when you follow eight different stories at a time some are well explored and others only have time to be loosely touched on. Bill Nighy for example brings the most comedic value to this movie as the aged pop star Billy Mack and I could have watched his character on screen far longer than he actually is. Just about every time this seasoned actor takes the screen he drew a laugh from me and his performance was vastly underrated. Andrew Lincoln who plays Mark, a young photographer who secretly loves his best friends wife acts out one of the most romantic scenes in recent film memory and one that helped propel the movie into fame.

Love Actually is a holiday movie that won't leave you wanting to sing a bunch of Christmas carols but it will remind you of one of the most important things to remember this holiday season. Love is te most important thing in the wold, without it where would we be? Though we need to be aware of it throughout the entire year, the Christmas season is no better time to truly show someone just how much they mean to you. Love is abundant in the world. As it's said in the opening monologue, Love Actually will show you that love actually is all around.

Haven't done this in a while --- Click here for the trailer to Love Actually 

Mark's Must See Movies - Safety Not Guaranteed

When a strange ad in the classified section of a newspaper advertises someone seeking a partner to travel back in time with - Safety not guaranteed. The ad catches the eye of a writer for a Seattle based magazine named Jeff (Jake Johnson) and wish to investigate the ad for a possible story. With the help of two interns Darius (Aubrey Plaza) and Arnau (Karan Soni) the three set out to the a small Pacific Northwest coastal town to gather the information needed for their story.

After learning the identity of the ads author is a grocery store worker named Kenneth (Mark Duplass), Darius is handed the task of gaining his trust in order to get the information they need for the story. As Darius assists Kenneth in preparing for their mission, the two learn more about one another and develop a special connection. As Darius and Kenneth grow closer and the time for them to travel back fast approaches, it becomes harder for her to determine whether or not Kenneth is insane or if he has actually succeeded in building a time machine.

Safety Not Guaranteed is a movie that surprised me on many levels. The movie received high praise at the 2012 Sundance movie festival and was equally loved by audiences and critics. On the surface, the film is an off beat comedy about a man who claims he's built a time machine. However under lining themes of love, regrets, lost dreams, and making every day of your life count are what really gives this movie it's staying power. Aubrey Plaza (Many will recognize her as April in the NBC comedy Parks and Recreation) gives a fantastic performance in her leading role and has perfect on screen chemistry with Duplass. Jake Johnson's character of Jeff is one I think many can relate too and also gives a great performance in doing so. I have to say again how shocked I was at the hear and sentiment this film carried along with it but did so without every being sappy, corny, or using any age old cliches.

This movie is just another brilliant example of just how great a low budget and independent film can be. Click here to watch the trailer for Safety Not Guaranteed on YouTube and Netflix users can watch this film online now via instant screen.

Movie Review - The Big Wedding

Wedding bells are ringing in the Griffin family. Ellie Girffin (Diane Keaton) returns back to the home where she and her no ex-husband Don (Robert De Niro) raised their family. Ellie and Don were married for 20 years and have three children, a son Jared (Topher Grace), their daughter Lyla (Katherine Heigl), and their adopted son Alejandro (Ben Barnes). Now separated for 10 years, Don is in a long term relationship with Ellie's former best friend Bebe (Sarandon).

It's the first time the three have seen each other since the split but Alejandro's weeding has brought them back under one roof. Though there are clear differences and family tension between the gang, they all prepare for a relaxing and romantic weekend. That is until Alejandro realizes that his biological mother from Columbia will be attending the wedding and due to he strict Catholic upbringing sees divorce as a horrible sin. Ellie and Don are asked by their song to pretend for the weekend that they are still married so that his mother doesn't discover that he's been lying to her for years. Robin Williams and Amanda Seyfried round out the all star cast.

The Big Wedding is made up of a lot of different components - some working better than others. The films strength is obviously in it's star filled cast. Diane Keaton especially gives a strong performance and I found her scenes offering the most laughs. Her on screen chemistry with Susan Saradon is great in this movie as they play estranged best friends.There are also a few great father and daughter moments between Robert De Niro and Katherine Heigl that I found to be one of the strengths of the movie.

All in all I can't credit The Big Wedding with being a bad movie. It's a lighthearted comedy, with a couple heart to heart moments, that delivers a few laughs along the way. There is an old saying in Hollywood that goes, you can't make a great movie out of a bad script but you can make a bad movie out of a great script. The expression holds true when it comes to The Big Wedding. The script is often predictable and there are a few too many story lines that don't really need to be told. I couldn't help but feel like this movie should have been so much more given the marquee names in the credits. The Big Wedding isn't quite a home run, but it's star filled cast and their great performances helped keep this film enjoyable for me and give it my recommendation. The Big Wedding is no available on DVD and Bluray. Click here to watch the trailer for the film.

Wimpies AKA Sloppy Joes with the movie Billy Madison

A classic meal from our childhood done without the help of anything where the instructions simply read, "Add to browned ground beef". This is my mom's famous wimpie recipe, with a few changes of my own to bring a little heat, that all of our friends and family go nuts over. Perfect for a busy weeknight or a Summer get together, they can be made ahead and heated just before you need them. Of course they're a great last minute dinner idea when you just want to relax with your feet up watching a movie. The amounts listed will be enough for about 8-10 sandwiches.

2 pounds of ground Chuck
1 small Green Bell Pepper
1 small Red Bell Pepper
3 cloves of Garlic
1 medium sized Red Onion
A 16oz can of Tomato Sauce
1/3 cup of Chilli Sauce
1 teaspoon of Asian Chilli paste
1/2 cup of Ketchup
2 tablespoons of Brown Sugar
Kosher Salt and Black Pepper
4 dashes of worcestershire sauce
Buns

Wash your bell peppers and finely dice them along with the red onion.

Melt about 2 tablespoons of butter and a drizzle of olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Season your ground beef with salt and pepper and brown the burger in your skillet. Break the burger up as it browns and cook until burger is browned. Drain off any excess grease and moisture that has accumulated in your skillet. The best way I've found to do this is by using a turkey baster. Don't worry about getting it all, leaving some won't hurt/

Now add the onions and peppers and stir in with the beef. Use your microplane to grate the cloves of garlic into a paste and stir that into the beef and peppers. Next, add the can of tomato sauce along with the chili sauce, chili paste, ketchup, brown sugar, and worcestershire sauce. Mix well to combine and bring everything to a simmer.

Simmer the Wimpies for at least 30 minutes stirring often to ensure they aren't sticking. The longer you let them simmer the better if you ask me so if you're not in a huge rush, give them a bit more time to cook.

Once you're ready to eat, grab a fresh bun and add a generous amount of wimpie filling. Serve with you're favorite side an a lot of napkins, they don't call them sloppy Joes for nothing folks.

Billy Madison was Adam Sandler's 1995 comedy that has remained one of his fan favorites for nearly 20 years. Sandler's style of comedy doesn't suite all, and I myself am very hit and miss with his movies but I've been a fan of Billy Madison for years.

Billy is a 27 year old rich boy with no life, no job, and no education. He spends his days drunk by a swimming pool, chasing penguins that don't exist, and waiting for his dirty magazines to arrive in the mail. One night at dinner, his father who is a successful business man and the owner of Maison Hotels informs Billy that he won't inherit the company when he retires. Instead the company would be handed to the back stabbing weasel Eric (Bradley Whitford).

Billy is upset with his fathers choice and when he asks why, Billy is informed by his father that he could never leave the company to someone who couldn't even get through grade school. Billy finds out that his father paid his teachers to give Billy good grades all his life just so he could graduate. Billy comes up with the idea that if he could go back to school and graduate on his own, that his father should give him the company instead of Eric. His father agrees and so begins the unrealistic but hilarious adventures of 27 year old Billy Madison going back to school.

Between spelling Bees, eating sloppy joes from the creepy lunch lady, and having a relationship with his 3rd grade teacher Miss Vaughn (Bridgette Wilson-Sampras) - this is an off beat comedy for sure. It's one that only Sandler could pull off. There is no real moral to this story at all, but it's a film that was made just to make you laugh and that it does. Here is the trailer to Billy Madison.

Movie Review - RED

Released in 2010, RED was the surprise worldwide hit film of the year. Bruce Willis plays Frank Mosses, a retired CIA agent living out his remaining years in a boring superb collecting his government pension. The only highlight of his day, talking with Sarah (Mary Louis-Parker) from the government pension processing center. Frank's quite and boring life soon turns upside down when an extreme attempt to assassinate him fails and events from his past have put him, and Sarah, in danger.

Hot on Frank and Sarah's tail is the young CIA agent Cooper (Karl Urban) who heads the operation to stop Frank. Knowing he and Sarah are in danger, Frank reassembles his old team who have been living in hiding like Frank. Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovich), and Victoria (Helen Mirren). Together, they've all been classified by the CIA as RED - Retired Extremely Dangerous. Together, the four highly skilled individuals will discover who is behind the recent events and uncover a long hidden scandal in the process. Richard Dreyfuss also play supporting roles Brian Cox in this action packed comedy.

Wait, did I say comedy?? The strength of RED, besides it's all star cast, is the perfect and unusual blend of comedic moments and action pack scenes. An action film, espionage tale, and a comedy all wrapped into one made RED a hit with fans and critics alike.

With RED 2 released this past Friday, now is a great time to get your hands on a copy of RED and get in on the fun and the action. As always, here is a link to the trailer.

Cappuccino Ice Cream and "50/50"

Ice cream is the perfect treat for any hot summer night and, of course, for any movie night! A timeless treat that children, teenagers, and adults have been enjoying for years and homemade ice cream is the way to go. You can customize it to just about any flavor you'd like and you might even surprise yourself just how good your own ice cream can be. An ice cream maker may not be a regular in every home's kitchen but with many options to fit various budgets, I'd highly recommend you look into getting one. This week, I'm pairing my ice cream with the 2011 film 50/50 starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogan. Taking place in the beautiful Pacific Northwest city of Seattle, I couldn't help but be inspired by the city's love for coffee. This isn't going to be just any coffee ice cream though, I call this my Cappuccino ice cream because I fold in some fresh whipped cream in at the end to represent the frothy top of the cappuccino everyone loves!

3 cups of heavy cream

1 cup of half and half

2½ Tablespoons of Instant Coffee

3/4 cups of sugar - plus 1 teaspoon

¼ teaspoon of Vanilla extract 

In a small saucepan, pour in 1 cup of heavy cream and heat over a medium low heat. Once the cream begins to steam just slightly, add instant coffee and stir in until it's dissolved completely. Once the coffee has been incorporated, add 3/4 of a cup of sugar and mix into the cream. Once the sugar has dissolved, should only take a minute or two, stir in a ¼ teaspoon of vanilla and  remove the cream from the heat.

In a large glass measuring cup or a mixing bowl, pour in the cream that we just sweetened and infused with coffee flavor. To that, add the half and half and 1½ cups of additional heavy cream. We're reserving the last ½ of a cup of cream to make fresh whipped cream that we'll fold into our ice cream a little later.

Gently mix the cream mixture together. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes or so. Place a metal whisk and a metal or glass mixing bowl in the freezer - we'll need this for making our whipped cream. Once the cream has chilled, pour it into your ice cream maker and allow the ice cream to churn for about 25 minutes (depending on the model ice cream maker you have.)

While the ice cream is churning, now is a good time to make our whipped cream. Using the bowl and whisk we placed in the freezer, beat the heavy cream along with an additional splash of vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Beat the cream until soft peeks begin to form and store the whipped cream in the refrigerator for the time being.

You'll know that this ice cream is ready once it begins to resemble soft serve ice cream. Remove the ice cream from the inside of the ice cream maker and scrape into a container to be placed inside your freezer. Gently fold in our whipped cream into the coffee ice cream and freeze the ice cream for about an hour until the ice cream has had a chance to firm up. Once the cream has set, scoop out a dish and head to our at home movie theater for this weeks film, 50/50.

Based loosely on screen writer Will Reiser's own life experiences, the movie follows a young man who finds out he has cancer and the dramatic and life changing events that follow. Joseph Gorden-Levitt plays Adam, a 27 year old non-smoker, non-drinker, exercise daily, eat all the right things kind of guy who finds out he has a rare form of spinal cancer. With the help of his best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen) and a young and inexperienced hospital psychiatrist Katherine (Anna Kendrick) Adam tries to cope with the stress and strain of his illness. 50/50 is a film with a lot of heart mixed with humor despite the emotional story.

The cast for 50/50 is one of the films greatest strengths. Joseph Gordon-Levitt continues to shine in leading roles over the past few years and his performance in 50/50 is among them. I was convinced when I first saw the film he would have at least been honored with an Oscar nomination. Anjelica Huston gives a strong performance for what little time she's on screen as the overbearing but lovable mother. Seth Rogen gives the best performance so far in his career playing the supporting role of the best friend who tries to lighten the mood in his own way. Though he focuses more on using Adam's cancer as a way to pick up girls, he still brings the element of the concerned best friend. Bryce Dallas Howard also lends her talents as Rachael, Adams girlfriend who sees is illness as more of a burden than anything else.

While 50/50 certainly deals with a very sensitive subject, it manages to tell a dramatic real life story but still works well in delivering a good amount of laughs when appropriate. To make a film about cancer was a huge risk but the pay off was even greater. One of the better dramatic comedies to arrive on screen in recent years, 50/50 is a must see. Click the link here to watch the trailer for the film.