Bunny and I had our first movie night out in what seems like forever. It started off with delicious ramen at Santouka--the first time there for both of us. We had to wait around 10-15 minutes in line but it was definitely worth it. It was the perfect amount of noodles in a flavourful broth. Mmmm...
Then we headed off to watch Drive at Cineplex Odeon International Village (formerly Tinseltown). It was busier than we expected since the Vancouver Asian Film Festival was going on. Luckily we were 30 minutes early (this is my imposed norm on others) and got good seats because by the time the movie started it was completely packed.
**SLIGHT SPOILER ALERTS TO COME -- so stop reading here if you care***
What first struck me (other than the boring trailers for upcoming movies with overused plots--except for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo that is) was the very outdated looking font they used for the opening credits of the movie. Picture Lucida Sans-ish font in magenta. WTML?!
That tiny thing aside though, it was quite a good film. I liked it because it was different and also because it was unexpected. The plot was nothing like I imagined and at times it was a bit like something from Kill Bill for its gory violence. At one point, the first truly graphic scene we get, a guy in the front of the audience very loudly moaned, "Wohhhhh", followed quickly by another "Wohhhhh". Since his second moan was heard amongst total silence, the whole audience started laughing. Bunny and I were giggling with almost no end in sight and I couldn't stop thinking about how funny it was for a good few minutes.
Ryan Gosling is an incredible (and incredibly handsome) actor, leaps and bounds away from playing Sean in Breaker High. His unnamed character in Drive was soft-spoken and very hard to read but at the same time both good and owning a slightly twisted moral compass. It was hard to see his own personal "drive" (oooh I think I just understood the pun in the title) but certain events/characters led him to try to resolve the main conflict in the movie. Carey Mulligan was cute as Irene but not as cute as the little boy who played her son Benicio. RaeRae would love him!
Drive made me want to drive to its very cool soundtrack. Two of its catchiest songs were Kavinsky's "Nightcall" and "A Real Hero" by College feat. Electric Youth. If you don't plan on watching the movie I'd recommend giving these a listen.
Bunny and I would occasionally exchange whispered admirations of Ryan Gosling (i.e. his sculpted hands!) and so it came to no surprise to us that we would continue our evening with another one of his movies. We went to Safeway so that Bunny could buy Crazy, Stupid, Love on DVD (she had already seen it and loved the Dirty Dancing scene) and then headed to her apartment.
I had high hopes for this movie since I had heard a lot of good things, but I couldn't help thinking throughout the whole thing that it was like they had taken the plots from a bunch of movies and tried to mesh them together with as many weird (and unnecessary) twists that they could. Ryan Gosling's character Jacob was quite the douche until he met Hanna (Emma Stone). Sure, he was easy to look at, but I think he was too one-dimensional. And at points his storyline was absent from the film altogether. Steve Carell, as much as I loved him in The Office, was just playing an older, less virginal version of himself from The 40 Year Old Virgin. My favourite character was his son Robbie, who was the kid who was wise-beyond-his-years and whose sweet optimism created the real emotional backbone of the movie.
All that being said, I did like Emma Stone's character--a refreshing, slightly-wacky young woman who wasn't afraid to be honest (just like her dad, I guess). And I did wonder how susceptible I'd be if someone like Ryan Gosling came up to me at a bar. Would I buy his pickup lines or see right through them? Would I try to prove that I was more interesting or be myself? Lucky for me I don't usually go to bars. And even more, the odds of being hit on in one in Vancouver are very slim.
Then again, as much as I think otherwise, I am crazy and stupid when it comes to love.
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