New York, I Love You

A scene from Natalie Portman's short film

Ok, I'm feeling a little hesitant about reviewing New York, I Love You because I see it as a bit of a challenge. So rather than bailing on it, I'm going to give it a shot (this could very much be my worst review, but I'm willing to take a risk).

What makes this so difficult is the fact that New York, I Love You is made up of a bunch of short films. For those of you who have seen Paris, Je T'aime, you will be familiar with the concept. Much like the short films set in Paris, France, New York, I Love You, does the same only in the city of New York (obviously). I loved Paris, Je T'aime, so eagerly awaited to see the same concept taken on in the city of New York. And surprisingly, it seems I prefer love stories told from New York. I actually enjoyed most of the love stories that were shown to me, particularly the ones directed by Brett Ratner, Natalie Portman, Faith Akin and Joshua Marston. Natalie Portman's short film was the one that stood out to me the most though. Her film felt like it was directed by the likes of Sofia Coppola. The shots are beautiful, focusing on the beauty of Central Park, through the eyes of a young girl and her father.

As a single girl, it is somewhat depressing to watch a film(s) like this because it only makes you long for what's on the screen. At the same time, however, I could only kind of laugh at how spontaneous and unbelievable a few of these characters were. So many of them easily approach the other character and talk so openly about sex and whatnot. I wasn't buying it all the time but still found it to be enjoyable viewing nonetheless. As someone who is travelling to New York at the end of the year it only made me want to leave even more, not to find someone, but rather for the beauty that is New York City. The actual city is something you can fall in love with and I think that was something that was portrayed in the film through the way the settings were shot. Natalie Portman's film is of course a huge example of this.

Don't be put off by the fact that the film is made up of a bunch of love stories, they are far from cliche so you won't be rolling your eyes too much...

Rating: 3.5/5

Zodiac

Jake Gyllenhaal & Chloe Sevigny in a scene from the film

I have literally just finished watching Zodiac and I am buzzing so much after it that I don't think I'll sleep at all tonight. Don't be put off by it's 2 and a half hour length, it moves so quickly you could have sworn you sat down to watch it for an hour.

I am a big fan of murder mysteries. My cousin Bree & I lived on documentaries and films on true murder mysteries when we were growing up and are still watching them now. Of course it scared us but we were so drawn in by it that we couldn't stop watching it. We followed stories such the Frankston murders case, the Cromwell St murders, the Ivan Milat murders and more. But I had never once heard of the Zodiac murders on which this film is based.

The Zodiac murders case spans over a number of years following a few killings made by this man who goes by the name of the Zodiac. He promotes himself by writing letters to the newspapers as well as ones in code which people must decipher to find out more about him. I really don't want to give anything away though and I recommend not doing any research before the film because it will only spoil it. Just do what I'm going to do, which is reading about it after! (Something which I do far too often i.e. after I saw Changeling, I was reading about those murders for a few weeks. It's just so damn interesting).

When you have a cast starring actors as brilliant as Mark Ruffalo, Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr and Chloe Sevigny it's highly unlikely you'll be left disappointed. One key thing that really drew me in was the Director being David Fincher who brought us other great films such as Fight Club and Se7en. The cast really don't disappoint, the performances are superb. There is also one scene which truly frightened me, I was hiding behind my pillow in parts, (this rarely happens with me).

I could not recommend this film anymore! Save it for a rainy day when you've got some spare time, or better yet go and hire it right now and watch it immediately! (I am writing this at 1am in the morning though, so am thinking of you readers who are reading this during video store hours).

Rating: 4.5/5

Note: My last 3 paragraphs ended in bracketed sentences, hmmm.