Too much of everything

Thanks for the memories!

As Good As It Gets

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Play along with the jokes, this movie has heart - the nostalgia for the past is authentic and real, and the ending, amazingly has a much deeper meaning, with statements made by both main characters intended for the living, and for life - and love - you give your best to someone , and time moves on, youth is fleeting, and lacks meaning, the only real meaning is way beyond skin deep. . I doubt many picked out the far deeper message, it was truly a shock in a comedy, but is a great tribute to the best in these actors, who span generations, and ages, reflectively, to the movie's theme. . very rare indeed. highly recommended.

Essentially, all through the movie, fun is being made of the "vampire movement", but, not in a spoof kind of way. That is, there are no explicit spoofs of "Twilight", "Underworld" or any other vampire movie or show. This is, of course, good, as the "movement" is so silly and worthy of reproach.In all that, some things work, while others don't. Of those that do work, a few are _great_ - for example, the one at the dinner with the Van Helsings. But, just a few.The other problem is that with all that trying, there's no real reproach of the "vamp movement", which is a lost opportunity. Also, there's no real story here, it's mostly a bunch of sketches.Krysten Ritter is playing a role that is great fit for her acting skills, Alicia Silverstone, not so much, but, is well cast as a middle- aged woman (turned-vampire) who used to be hot. Sigourney Weaver is a misfire, her playing the "crazy, horny, vampire boss" should have worked, but it didn't: by the end, when she's being beheaded, you're neither happy nor sad it has come to that.It is worth to watch the whole thing (except maybe the very end) to get those few great jokes that only work in this context, but, don't expect anything more.

God, that was awful. Started so-so and went downhill. I was doing other stuff in the middle and I also literally fell asleep.As if that wasn't enough, the movie features some of the WORST visual effects I've seen in years. The "highlight" is at the 76 min mark, you simply have to watch it - you'll think we're in the 1960's and Ray Harryhausen is still doing stop motion. One can only justify it as an actual homage to the old films, with in-camera effects (the sofa thing at the club) and stop motion, I don't know, but it was out of place and looked horrible.What a waste of Sigourney Weaver, Malcolm McDowell and especially Kristen Johnston which was given a few dialog lines of an extra trying to make her way into the film industry.

We don't drink…Mojitos.Clever vampire comedy, using the tropes of vampirism, intermingled with pop culture and modern technology, for the ipod age, set in NYC, has centuries-old vampire, Alicia Silverstone, and younger "bestie" Krystan Ritter (of Modern Family fame) trying to exist and maintain a level of secrecy within society, among humans, with a "stem" (Sigourney Weaver, an absolute blast) overcome by her overwhelming voracious appetite for human blood, her feasting becoming too out of control, certain to ruin any sort of anonymity successfully held over time. A stem is the "chief" vampire who feeds from certain humans, allowing those infected to live, "summoning" them when she so demands because of the control that comes with such power.Regarding plot, that's about it. This is more about Silverstone and Ritter's episodic adventures in NYC, with a wealth of talent in the cast, such as Wallace Shawn (My Dinner with Andre & The Princess Bride, reuniting with director Heckerling from Clueless (1995) as a Van Helsing, no less!), Dan Stevens (as Shawn's son, falling head over heels for Ritter, and vice versa), Malcolm McDowell (as Vlad the Impaler!), Richard Lewis (as an old love of Silverstone's from the 70s), Kristen Johnson (Shawn's wife and Stevens' mother), Kak Orth (as Renfield, quite buddy-buddy with our leading ladies, always hoping they will turn him vampire) and Justin Kirk (as Vadim, a Ukrainian vampire always mistaken as Russian, much to his chagrin).Weaver just gets lost in her part as a self-absorbed diva, totally irresponsible when it comes to not calling attention to "her kind", and her inability (she just doesn't care, to tell you the truth) to cease from drinking human blood (Silverstone and Ritter, along with many others attending a "Sanguinary Anonymous" meetings, feed from rats!) is becoming a nuisance to all vampires who want to co-exist with their mortal counterparts in the big city. Silverstone's adorable and recalls her old part as that cute (but pampered and oblivious to the hardships of the common man due to her affluence) princess in Clueless, except this time here she's an older woman in a lovely thirty-year old's body, from before "progress" and technology revolutionized America, living through it all and seeing such drastic change while generations lived and died, but unable, it seems, to keep up with the speed of the technological advancements such as computers and iphones.There's a sense of Sex & the City fashion, with clubbing, importance in looking your best, and that search for romance here in the film, but Vamps has vampires occupying the city and follows how they inhabit the night-to-night (they can't very well inhabit "day-to-day", now can they?) social scene. While I love Silverstone in the film, Ritter is the real surprise as a zesty, fun, spirited, energetic, very sexy gal-pal totally involved in the happening night activities and social networking, her relationship with Stevens disrupting the usual animosity between vampire hunter Van Helsing and bloodsucking Nosferatu. Heckerling loves to have Silverstone nostalgically looking back in the past with an affection no longer felt in the current time she lives, pining for when life moved at a slower pace. Old movies and 80s references find their way often into this vamp comedy, much appreciated by me. It was nice to see Silverstone again with a comedy centered around her, even if she had to share the spotlight with the eye candy Ritter. NYC comes alive (well, mostly Detroit filling in for NYC) thanks to Heckerling's direction, and the film can be a bit violent (however, the CGI is terrible, especially Weaver's "chainsaw incident", along with a head on the skeletal remains of Ulysses Grant (!) coming after Wallace Shawn), containing dialogue in tune with the times (and characters).The rat blood drinking is equal parts off-putting and absurdly comical. McDowell as a rehabilitated Vlad Tepish, and a voice of comfort to Silverstone and Ritter because of his experience as a vampire "down through the ages", is another brilliant piece of casting. The eclipse allowing the vampires to escape required day time commitments as "registered citizens" (jury duty, meeting with the IRS, etc.) by using ACLU attorney Lewis (who discovers that his former flame, Silverstone, is a vamp when she interrupts a robbery in a music store) accompanying them in order to help is also a really nicely cunning piece of comedy. The vampire tropes (garlic, crucifix, stake through the heart, thirst for human blood, etc.) are all gleefully usurped by Heckerling, especially when Silverstone and Ritter must inform the Van Helsings that they have it all wrong when it comes to successfully harming the undead. I have to admit this is probably about as guilty pleasure to me as possible because when you say "Sex and the City" to me, I cringe, but because I have a soft spot for Silverstone (and now Ritter), this was more easy to digest and enjoy.