The Adjustment Bureau, 2011

Director: George Nolfi

Stars: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt

David (Damon) and Elise (Blunt) randomly meet-- and fall for each other in about 5 minutes. But he doesn't get her last name or her number. A few months later, they see each other again on a bus, and this time he excitedly gets her number. But that second meeting wasn't supposed to happen. He wasn't supposed to get her number, and he wasn't supposed to get to work on time. When he arrives on time, he discovers a bunch of men in suits have stopped time, and are "brainwashing" his coworkers! Terrified, he runs. The men catch him, and that's when he discovers the Bureau, a group of men who work for a mysterious "Chairman", making sure everybody follows "the plan" for their lives.

They tell David that Elise wasn't in his plan, and he must never contact her; they take her number from him to make sure this doesn't happen. They swear him to secrecy, telling him if he ever reveals them, they will wipe his brain clean. (Yikes!) But David knows Elise is special, and rides that same bus every day for 3 years until he finds her again.

But the Bureau is still out to stop them from being together, so they have to fight for their future.

SPOILER: I don't like how the guys are compared to angels, and the "Chairman" to God, kind of making God seem very controlling and erasing free will completely. But I think it ends well, and I really enjoyed watching it.

Limitless, 2011

Director:Neil Burger

Stars: Bradley Cooper, Robert DeNiro, Abbie Cornish

Eddie (Cooper), a writer suffering from writer's block, meets up with an old friend, who offers him a pill, which gives one the ability to use 100% of your brain. Eddie tries it, and his life turns upside down- he finishes his book, he understands business, picks up languages just by half-listening to them, etc, etc. He is superman.

When it wears off, Eddie is back to his normal loser self, so he goes to his friend for more, and finds that he has been murdered. Luckily, Eddie finds his friend's stash of pills, which sets him up for a while, but then the side-effects start to take hold. He literally loses track of time, and hits rock bottom when he becomes the suspect in a murder investigation-- and he has no idea if he even has an alibi.

It wasn't great, but not bad either. It had a happy ending, so I was happy enough, really.

My Blue Heaven, 1990

Director: Herbert Ross

Stars: Steve Martin, Rick Moranis, Joan Cusack

Vinnie (Martin), a mobster, enters Witness Protection to testify against other mobsters. His case officer Barney (Moranis) works hard keeping him in line, and away from the other mobsters Vinnie discovers live in his new town. He had assumed they were dead, but is delighted to find that they had all entered the Program, and have different names and lives.

The newly-reunited group of mobsters start a new scam, as they have never been trained for any kind of work except breaking the law. The D.A. Hannah (Cusack) is after Vinnie, and Barney has his hands full keeping the attractive D.A. away from Vinnie so he can testify.

This is cute- Steve Martin is just hysterical!

Pillow Talk, 1959

Director: Michael Gordon (Move Over, Darling)

Stars: Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Tony Randall, Thelma Ritter

Interior decorator Jan (Day) is having trouble getting any of her calls because of her womanizing party-line partner Brad (Hudson). When she complains to the phone company, they send a woman inspector to Brad to investigate. (Jan's reaction: "They sent a woman! Can you believe that? That's like sending a marshmallow to put out a bonfire.") Brad calls up Jan and they try to settle it by dividing the hours when each will get the phone, but it's not really working.

One of Jan's clients, Jonathon (Randall), also a friend of Brad's, is trying to convince Jan to marry him and tells Brad about her. He also tells about her party-line problems, and Brad catches on to who his friend's love interest really is. Unexpectedly, he meets her at a restaurant, and, awed by her beauty, he comes up with a plan so he can date her and play with her mind. He is "Rex Stetson" from Texas. And, similar to You've Got Mail, Brad pretends to gives her advice about this "Rex". It's quite funny, actually. I didn't think this comedy of mistaken identity was too ridiculous, as we know some are!

Note: This was 1959, and they were doing as much as they could to hint at sex and sexual things, without actually going for it, which, from this century, is almost cute! There are a lot of split screens in this one, where they show both Brad and Jan on the phone chatting. In bed, or the tub!

Sex and the Single Girl, 1964

Director: Richard Quine (Paris When It Sizzles, How to Murder Your Wife)

Stars: Tony Curtis, Natalie Wood, Henry Fonda, Lauren Bacall

Okay, here's what I was expecting: something like That Touch of Mink: the good girl wants to prove herself to the playboy/bad boy, but just can't do it. Literally. Well, Sex and the Single Girl is NOT That Touch of Mink.

Dr. Helen Brown (Wood) writes a book called Sex and the Single Girl, and it tells women how to land their man. (From watching the film, I suspect that it also discourages marriage and just encourages single girls to be like single guys and go after sex and be free. Pretty sure that's the message in the book!) Well, a no-good playboy writer of a magazine, Bob Weston (Curtis), has an idea of exposing Brown as a virgin, and therefore, a fraud. Using his friend Frank's (Fonda) marriage troubles with his wife Sylvia (Bacall), Weston poses as Frank and goes to see the good doctor to see if she can help him, but also to make her fall for him. They begin to fall for each other, which is stupid, since he's supposedly married. (I didn't like that part. He was also an idiot, so it's a good thing this wasn't a serious movie, but a comedy.)

So, clearly, the above situation makes for some mistaken identities and other such things that are necessary in comedies. Lauren Bacall and Henry Fonda are VERY funny though!

The worst part of the whole film was the car chase at the end of the film. It would not end!!! The best part of THAT was when the cop started crying, and then went crazy. I felt like joining him.

Oh, a cute part was that they kept saying Weston (Tony Curtis) looked like Jack Lemmon. They starred together in Some Like It Hot, along with Marilyn Monroe.

Arranged, 2007

Directors: Diane Crespo, Stefan C. Schaefer

Stars: Zoe Lister Jones, Francis Benhamou

When Nasira (Benhamou), a Muslim, and Rochel (Jones), an Orthodox Jew, start teaching in the same New York school, no one expects them to get along. But they soon find how much they have in common, especially their arranged marriages.

You feel like you are part of their lives for a while. I like those kinds of films. This is a sweet story. It is very like Sabah: A Love Story, which I reviewed in the past couple months. Very enjoyable!

Change of Habit, 1969

Director: William A. Graham

Stars: Elvis Presley, Mary Tyler Moore

Thank God for Family Video. Well, I mean, Netflix has more movies, I guess, and Redbox is pretty much awesome with its $1 new releases. But Family Video is where I found this one- so it will always be special to my heart.

Dr. John Carpenter (Elvis) runs a free clinic in the city, and is in over his head with work, so the local church sends 3 nuns to helps him out. Sister Michelle (Moore) catches his eye, and as they work together at the clinic, they start to fall in love. But she's a nun, so she has some decisions to make.

I love this movie, because it's sweet, and also because it deals with religion and faith in Catholicism, and I guess I like the way it's done.

NOTE: This was Elvis Presley's last film. I also like it because it has the least amount of cheesy music in it. In the beginning Elvis is jamming with some people, and then there's a song in the middle, but not a musical sequence, and then there's one at the end. Really! Elvis wanted to be a more serious actor, and this was a step in the right direction.